1. Mexican Firing Squad
El Camino/1314 Bardstown Road
$8
This classic cocktail (author Charles H. Baker traced it back to Mexico City in 1937) has found a home at El Camino, where it makes a great alternative to the margarita. Sit outside at El Camino’s bar, or fireside at one of the outdoor booths when it’s unseasonably chilly, and revel in summer’s best nights.
2 ounces Lunazul blanco tequila
½ ounce grenadine
¼ ounce simple syrup
¾ ounce lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
½ ounce grenadine
¼ ounce simple syrup
¾ ounce lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
Combine ingredients in a shaker and strain into a double Old Fashioned glass over ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.
2. Buxom Tart
Joy Luck/1285 Bardstown Road
$13
This sweet, refreshing grown-up’s lemonade is, in a drink, the feeling of a private vacation. The limoncello makes itself known in every sip, subtle and lingering in a way that will keep you coming back for another and another, for the rest of the summer.
1½ ounces limoncello
1½ ounces West Sixth Brewing lemongrass American wheat ale
1 dash Angostura bitters
Splash San Pellegrino blood orange soda
1 slice lemon
1 slice lime
Combine limoncello, wheat ale and a dash of bitters. Pour over ice in a tall glass. Top off with blood orange soda. Garnish with lemon and lime slices.
Basil Gimlet
Garage Bar/700 E. Market St.
$8
This pale-green cocktail tastes faintly herbal and perfectly light, and it won’t weigh you down before a few games of ping pong on the bar’s lit-up tables.
2 ounces New
Amsterdam gin
Amsterdam gin
¾ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
½ ounce simple syrup
6 basil leaves
Muddle lime juice, basil and simple syrup in shaker. Add gin. Shake and strain into a glass with ice. Garnish with a basil leaf.
The Sultry Mrs. Robinson
Sea Hag Bar/11507 Park Road (Anchorage)
$8
Before you take a sip, the floral and citrus scents of this sophisticated older neighbor of the mimosa fill your nose. St. Germain, an elderflower liqueur, adds a level of elegance that will make you never want to go back to the typical mimosa.
1 sugar cube
1 ounce St. Germain
2 dashes peach bitters
Champagne
Twist of orange peel
Place a sugar cube into a champagne flute and add peach bitters. Cover the sugar cube with St. Germain. Top off with chilled champagne and garnish with a twist of orange peel.
Photos by Chris Witzke