40 Best Summer Cocktails to Enjoy This Season
As the weather heats up, cool off with these refreshing summer drinks.
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If you asked us —and clearly you did—there's no bad season for a great cocktail. That said, there's no denying that there's something extra special about summer sips; after all, we all talk about "the drink of the summer" not "the drink of the fall." Not only is it an ideal time of year to have something cold and refreshing in hand, summer is also a season that seems to give you permission to follow your heart, be that with an easy-breezy three-ingredient concoction that you can stir up in seconds, a light, low-ABV option that you can keep drinking all day, or an all-around technicolor blowout using all the most fun liqueurs in your bar cart and freshest fruit in your fridge. Summer is the time to be your truest home-bartending self, and to get you started we've rounded up some of the most delectable summer cocktail recipes to enjoy all season long.
Peach Botanical Spritz
Ingredients
1.5 oz Ketel One Botanical Peach & Orange Blossom
.5 oz Orange Juice
.3 oz Peach Liqueur
.3 oz Lemon Juice
3 oz Soda water or Sparkling Wine
Instructions
Fill a white wine glass with good quality ice cubes. Add all ingredients, stir gently, and garnish with a peach or orange slice.
Brugal 1888 Jungle Negroni
Ingredients
1.25 oz Brugal 1888
.25 oz Campari
.25 oz Pineapple Syrup
Instructions
Stir ingredients. Strain into glass over a large cube of ice
Pińita
Ingredients
2 oz Milagro Silver
.5 oz pineapple juice
.25 oz agave nectar
1 oz lime juice
Float 3 dashes of Angostura
Instructions
Add all ingredients (except angostura) into shaker add ice and shake for 5 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice and float 3 dashes of bitters. Garnish with pineapple fronds.
by Luis Lopez
Peroni Fiore Spritz
Ingredients
1.5 oz Bitter Italian Aperitif
.5 oz Elderflower Liqueur
2 oz Club Soda
5 oz Peroni
Instructions
Add all ingredients to your glass over ice and stir, garnish with a slice of grapefruit and edible flowers.
Absolut Elderflower Collins
Ingredients
1.5 oz Absolut Vodka
1 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Elderflower Cordial
5 oz Soda Water
2 Wheels Lemon
Instructions
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Garnish with two lemon wheels.
Strawberry Basil Smash
Ingredients
1.5 oz Aberfeldy 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
3-5 strawberries
3 basil leaves
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz simple syrup
Instructions
Shake all ingredients, pour over fresh ice and rock glass. Garnish with a strawberry and basil leaf.
Mana Paloma
Ingredients
2 oz Teremana Blanco
1 oz grapefruit juice
.75 oz lime juice
.5 oz simple syrup
Top with club soda
Pinch of salt
Instructions
Combine ingredients in a highball glass over ice. Gently stir, then garnish with a lime wheel or grapefruit peel.
MacNamara Rose
Ingredients
2 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey
.75 oz Lillet Rosé
.5 oz Aperol
2 muddled cucumber slices
1 pinch of Kosher salt
Instructions
Muddle cucumbers lightly. Stir ingredients together and double-strain into a coup glass. Garnish with cucumber slice.
By Joaquín Simó at Pouring Ribbons in New York City
Spanish Gin & Tonic
Ingredients
1.5 oz Spring 44 gin
5 oz Fever Tree tonic
Lime and lemon wheels
Instructions
Pour the gin over a wine glass filled with ice. Top with tonic water and stir. Garnish with lemon and lime wheels.
By Marshall Minaya at Valerie in New York City
Summer Fizz
Ingredients
1.5 oz Don Papa 7 rum
.5 oz ginger syrup
.5 oz peach purée
.5 oz lemon juice
1 egg white
Soda top
Instructions
Dry shake, re-shake with ice, top with soda. Garnish with fresh ginger and lemon peel.
Camarena’s El Diablo
Ingredients
1.5 oz Camarena Silver or Reposado
.75 oz Creme De Cassis
3 oz Ginger Beer
.5 oz Lime Juice
Instructions
Add ingredients into an ice-filled mule mug or cantarito. Stir together to combine. Garnish with Blackberry and Mint.
Dirty Monte
Ingredients
3 oz sparkling wine
1.5 oz Amaro Montenegro
.5 oz green olive brine
1 oz club soda
1 orange slice for garnish
1 green olive for garnish
Instructions
In a large wine glass filled halfway with ice, combine all ingredients, adding the club soda last. Stir gently and briefly. Garnish with a thin half-moon slice of orange and an olive.
From Every Cocktail Has a Twist by Carey Jones and John McCarthy
A Port In Tennessee
Ingredients
2 oz Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz passionfruit puree
.25 oz grenadine
2 dashes tiki bitters
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a glass or tiki mug over pebble ice and garnish with a lemon wheel and orchid.
By Rachel Ramirez
Corazon De Melon
Ingredients
3 oz fresh cantaloupe juice (blend 2 cups cubed cantaloupe melon in a blender until pureed and smooth. Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer)
2 oz HAVANA CLUB Blanco
.5 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz simple syrup
1 ounce maraschino cherry juice
Instructions
Add the rum, cantaloupe juice, syrup, cherry juice and lime juice to a shaker filled with ice. Shake for 30 seconds then pour into a frosty glass. If you’d like some bubbles, splash some seltzer on top! Garnish with a wedge of lime and a melon ball.
Watermelon Jalapeño Clicquot Rich
Ingredients
5-6 large ice cubes
2-3 cubes of watermelon
2-3 slices of jalepeño
1 bottle of Veuve Clicquot Rich champagne
Instructions
Place 5 ice cubes in a large wine glass, add cubes of watermelon, sprinkle in jalapeño slices, and top off with Veuve Clicquot Rich.
Cointreau Matcha Margarita
Ingredients
1 oz Cointreau
2 oz Blanco Tequila
.75 oz Fresh Lime Juice
.5 bar spoon Matcha Green Tea Powder
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until well-chilledStrain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with a lime slice.
Watermelon Sangria
Ingredients
4 cups cubed watermelon
1 750-ml bottle moscato
1 cup rum
Juice of 4 limes
Zest of 2 limes
1 tbsp sugar
Lime slices, for garnish
Instructions
In a blender combine watermelon, moscato, rum, lime juice and zest, and sugar and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until chilled.
Garnish glasses with lime slices and serve.
Courtesy of Delish
Bellevue
Ingredients
1.5 oz Elijah Craig Bourbon
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz Ferrand Dry Curacao
.25 oz Crème de Pêche
Mint sprig
Instructions
Add ingredients to a mixing glass with pebble ice. Whip by moving a bar spoon around the liquid in a back and forth motion as opposed to stirring it. Strain into a rocks glass with new pebble ice and garnish with a mint sprig.
From Forty1North in Newport, Rhode Island
CRUcomber
Ingredients
2 oz Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka
1 oz fresh cucumber puree
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz sesame simple syrup*
1 lemon balm leaf
*Sesame simple syrup is made by toasting sesame seeds until golden brown then added to equal parts sugar and hot water. Strain to remove all seeds before serving.
Instructions
Slap lemon balm to release essence. Add cucumber puree, lemon and sesame syrup to cocktail shaker. Add vodka and shake vigorously. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with fresh cucumber.
From Cru, Nantucket
La Valoma
Ingredients
2 oz Volcan Blanco Tequila
.75 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1.5 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
.75 oz Agave Syrup
A pinch of salt
Instructions
Combine tequila, fresh lime and grapefruit juice, salt and agave syrup in a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain over ice in a highball glass. Top with soda water and garnish with a grapefruit wedge.
Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails.
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