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	Photo: Bill Myers

Summertime Booze

Four top-shelf East Bay mixologists share their favorite concoctions to take the edge off when the heat is on.

    When the heat is on, a summer cocktail can really hit the spot. Typically concocted with clear or pale-colored spirits like vodka, gin and light rum (as opposed to darker spirits like bourbon and Scotch, which might warm you up on a blustery winter day) and mixed with fresh fruit, summer herbs and lots of ice, such summer favorites as mojitos, martinis and margaritas will keep you cool while they chase away the summertime blues.
    “People are looking for lighter flavors in the summer,” says Joel Ellis, manager of the Paragon Restaurant and Bar at the Claremont Resort in Berkeley, where the house drink menu includes such specialties as the Sunburn and the Pacific Sunset. “I sell more whiskey in winter,” says Mikey Moreno, bar manager at À Côté in Oakland. But in the summer, “vodka and gin start to take back over.”
    East Bay bartenders and bar managers—including Ellis and Moreno, Mehdi Zarekari, owner of Z Café & Bar in Oakland, and Dennis Lapuyade, co-owner of César in Oakland and Berkeley—take advantage of
the seasonal bounty of fresh produce. In early summer, Moreno substitutes passion fruit for lime in a Brazilian drink called the caipirinha; Ellis likes to use lychee, mango and fresh herbs in his drinks; and at César, Lapuyade adds more citrus to tone down the slight sweetness of the Italian Moscato white wine he substitutes for red in the restaurant’s tremendously popular summer version of sangria.
    Just because summer cocktails are lighter, however, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re less alcoholic. As Zarekari says, “We still keep the drinks strong to make sure that people forget about work during the summer!”
    Here are eight summer cocktail recipes, two favorites each from owners or managers of four East Bay cocktail destinations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Z Café

Bartender: Mehdi Zarekari
 
Mehdi Special
In a shaker, combine 1 ounce
coconut rum, 1 ounce Bacardi light rum, 1 ounce cranberry juice, 1 ounce orange juice and ½ ounce pineapple juice. Shake, and then serve in a pint glass filled with ice. Garnish with a fresh orange slice, lime wedge and two maraschino cherries.

Blueberry Lemon Drop
In a shaker, muddle 2 blueberries. Add 2 ounces blueberry-infused vodka, ½ ounce Triple Sec, ½ ounce sweet-and-sour mix and the freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon. Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a sugar-rimmed martini glass. Float 5 blueberries in the drink before serving.

César

Bartender: Dennis Lapuyade
 
La Teresa
In a shaker, combine ½ teaspoon superfine sugar, 2 dashes angostura bitters, a handful of mint, a splash of amaretto and 1½ ounces Meyer’s Platinum rum. Top with ice, shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Garnish witha lemon twist.

César Sangria
In a pint goblet, combine 1 ounce ruby port, a splash of sweetened lime juice, a splash of orange juice and ½ ounce orange liqueur or Triple Sec. Fill with ice, top with Moscato d’Asti, stir and garnish with ½ orange wheel.

Paragon Restaurant and Bar

Bartender: Joel Ellis

Lychee Cooler
In a shaker, muddle together 1 lemon wedge, 1 lime wedge and 6 mint leaves. Add 3 tablespoons lychee syrup, 1½ ounces vodka and crushed ice. Shake, strain into a tall glass and top with club soda.

Orange Creamsicle
In a shaker, muddle 3 orange slices.  Add a splash of orange juice, 1½ ounces Absolut Vanilia vodka and crushed ice. Shake, strain into a tall glass and top with a 50-50 mix of club soda and 7UP.

À Côté

Bartender: Mikey Moreno

Caipirinha Maracujá
In a shaker, combine the pulp of 2 passion fruit, 1 ounce simple syrup and 2 ounces cachaça (a Brazilian spirit; À Côté uses Velho Barreiro or Pirassununga 51). Add ice, shake and pour into a tall glass. Serve with a fat straw.

Ponche Bajan
In a shaker, combine 1½ ounces Zaya rum, ½ ounce falernum (a spiced syrup from Barbados) and the juice of half a lime. Add ice, shake and strain into a glass of finely crushed ice. Top with a dash of club soda.