Charleston has introduced me to a new cocktail—the Raspberry Ice Pick. It is made with sweet tea, spiked with raspberry vodka and is garnished with a lemon wedge. It is absolutely delicious and quite refreshing. And although it is southern inspired, its ingredients are easy to source and certainly would make a great cocktail for me to order when back in the Big Apple.

This classic non-alcoholic drink made of ginger ale and grenadine syrup was always my favorite way to feel “all grow up” when I was a child. But now, as an adult, I’ve found another version of the drink for a more mature audience…

Pama, a pomegranate liqueur, is a fantastic alcohol-based substitute for the grenadine. Simply add about a shot of Pama to a highball glass filled with ice and top off with ginger ale. To spruce it up, sugar the rim of the glass first and garnish it with a slice of fresh lime. It’s a perfect summer cocktail, and would certainly fancy up your Fourth of July festivities.

I went to dinner at Daniel in New York City last week and had one of the best cocktails I have had in a long time.  It was very simple in its composition—Grey Goose pear flavored vodka, homemade Earl Grey tea syrup and a twist of lemon.

I don’t usually like flavored vodkas, but this variety is great.  It tastes like the skin of a ripe pear without seeming artificially flavored.  The citrusy and floral flavor of the tea pairs well with the fruit and is rounded off nicely with a bit of fresh lemon juice.  But, best of all this drink easily be recreated at home (less the $15 price tag)!

Earl Grey and Pear Martini
1 oz. Grey Goose pear vodka
1 oz. Earl Grey Syrup (see recipe below)
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Shake over ice in a martini shaker and strain into a chilled glass.   Garnish with a lemon zest twist.  (You could also rim the glass with a bit of sugar for a more finished look.  Or if you wanted to get really fancy, you could replace the vodka with pear brandy, my favorite being made in Portland, Oregon by Clear Creek Distillery.)

Earl Grey Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 Earl Grey tea bags

Bring the sugar and water to a boil for one minute.
Remove from heat, add tea bags and steep to a moderately strong flavor.
Remove tea bags and let cool down at room temperature.  Once cool, transfer to another container and let chill in the refrigerator until completely cold.

One of my favorite Latin American drinks is agua de tamarindo. The beverage is made similar to a tea, by boiling tamarind pods and seeds in water until the brew takes on a strong flavor and dark caramel brown color. It is then sweetened with white sugar, chilled, and served over ice—something like a Latin version of sweet tea.  It also makes a nice cocktail when mixed with Myer’s spiced rum and garnished with a fresh lime wedge.

The flavor of the drink is very distinct, and the best way I can describe it is by calling it sweet, sour and tangy. To really understand the flavor, you have to go try it yourself. I’ve found most people either love it or hate it—and not much in between.

You can also buy the beverage bottled by a company called Jarritos. Their variety is also very good, but it is a bit sweeter and is carbonated. And when you can’t get it homemade, it makes a fine substitute.

Since infusing liqueurs with different flavors has become very popular in recent years, bartenders (sometimes dubbed mixologists) are taking things to a whole new level.A couple of nights ago, I tried a small glass of bourbon, which had been infused with cedar.

The drink was very smooth and retained a good smoky oak flavor from its aging in barrels, which was accented nicely by the addition of the brighter and clean cedar flavor. I didn’t ask how they made the concoction, but if I had to guess, I would say they soaked cedar chips in a nice bottle of bourbon for at least a few weeks before serving. It was the perfect drink for a chilly evening and would probably mix very well with ginger ale.

This afternoon, while grocery shopping, I ran into some friends buying a case of EarlyTimes pre-mixed Mint Julep. Well, it is Derby time, almost a requirement to drink Juleps, however, New Orleanians hardly need horse-racing as an excuse to drink Mint Juleps and it was surprising to find someone here not making the drink from scratch.  This couple however are people “of an age” who love a good cocktail, have impeccable taste and they swear by EarlyTimes.  Accordingly, a bottle came home with me and I can attest that this is a darn nice Mint Julep poured over hand-cracked ice and muddled fresh mint.  Cheers!

There are certainly dining trends and at the moment, fancy cocktails are definitely en vogue. But, when I found a second drink this week with celery as its main flavoring, I was a little surprised. Who would have thought celery, which is used all over savory menus, could be so versatile off the plate?!

This drink was a lovely combination of prosecco and house made wild celery syrup (I’m guessing it was simple syrup steeped with fresh celery). It was crisp and sweet, with just a subtle hint of the fresh green celery flavor. Garnished with a celery leaf and a few tiny celery seeds, it made the perfect pre-dinner drink!

Last night I ordered a “spiked” horchata at a neighborhood Mexican restaurant, and although the food was mediocre (and expensive), the drink was great! It was a typical horchata that was spiked with spiced rum.

Horchata (sometimes called rice milk) is made of finely ground raw rice and cinnamon steeped in water for a few days then strained.  After it is strained it is thinned down with more water and sweetened with sugar. The result is a milky-white drink that is refreshing because it is water-based, and intense in flavor from the several-day soaking process.

Although the drink was great with the rum (a slice of orange would have been a nice addition as well), it by no means needs it.  Horchata is delicious on its own and is the perfect pairing to cool down spicy hot foods.

A terrific piece in Time covers the current trend for molecular mixology. What’s so fascinating about these cocktails are the various textures and intense flavors normally seen on the plate that are now also appearing in the glass. The drink that knocked me off my seat - I’m a bourbon gal - is from Seattle’s Vessel, where bartender (bar chef, master mixologist) Jaime Boudreau “…combines orange-infused cotton candy floss and spirits for a new twist on the old-fashioned.” Holy cow, I want to have some of that, don’t you?

  While at the South Beach Food and Wine Festival, I was given a bottle of Camitz sparkling vodka, along with a recipe book of 20 or so drinks to make with it.   After thumbing through the book, I became really excited to try this new liquor. Although the book contained lots of really interesting drinks—for instance, a lavender martini—I opted to create my own concoction.Of all the flavor combinations I tried, my favorite was quite simple and something of a cross between a Lemon Drop and a Mimosa. I combined three parts Prosecco, one part Camitz, a splash of simple syrup, a bit of fresh Meyer lemon juice and a generous amount of Meyer lemon zest. This mixture, shaken once over ice, then strained into champagne glasses, was absolutely delicious! It would make a great addition to a Sunday brunch or a very lovely pre-dinner drink.