Thirsty Jueves! Tinto de Verano edition

In celebration of our air-conditioning being fixed (woohoo!) and that it's almost the fin de semana, we are going to dedicate this blog post to a muy popular Spanish bebida.

If you said sangria, you are wrong. While delicious (and nutritious?), sangria is considered to be somewhat of a tourist drink and locals are rarely seen ordering it. Frankly, we don't quite understand this - Meghann has an unabashed amor for all things blue crab and Graham would never turn down Carolina barbecue. But that's okay, because the Spanish have come up with an equally delicioso and much easier to make drink.

Tinto de Verano! Which literally translates to "red wine of summer." Vino tinto = red wine and verano = summer.

It can be ordered out at most bars and restaurantes, either by the glass or pitcher.

It can even be bought ready-made from the local tienda, but it's so easy to make there is no reason to not DIY this drink.

Here's what you need:

-Tempranillo, a Spanish vino that you should be able to find at better wine stores in the US. Nothing expensive, but something that you would actually want to drink (which is pretty much the common rule for mixed drinks). We used what we had in the casa, leftover from the noche before.

-Gaseosa, which is commonly found in grocery markets here and is a lightly citrus-flavored, sugar-free carbonated beverage. You can substitute with lemon-flavored Perrier or a similar sparkling water.

-Lemon, self-explanatory.

-Frozen agua.

-A plain tumbler or highball glass. No fancy stemware aqui, do as the Spanish do. (Our stunning glass is from Ikea.)

1. Pour wine over ice. How much is up to you. We normally fill the glass halfway. Not that we encourage people to do what we do. (We omitted the picture of putting the ice in the glass, but if you can't figure that out, you probably shouldn't be drinking.)

2. Fill the remainder of the glass with gaseosa or whichever substitute you have gotten your manos on.

3. Slice your lemon into a thin wheel.

4. Okay, stick with us now. This is complicated - put the lemon wheel into the glass.

Good work, you're a culinary master! Now it's time to enjoy all your hard work.

Side note: A common (and equally thirst-quenching) variation of this is the tinto de verano con limon, which is made with lemon Fanta. We're not sure if lemon Fanta is even available in the US, but we would use Pellegrino limonata in its place. 3 reasons for this: 1, it's better than Sprite (which some recipes call for). 2, it has a yummy lemon flavor. 3, it comes in a super-cute can. Number 3 is all Meghann.

The last step is very importante. Take it outside - yard, porch, patio, lean out of an open window, do whatever you have to do because tinto de verano is best enjoyed in the summer aire. (Tiny dog optional, but encouraged.) Also, please ignore our gross loaner furniture. 

Now we know some of you might be turned off by anything that might resemble a spritzer or requires Fanta, but trust us, it's bueno.

Here's proof:

Salud!

Try it and tell us what you think. And let us know some of your favorite summertime cocktail recipes.