The seasonal cocktail: For when it's hot here, it's cold someplace else

As I watch the oscillating fan slowly chase the heat from my house, I again struggle with one of the more frustrating elements of Web publishing: When it's hot here, it's cold someplace else, making it tough to recommend the perfect seasonal cocktail to every reader.

Last winter (at least from my vantage point), Cocktail highlighted a summer classic - the icy Mojito. To Cocktail readers living on continents then experiencing hot weather, that made perfect sense. Hopefully, though, those of you now suffering through a torrid summer won't forget the previous Drinks of the Weeks - several of which are sure to refresh.

Many of these drinks, such as the Daiquiri, are just as effective for cooling off as other beverages. Granted, a tall glass of ice water or a fresh-squeezed lemonade may be more effective in quenching your thirst and rehydrating your system, but they don't encourage you to perspire, which ultimately cools the entire body, not just the throat and mouth.

As Richard Serjeant points out in A Man May Drink, guzzling water will replace lost fluid but not salt; however, some mixed drinks can do both. "It does not follow that water is the best thirst-quencher even if it is entirely free from bacteria. People who have been engaging in hard physical exercise for some hours lose water by sweating (not necessarily apparent), but they also lose salt."

Of course, I'm not about to say that I'd prefer a cocktail over water after playing a long game of soccer. But on some occasions, a Collins or Mint Julep would certainly be tempting.

Alcohol anesthetizes the inhibitory centers of the brain, causing the rest of your body to relax. As your heart rate varies - first slow, then fast, and eventually slow again - the nourished blood moves to the surface of the smallest blood vessels, which in turn leads to increased perspiration and that ever-endearing rosiness so often attributed to drinking. In warm weather, this is a great bonus because it allows your body to cool itself faster. However, if you're at risk of getting caught in a snowstorm after a few drinks, be warned - the alcohol you've ingested will inhibit your body from insulating itself from the cold.

There's the common misconception that alcohol warms the body, which can be partly traced to Samuel Pepys, a 17th-century English government official best know for his diary, which contains enough odd references about drinking for Oscar Mendelsohn to have pieced together the book Drinking with Pepys. After Pepys' wife drank several cold drinks made with alcohol, she became ill, and Pepys blamed the coldness of the drinks, claiming that alcohol should only be sipped to warm the body. (Personally, I suspect the quantity that his wife drank or the speed at which she drank it was the culprit.)

Some people still believe - or want to believe - that it's wise to step inside during the winter for a nip of whiskey, brandy, or schnapps to warm the body. I would never argue against liquor's ability to warm a soul, but the body is another matter. Moving inside to a public house with a fireplace is how the warming occurs; the alcohol actually cools the imbiber. That's why it can be dangerous to drink cocktails or mixed drinks before or while participating in winter sports. Even when drinking a notoriously fiery liquor, such as scotch or brandy, your body isn't as warm as it may feel or your rosy nose may imply.

Fortunately, some cocktails and mixed drinks - unlike beer and wine - let you vary the alcohol content. Take the Mojito, for instance: When made with the recipe's full 2 to 3 ounces of rum, this drink is a heavy hitter. However, it can be nearly as refreshing with less than an ounce of liquor. Although the Mojito loses much of its flavor if you leave the rum out entirely, it would still contain soothing organic ingredients like fresh lime and mint.