Summertime is picnic time, but one of the challenges is keeping drinks cool and safe. Spice Girl (evidently a new superheroine, at least in our book) has got us — and our bottled beverages — covered with this plush, thermal 6-pack tote suitable for porting to parks, on boats, wherever fun is had. Beverages not included.

Bailey’s — feh. Kahlua? No thank you-a. No, for something a little different, a little richer and a lot more home-grown, we’re gonna whip us up a nice big batch of some chocolate & whiskey liqueur, recipe courtesy of Chocolate in Context. While this sounds like it would be just fine on the rocks on a hot summer afternoon, we rather like her more refined suggestion of pouring it over shaved ice in a parfait glass with sliced fruit for a refined and refreshing dessert or aperitif.

OK, we admit it: We’re total suckers for cute packaging. I mean, that’s half the point, right? Well, we don’t feel so bad, cuz Mamster at Roots and Grubs did exactly what we have done: bought this specialty beer based on the bottle alone. Luckily, it turns out, St Peter’s Porter also happens to be a straight-up good dark beer. Evidently sometimes you can judge a book — or a beer — by its cover.

I’m always on the lookout for soft drinks that are refreshing and not too sugary, and I really personally dislike diet drinks. I.ATE.A.PIE.NET’s take on healthy diet fare led me to Snapple White Tea with green apple flavor. Boy, they’re not kidding when they say white tea, eh? Stuff’s practically not there. Yet if she liked its lightness and flavor, I’ll probably hunker down and try it. Best of all, it’s high in antioxidants and contans no HFCS. I’ll drink to that.

Those of you out there who are sports drinks addicts know only too well how fast that bill can add up, so you may have asked yourself at one point or another: Why don’t I try to make some myself from scratch?

Oh yeah, this is why.  

On the bright side, Cheap Eats to at least one way to save a buck: Buy the Kirkland (CostCo) version instead. 

How genius is this? Fill this clever ice spoon mold with water or whatever (freezable) liquid of your choice, pop in the chill chest and voilà — a utensil that simultaneously cools, stirs and potentially flavors your favorite beverage. Plus, it’s one less thing to wash afterwards. You might have to wear gloves while stirring, but it’s a small price to pay. We heart Book of Joe (“World’s most popular blogging anaesthesiologist!”) for the cool tip.

In America, we tend to reach for sugary soft drinks to quench our thirst. But the Italians have a penchant for somewhat more sophisticated tastes. Case in point is Crodino, one of the Italian amari, or bitters, that are popular both as quaffs and as mixers. Amari are not really all that bitter; rather, they tend to have complex, off-sweet flavors. Cheers to Mary at La Tavola for reminding us there’s more to life than Coca-Cola.

World Changing, one of the best-known of the green blogs, takes us beyond organic wines and palm nut ale, to an actual, hops beer that’s not only from sustainable sources, but actually supports sustainable causes. Kew Brew is made with varieties of hops grown at Great Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Sales of the beer support Kew’s international Millennium Seed Bank Project, a huge and hugely important seed bank project that’s doing important conservation work every day. What an opportunity: to do well in two sustainable ways, and still have a decent pint (or two).

We’re all about connecting people with the new, the different and the up-and-coming. The very notion of blueberry soda is both new and different, and if StellaBites is to be believed, it may be one of the more up-and-coming flavors out there. Although her reference to Violet Beauregarde makes us mildly concerned about the gastric aftereffects. Still, we wouldn’t mind a sip of this exotic pop.

When the going gets hot, the hot drink shakes. Maybe that’s not the original phrase, but the sentiment stands. And when searching for inspiration for extra-refreshing shakes, look to hot places. These sweet-tart Thai pineapple shakes sound both cooling and soul-satisfying, with a healthy (well, maybe healthy isn’t the right word…) dose of coconut milk in lieu of plain old cow milk. And if you want to punch them up with a shot or two of rum, we won’t tell.

It’s not just us who’s obsessed with the heat these days. Seems it’s got everyone in a tizzy. And everyone has their own remedy. But amidst all the recipes for chilled soups and frozen cocktails, one suggestion stands out as being both uniquely refreshing and distinctively delicious: the shandy. This popular British quaff is typically a mix of light beer and lemonade, though evidently down in the islands they use ginger ale instead as the non-alcoholic mixer. We’re hoisting one to Rachael at Fresh Approach Cooking for filling our heads and pint glasses with this brilliant brew. Cheers, mate!

