Sunshine banishes the dark

Yeah, it's still February, but it's not too early to start thinking about summer. Hell, at this point, I can think of little else. Summer means patio season and patio season means patio drinks. Last year was all about the Aperol spritz, the year before the Campari Americano. The early contender for the drink of summer 2014? The Campari Shandy

5'o'clock somewhere

It's late afternoon on Friday, so naturally I'm thinking of the drink I'm going to have when I get home in a couple of hours. And I ain't talking about tea. So, for your happy hour pleasure, here is a pretty great selection of simple cocktails, courtesy Mark Bittman of the New York Times. Prost!

Mix and match

When a hot summer day rolls around, nothing hits the spot quite like a crisp, fruity wheat beer. Alas, while our winter has been unseasonably unseasonable, it’s not summer yet. That’s no reason why you can’t spruce up your February cocktails with a little of that liquid sunshine.

The Maple Leaf forever

Here in the Big Smoke, the autumn is stubbornly refusing to give way to the winter snows that have started blanketing other parts of the country (even our fair west coast). It’s crispy, but the boots are still in the basement for now.

Still, the nights do get cool, so if you really need an excuse to crawl under a soft blanket on the couch, it's there if you need it. And how about a warming cocktail to complete that little tableaux?