Summer's End Cocktail

I love all the seasons, but summer has always been my favorite. Long, seemingly never-ending days with weather suitable for grilling, napping on the hammock, and hours spent outdoors enjoying the sunshine. And, when things get really warm, a nice refreshing cocktail to cool you down! My new favorite is a cocktail that celebrates the summer season – here’s how to make it!

Summer's End Cocktail

When I was growing up, I always looked forward to summer. No school, and months of long sunny days and warm nights spent outside playing with friends. It seemed that summer went on forever, and certainly longer than for kids these days, who have a much shorter summer break from school than we ever did! Once I was in college, summer lost much of its luster and charm because I had to find a summer job to make money for college (usually a crappy one)! Mine included filling bottles with epoxy chemicals for 8 hours a day on an assembly line, washing dishes in a restaurant, painting our house, and picking weeds just to name a few, …). But even then, I was back home with family and friends and always enjoyed the break from school. Once I started my professional career, summer was the season of three-day holiday weekends and extended “holidays” without the boss in the office as they took their long 2-week vacations to get away from us (and as we did the same to get away from them)!

Now that I’m retired and living in Florida, summer isn’t that different from the other seasons, except for the fact that all of the snowbirds are gone so there is much less traffic, and reservations at the best restaurants in Sarasota are much easier to secure. Also, the weather is persistently hot and humid during the day, but with cooling thunderstorms almost every afternoon and evening as the rainy season takes hold for five months or so. The antidote to the hotter weather is a cool, refreshing cocktail of course! And, as the summer season comes to an end and we start to see the first signs of fall approaching (lows in the 60’s and highs only in the 80’s, along with shorter days and less rain in the afternoons), I find myself looking forward to the change of season but also looking back with fond memories of the summer that has just passed.

To mark the occasion and the impending change of seasons, I created the “Summer’s End” cocktail that captures the taste and smells of summer in a glass. I start with a homemade strawberry/watermelon juice that makes use of the bounty of fruit that comes at summer’s end, and then add vodka, lime juice, a bit of mint, and agave nectar to the mix. If this cocktail doesn’t bring back memories of summer’s past, I don’t know what will!

Summer’s End Cocktail (makes 1 cocktail)

This cocktail showcases two of my favorite summer fruits – strawberries and watermelon. Feel free to make this your own by choosing some of your favorites if you’d like. I chose vodka here to ensure that the fruit juice was the star of the show, but this cocktail would also work well with gin and even rum.

Ingredients

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. strawberry-watermelon juice (see recipe below)

1 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice

5 mint leaves

1 oz. agave nectar

Strawberry slice and mint leaf for garnish

Directions

Make the strawberry-watermelon juice and refrigerate until ready to use.

Combine the vodka, 2 oz. strawberry-watermelon juice, lime juice, mint leaves, and agave nectar into a shaker. Muddle the mint leaves with the back of a wooden spoon for 10-15 seconds. Add ice and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with the strawberry and mint leaves.

Strawberry-Watermelon Juice (makes about 2 cups)

Ingredients

2 cups watermelon, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups strawberries, cut into ¼-inch slices

Directions

Place the watermelon and strawberries in a blender and blend until smooth, about 60 seconds. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate until ready to use.