Summer is upon us and that means many things to each and every one of us. To me it means swimming, blended margaritas, watching baseball, dinner outdoors, picnics and a whole host of other things. It also means sun tea. I love sun tea and personally feel that tea, brewed by the sun over a couple of hours makes the best tea for iced tea. Come to our house in summertime and you will find a jar of sun tea either in the fridge or brewing on the deck. Like a good boy hailing from Indiana, who take their cue from Southerners, I prefer my iced tea sweet, though not as sweet as they do in the south. I also like my tea accented with mint, Spearmint to be exact. I just find it so refreshing and rejuvenating after an afternoon of mowing or yard work.

Sun tea is not hard to make, just fill a clear glass jar with cool water and toss in a few bags of tea leaves. I usually add 10 bags to a gallon jug. Place outside in direct sunlight and allow to steep for 2-4 hours. Remove tea bags and chill. To add mint, rinse the mint, after picking and place it in the jar before adding the other ingredients. With a wooden spoon bruise the mint to help release its essence then precede with the above instructions. To sweeten the tea, while the tea is brewing dissolve 3/4 cup of sugar in 1/2 cup of water over high heat. When all dissolved remove from heat. Add simple syrup to the sun tea when you remove the tea bags. That’s all there is too it. Enjoy!!

And now for my rant. Do a web search on sun tea and you will come across numerous sites spouting the CDC (Center for Disease Control) warning against making sun tea. Because the brewing tea sits right in the middle of the temperature danger zone (the zone at which bacteria grow like wildfire) there is a risk of foodborne illness. Okay, I admit, in theory they have a point. It is possible to get sick from sun tea, and I am sure there are some cases on record to prove their point, but I have never in my life heard of anyone getting sick off of sun tea, and many in my extended family have been making it for years. Sure there might be a risk, but there’s a risk with just stepping outside every day, crossing the street, driving a car, etc. If you listen to all the CDC and the FDA has to say then no more soft set or sunny side up eggs, all steaks and burgers would be cooked well done. Forget about sushi, sashimi, carpaccio, and steak tartar. As it is, they won’t let you make your own decisions about whether you want to drink unpasteurized milk or eat cheese made with unpasteurized milk if it has been aged less than 60 days, all to keep you safe. Don’t get me wrong I think people should be made aware of the risks involved in eating and preparing certain foods, but so many of these statements come across as scare tactics. They often are made to sound dire, like “Drink this and die!” What they won’t tell you are the stats. It seems to me we’ve become scared of our own shadows. Thanks for the warning CDC, but I think I can handle the risk factor of sun tea and just to up the ante, I think I’ll order in some sushi also.

Years ago, when I attended New England Culinary Institute there was a little, local distillery that made a cucumber flavored gin. We had discovered it by accident, but I was glad we had as it made the greatest Gin & Tonics I had ever tasted. While the juniper flavor was still there it didn’t overpower and the combination of the cucumber, lime and tonic created a wonderfully refreshing beverage meant for chasing the heat of summer away. Veranda Gin was well ahead of its time. It was one of the few well crafted gins being created in small batches and using flavors beyond juniper to give their drink a unique taste all its own. Today many distilleries are experimenting with gin and flavors besides juniper, but it took them 10 years to catch up to what Vermont Distillers had created. Unfortunately, I believe that Vermont Distillers no longer exists as I’ve spent a number of hours searching the web to find any information on them. Most references I find are dated from the mid 1990′s and earlier. I had never forgotten those Gin & Tonics though and over the years I have perfected my own cucumber accented Gin & Tonic, which I happily share with you all.

Cucumber Juice
1 1/2 Cucumbers
2 Tbsp. Water

Peel the whole cucumber, but leave the 1/2 cucumber unpeeled. Roughly chop and place in a blender along with the water. Blend until as smooth as possible (about 1 minute). Strain through a fine mesh strainer pressing down on the pulp to extract as much liquid as possible. Depending on your cucumbers this should yield approximately 2 cups-plenty for a night of drinking with friends and then some unless you’re a lush like me!

Summertime Gin & Tonic
1 1/2 oz. Gin (preferably one with a little less juniper flavor such as Plymouth’s or Tanqueray 10)
2 oz. Cucumber Juice
2 wedges Lime (cut into 1/8th)
Tonic Water

Fill a tall Collins glass with ice. Add the gin and cucumber juice. Squeeze 1 wedge of lime into the glass and drop the lime in also. Fill with tonic water and garnish with the additional lime, allowing your guest to add more lime flavor if they want.

