While I don't really vary my drink selection by season, one of my favorite, more "springy" drinks is the Tom Collins. Like the Manhattan, it blurs the line between acceptable cocktail and girly drink, but it's quite good (although if you're ordering it in a bar, watch out - they often make a rather inferior version with whatever they've got on hand). I'm also a big fan of the gin and tonic, the Long Island Iced Tea, and sometimes (when my wife forces me), I'll have a Midori sour. I've also found Absinthe to be quite tasty (particularly this brand), although I think the hallucinogenic side-effects are very much overstated...it's really not much different than any other drunk you'd get from drinking 130+ proof alcohol.

As far as beer is concerned, my old, year round standby is Yuengling Lager, due to its good price to quality ratio (it's $14 for a case of cans at the local liquor store, and quality-wise it's a step above Bud/Coors/Miller et. al., comparing favorably with the more premium-priced Sam Adams brews). When cost isn't a consideration, I'm a big fan of anything made by Dogfish Head, Victory, Stoudt's, and most especially the Selin's Grove Brewing Company, which makes possibly the best beer, ever, period.

Many people mentioned breakfast drinks. One you may not have heard of is the Cliquet, which has appeal when you want something less excessive than say a Bloody Mary but something different than a vodka-orange juice drink:

The Cliquet

Pour in large Old-Fashioned glass:
1 1/2 oz rye or bourbon
juice of one smallish orange
1 tsp dark Jamaican or Virgin Islands rum

Add 2-3 ice cubes and mix
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If you want something a little different from a G&T try a Gin Rickey. Some make these with sugar, I think is a mistake:

GIn Rickey

2 oz. gin
1/2 lime
club soda

Squeeze the juice from the lime into the highball glass then throw in the shell. Add the gin, then fill glass with ice and top with club soda. That's it.

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A more complicated Spring drink for lazy days when the bar isn't crowded is the Remsen Cooler (with gin - there's a scotch version of this I'm told):

Remsen Cooler

In pint jar:
2 oz soda  
1/2 tsp sugar dissolve with soda (2 dashes) (note: always use fine bar sugar)
2 oz Gin  
Fill with ice
Fill with soda
Add lemon spirals  

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On hot days it's fun to make you and your friends a swizzle of some sort. You can easily make these by the pitcher as well. There are many types, here's a simple Rum Swizzle:

In pint jar:

3/4 oz fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz light rum  
1 dash Angostura bitters
1/2 oz falernum (you can substitute the less complex Grenadine)

Stir or 'swizzle' thoroughly until glass frosts - this is important. Here is Trader Vic on swizzling:

"Swizzles originated in the West Indies, where everything, including hot chocolate, is swizzled. A swizzle stick is the branch of a tropical bush with three to five forked branches on the end. You insert this in the glass or pitcher and twirl the stem rapidly between the palms of your hands. By rapid swizzling with fine ice, you'll get a good outside frost such as on a Julep. Of course you won't get this frost if you haven't used enough liquor; a generous amount of liquor is important.

Most true Swizzles, because of their origin, call for rum; but nearly all punches can be swizzled. Punches for three or four people can be mixed in a pitcher with fine ice and swizzled until the pitcher frosts, and then poured into tall glasses."

There's all sorts of swizzle variants, here's a classic one via Drinkboy:

Bermuda Rum Swizzle

2 ounces dark rum
1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce Pinapple Juice
1 ounce orange juice
1/4 ounce falernum  

Gimme some Grain Belt Beer, Schlitz, Fat Tire, or some other geographically limited or moderately obscure brand. That way I can feel pretentious.

Otherwise, whatever's free. If nothing is, then you cannot go wrong with a rum & coke.

Which is different than a Rum and/or Coke, which, believe me, you don't want that. You'll either end up getting completely blitzed and puking all over a mime impersonating a minor reoccuring actor's role in a police procedural show, or ending up stone cold sober at 4am driving Malaysian transsexuals to Denny's (Bonus Tip: Denny's will gladly substitute breakfast side orders. Don't like greasy hash browns? It's okay! Nothing says fun like a triple side of bacon!). Either way, it's never good. Just ask for Bacardi & Cola. It gets the job done.

