Summer Drinkin'

It’s been a hot summer. A scorcher. I mean, for Pete’s sake, we’re just getting into August and daytime temperatures in the 90s here in western Pennsylvania have become as common as NFL player arrests.

Now, I’m primarily a beer guy, and in the summer there is nothing I like better than a good wheat beer (the local Penn Hefeweizen being among the best) or a hoppy IPA (Stone IPA has been killer recently). At this exact very momentous instant, in fact, I'm drinking a limited summer release from Dogfish Head -- now officially among the top tier of U.S. breweries -- called Festina Peche. It's light, subtly tart, and, as its name implies, slightly peachy. Not as good as ApriHop, but enjoyable nonetheless.

But I digress... Again, although primarily a beer guy (and a wine guy secondarily, if we're limiting the conversation to alcoholic beverages, which we are), this summer my wife and I have been enjoying a simple mixed drink that my wife’s friend turned her onto: Vodka and soda with lemon.

Nothing too complex here. Approximately one part vodka per every three parts of club soda, plenty of ice, finely dressed with a lemon slice. We’ve been using Ketel One much of the summer, but I would guess that any decent vodka will do.

The beauty of this drink, and its potential attraction to anybody watching their girly/metrosexualish figure, is that it’s low in calories: Zero calories in club soda and 64 calories in one ounce of vodka.

In theory, at least, the typical mixed drink has one shot, or 1.5 ounces, of vodka, which means a a satisfying vodka and soda with lemon has the same amount of calories as a bottle (or worse -- if it can actually get any worse -- a can) of that tasteless, sorry waste of tap water, Miller Lite (96 calories) and nearly half the calories of the new "Cosmo" of beers, Blue Moon (174 calories).

More recently, we’ve been enjoying a twist on this drink: Absolut Pear and soda with lime. My highest recommendations to either.