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Take It With You
Packing up packie goodness
By PINK LADY
del.ico.us
reddit!
Come spring, LUPEC will take whatever chance we get to imbibe outdoors. For urban dwellers who aren't blessed with a patio, porch or roof deck, drinking outside can be tricky. With a little planning, you can take your sipping to the streets, the beach or an idyllic little patch of grass on the Esplanade. These tips will get you started:
1)
Mix a batch of the desired cocktail as you might for a party or if serving it as a punch. Add any fresh juices as close to when you'll be imbibing as possible, remembering that citrus magnifies in large quantities; scale down citrus by about 75 percent, and add more to taste. Keep your ice situation in mind, too: Ice melt accounts for 25 percent of your drink, so adding a little H2O at this stage might not be a bad idea.
2)If planning far enough in advance, why not make some special ice for the occasion? Dense spheres of ice shaped roughly equivalent to your picnic-ware cups is an ideal choice—they'll melt slower while keeping your beverage frosty, potentially through multiple refills.
3)Pack it up and hit the road. Eco-friendly, stainless-steel alternatives to plastic bottles double well as a transporter for pre-batched booze. Those big jugs with the little plastic nozzles that dispensed copious amounts of bug juice in your youth have campy appeal. Pack whatever other mixers you may need in your cooler, and you're off!
Here's a recipe for a batch of Tom Collins that's bound to refresh between croquet matches in the great outdoors.
TOM COLLINS
1.5 parts gin
1 part simple syrup
0.5 part lemon juice
club soda
Pre-batch gin, simple syrup and lemon juice, tasting and adding more lemon juice until the sweet-citrusy balance is achieved. You may also add a little water at this stage, as the usual recipe calls for shaking the booze with ice before straining it over some cubes.
Once comfortably nestled in your picnic spot, pour the hooch over ice in a picnic cup, top with club soda, and enjoy!
CIN-CIN!
