| I’ll take Manhattan, or maybe a mojito.
Summer drinks are a hot bar tab, mostly because they keep the drinker cool.
“You sell more,” bartender Jennifer Runions said. “People tend to be thirstier which helps sales in the summer.
Runions tends bar at Bikini Joes and said daiquiris, pina coladas and margaritas are hot when it comes to keeping cool.
“People like margaritas on the rocks,” she said. “They’re cheaper —two for one, at least here.”
Northern states are still thawing out from a cold winter, but Cape Coral residents are already sweating it out.
“We went straight from winter to summer,” Runions said.
That summer vibe has taken off at the Joint. Bartender Michael Senn has seen an increase in requests for mojitos, the Latin drink that combines flavors of lime, mint and rum.
“They’ve been big in Miami since ‘Miami Vice,’” Senn said. “Crockett and Tubbs were always ordering them.”
Local residents as well as visitors have caught the mojito fever but Senn said he still gets numerous requests for frozen drink specials.
“We have an extensive drink menu,” he said. “In the winter a lot of seasonal people want pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris. Right now, we’re expanding our drink menu. We’re trying not to do only traditional drinks, but adding to those.”
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Frozen drinks tempt customers, with names like Hula Hula Girl, Disco Lemonade and Funky Monkey. Who orders what depends, to some extent, on gender and background, Senn said.
“Men tend to drink more whiskey and rums and women like sweeter drinks,” he said. “The younger crowd goes for shots and beer and older people want wines, usually by the glass.”
Senn said that European customers are more likely to order wine with dinner than a fruity or frozen drink.
“They really know what they want,” he said. “Americans are unsure sometimes.”
Like Senn, Monkey Bar and Steakhouse owner Claudia Garcia is getting more requests for mojitos.
“We opened six months ago and on Mondays we have a $3 mojito special,” Garcia said. “People like the mint and the way it looks.”
Garcia’s employees use fresh mint, and that, combined with the work required to crush the leaves and the limes, can make the drink a labor intensive process for bartenders.
“That’s what they get paid for, right?” Garcia said. “People really like them.”
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