Extra special points if the bar in question is in a seedy part of town and has a reputation for being scary and full of dead enders  who life passed by about 20 years ago, but yet still stagger into the bar for a 12 hour shift each night hooched out and believing Mr. Right will stagger through the door in an effort to avoid his PO, and the bartendtrix will give you special service because you tip above 50¢ a night and do not ask for your money back out of the tip jar to pay for ciggies or pickled pigs feet and who uses you as a personal therapist about her crappy boyfriend but yet you keep going back because she is the best damn bartender ever and tells you stories about people who visit her bar when they are on prison work release and actually takes it as a challenge when you say "Hey, Why don't you put some hair on it next time?" when you asked for a mixed drink, thereby ensuring you end up completely snockered, but you were warned because she said "I'm a gonna get get get you drunk..." (way before it got associated with that catchy annoying song, I told her she should sue for royalties but you know she wouldn't because she said thats not how she rolls -- its in the Bartender's Code) but its okay because she likes hearing drunken political discussions about the vagaries of 3rd party politics in the US vis a vis however the fuck it works in Europe because your friend is rambling on and on about said situation and how he could totally score some dope shit, yo in Denmark when he was there to study the architecture but he is the coolest guy ever and you eat those stories up anyway.

Man I love obscure dive bars police officers yell at me for visiting and explain how they won't go there without backup. But that's just me.

Summer/Spring Beer:
Shiner Hefeweizen.
Pyramid Hefeweizen
Both excellent warm weather American style wheat* beers. A slice of lemon with these cloudy, yeasty beers is appropriate AND tasty!
*not the same taste as a true German style Hefe, in which a different strain of yeast is used and results in a different taste experience, kinda on the clove-y side of things:
North American hefeweizen is a distinct style fermented with ordinary ale yeast, with a different, less estery/fruity character from German Hefeweizen.

Spring/Summer Tequila:
    * oro ("gold") - unaged tequila which is "joven y abogado" (young and adulterated) which means that caramel, fructose, glycerin and wood flavoring can be added to resemble aged tequila
    * blanco ("white") or plata ("silver") - not aged white spirit
    * reposado ("rested") - aged a minimum of 2 months but less than a year in oak barrels
    * añejo ("aged" or "vintage") - aged minimum 1 year but less than 3 years in oak barrels
    * extra añejo ("extra aged") - aged minimum 3 year in oak barrels This is a new category which was established in March 2006.

Blanco is my favorite style in the warmer months, but Anejo is my personal preference on a year-long basis. Reposadas tend to vary wildly in their characteristics because their aging process isn't strictly narrowed. If you're new to tequila. I recommend starting with anejos as they are very smooth and subtle. Move on to the blancos next if you're interested in expanding your tequila horizons. Blancos are stronger up front and have some bite in them; it's a bite that tastes fresh and citrusy however, not harsh at all. Once you've tried anejos and blancos and found them enjoyable, you can move on to reposadas. Again, there's a wide range of tastes in this style, so be prepared to try several before finding one that tingles your tastebuds in just the right way. I don't chill tequila as some mentioned upthread, as it softens the taste a bit more than I like.
Margarita tips: Blancos make the best tasting margaritas as they've not been aged and thus have a fresher agave taste. You can use reposada or anejo in margaritas, but the mix usually ends up overpowering the subtle favors of the aging process. The gold (oro) tequilas make good margaritas also, but they tend to leave over-imbibers with a nasty hangover because they contain so many additives.

Wine:
For a good, red wine that goes well with summertime grilling this is one of my favorites: Mad Dogs And Englishmen, a blend of shiraz, cabernet, and monastrell. It's got a nice spicy bite to it that really goes well with grilled steak and such.

Somewhere in my soul, there's always Rock -n- Roll... Joe Strummer

This is a sincere appeal to those who have not yet voted in the poll attached to this story.  Please help by giving Frankie a few more votes.  He was a great singer, but not very many people really understood him.  It wasn't easy being Frank, but he persevered.

Fuck, I think I'm going to cry.  Me, a grown man, crying.  Frankie kinda helped me find that spot. Inside.  You know.

Hmmm... I guess I don't change my drink choices with the seasons, with the exception of the mojito which is really just a warm-weather drink, and the rusty nail, which goes down much better when it's cold outside. Aside from those, red wine is perennial, as is the martini (gin please, vodka is for ravers and Red Bull), the Sapphire & tonic, the Captain & ginger, and a good, sweet bourbon.

Now with caps!

Tanqueray and tonics, with lots of ice and lime.  "Enough to soak a dart board."

