Top 10 summer cocktails

Whether you’re having a barbecue, chilling by the pool or hiding from unexpected, unwanted rain showers, make sure you’re doing it with one of these refreshing summer drinks in your hand.

From traditional tropical serves to classics with blended ice, we have the perfect recipes for keeping you cool – and merry – this summer.

Here are our top 10 cocktails for summer 2024.

Frozen Negroni

Frozen Margaritas and Daiquiris are a staple of the summer months, but if your tastebuds skew bitter rather than sour, this Frozen Negroni recipe from The Botanist is sure to please.

Ingredients:
120ml The Botanist Islay Dry Gin
120ml Bitter Italian apéritif
120ml Sweet vermouth
360ml Freshly squeezed orange juice
850g Ice
1 Orange peel

Method:
Combine The Botanist, bitter Italian apéritif, sweet vermouth, and freshly squeezed orange juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses, garnishing each with an orange peel.

Tropical Forever

Piña Colada or Aperol Spritz? This recipe from Mezcal Mezul brings the two summertime faves together in one cocktail, and adds a smokiness that’s perfectly matched to barbecued foods.

Ingredients:
60ml Mezcal Mezul
30ml Coconut cream
20ml Pineapple juice
20ml Aperol
15ml Cointreau
15ml Fresh lime juice
15ml Aquafaba or egg whites

Method:
Pour all the ingredients into the shaker and shake for approximately 10 seconds. Remove the ice from the shaker and dry shake for five more seconds. Pour the mixture into a tall glass with ice. Garnish with rosemary or pineapple leaves.

Whiskey Strawberry Lemonade

Homemade lemonade is the perfect way to cool off – but adding whiskey makes it a little more fun.

Ingredients – yields 12:
1 bottle Sagamore Rye Whiskey
710ml Fresh lemon juice
530ml Strawberry simple syrup*
Fresh mint for garnish

Method:
Combine the whiskey, lemon juice, and strawberry simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to combine. Pour into a Highball glass. Garnish with lemon wheel, strawberry and serve.

*To create the strawberry simple syrup
Mix equal parts water, sugar and strawberries in a pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Chill overnight and strain. One cup each of water, sugar and sliced strawberries will yield approximately 10 punches of syrup.

Velvet Batida

Salads and hydration are great, but you can still indulge during the summertime. This recipe from Disaronno combines its creamy almond liqueur with coconut water for a luxurious tropical cocktail.

Ingredients:
60ml Disaronno Velvet
60ml Coconut water
Coconut flakes for garnish

Method:
Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass with crushed ice. Grate coconut on top and serve with a straw.

Summer Refresher

Sometimes summer drinks can be overly sweet and cloying – but this recipe from Edinburgh’s Secret Garden Distillery is the perfect tonic for a day spent sweating.

Ingredients:
50ml Secret Garden Distillery Summer Gin
25ml Apple and rhubarb juice
25ml Orange blossom sugar syrup
Topped with sparkling wine

Method:
Combine all ingredients excluding the sparkling wine in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a Highball glass over ice, then top with your preferred sparkling wine.

The People’s Margarita Grilled Edition

Once you’ve got the grill going, it makes sense to grill everything in sight – even your drinks. This twist on a Margarita from Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s Tequila brand Teremana features grilled pineapple – and, if you’ve any left over, add some to a salsa and thank us later.

Ingredients:
60ml Teremana Blanco
22ml Lime juice
15ml Agave nectar
5 Grilled pineapple wedges*
Grilled pineapple wedge and frond for garnish

Method:
Muddle four grilled pineapple wedges in a shaker. Add the remaining ingredients. Shake with ice. Double-strain into a chilli-salt-rimmed rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with the grilled pineapple wedge and frond.

*To create the garnishes
Cut the pineapple fronds off. Cut the pineapple into vertical quarters. Sprinkle the exposed fruit with sugar, then grill sugar-side down, flipping until charred. Let cool, cut off rind and core and cut fruit into one-inch cubes.

Bell [Pepper] of the Ball

Gianna Burns, Chambord brand ambassador, has created this sweet, sour and spicy cocktail that features bell peppers – it’s essentially an alcoholic salad.

Ingredients:
60ml Finlandia Vodka
60ml Bell pepper-infused Finlandia Vodka
60ml Chambord
22ml Lime juice
15ml Lychee juice
15ml Ginger syrup
Lime twist or wedge for garnish

Method:
Combine all ingredients into a shaker. Hard shake then strain over pebble ice.

Tropicalia Julep

Summer drinks are usually synonymous with lemon, pineapple, coconut and strawberry – and we love those flavours. But if you’re looking for something with a more unique flavour profile, this drink from Mercy Me’s Radovan Jankovic combines sweet and sour tamarind with mango and mint.

Ingredients:
60ml Tamarind base*
22ml Dry mango-infused Lillet Blanc
7ml Fernet Branca Menta

Method:
Stir the ingredients together and pour over ice.

*For the tamarind base
The tamarind base is crafted by vacuum-sealing Bourbon with sour tamarind, palm sugar, a whole banana (including the skin), and a cinnamon stick, then cooking it at a controlled temperature for 24 hours.

Lemon Chu-Hai

Could this year be the summer of shōchū? Kenta Goto, owner of Bar Goto in New York, could make it so with this refreshing serve.

Ingredients:
50ml Iichiko Silhouette shōchū
100ml Club soda
1tsp Nardini Acqua di Cedro
½tsp Lemon juice
Lemon twist for garnish

Method:
Add all ingredients into a Highball glass filled with ice. Top with soda and garnish with a lemon twist.

Salty Rose

Delicate and fragrant, this cocktail is perfect for garden parties and afternoon tea.

Ingredients:
50ml Ketel One Botanical Grapefruit & Rose
30ml Grapefruit juice
15ml Lime juice
8ml Grapefruit liqueur
Grapefruit quarter for garnish
Salt for garnish

Method:
Salt half of the rim of your wine glass. Combine all ingredients in a shaker with good-quality ice cubes. Hard shake and double strain into glass. Garnish with a grapefruit quarter.