Temps are heating up, which means there’s more summer entertaining in store. And with a number of summer holidays, like 4th of July, calling for backyard gatherings, you can have fun being a mixologist for your guests. We gathered up some of the top-rated recipes around the country, from swanky NYC-restaurants to bloggers and country stars. Get ready to impress your crew with these refreshing drinks.
Jenna Paulette’s West Texas Watermelon Crawl Margarita
Recipe courtesy of rising country star and modern cowgirl Jenna Paulette
Ingredients
Watermelon Infused Tequila
2 C. Cubed Watermelon
3 C. Dulce Vida Tequila
Individual WTWC Margaritas
4 oz. Fresh Watermelon Juice
4 oz. Watermelon infused Tequila
6 oz. Topo Chico
2 Lime Wedges
Salt for rim
Ice
Make watermelon-infused tequila (place watermelon + tequila in a large jar), let stand for at least 2 hours or, best case scenario, overnight.
1. Shake fresh watermelon juice, infused tequila, and freshly squeezed lime wedge with ice.
2. Use a lime wedge to wet the rim of a glass, salt rim.
3. Strain juice and tequila into a glass with ice and top with Topo Chico.
4. Garnish with lime.
5. Enjoy!
Keep the tequila in a beverage dispenser (large jar with a spigot) in the fridge.
Sparkling Punch
Recipe courtesy of Santa Margherita
Ingredients
1 750-ml bottle chilled Santa Margherita Sparkling Rosé
3/4 cup limoncello
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup quartered fresh strawberries
1 medium lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed
In a large pitcher, combine the limoncello, raspberries, and strawberries.
Top with the chilled rosé champagne and stir in half of the lemon wheels.
Pour into an old-fashioned glass with ice.
Place fruit in each glass and garnish with a lemon wheel, and be sure each glass contains fresh berries.
Cool as a Cucumber
Recipe courtesy of Tequila Tromba
Ingredients
1.5 oz (45ml) Tromba Blanco
0.75 oz (22ml) Fresh lime juice
0.75 oz (22ml) Cucumber juice
0.5 oz (15ml) Agave nectar
Topped off with Soda
Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a tall glass over fresh ice, top with soda and garnish with cucumber slices or ribbons.
Coco-Spritz
Recipe courtesy of Vita Coco
Ingredients
5 small raspberries
Pinch of mint leaves- Smack mint leaves to break up the oils
Small pour of agave
Vita Coco Sparkling Raspberry Lime
1.5 oz Vodka
Muddle ingredients
Add ice to drinking glass
Strain out the excess while pouring contents of large mixing glass into a smaller drinking glass
Add Vita Coco sparkling raspberry lime
Top off with a raspberry/some mint leaves for decor
Oceanside Refresca
Recipe courtesy of Jalisco Cantina
Ingredients
2oz Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka
1oz Fresh Lemon juice
3/4oz Fresh Strawberry puree
1/2oz Simple syrup
Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice and shake for 10-15 seconds. Strain into a coupe and garnish with a whole strawberry on the rim.
BULLDOG Sweet Tea
Recipe courtesy of Bulldog Gin
Ingredients
2 oz Bulldog Gin
2 oz Sweet tea
.75 oz simple syrup
1 oz peach juice
.5 oz lemon juice
Garnish with lemon and mint
Mix all ingredients together and garnish with lemon and mint.
High Proof Daiquiri
Recipe courtesy of Due West NYC
Ingredients
2 oz Rum-Bar overproof Rum
.75 oz Simple Syrup
.75 oz Lime Juice
Combine all ingredients into a shaker. Shake and fine strain into a coupe.
Simple, quick, classic, refreshing and delicious. The Jamaican overproof rum adds a nice element of roundness and kick. It both complements and balances out the sugar from the simple syrup and acidity from the lime.
Summer Sangria
Recipe courtesy of Brian Worley
Ingredients
4 cups lemonade
1 bottle of fruity red or white wine
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup halved seedless red grapes
1 orange sliced into thin rounds
1 red apple, cored and chopped
Add everything into a pitcher and let the juices all marinate and serve with ice cubes made from the mix so that when it melts it does not become watered down. Add some mint to top it off and make it really summery!
Aperol Spritz
Recipe courtesy of The Queen Of Nightlife, Anneliese Place
Ingredients
3/4 cup Aperol
3 Blood Oranges | 2 Juiced and strained | 1 thinly sliced
3 Lemons | Juiced and strained
1 cup water (For more of a kick replace water with Prosecco)
1/2 cup simple syrup
Prosecco for serving with frozen pops
This recipe makes 10 frozen old school style Popsicles
To Prepare:
Arrange Blood Orange slices in Popsicle molds. Mix all ingredients besides Prosecco, together and divide equally in a popsicle mold. Place in freezer and wait for 30 min to an hour before adding wooden sticks so they stand up straight. Freeze at least 6 more hours, best to let them freeze overnight.
To serve:
Pop a cold can of Presto Sparkling Cuvee for single servings or Pop a bottle of Prosecco for a party. Pour yourself a glass and add the pop upside-down. Not in the mood for cocktail? Pull a pop out of the freezer as a snack, these frosty treats are tasty all on their own.
Singani Watermelon Cocktail (AKA Sindependence Day Cocktail)
Recipe courtesy of Nick O’Connor, the head bartender at Apotheke in Los Angeles
Ingredients
4 watermelon cubes
1.5oz. Singani 63
.5oz thyme infusion*
1oz. coconut water
.75oz. lime juice
.5oz. simple syrup
Muddle 4 watermelon cubes in a shaker.
Strain over new ice in a collins glass. Top with ginger beer.
*thyme infusion- let 15 thyme sprigs sit in a neutral spirit(could say vodka) for a few hours
Sparkling WTRMLN Cocktail
Recipe courtesy of WTRMLN Water
Ingredients – Serves 1
3 oz. WTRMLN WTR
2 oz. Sparkling wine (e.g. Prosecco)
Mint sprig, for garnish
Pour WTRMLN WTR into a flute. Top with chilled sparkling wine. Garnish with a mint sprig.