Last night Wanda and I headed up to Appleton, WI to attend the first “Grilling with Beer” cook-off presented by Wisconsin Distributors and held at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel. It may have not been the most romantic of dates, but we were childless for the next few hours and what’s not to enjoy about beer and grilling? The weather was perfect, warm but not too hot, and the courtyard of the hotel was filled with the mingled scents of grilling meat and charcoal. The cook-off featured 10 chefs, from various styles of restaurants. Each chef was to prepare at least part of their dish on grills during the event and each chef was given a specific beer which they were to use in the creation of their dish, as well as pour during the event. The beers ranged from the mundane such as “Bud Light Lime” and “Landshark” to quirky such as Bud’s newest, “Wild Blue” a blueberry flavored beer, to sublime such as the 2 offerings from New Belgium, “Fat Tire” and “1554.” The food too, ran the gamut from uninspired and poorly executed, such as the boneless rib on a stick that was so tough I couldn’t chew through it try as I might, to well thought out and perfectly presented.

Of all the dishes I tried, three stood out among the rest and 1 tried really hard but just fell short. That dish was a flank steak served with basmati rice and an Indian inspired sauce. Since they were pairing with an IPA (Indian Pale Ale) I thought the Indian influence would be nice, but over cooked basmati and the choice of beef made the dish fail. How often do you see beef in Indian cuisine. They would have been better off with Lamb, which would have been great, or even chicken or pork-anything but beef. The three stand outs that night were the “Urban Shrimp with a 3-1-2 Punch,” the Grilled Pork Eye presented by “Big Tomatoes,” and the Grilled Elk with New Belgium’s “1554.” The shrimp were butterflied open, stuffed with a sliver of jalapeno, wrapped in bacon then grilled and glazed with a sweet BBQ sauce accented with Goose Island’s 312 Urban Wheat Beer. It’s only failing was the couscous salad it was served on. The Israeli couscous had been over cooked and had turned mushy, so on my second trip up to try a shrimp I just tossed the salad aside and ate the shrimp. “Big Tomatoes” Grilled pork was sauced with a Pomegranate BBQ Sauce accented with New Belgium’s “Fat Tire” and served with Grilled Corn and Poblano Ragout. The grilled elk, presented by Stone Cellar Brew Pub had been marinated in “1554″ and served with 2 sauces and marinated artichokes all of which had included “1554″ in some way or another.

We never did get to see who eventually won, though my guess is the shrimp dish, as our time was running out and our daughter was waiting for us to pick her up. We reluctantly grabbed one last nibble, cast our votes for the people’s choice and headed home.

I might have missed the Kentucky Derby but that’s no reason not to enjoy a Mint Julep every now and then. As an aficiando of Bourbon I usually prefer it straight with just an ice cube or two to chill it down and add just enough water to help open up the bouquet. I do make a couple of exceptions to this rule, though, for Juleps, Manhattans and Old Fashioneds, the latter two being my choice most often. Every once in awhile though I love a good Mint Julep, but it needs to be made right. I’m picky about my Juleps and since most bars, at least here in Wisconsin, can’t make a Manhattan or Old Fashioned properly, I can’t expect them to make a good Julep so if I want one I have to make it myself. The very first consideration when making a Mint Julep is Bourbon selection. My favorite Bourbons are Basil Hayden’s and Woodford Reserve, but these are Bourbons meant for drinking straight. They are too nuanced and expensive to use in a cocktail, so I usually turn to Maker’s Mark. Whatever you do stay away from Jim Beam. It might be fine in some cocktails, i.e. Jim and Coke or Whiskey Sours, but just doesn’t cut it in a drink where the Bourbon really shines through. Next is mint selection. Please use Spearmint and not Peppermint for your creation. One of these days I want to try Lemon Balm (one of my favorite “tea” herbs and a relative to mint). When I do I will update you all. A final word about ingredients, some recipes call for powdered sugar. Stay away from it. Most “powdered” sugar contains some cornstarch to keep it from clumping and this will cloud your drink. Use regular granulated sugar or superfine sugar if you can find it. Now Mint Juleps are one of those very selective things. Ask 20 experts how to make one and you’ll get 20 answers. I won’t claim this is the “proper” way to make a julep or that it is even the best way. What I will say is that this is how I like them the best, and after considerable “research” over the years I feel I have a pretty good grasp. Okay, let’s start: First don’t worry if you don’t have a tradition julep cup, it will taste just fine in any old fashioned tumbler or highball glass. Once you have your glass drop in about 4-7 mint leaves, depending on size and your tastes and add about 1/2 tablespoon of sugar. Don’t add too much sugar, this isn’t supposed to be a sweet drink! Muddle the sugar and mint just until the mint starts to break up. Next add crushed ice, not shaved ice as it melts too fast for my taste. To crush the ice I like to take about 8 ice cubes, place them in a ziplock bag and gently pound them with a hammer. You want a good mix of medium sized pieces (to keep your drink cold for a time) and pulverized shards (to melt immediately providing the right amount of dilution). Don’ beat it all to a fine snow!!!! Add this to your glass then pour in 3oz of Bourbon. Stir to mix and chill the Julep. Garnish with a fresh sprig of mint. Do not skip the garnish as the aroma of the mint garnish helps to reinforce it’s flavor in the drink. Now sit back, in a rocker, relax, and enjoy life!!