A Quiet Night In

Recently I have been reading a lot of Ernest Hemingway. I received both The Sun Also Rises, and The Old Man and the Sea for Chritsmas (Thanks Dad!).

As it has been brought to the attention of many that have studied Hemingway he was always known as a big drinker - and the characters in his books make this no secret.

So at the risk of saying this, I was inspired by the array of drinks that I've never heard of to peek into a drink I recall from my own travels of Europe.

While traveling in Spain I found myself in Barcelona. Since we had not experienced a very wide variety of Spanish food since being in the country (kebabs are just so cheap at Pita Hut) Megan Pettit and I headed down to the pier to search for a delicious meal. We found a place that offered a three course meal for two for under 10 euro!. We got a carafe of wine, appetizer, entree, desert and even an apertif.

Which brings me to what this post is all about. I recall that Megan and I were confused that they brought out the wine carafe and two bottles of spumante (fizzy water) at the same time. Being at a local spot our servers did not speak any English and I spoke broken Spanish, we had no chance of being able to clearly ask what the meaning of this was.

Looking around we discovered that the other patrons were making themselves a cocktail I now know as "Tinto de Verano". This is literally watered down red wine, made in order to keep the drink refreshing for the hot Spain summer. The end result is a very effectively refreshing summer wine.



As you can see, when I enjoyed it last week it was not yet summer. Nonetheless it was a very refreshing and light drink, even on a cool day indoors. One distinct advantage, as I discussed with my mom this weekend is that since it is half strength, you can have a couple of these cocktails without drinking too much.