With the July Fourth holiday staring us in the face with its usual high heat and humidity, I thought it appropriate to pass on a recipe for a refreshing drink from the hero of my Black Orchid Chronicles.

Sebastian Arnett takes photos of flowers, orchids in particular. Orchids grow best in warm, humid locales, so after a morning of shooting, he likes to cool off with a libation.

His favorite, of course, is Tanqueray gin and tonic. In his words:

 “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” I said, as I fixed drinks in the pantry off the kitchen. We both preferred gin—Hendricks and a chunk of lime for the old man, Tanqueray classic and diet tonic, 50-50 proportions, with a large wedge of lime for me.

Here’s how he does it:

Ice melts quickly under the influence of all that gin.

1. Fill tall glass with ice.
2. Squeeze one-quarter lime (or more) over ice.
3. Fill glass half-way with gin.
4. Add tonic (diet tonic if you drink a lot of them ’cause tonic water is like mainlining sugar).
5. Stir, don’t shake. (James Bond insists; Sebastian just doesn’t own a shaker.)
6. Bottoms up!

Note: Tanqueray is NOT sponsor of this blog, but some days I wish it were.