Welcome to summer, which everyone knows actually begins on July 5 around here. To help celebrate the glory of the season, we’ve collected an offering of summer cocktails. We asked the experts: distillers, bartenders and a blogger, for recipes and collected some of the most refreshing for you to enjoy. Cheers!
Local Berry Brambler
1 1/2 ounces Bluewater Organic Vodka
1/2 cup of fresh local berries and/or raspberries
Juice from 1/4 fresh lemon
Ginger beer
Combine all ingredients except ginger beer in a tall glass with lots of ice.
If using strawberries, clean and slice the berries ahead of time. If using raspberries, gently muddle the whole berries to release the juice.
Top with the ginger beer
Hawaiian Stone Sour
1 1/2 ounces Skip Rock Rye Whiskey
3/4 ounces fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounces simple syrup
1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
Garnish: Pineapple slice and cherry
Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice.
Shake, and strain into an old fashioned glass filled with fresh ice.
Garnish with a pineapple slice and a cherry.
Basil Bliss
2¼ ounces gin
¾ ounces St. Germain elderflower liqueur
¾ ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 to 6 large basil leaves
1 to 2 ounces club soda
Add the basil leaves, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, lemon juice and gin to a cocktail shaker. Half fill with ice and muddle vigorously to bruise the basil.
Shake, then strain into a cocktail glass. Don’t worry if a few flecks of basil make it through.
Top with a quick splash of club soda and serve immediately with garnish of basil sprig.
Cucumber Encore
1 ¼ ounce Hendrick’s Gin
½ ounce St. Germain elderflower liqueur
Splash of Sprite and sweet and sour mix
Lime
Cucumber
Ice
Place one cucumber slice and two lime wedges in a cocktail shaker with the Hendrick’s Gin and St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur.
Muddle with muddler (or the back of a wooden spoon) until cucumber and lime are mashed and integrated into the liquor.
Fill a glass with ice, pour mixture over ice and top with Sprite and sweet and sour mix. Garnish with a cucumber slice.
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