Column Reprint: Summer Libations

Since it's Memorial Day Weekend, a column on summer libations seemed in order. Have a great holiday weekend, all my US readers! Have a great weekend anyway, everyone else!

Cookout season is in full swing, and if you’’re like me, it makes you want to throw a party! A sunny day, a bunch of friends, something sizzling on the grill, a killer salad or two, tunes on the boom box, a Frisbee to toss –– what could be better?

But wait –– I forgot something! For most of us, a party also includes festive libations. What are you going to drink at your summer bash?

Summer party beverages are different than winter party beverages. Eggnog and other heavy,creamy drinks seem cloying now. And when you’re playing in the sun, it’s best to have a drink of modest potency, with a high water content. In other words, you want your beverages to refresh as well as relax.

Cookouts and beer go together, and there are several low carb beers on the market. The lowest carb of the bunch is Michelob Ultra, but it’s too bland for my tastes. I prefer Miller Light, which at 3.2 grams of carb per 12 ounces has only about a half a gram more than Michelob Ultra.

Many summer parties feature coolers full of alcopops –– hard lemonade, Bacardi Silver, Smirnoff Ice, and the like. These sweet beverages all have one thing in common, other than alcohol –– they’re high carb. If sugar-free versions are on the market, they haven’t made it to my hometown yet, and I couldn’t find them online. Instead, researching this column I ran across the interesting fact that in the adult beverage industry, these sweet alcoholic beverages are known as “alco-carbs.” Need I say more?

So do yourself a favor, and mix your own drinks. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

* All hard liquors –– whisky, vodka, rum, gin, tequila –– are carb-free. It’s the mixers that you have to worry about!

* So let’s talk mixers. Of course you know that regular soda is sugary, but so is tonic water –– buy diet tonic water. Club soda is fine, as is sparkling water, which comes in some flavors that are good for mixing –– lemon, lime, orange, berry, and the like.

* Avoid Rose’s Lime Juice; it’s sugary. Use fresh limes instead!

* Put three ounces of dry wine in a tall glass full of ice. Top with sparkling water or diet lemon-lime soda, depending on how sweet a drink you want. Made in a really huge glass, this will make you merry, but not swacked –– plus it helps to fight the dehydration that can come with
drinking.

* Add a shot of vodka to sugar-free lemonade to make your own “hard lemonade.” Want it fizzy? Put a quarter-teaspoon or so of the lemonade mix powder in your glass, add vodka and ice, then fill with club soda. Add a little more lemonade mix if you think it needs it, and decorate
with a lemon wheel.

* You can figure out rum and diet cola, and gin with diet tonic yourself, right? You might try a gin rickey for a change –– put a tablespoon of lime juice and a shot of gin in the bottom of a tall glass, add ice, and fill with club soda. Very refreshing.

* From sunny Cuba comes the Mojito. Put a shot of white rum, 1 tablespoon lime juice, a sprig of fresh mint, and 1 teaspoon Splenda in a tall glass. Use a spoon to bruise the mint, releasing its flavor. Add ice and fill with club soda. 2 grams of carb.

* Don’t forget about Crystal Light. You can make a de-carbed Seabreeze with a shot of gin in a glass of pink grapefruit Crystal Light. By the way, Crystal Light mixes are made with aspartame, but the new premixed Crystal Light Bottles use Splenda.

* Ocean Spray makes a “light” cranberry juice cocktail, too. It’s not sugar-free, so I don’t drink a lot of it, but a shot or so adds a nice flavor. If you make that Seabreeze above with tequila instead of gin, and add a shot of light cranberry juice cocktail, you’ve got a Seabreeze
Sunrise. 3 grams of carb.

* Commercial margarita mix, pina colada mix, and the like have a lot of sugar –– with one glowing exception. Baja Bob’s sugar free drink mixes are nothing short of fabulous. If you can’t get ‘em locally, order them online. Many of the low carb etailers have them; I like www.carbsmart.com. And check out www.bajabob.com for recipes using his mixers.

Margarita Fizz
A lighter alternative to the margarita!

1 shot tequila
1 shot lime juice
1 ½ teaspoons Splenda
8 ounces unsweetened orange flavored sparkling water

Put the tequila, lime juice, and Splenda in the bottom of a tall glass, and stir. Fill with ice, and pour in orange flavored sparkling water to fill.

1 serving. 4 grams of carbohydrate, a trace of fiber, a trace of protein, and 76 calories.