Lychees were an interesting fruit growing up. There was the menacing looking outer shell. Fortunately, it came off very easily. And then just as you put the nice luscious fruit in your mouth, you realized there was little truth in the advertisement. The soft fruit pulp came with a humongous seed!

Still, many a summer afternoon was spent eating a few of those juicy fruits. Sweet, great texture and very soft aroma.

Today’s drink is made from Lychee juice. Half an ounce of lime juice, two ounces of lychee juice, one and a half juice of gin, half an ounce of simple syrup, half an ounce of triple sec and ice thoroughly mixed in a glass and then poured in a martini glass first lightly rimmed with some sugar.

Was a big hit at our home this evening. Even Sharmila skipped the evening wine for this cocktail.

Fairly mild on the nose, the palette is that of the lime, sugar and lychee. The distinct finish of the juniper came way at the end.

Was getting tired of the tamarind flavor. Looked in the bar refrigerator and found a bottle of guava juice. Some amount of research later, found out this cocktail. If you like guava, you are bound to like this taste. It is geared more for tropical climates though. I will do this one more time when it gets really hot in summer.

This has lime juice, pineapple flavored rum, cointreau and guava juice.

While looking for cocktails that use Spicy Tamarind vodka, I came across this recipe. It actually does not use tamarind vodka. Instead, it uses tamarind paste (which I had!!).

Thoroughly mix half a lime worth of juice, couple of pinches of Tajin salt, quarter spoonful of tamarind sauce and a spoonful of sugar in a mixing glass. Pour ice, 2 ounces of vodka (I used Tito’s) and 3 ounces of water and mix thoroughly. Pour into a martini glass that has been rimmed with Tajin salt.

Nice tarty taste with a kick from the Tajin salt…

This is a variation of Moscow Mule. Instead of vodka, it uses Cachaca. I used Sagatiba Cachaca (1.5 ounces), Ginger Beer, 18.21 ginger lemon bitters and some lime juice.

Found a unique ingredient – Spicy Tamarind Vodka!! Made by Smirnoff. I am sure my friends from India would love it. Made the first cocktail from a suggestion in Smirnoff’s website – Spicy Mangorita!

Used Tajin salt to rim the glass and 5 ounces of mango juice, quarter of lime juice and one and a half ounces of spicy tamarind vodka for the drink. Came out fairly well!!

It was a great spring afternoon. The temperatures were nice, the sun was warm and not too hot and all of Atlanta was yellow with pollen. Wanted to take in some of the sunlight by the pool. Not that I was looking for something that would change my mood, but went with this cocktail – “Capricious” – from Food and Wine Magazine.

A brief background on this cocktail…

“At Tales of the Cocktail 2008, an annual festival in New Orleans, Eric Alperin created this Martini variation for a party hosted by St-Germain, the French producers of artisanal elderflower liqueur. Because vermouth and gin have lots of botanical elements, they’re natural partners for the lightly sweet, floral liqueur.”

This is 1.5 oz of gin (used Bombay Sapphire), 0.5 oz elderflower liqueur (used St. Germain), 0.5 oz dry Vermouth (used Rivata) and a couple of dashes of bitters (used Peychaud’s)

This is equal parts Bacardi Rum, Dry Vermouth and Orange Curacao!!

Sagatiba Cachaca, muddled lime and granulated sugar

After a long time, had a Tom Collins. This is one of the few citrusy cocktail I can deal with. Used Malfy gin today. Malfy gin uses 20% lemons from the Amalfi coast and 80% lemons from Sicily to give the distinct nose.

Gin, lime juice, syrup and soda…

Picked this recipe up from Melanie Milhorat of New York from Taste of Home. The drinks tastes great and even as importantly, looks great.

This cocktail is stirred not shaken. Fill three fourth of a stirring glass with ice and then pour two teaspoons of lemon juice, two ounces of coconut rum, two ounces of guava juice, a dash of syrup and couple of dashes of bitters. Stir it thoroughly and then pour it in a glass with a few pieces of ice already in it.