Five summer cocktail faves
Summer is here and it’s time to channel Martha Stewart, Ina Garten and more to find delicious summer cocktails - we could all use one or five. As one bar sign I recently saw said “Reasons to drink: Inflation, Putin, Covid”
*First: Of course you can make delicious alcohol-free cocktails versions too, and there are more options than even including ready-to-drink brands Curious Elixirs, De Soi, Jeng, For Bitter or Worse, Proteau, or Non-Alcoholic Spirits brands like Free Spirits, Lyre’s, New London Light, Seedlip, Spiritless Kentucky 74, Wilfred’s, Three Spirit, Vera Spirits Ginø, or even use delicious new mixers like Blake Lively’s Betty Buzz . There is a great list with detail here.
Now onto the summer cocktails! There are so many our there, and pinterest or dedicated sites are full of them. So I just picked a top five from some of the pros here - happy sipping:
‘Peach-and-Mint Frappes’ from Martha Stewart. Of course, the queen has all kinds of summer options for you (For a nonalcoholic version, replace the vodka with an equal amount of water)
Ingredients: 5 ounces vodka, preferably Tito's, 3 tablespoons light agave nectar, 1 pound ripe peaches, sliced and frozen, plus more for serving, 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons peach nectar, 1 tablespoon packed mint leaves, plus sprigs for serving
Make: Puree vodka, agave, peaches, and nectar with 1 cup crushed ice (or small ice cubes) in a blender, adding cold water a few tablespoons at a time, until thick and smooth. Add mint leaves; puree just until finely chopped. Serve with peach slices and mint sprigs.
2. ‘Dark Rum Southsides’ from Ina Garten, who also has many fabulous classic suggestions for the season, like her Summer Rosé Sangria.
Ingredients: 12 large mint leaves plus 4 large sprigs, 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges, ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (4 limes), ½ cup simple syrup (see note), 1 cup dark rum, such as Mount Gay, 1 cup ice, plus extra for serving, 1 ½ cups sparkling water, such as San Pellegrino, chilled, 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Make: Put the mint leaves and 2 of the lime wedges in a large cocktail shaker and muddle them with a muddler or a long-handled wooden spoon. Add the lime juice, simple syrup, rum, and ice and stir 40 times with a long-handled swiveling cocktail spoon or the wooden spoon. Add the sparkling water and salt and stir well. For each drink, fill a low cocktail glass half full with ice, add a mint sprig and a wedge of lime, and pour over the cocktail mixture. Stir and serve ice cold.
3. ‘Pomegranate Margarita’ from Food & Wine, and a whole list of other classics.
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) blanco tequila, such as Teremana, 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) pomegranate juice, 1 ½ tablespoons (3/4 ounce) fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon (½ ounce) agave nectar, Ice, Pinch of salt, 1 lime wheel, for garnish
Make: Add tequila, pomegranate juice, fresh lime juice, agave nectar and salt into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously until outside of shaker is frosty; strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime wheel.
4. ‘Water Lilies’ from Town & Country, that also have a lovely list.
Ingredients: 1.5 oz Grey Goose Citron vodka, .5 oz raspberry syrup, .5 oz St. Germain liqueur, 1.5 oz sparkling wine, .25 lime juice
Make: Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a wine glass. Garnish with frozen raspberries.
5. ‘Lavender Gin and Tonic Punch’ from Sugar & Charm. I stumbled across her summer cocktail list, and honestly everything on her roundup looks fantastic, so visit her page for more ideas and the full “how too” for this recipe
Ingredients: Gin,Dried Organic Lavender, Tonic Water, Lime Juice, Dried Butterfly Pea Tea
Make: First, infuse the lime juice with Butterly Pea Tea, which for this recipe, they combined 2 tablespoons dried butterfly pea flowers with 4 ounces lime juice and let it infuse for about an hour. Second, once you’ve infused the gin and made the purple lime juice, you can add the ingredients into a punch bowl with 32 ounces tonic water crushed ice right before serving.
**BONUS: If you want a reminder on how to make all of the classics, go visit My Bartender for all of your summer favorites, from a Pimms Cups to an Aperol Spritz, Moscow Mule, Whiskey Smash, Mojito, Margarita, Paloma and more.
