I'm a Big Red gal, red wines only - no whites, no beer, no champagne, definitely no frozen calorie bombs. But the oppressive summer heat has made my favorite libation somehow less enjoyable.

I nearly acquiesced to a summer of Perrier sipping, when Sharon Egan, owner of Egan & Sons, mixed me up a Huckleberry Lemonade Cocktail, a very simple concoction of pink lemonade, shaken with about one and half ounces of 44 Degrees North Huckleberry Vodka.

The Huckleberry Lemonade Cocktail had a particular effect on my disposition. I don't know if it was the Country Time mix, the old-fashioned jam jar it was served in, or the beautiful "beer garden" I was sitting in, but suddenly thoughts of simple things rushed my mind - lakes, tire swings, cut-offs, bare feet, being 17, ah-hem, 21 again.

Watch the video to see Sharon shake up the Huckleberry Lemonade Cocktail and the "Arnold Ziffle," an Arnold Palmer-esque beverage, made with Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka.

What's your go-to drink for beating the heat?

 

Also published at http://www.baristanet.com/food/2010/07/summer_sippin_a.php