The Adventures of a 35yo (Alcohol) Virgin

Bellini Mojito

Summer. 101 degrees. Dinner at The Heights in DC. 101 degrees. And yes, it’s worth repeating. As most of the country knows, it’s unbelievably hot these days. Scorching, disgusting, sweat-like-you’re-getting-paid-to-sweat hot.

Baking cookies on your dashboard, even the breeze is 98 degrees and sprinkler water is 89 degrees hot. I think I even saw a 7lb poodle burst into flames. Maybe it was already on fire. Who knows.

But seriously, it’s been 101+ degrees in the District for days. I mean, its been in the 98+ space for a few weeks. It’s gross. My white sugar does have a melting point, people. No one wants to see that.

In fact, have you ever considered what a leading national tourist destination with a healthy homeless population smells like at 101 degrees? Wait. Hold on. Sorry. Don’t. Sorry. I’m sorry I even brought it up. My mistake. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Ignore me.

…Anyway, the game plan every night is finding something cooling to do. Movie night, ice cream parties, quiet evenings at home in the A.C., naked dives into tubs filled with soothing frozen cubes of blue and red jello—you know it’s time to get out when you’re just sitting in purple goo.

And on this occasion the plan to stay cool included a nice dinner out at one of our very favorite local restaurants, The Heights in the bustling, typically steamy Columbia Heights neighborhood.

Home to a few former firstdrinks, Three Day Weekend and a Cool Cucumber Bloody Mary variation, and hands-down, the absolute best poached eggs for brunch, we were there to have a nice dinner, catch up with Chris & Natalie and hopefully drink something cold and refreshing.

Scanning their summer July seasonal menu, I was looking for something with the fresh and delicious flavors of summer, but that refreshing straight from the firehose cool factor. And then Natalie found the potential cool summer drink holy grail: a full pitcher of Bellini Mojito.

Part summer peach sparking wine, mixed with cooling mint and simple syrup, it just screamed “best suggestion” to beat the heat.

Now, I’m not going to lie. In my head, I was hoping it would be peach wine mixed with white rum, simple syrup and muddled with mint and frozen peaches. I know I’m still the Virgin, but if you’re going to mastermix two classic summer drinks into one monster of a winner, go whole hog. But this was certainly close enough.

Sweet, tangy, peachy, subtle with a nice sparkle from the clean, clear wine. Nicely refreshing, smooth but with a hint of alcohol, it was really lacking mint flavor but certainly had lots of mint leaves throughout.

On one hand, it didn’t really have the peach punch of bellini, it didn’t have the sweet, minty spice of a mojito and while similar, it also didn’t even have the depth of a simple white sangria. It was tasty and thirst quenching in this heat, but it was more of a hyped peach wine water with some fleck of green garnish.

So how do I put this? Its like when you ask for dessert and someone brings out a cheese plate. Sure, it’s dessertesque and it’s delicious, but it’s not what I asked for—or in this case what it was described as.

So, one one hand I liked it and on the other it was kinda disappointing. Not that it matters, The Heights, you’d have to literally ruin 6 meals in a row for me to lower my love for you. No seriously, I’ve never had a bad meal. Or a bad service. So one mediocre drink isn’t sinking any ships. And it did make me forget about 101 degrees for a few sips.

And for that, I thank you.

Cheers, Ben


PS: It’s July! And next week we’re celebrating Christmas in July at our monthly Yappy Hour for Charity at the Blue Banana, supporting the Washington Humane Society. And this event even has an official beer sponsor, the aptly partnered Flying Dog Brewery!  First 20 people get a free Flying Dog brew, ALL dogs get free dog biscuits and come get your dog’s picture taken with Summer Santa (aka, my husband Joe in a summer Santa suit… no, I’m not kidding. He wishes I was…)