Favorite Summertime
Cocktails
by Erik Totten
L
ike food and beer, the cocktail scene has gone through
some dramatic revisions over the last couple of years. Craft
cocktails are the latest rage, and that follows a big upswing in the
popularity of infusions, bitters and other house made ingredients.
Craft is indeed king right now.
But making a cocktail need not be as difficult as the craft scene
would have you believe. Making a cocktail is essentially as easy as
just combining two or more ingredients to make an alcoholic drink.
“Making a cocktail need not be as
difficult as the craft scene would
have you believe.”
Love Potion No. 9 at M’s Pub.
Photo by Ron Samuelson
As long as one of the ingredients is alcohol, you can add anything
else you want and voilà, you have a cocktail. That doesn’t make you
a bartender, but it does leave you with a drink, of something.
With that in mind, here’s a list of some of our favorite
summertime cocktails to be found throughout the area. They may
not have a burnt orange peel as a garnish, but they will still sate
your thirst and leave you satisfied none the less.
España – Mojito
The mojitos at España are perhaps the best to be found in
Omaha. Made in the traditional fashion, with white rum, limes and
mint, the mojitos at España can also be infused with blueberry or
raspberry, or flavored with cherry, coconut, guava or mango.
These are especially delightful on a warm summer day.
Jake’s Cigars & Spirits – The Huckleberry Hound
This drink, or shot, may not be on the menu at Jake’s, but I
personally have invested a great deal to make sure that all the
bartenders are up to speed on this one. Made with St. Germaine,
citrus vodka, sour and bar sugar, this works great as a cocktail or a
simple shot.
“If you’ve got a craving for
top-notch sangria, Nosh is located
very close to the Century Link Center
and TD Ameritrade Park, so it makes
a great pit stop.”
M’s Pub – Love Potion No. 9
M’s is good at everything they do, but this simple and delicious
concoction is hard to resist anytime I go in. Infused strawberry
vodka and lemonade are all this cocktail needs to be to make
anyone’s list of summertime cocktail classics.
Dixie Quicks – Renetini
I’ve personally made this one a ton, and people, this is a special
drink. Named after Dixie Quicks co-owner Rene Orduna, this
cocktail is a hybrid of a jalapeño spiced martini and a grapefruit
margarita.
Indian Oven – Mint Julep
Nothing satisfies quite as much as a mint julep on a baking hot
summer day, and Indian Oven makes one of the best you’ll find in
Omaha. They’ve got the traditional silver cups and they know what
they’re doing when it comes to making some excellent cocktails.
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