Brooklyn’s Summer Cocktails
Emily Weinstein, editor-in-chief of NYT Food and Cooking, and of the section’s new Cocktail Deck, thinks that Tinto de Verano, could be Brooklyn’s drink of the summer.
“It’s that mix of the wine, the soda; there’s something that feels a little irreverent,” Weinstein says.
Wait a minute, wasn’t last summer—Brat Girl Summer—all about irreverence?
“This is Irreverent Girl,” says Weinstein. Like Brat Girl went to college? “It’s a little more study abroad,” she says. “There’s just something a little cheeky about the Tinto de Verano that I am really into. It’s sophisticated. You can just see somebody drinking it on a patio, on a rooftop. It’s dusk, I’m looking out over something.”
The drink—a mix of red wine, lemon-lime soda, and sweet vermouth—is one of 50 cocktail recipe cards measuring five by seven inches, which makes the package ideally sized for any minibar. It’s a playful, attractive little guide that, pardon the pun, goes down easy. The tinto is the only wine-based drink of Spanish origins that Weinstein is picking out of the deck for this summer. “Hear me out—sangria,” she says. “A lot of people associate sangria with [being] too sweet. But my husband recently made the sangria recipe from the deck for a party we were going to and, wow, did that fly. He was measured with the sugar, he added a ton of fruit, and it was delicious. It’s as good a case as any one person can make for sangria.”
But it’s not just about the sweet restraint. For Weinstein, the effectiveness of these recipes comes down to the quality of your ingredients. Take the sangria example: “It’s about what wine that you use,” she says. “When people write a recipe, they always say, ‘Use a bottle of wine that you would actually want to drink.’ If you’re going to a wine store and you’re buying the wine for the sangria, it doesn’t have to be expensive at all, but that’s much of what you’re tasting in the drink. You want to start from a good place.”
While personal taste is certainly at play here, the same goes for your Dark and Stormy or your dirty martini (Aren’t all vodkas the same? No? Debate for another time, but seriously don’t waste your money on Grey Goose; you’re just paying for more Grey Goose ads).
The Times Cooking and Dining section has had some fun the past few years naming a drink of the summer. Previous summers belonged to the Dirty Shirley and Espresso Martini, while this year it’s the Hugo Spritz’s turn, apparently. St. Germain elderflower liqueur, Prosecco, and sparkling water make up this breezy summer drink, which is a head turner, usually served in an oversized wine glass and garnished with a slice of lime and a sprig of mint.
We wanted to know: Does Brooklyn have a summer drink, as opposed to Manhattan or the other boroughs? “The pickle brine margarita,” Weinstein says, naming another card in the Cocktail Deck. “Brine is just so Brooklyn.”
A Summer Cocktail for Manhattan
Peeling through the cards for a more Manhattan-centric hot weather bevy, Weinstein notes tequila-based Ranch Water, “so cool,” before zoning in on the All Day Cassis, a Rebekah Peppler recipe that Weinstein calls “chic.” “It includes dry vermouth and creme de cassis, with dry, sparkling rosé as the base,” she says, noting its gorgeous orange hue. “There’s just something elegant about it. It’s got the playfulness and joy of summer. It’s a little more intricate than getting a bottle of sparkling rosé.”
What about Weinstein? What’s her drink of the summer? She says that she’s considering becoming a sangria convert, but ultimately lands in more traditional territory. “I’ve been drinking a lot of gin and tonics,” she says. “I know it’s so straightforward, but I just think nothing else quite hits the same way when it’s been really, really hot out.”
While this choice also comes down to which gin you’re using (she’s a Bar Hill woman; I’m a Beefeater guy), there’s something straightforward, rewarding, about the classic drink on a hot summer day.
“I want something really delightful,” she says.
