Whetting Your Whistle with a Refreshing Drink

Hot and muggy summer days are still with us, and you yearn for a refreshing beverage – something beyond a cool glass of water – that will not only satisfy that thirst but tingle your taste buds. I found a few unusual ideas that sounded really good. Food and Wine suggests a spaghett, a popular drink among restaurant staffers coming off hot shifts: It’s an ounce of Campari in a 12-ounce light beer. Then there’s the Dirty Shirley, a Shirley Temple (ginger ale with an ounce of Grenadine) topped with a shot of vodka and a maraschino cherry, of course. Mrs. Farmboy is partial to a classic Tom Collins, gin and fresh lemon juice with a dash of simple syrup, poured into a glassful of ice cubes and topped off with sparkling water.

Classic rickeys

Back in the 1950s, when I was hot and thirsty, I slaked my thirst with either lemonade, Kool-Aid, or iced tea. But what I really enjoyed was the occasional lime rickey. It was available bottled, and we also had a soda fountain at the local drug store in town where I enjoyed a raspberry or cherry lime rickey. Although originated in the 1880s as a bourbon cocktail that became more popular with gin as the gin rickey, the basic non-alcoholic lime rickey is a mix of lime juice, simple syrup, and seltzer. In 1942, the Glenn Miller Orchestra highlighted the drink in their recording Jukebox Saturday Night with the lines, “Mopping up soda pop rickeys/To our heart’s delight/Dancing to swingeroo quickies/Jukebox Saturday Night.”

What prompted this quest was a request by a few of my devoted readers for ideas for refreshing, light, low-calorie drinks as we bid goodbye to summer. They weren’t looking to grab a beer or simply add citrus juice to their sparkling water (or buying a lime rickey), so I sought out some ideas on how to jazz up that late-summer spritzer.

Spritzers

Most traditional spritzers contain some low-alcohol component such as a fortified wine or aperitive such as the classic Aperol Spritz. Experts recommend that you use high-quality ingredients that are all chilled. If you want to try this route, you might experiment with other fruit-flavored liquors such as Amaro or Cynar or other liqueur. To retain a non-alcoholic content, try a splash of flavored syrups. Or you could simply muddle some blueberries or raspberries. Another idea: the new hemp-based beverages that you can blend with flavored water or a naturally flavored soft drink like Fever Tree, LMNT, Q, or Zevia.

A shrubbery

But if you’re looking for something different with a complex flavor, how about a shrub, also known as drinking vinegar? These drinks, technically a shrub syrup, contain sugar and an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice. They were originally designed before refrigeration to preserve fruit and offer a great balance of sweet and sour.

To make a good shrub, most sources recommend using a quality vinegar, preferably a fermented rather than distilled vinegar. Since these vinegars are more expensive, you might want to experiment with distilled vinegar before using the pricey stuff. Here’s a pineapple shrub recipe calling for first cooking pineapple chunks with brown sugar and spices before adding water and vinegar.

Liquor.com suggests you think about how your vinegar pairs with the fruit you’re using. This berry shrub recipe uses white balsamic vinegar with blackberries or raspberries. And this peach and pineau shrub recipe uses Blanc Pineau des Charantes vinegar with the peaches. Several sources recommend experimenting, using your own version of fruits and vinegars. These shrubs are most appealing when you use an ample amount of ice. Don’t worry about the ice diluting the drink; ice enhances the flavor. If you’re not intending an alcohol component, you might add some sparkling water. Here’s a Southern U.S. recipe for a spiced holiday shrub that they serve with shortbread or pound cake at an afternoon social.

If you’re looking for something less complicated, there’s always homemade strawberry lemonade or orange agua fresca, the refreshing traditional Mexican drink. Whatever satisfies your thirst and satisfies your desire for a little something different. Or as they used to say when I was young, “whatever whets your whistle.”

How about you? What would whet your whistle?

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