Rum Coco

The holidays are over, so I guess it's about time for another recipe. This one is very simple, but very refreshing and delicious. Perfect for a hot day at the beach, or if you don't live where I do, pretending it's a hot day at the beach.
If you really want to caveman it up, I'd recommend climbing a tree and cracking open a fresh young coconut yourself. For most of you, this isn't really an option. You can still grab a whole coconut from the grocery store and break out your machete, but the easiest option is to find some coconut water in a can. There are plenty of options, but usually use Amy and Brian's since it's easy to find (near me) and is just coconut water with no added sugar. One note about this: I've found that canned coconut water is still sweeter than the stuff you get straight from a coconut, so you might want to use less.
Use a tasty white rum (I like Koloa) or a light-bodied gold rum so you don't overpower the coconut water.

• 2 ounces white or light gold rum
• 2 to 4 ounces coconut water
• Squeeze of lime juice, if desired

I like a little lime juice in mine, but it's not necessary. Watching Night of the Iguana while you drink it is purely optional.

NorCal Margarita

We might as well kick this off with the NorCal Margarita, made famous by Robb Wolf in his book, The Paleo Solution. It's not really a margarita, and it's barely a cocktail, but it's a good place to start for a few reasons:
-Tequila is made from agave, which is not a grain and therefore gluten free. Is it more gluten-free than any other spirit? Not at all, but unlike vodka or whiskey, there were never grains involved. This might make a different to some of you.
-Lime juice is your best friend in a paleo cocktail. It blunts insulin response, preventing the complete disruption of the insulin sensitivity your otherwise you've worked toward with your otherwise paleo diet. Also, since most foods provide a net acid load, it's nice to be able to even that out with the net alkaline load from the lime juice.
-The CO2 bubbles in soda water will accelerate the ethanol getting into your bloodstream, making you drunk faster. This is good in couple of ways, but the key is that you don't need to drink so many before you feel them.

• 2 to 3 oz tequila (a nice reposado)
• juice from 1 lime
• club soda

Shake your tequila and lime juice with ice, then strain into chilled glass with ice and top off with soda. Garnish with a slice of lime, or just drink it and make caveman sounds. Your call.

You can obviously use this basic model for many cocktails,just swap out the spirit for any other that goes well with lime. My go-to drink at most bars is white rum on the rocks, lime juice (not Rose's!), and a splash of soda. That is of course unless it's a proper cocktail bar, which I will take full advantage of.