Gina Chersevani is no stranger to you, dear reader—in addition to having her wine-over-frozen-cubes-of-Tuscan-sangría drink featured in The Washingtonian’s Best of Washington issue, her Belly Up interview is still one of our most-commented-on blog posts. The people, they love them some Gina!

In fact, those who know Chersevani have nothing but kind words for the EatBar cocktail mastermind. Here’s a sampling of comments: “The ancient Greeks had Bacchus as god of wine. Somehow they forgot a goddess of cocktails. Luckily, we have Gina.” “Whatever bar Gina is behind is my automatic favorite! Never has she served me a drink that wasn’t delicious and unique. She takes chances and her instincts are spot-on! That’s why I named my baby after her.” “Watching Gina work is seeing poetry in motion!”

You get the point.

It’s no surprise, then, that when looking for a bartender to kick off our new Video Buzzed feature, we turned to Chersevani. Suffice it to say she did not disappoint us. The drink we captured her making on video, Georgie’s Rickey, was so delicious that we just had to have two. (Whoever said journalism doesn’t have any perks didn’t have our job!) Watch the video of Gina showing how to make the drink below, and get the recipe for the tasty treat.

Sit at a bar and order a classic cocktail or tall mixed drink, and you expect to be served something approaching the standard recipe. Order a Manhattan and you expect a mixture of whiskey, sweet vermouth, and a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters, strained into a cocktail glass and garnished with a maraschino cherry. Order a sidecar and you expect equal parts Triple Sec, brandy, and lemon juice shaken with ice and strained into a cocktail glass.

So why is the Bloody Mary, which merits a place on any list of great mixed drinks, so frequently served at variance with its classic formulation? I wish I knew.

For a frame of reference, here is the recipe for the authentic Bloody Mary served at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris:

“In shaker or directly in large tumbler: ice, 6 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce, 3 dashes of Tabasco, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, juice of ½ lemon, 2 ounces of vodka, fill remainder of glass with top-quality tomato juice, and above all no celery salt.”

Leave out the vodka and you will enjoy a Virgin Mary that nobody with a sense of taste would call a bloody shame.

The Best

The Dubliner Although slightly unbalanced by a bit too much Tabasco, the Bloody Mary at this fine Irish pub is a classic. The bright-red tomato color affirms that the mix is concocted in-house; without the vodka it would make a sound Virgin Mary. At $6, it’s a good eye opener at a fair price.

Monday, June 23: First Night of Fort Reno
There’s no better way to kick off the first official week of summer than by heading to the kickoff of Fort Reno, the free outdoor indie-rock concert series (directions here). Tonight’s show will be headlined by Olivia Mancini & the Housemates, who play upbeat pop tunes filled with trumpets, hand claps, and harmonies. Shows start around 7:15. If you want more free summer music, check out our guide to free concerts around town, and the full schedule of Fort Reno.

Tuesday, June 24: Half-Price Belgian Beer
This warm weather got you itching for an outdoor happy hour? Let me recommend an oldie-but-goodie happy hour that’s a favorite for my friends and me: half-price Belgian beers at Bohemian Caverns on U Street. From 6 to 11 PM Tuesdays, the beers include everything from Delirium Tremens to Lucifer to a variety of Chimays. There are bottles and drafts; expect most drinks to run you between $3 and $5 after the discount.

If you’re anything like us, the hot weather has you reaching for all manner of frosty drinks—cold beers, fruity concoctions, sweet glasses of sangría. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up a guide to some of our favorite hot-weather happy hours spots—from outside locations that are actually pleasant in the heat to dark and dim basement bars where you can escape the sun and stay cool.

Have more recommendations of happy hours to beat the heat? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll update our post.

We scoured DC, Virginia, and Maryland looking for bars with the best cheap burgers, bites, and booze. Here are some of our favorite spots. Where do you head to get happy hour snacks on the cheap? Let us know in the comments.

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Cosmopolitans—those pink-hued drinks have become as classic a symbol of the TV series Sex and the City as Carrie’s beloved Manolo Blahniks. Though the drink has fallen out of fashion since the show went off the air, fun specialty cocktails are still all over Washington and ready to be enjoyed. 

In celebration of the release of the Sex and the City movie, we’ve put together a list of favorite spots to break out the swizzle sticks and sip that are (relatively) near area movie theaters showing the film. Put on your favorite dress, gather the girls, grab a drink at one of these places, and then take in the movie. Leave your recommendations of spots to drink fun cocktails in the comments.

Thursday, May 22: Everybody loves the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, right? Soaring landscapes, a gripping story, a battle of good against evil, and of course, awesome hobbits. Well, tonight at Wolf Trap, you can see The Fellowship of the Ring as you never have before—in high definition on a huge screen, with a live orchestra, several choirs, and soloists performing the soundtrack. 8:30 PM; $25 to $55.

If you were heartbroken when the quirky Canadian pop gem the Unicorns broke up, then you should check out their most recent reincarnation in the form of Islands. They’re still churning out melodic, weird tunes that will charm you. They play tonight at the Black Cat. 8 PM; $15.

Friday, May 23: Hillyer Art Space (9 Hillyer Ct., NW) hosts an International Arts & Artists Evening fundraiser tonight, with DJs Will Eastman and Gavin Holland. Check out art, sip drinks, watch live video art created on the spot, and mingle with art hipsters for just $10 at the door. 7 to 11 PM.