Watermelon offers taste of summer

ORLANDO, Fla. — Lil’ Indies bartender Jeremy Kazmier used to spend summers at his grandfather’s little farm out in Apopka, Fla., when he was a kid. It wasn’t all that big, but there were goats and a field where he and his cousins would play baseball and a ¼-acre garden where all sorts of things grew, one of which was watermelons.

His granddad would get big buckets of ice water, and drop the melons inside to cool them down.

“He’d take the melons and slam them down on this huge table and we would all sit there on a nice, hot summer day, eating watermelon and spitting the seeds out,” says Kazmier.

The Watermelon Patch is, at least in part, an homage to those days. And to watermelon’s ability to embrace the Florida summer and take it down a notch.

And so we asked three of Orlando’s craft mixology pros to give us a summer sipper for beach, pool and backyard barbecue.

Brittany DiIorio, owner/bar manager for The Neighbors (theneighborsorl.com) — a part lounge, part boutique hang in the upstairs space at East End Market — has been enjoying the creative process since the place opened about eight months ago.

“We were thinking that going into summer, things would slow down a bit, but they haven’t,” she says. Now that they’ve added live music and a regular happy hour into the mix, the space — which offers fresh-made mocktails, as well — has been booming. Guests love that the menu changes with the season and her watermelon offering, the Summerlin, gives a neighborly nod to the avenue as well as the friends (Jill Kremer of Smiling Goat Goods and Domu bar manager Christina Guardyak) whose expertise in shrubs helped inspire it.

“This cocktail uses a housemade shrub made with fresh watermelon juice, sugar and vinegar — plus basil and dill,” DiIorio explains. “I used apple cider vinegar in this one. A lot of people imagine that vinegar will make a drink sour, but the fruit — especially a juicy one, like watermelon or pineapple — balances everything and makes it super yummy.”

You can get just about any drink at The Matador, but the seasonal cocktail menu allows the mixing pros here to spread their wings.

“Having seasonal ingredients just gets your brain flowing,” says bartender Tiffany Santiago. “It’s fun being able to play.”

Her simply named offering, the Camilla, features Italicus Rosolio de Bergamotto, a rose petal liqueur that with fresh watermelon juice and mint creates something “light and refreshing and sweet — but not too sweet.”

She says it’s a nice one for batching, as well, if you’re planning an afternoon pool party and want something you can pre-mix and place in a cooler.

Fresh ingredients are as important behind the bar as in the kitchen, says Kazmier, and really up the game for home bartenders, as well.

“Paying attention to a cocktail means paying attention to everything,” he notes. “That means the glass it goes into, the ice you use, the garnish … You get more out of the cocktail using fresh ingredients. You can taste the brightness.”

And refreshing, summery watermelon, he adds, goes with just about any spirit you’d want to use.

“If you’re a beachgoer or want to sit out back by the pool, or even in a chair on a covered patio to watch the rain, because that’s how summer is in Florida, the Watermelon Patch is the perfect cocktail,” Kazmier says. “It makes you feel Florida summertime.”

The Watermelon Patch

Created by Jeremy Kazmier, bartender, Lil’ Indies

1.5 ounces of Flor de Caña rum

1 ounce of a watermelon-coriander-rosemary infusion (recipe below)

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

1/2 ounce pineapple juice

1/2 ounce Aperol

2 dashes orange bitters

Tajin (for the rim)

For watermelon infusion: Place the well-strained juice of one small, seedless watermelon into a container. Add 1/4 cup crushed coriander seeds and 4-6 sprigs fresh rosemary. Cover and store in fridge two-three days. Strain well through cheesecloth or coffee filter. Keep refrigerated, use as needed for cocktails.

To make the drink: Rim rocks glass with Tajin and fill with ice. Pour rum, infusion, juices and Aperol into shaker with 1 cup ice. Shake well. Pour cocktail over top. Suggested garnish: lime wheel or small, Tajin-dipped watermelon wedge.

Camilla

Created by Tiffany Santiago, bartender, The Matador

1 ounce gin

1 ounce Italicus Rosolio de Bergamotto

1 ounce watermelon juice

1/4 ounce simple syrup

Muddle a few mint leaves in base of cocktail shaker, then add ice and all other ingredients. Shake well, strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with mint leaf.

The Summerlin

Created by Brittany DiIorio, owner/bar manager, The Neighbors

11/2 ounces Gin Lane Cucumber Watermelon Gin

11/2 ounces watermelon-basil-dill shrub syrup

1/2 ounce Aperol

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1/4 ounce aloe liqueur

Soda water (for top off)

Dill for garnish

For shrub syrup

Ingredients (makes 2 quarts)

2 cups fresh watermelon juice

1 cup fresh watermelon, cubed

1 cup apple cider vinegar

6-8 fresh basil leaves

Fresh dill to taste

2 cups cane sugar

1/4 cup honey

Simple syrup: Combine all ingredients in sealable container. Mix well. Store in fridge 2-3 days, agitating a few times during the steep. Strain before using. “The longer it sits, the more vinegar-forward it will be — but with this amount of juice, it will stay very fruity and refreshing,” says DiIorio.

Cocktail: Starting with the lemon and shrub, add all ingredients except soda water to shaker, add ice and shake. Fine strain into Collins glass. Add ice. Top with soda (about 1-2 ounces of soda if using a typical Collins glass, roughly 10-13 ounces). Add small dill garnish.