Oh, and well-chilled breakfast drinks, because breakfast comes early when you've got the lines in the water by sunrise.

As far as I'm concerned, spring is all about produce and breakfast boozing. Thus I present my three favorites: the Bellini, the Pimm's Cup and the venerable Bloody Mary.

I've never had this before, but thinking of trying it:

The Mexican Cousin is made up of one part tequila, one part Southern Comfort (or Jack Daniels), two parts Midori, a dash of Tabasco, and is garnished with a lime.

I ran across it when looking up a Phish song of the same name.

Bock beers are the traditional German spring beers to celebrate spring. Read this overview, it lays it out in depth.

I mentioned the classic Paulaner Salvator Doppelbock, from that link:

Soon the Salvator brew found many imitators. By 1890, many other breweries were selling their own strong beer under the name Salvator, and the Brothers Schmederer began to object. But effective legal action had to wait until the German Empire had a patent law on the books. Such a law was passed on January 12, 1894, and within two years the Brothers owned their registered trademark for Salvator, and other breweries had to choose new names for their Doppelbocks. Virtually all of them selected names ending in the suffix "ator," such as Maximator, Triumphator, or Celebrator. Today their are some 200 "-ator" Doppelbock names registered with the German patent office. Perhaps one of the better-known Doppelbocks available in North America is the Ayinger Celebrator and the amber-colored, fiery Kulmbacher EKU Kulminator 28. The latter has an alcohol by volume level of 11%.

[Celebrator bottles come decorated with a little goat charm, that you can give to that special lady at the party].
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Have you ever head a Belgian White Beer? Great for spring and summer (though all Belgian beers are great any time). Hoegaarden is a brand of this that's become relatively common. I've even seen it on tap.

This is what beer drinkers everywhere need.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

I'm not much of an alcohol drinker -- I will sip a nice riesling, or some mike's hard lemonade..but anyone who gave me a bottle of say whiskey would find that bottle in my bar area for years to come.

Nevertheless reading this story reminds me of a scene in Stephen King's Drawing of the Three and my approach to drinking soda.

Having crossed over into our world, Roland the Gunslinger drinks a Coke (or maybe its pepsi?) for the first time. The effect hits him like a drug -- the sugar + caffeine is so damn good it rocks him to the core. I remember this scene primarily because I love pre-1997 Stephen King books but partly because I try to space out how often I drink a soda.

I've noticed that the longer I go, the more significant an effect drinking a soda has on me. After two weeks the first swig is ecstacy. Having never done any hard drugs, I've often wondered whether the same pleasure is derived from heroin and cocaine users.

Memory is a strange bell, jubilee and knell.

Bricks are for brokers.

Tipping Sacred Cows

No wonder I like this crowd.

Spring means gin and tonic, slice of lime.

It also means you can't wander around your yard wearing just your underwear anymore.  No one looks at people's yards in the winter, so you can get away with it then.

During the winter, I like Guinness and mid-shelf whiskey.  For the spring and summer I put away the Guinness and start buying (and please don't hate me) Fosters and Rolling Rock.  I still keep some whiskey around.  

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

...when our internet went down...I'd like to find a nice spring beer but I've recently been on a kick of not liking anything that isn't dark, dark, dark. I think it started when I downed better than half a dozen Heinekens on turkey day and barely felt a thing. Come to think of it, a good spring beer would probably be a Shiner Bock. Certainly not a heavy beer but still full of taste. And one of the few things Texas has given us that I appreciate.

I haven't been a big wine drinker for the last 7 years or so because I never much liked white and I was developing an allergy to red. But two things recently made me want to get in to wine collecting, and that's not counting the fact that it sounds like a more adult hobby than collecting sports figures. One, I was at the furniture store this weekend and saw a really awesome win rack/kitchen storage combination and two was finding Heller Estates organic vineyard on my last trip up to Monterrey. The way they grow their grapes cuts down on my allergic reaction and they have a fabulous chenin blanc that gave me a renewed appreciation for white wines.

That takes me to where I wanted to extend this discussion. Most of the discussion has been about mixing your own drinks but how about some bar recommendations in various cities. Which ones make the best drinks that you've found? Here in LA, the best margarita I've had is at El Compadre and I agree with the conventional wisdom on the excellence of the fruit martinis at Lola's, although for a chocolate martini the ones at Bar Marmont can't be beat far as I'm concerned.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

Bourbon is appropriate year-round.