Seven Refreshing Summer Cocktails to Try This Year

It’s official - winter has finally come to an end. All over Europe, America and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, the skies are growing brighter, the air is a little warmer, and the blossom is starting to appear on the trees. It’s time to start venturing outside, enjoying the reawakening of nature, meeting friends at terrace bars… and, of course, planning your summer holidays.

There are many things we love about the hotter half of the year. Of course, it goes without saying that world travel to exotic locations - and showing off our stylish Sanwin swimwear - sits pretty high on any list of things we like doing. However, few things can be the feeling of satisfaction you get when you’ve got an afternoon off, you can feel the sun on your back, and you’ve got a cooling glass of something well-made, packed with flavour, and alcoholic in your hands. Summer cocktails are - quite frankly - the best.

If you’ve been sticking with the same old bog-standard cocktail for the past few summers, it’s time to up your game and check out some contenders vying to become your new favourite. The spirits scene is booming with innovative new distillations and flavours, and nothing screams sophistication like knowing which cocktail is really going to hit the spot on a hot day. Check out our seven top summer cocktails below, along with a simple guide to mixing them; perfect for next time you’ve got a lady to impress at your beach hut or apartment!

Fino Collins

Ingredients:
Fino Sherry
Soda Water
Elderflower Cordial
Cucumber Spears and Lemon Slices

We often think of Sherry as something of a winter warmer, something to bring out on a cold day when you need a bit of a pick-me-up. However, head to its home in Jerez, Spain, and you’ll see that it’s the perfect drink to enjoy under the blazing sunshine.

Botanical aromatics are all the rage this summer, and this incredibly satisfying and simple summer cocktail packs them in nicely. Fino Sherry is strongly aromatic in itself - spicy, subtle, utterly delicious - and it balances gorgeously with the floral hit of the elderflower. This cocktail has all the charm and beauty of a summer garden, and it’s perfect for those lazy sunny afternoons!

White Port and Tonic

Ingredients:
White Port
Orange Peel
Quality Tonic Water

Here’s a super-simple cocktail which brings a modern twist on an all-time classic. The Portuguese city of Porto is pulling in more visitors than ever before, and it isn’t difficult to see why: when it comes to cool, trendy and dynamic European centres of culture, this city really does have it all. It also has Port - and plenty of it - which can never be a bad thing!

Relive your summer holidays in Portugal with this incredibly refreshing and delicious cocktail. It’s proving a huge hit in the trendier cocktail bars of the world, thanks to its boozy aroma, coupled with the sharpness and sweetness of the tonic water. It’s simply delicious, and is about as elegant and classy as can be.

Mint Julep

Ingredients:
Mint Leaves
1 tbsp sugar
The best Bourbon in your cabinet
Plenty of crushed ice

If you’re a whisky fan, the chances are you sometimes struggle to find a way of enjoying your favourite drink on the hotter days of the year. After all, there’s only so often you can drink a whisky and cola before you start feeling like a teenager again… and not in the best way.

This cocktail plays with the intensity and sweetness of Bourbon, and brings an interestingly exotic element by way of the mint leaves muddled with the ice and spirits. It ends up being a deliciously decadent cocktail, and one which will allow you to lazily sip at your whisky while enjoying the sunshine. Perfection!

Instant Negroni

Ingredients:
Equal quantities of:
Campari
Vermouth
Dry London Gin

There’s something brilliantly international and louche about this cocktail, which is exactly what you want on a hot summer’s day. Garnished with an orange twist, and featuring three classic spirits, it’s a new take on a classic which can be made in seconds without the usually faffing around that goes into making other, similar, but not nearly as satisfying tipples.

Perfect for the modern gentleman who enjoys the refined taste of fine spirits, and appreciates the interplay of flavours on his palate, it’s ideal for showing off your sophisticated side while lounging on a balcony in your designer swim shorts!

The Classic Margarita

Ingredients:
Silver Tequila
Fresh Lime Juice
Cointreau
Rock Salt

Every year, there seems to be a whole list of new, trendy summer cocktails that we’re told we just have to try. However, as is often the case… you just can’t always beat the classics. It doesn’t get much more classic that the Margarita, which, when made from high quality spirits and served on a hot day, is about as good as it gets.

Brilliantly refreshing, decidedly seductive, and a sure way to get the party started in your villa or apartment, the Margarita is easy to make, and really hits the spot when the sun’s out. Flirtatious, delicious, and exotic… if this cocktail was a woman, we’d take her off into the sunset and never come back again.

The Close Shave

Ingredients:
Vodka
Elderflower Liqueur
Prosecco

Sometimes, you want a cocktail which stands head and shoulders above the others, and screams with new flavour combinations and a sense of utter sophistication. In these instances, few can compete with The Close Shave, a relative newcomer on the summer cocktail scene, but which - once tried - is never forgotten.

You’ll feel like James Bond himself as you sip this aromatic and sparkling delight from a martini glass, and if you’re able to whip one of these up back at your hotel room or home, you’re sure to become every woman’s new favourite mixologist. Trust us.

Moscato Lemonade

Ingredients:
Moscato
Strawberries
Lemon Juice
Fresh Basil
Sugar

Wine cocktails are set to be all the rage this summer, but by that we’re not talking about some godforsaken combo of red wine and cola, or those awful rosé wine slushies that have been doing the rounds recently. Rather, we’re talking about a combination of ingredients which really bring out the best in each other, and provide you with a summer cocktail that refreshes, delights and intrigues in equal measures.

Check out this Moscato Lemonade, for example. Moscato is always a joy in the summer - slightly sweet, slightly acidic, and bursting with elegant bubbles and beautiful aromas - and when paired with the complementary flavours of strawberries and basil, it becomes more than the sum of its parts. It’s a little flashy, for sure… but in the height of summer, what’s wrong with a bit of showing off?

There you have it: 7 summer cocktails which are sure to hit the spot when you’re up for a spot of drinking under the sun!