Eating and drinking is more than just putting things in your mouth — it’s putting things in your mind. Who among us doesn’t have fond childhood memories of certain foods, or perhaps thoughts that are triggered when you taste something that reminds you of a trip you’ve taken? Such was the case for Caroline at Bibliocook, who discovered the joys of ginger beer — specifically Bundaberg ginger beer — while touring New Zealand. She was thrilled to discover that she could buy it locally in her native Ireland. For those of us stateside, we can build our own ginger beer memories with a quick trip to Cost Plus.

If last weekend’s opening of “Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest” got you all hot and bothered for a trip to the islands, but you don’t have the clams to shell out on airfare, Art of the Drink’s podcast has a solution for you: Bring the tropical flavors home with a Planter’s Punch. This video instructional will show you how to mix up some light and dark rum with a bunch of juices — plus a couple of secret ingredients — for a refreshing cocktail that will transport you to the tropics. If Melissa, Miss All-American North Carolina, can do it, so can you. Aarrrrr!

Nothing goes better with grilled foods than a nice, cold brewski, right? Well, it ain’t necessarily so. The most recent round of Wine Blogging Wednesday asked that timeless question: What wines work well with barbecue? In part, that depends on what you’re grilling up. Big steaks need big reds, seafood plays well with fruitier whites, and a lovely rose may bridge the gap. But hey, don’t discount (so to speak) the occasional box wine.

Whatever your predilections, some 24 food-focused bloggers have stepped up to share their favorite grill-friendly grapes. Cheers!

We’re all about keeping it simple, even though we do love the occasional kitchen gadget. That’s why we’re thrilled to learn that, at least in the case of making delicious homemade lemonade, our trusty enamelled metal lemon juicer beats the high-power Jack LaLanne PowerJuicer in terms of speed and ease of use. Thanks to The Fumbling Foodie for saving us a cool $50 and the indignity of ordering something as seen on TV.

Tea and wine are more alike than most people realize. Both have a strong tannic structure and complex aromatic notes that can convey flavors that have little or nothing to do with the original ingredients. And vintage matters for tea as well as wine, too. Phyll Sheng applies his exceedingly sharp palate to both beverages, and his descriptions and gorgeous images are almost as good as sitting down with a nice hot cup of 2006 Gopaldhara Estate Spring 1st Flush Darjeeling.

It’s everyone’s worst nightmare: A six-pack of beer, and no opener. Well, at least one crafty German has figured out how to open a beer with pretty much anything, like, oh, your child’s bicycle. Or handcuffs (fuzzy pink lining optional, we think). Or perhaps a garden gnome. 989 ways revealed so far. We don’t speak German, but we do speak fluent beer, and the sheer MacGyverism makes this blog worth visiting.

We love it when bloggers share our interests and enlighten us. So, our neverending pursuit for the best cheap wines around is made that much easier since our discovery of Box Wines. Now, before you get your full sneer on, please note that they review wines of all kinds, in all types of containers (including box). All that matters is that they are affordable. Thoughtful tasting notes and a handy rating system put each wine in its place. So even if the bad-boy label and $10 price tag weren’t enough to grab our interest on Montevina’s Wild Bunch, Box Wines’ 8.5 rating sealed the deal.

We just love a good aperitif. Evidently, so do at least another dozen or so bloggers out there. The most recent installment of itinerant blog cocktailing event Mixology Monday was focused on the pre-dinner potable, and bloggers came out in droves to share their favorites. Some concocted complicated (and in one case calamitous) cocktails; others took the high road and went for a classy glass of bubbly. No doubt, all went on to have a satisfying meal afterwards. Mixology Monday demonstrates how a civilized drink — and the blogosphere — can bring us all together.

What was that we said about cheap wine? Oh yeah, we love it. Thanks to Chow Magazine’s Chow for Now blog, we know where to get the good stuff. Cameron Hughes wine buys quality wine in lots, brands it themselves and sells it on the cheap. No winery, no grape-stomping, just direct-to-the-consumer wine selling action. It’s kind of like Two Buck Chuck only, you know, good.