Wisconsin summers are hardly notorious, except for their brevity. But keep in mind that, at least while I was growing up there, air conditioning was a rarity. So that week or two of 90° and high humidity can be pretty uncomfortable. Besides, after the long winter, 75°and sunny feels like Aruba.

A favorite drink of my Mom’s (and much of the rest of the family) during these fleeting summer days was the Rum & Tonic. We had some heavy green glass lowball glasses that were only ever used for Rum & Tonics, so that it feels strange for me to see them in other glasses today. It’s odd, like drinking a martini out of beer mug.

When I think of summers back home, the image of those little green glasses is tucked somewhere in the corner of a busy scene of basketball in the driveway, smoking Weber grills and late afternoon sun glinting off the Chippewa River. I believe my obsession with backyard life started then, and while the rum & tonic is not the only drink that lives in my half-fantasy, half-reality patio world, it is undoubtedly one of its first residents.

I had always assumed that this was a standard combo, no more unusual than gin or vodka tonics. Yet I later realized that this is not a widely popular drink when I brought some to summer evening barbecue in Boston. Now I live in central Texas, where we had four days above 80° in January. The hammock stays up year round, and the tonic reserves are regularly restocked.

In a lowball glass…

2 oz. White Rum
3 oz. Tonic
2 dashes lime juice (squeeze small lime wedge)
2-3 ice cubes
Garnish with a lime wedge