Make This Now: Dave Arnold's Thai Basil Daiquiri

There are many serious drinks in the city of New York, and I've tried my fair share. But seldom does one haunt me the way Dave Arnold's Thai Basil Daiquiri did. This bracing cocktail balances sweet and sour, with crisp rum playing home to bright Thai basil.

Less than one week after interviewing Dave for our We Chat With column, I was whipping this baby up at home.

At the Great GoogaMooga festival, we shunned the food lines to take swigs from a plastic jug passed around by Booker and Dax's Tristan Willey. Refreshing doesn't even cut it—it's an emerald gem on a hot day.

At Booker and Dax the team freezes the basil leaves with liquid nitrogen and muddles them to a matcha-like powder before adding the sweets and spirits. This home version of the recipe requires making a batch for at least two so that the liquid rises above the blender's blades, saving the basil from burning. Not that you need a second person to drink it all.