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.

Got back to the guava juice Sharmila had bought. This is a relatively simple cocktail – two ounces of vodka, two and a half ounces of guava juice and half an ounce of sweetened lime juice – shaken over ice and served in a martini glass without any garnish.

Tried a variant on margarita. First off, used the guava juice that Sharmila got. Still experimenting with it. Second, instead of Tequila, used Casamigos Mezcal. And finally, used kiln fired rock salt for the rim of the glass.

Wet the rim of the margarita glass with a slice of lime and rotate the rim on a small pile of kiln fired rock salt so a little of it sticks all around. In a mixing glass, put ice, three ounces of guava juice, one and a half ounce of mezcal, three quarters ounce of cointreau and squeeze a slice of lime in it. Thoroughly shake it and pour in the glass.

This one is improvised from a recipe I found in a rather humorously named website.

Take two slices of lime in a muddling glass and throw in a spoonful of sugar in it. Muddle it very well. Add ice to it. Pour two ounces of rum and four ounces of guava juice in it and then shake it well.

Pour it in a glass of your choice (I used a margarita glass) and serve.

Great tropical drink. Probably more suited to summer days but I enjoyed it anyways.

The three ingredients of a Racquet Club are Gin, Dry Vermouth and Orange Bitters. Interestingly enough, you can make a Leaning Tower, Delmonico or an Astorio Bianco using those exact ingredients and nothing else. It is all in the proportions.

This one has 3 ounces of gin, 1 ounce of dry vermouth and 4 dashes of orange bitters.