Like Tupac, it’s full of California love.

Summer comes, and summer goes in a flurry of Labor Day. What they can never take from our summer, however, is our ice cream. Because if we have to steal a Good Humor truck and Cannonball Run across the country in an outlaw chase while we polish off the last of what’s in the freezer, we will. More than damn near any of the frozen novelties — except for maybe the Bomb Pop and Bubble O’Bill, the Creamsicle has left its indelible mark on summer.

Naturally, it needs to be in booze form.

N9NE Steakhouse and Nove Italiano at the Palms are bringing out the California Creamsicle for Labor Day weekend, inspired by the citrus sellers of Southern Cali. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

In Soviet Russia, cocktail drinks you.

Oh, America. We won the Cold War so damn hard we took the idea of the very place where ruthless, stony faced Soviet bureaucrats plotted the demise of capitalism and turned it into a cocktail even your little sister can drink.

Take that Brezhnev.

The Red Square at KGB inside of Harrrah’s is a mix of Stoli vanilla, Khalua and almond liqueur, shaken and strained into a cocktail glass with a maraschino cherry resting at the bottom. It’s perfect for people who don’t like whiskey but still want to pass off like they’re drinking a Manhattan. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Tequila isn’t just lurking, it’s daring you.

There are only so many ways to gussy up a traditional Margarita, yet the one that never fails is blowing it out of the water with high-end tequila.

The Strip House Margarita at the Planet Hollywood restaurant takes DeLeon Tequila Diamante — which retails around $100 to $125 a bottle — and mixes it with lime, agave nectar and Grand Mariner. Agave nectar aside, it’s a basic build that hews to the traditional recipe.

Still, the DeLeon is a smooth, smoky, woody, robust tequila that takes over the drink and lends a little elegance to a cocktail that we normally prefer to consume by the pitcher. (In all fairness, we prefer to drink most of our cocktails by the pitcher — your mileage may vary.)

It’s surprising in that for a Margarita, it’s not overly sweet — a little floral touch of agave nectar underneath, notwithstanding. If anything, it’s unbalanced, but in a good way. This is a Margarita that lets you know who’s in charge.

By Jason Scavone

Leggy, like the best women.

We do so love a good mystery. Especially when it’s the mystery of the missing tequila style.

Casa Dragones is a newcomer to the ultra-premium market that blends pure agave platinum with a hint of extra anejo. It’s not going to come cheap — at $275 a bottle and $45 a glass at Mesa Grill — but then, mysteries usually don’t.

“Most tequila makers do a blanco, reposado, anejo, extra anejo. But there is one other style, joven, that’s the forgotten style of blue agave,” said Casa Dragones rep Robert T. Pittman. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Cucumberly delicious.

On a blazing hot day, we understand that you don’t want to sit down to a pan of lasagna. You want something light, like a salad. And a cocktail. But who has time to eat and drink two different things? Not you. You’re busy. You’ve got places to be.

Lucky for you, you can get plenty of cucumber in your cocktails. SushiSamba’s Kumori Sukai (meaning “Cloudy Sky”) uses the cuke for a savory summertime drink that’s a nice change of pace from the usual fruity fare.

Take an ounce of shochu, an ounce of gin, an ounce of sake, half an ounce of sour and shake with muddled cucumbers. Strain into a cocktail glass half-rimmed with crushed Nori salt and wasabi, then garnish with a cuke slice. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

When it gets hot enough you will want to stick your whole head in the glass.

Good rule of thumb for summer drinking: The simpler the better. Especially when “simple” means “can be served in mass quantities.”

Encore Beach Club turns in a summer cooler that keeps it basic, because the last thing you want to do in 115-degree heat is ponder tannins and oak notes.

For their Blueberry Lemonade, use an ounce and a half of Stoli blueberry vodka, half an ounce of simple syrup, three ounces of fresh lemon, shake it all up with fresh blueberries and top with a splash of soda. Simple, effective, and can be served by the pitcher by quadrupling the recipe. Not digging the blueberry? EBC also offers a Raspberry Lemonade as well.

You know exactly what you’re getting here. While there aren’t any surprises — why yes, fresh blueberry is delicious in lemonade — these go down faster and easier than a BP oil rig. Now if only enterprising children would start adding this to their lemonade stand repertoire, we’d gladly pay more than a nickel a glass.

By Jason Scavone

Tastes like politics. Delicious, delicious politics.

Allow us to Linus out for a moment. Sometimes lost in all hoopla we just finished up, what with the fireworks and the hot dog eating contests and the tiny flags that play Lee Greenwood songs when you wave them, is true meaning of Independence Day: Celebrating democracy through the liberal application of alcohol.

It’s nothing new. In 1898 Tom Hussion of the Lock-Ober Cafe in Boston created the Ward Eight on election eve to celebrate the pending ascension of Democrat Martin M. Lomasney (who, the story has it, was involved in the temperance movement) to the state legislature. Forget dressing up as Lincoln to read the Gettysburg Address; this is the way to celebrate civics.

Nectaly Mendoza, owner of Herbs & Rye (3713 W. Sahara Ave.) has a little experience with tinkering with cocktails the night before an event, too. Just before the restaurant was set to open, he scrapped the entire cocktail menu and went with his gut. He put his knowledge and passion for the history of libations to the test and designed a cocktail menu around the classics, separating drinks out by era, from the dawn of American drinking to Prohibition and beyond. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

LICOR DEL DIABLO! Slayer would approve.

The Man in Black said you’ll burn, burn burn — but he didn’t have any sweet, soothing mango to take the edge off.

The Diablo Dulce at Cana Latin Kitchen in Town Square isn’t for the faint of tongue, but for the hardy, it rocks a sweet/heat combo that started out so potent, bartender John Meyer had to take the cocktail through several iterations to get it to where it is. All that work because his spouse has a taste for spice.

“My wife likes hot stuff. When I first did it I infused the peppers and the garlic inside a Bacardi bottle and it was way too hot,” Meyer said. “We’ve been working it. We finally got it on our third menu. We brunoise all the peppers and the garlic. That way it’s consistent when other bartenders make it.” Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Now you know what a liquid diabetic coma looks like.

Analogy time! Gummiberry Juice: Gummi Bears:: Rick’s Forbidden Fruit: Strippers.

It’s Stripperberry Juice.

Take Black Haus blackberry schnapps, watermelon Pucker and pineapple juice in equal parts. Shake and strain that baby into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass, and garnish with maraschino cherries rolled in sugar. For a flourish, drizzle in some grenadine for an extra layer of, as noted strip-club musical accompaniment Def Leppard said, sticky sweet. (From your head, head to your feet at your own discretion.) Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone

Try not to cackle like Vincent Price right now. Just go ahead and try.

There’s a fundamental problem to drinking outside in Vegas during the summer: You can’t put ‘em back fast enough to keep the ice from melting. There’s also a fundamental problem with the T-1000: It can’t be stopped with bullets.

These two key challenges do, however, share the same solution: Liquid nitrogen. On the one hand, it keeps your drink frosty even when it’s 115 out. On the other hand, it allows you to shatter Robert Patrick with one well-placed pistol shot.

Nu Sanctuary made with the mad scientist routine in developing the When Hell Freezes Over. It takes two steps and lots of liquid nitro, so adding this one to the recipe book in your home bar might not be practical, unless you also happen to be Mr. Wizard. Click for more words and pictures »

By Jason Scavone