15 Best Summer Cocktails

Margarita

Ingredients

• 2 oz. silver tequila
• 1 oz. Cointreau
• 1 oz. lime juice
• coarse salt

Directions

Chill a cocktail glass, and then rub its rim with lime juice and dip it in coarse salt. Add tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, and ice together in a cocktail shaker. Shake and then strain into the glass over ice.

Negroni

Ingredients

• 1 oz. London dry gin
• 1 oz. Campari
• 1 oz. vermouth rosso

Directions

Add the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker. Stir well with cracked ice. Strain into a glass over cubed ice. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

Long Island Iced Tea

Ingredients

• 1/2 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. white rum
• 1/2 oz. silver tequila
• 1/2 oz. Cointreau
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. simple syrup
• 3/4 oz. Mexican Coke

Directions

Shake ingredients (except Mexican Coke), then strain into a Collins glass over crushed ice. Top with Coke and garnish with a lemon twist.

Mojito

Ingredients

• 2 oz. white rum
• 1/2 oz. lime juice (squeezed fresh)
• 1 tsp. superfine sugar
• 3 mint leavesclub soda or seltzer

Directions

In a smallish Collins glass, muddle lime juice with 1/2 to 1 tsp. superfine sugar. Add the mint leaves, mushing them against the side of the glass. Fill glass 2/3 with cracked ice and pour in the rum. Pitch in the squeezed-out lime shell and top off with club soda or seltzer.

Mai Tai

Ingredients

• 2 oz. dark rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. orange curaçao
• 1/2 oz. orgeat syrup
• 1/8 oz. rock candy syrup

Directions

Shake ingredients with cracked ice in a chilled cocktail shaker. Pour unstrained into a large Collins glass (or tiki mug). Garnish with half a lime shell and a sprig of mint.

Pina Colada

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 oz. rum
• 3 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 oz. coconut cream
• ice

Directions

Start with the rum. Then combine with unsweetened pineapple juice (you can sub in 3 ounces crushed or whole pineapple), and coconut cream in a blender. Blend on high with a cup or so of crushed ice, or 5 or 6 ice cubes. Pour into a tall glass. Garnish with whatever you’ve got.

Mint Julep

Ingredients

• 3 oz. bourbon
• 5-6 mint leaves
• 1 tsp. sugar

Directions

Place mint leaves in the bottom of a pre-chilled, dry pewter cup. Add sugar and crush slightly with a muddler. Pack glass with finely cracked ice, then pour a generous 3 ounces of Kentucky bourbon over the ice. Stir briskly until the glass frosts. Add more ice and stir again before serving. Stick a few sprigs of mint into the ice to get the aroma.

Painkiller

Ingredients

• 3 oz. dark or gold rum
• 2 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. coconut cream

Directions

Shake ingredients well with ice in cocktail shaker. Strain into a hurricane glass over fresh ice. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

Sangria

Ingredients

• 1 bottle red table wine
• 1/2 c. brandy
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c. pomegranate juice
• 2 c. sparkling water
• 1/4 c. simple syrup
• orange slices
• apple slices
• blackberries
• pomegranate seeds

Directions

Stir all of the ingredients together in a pitcher. Put the pitcher in the refrigerator and let stand overnight. Pour sangria into glasses. Garnish with an orange wedge.

Rum Runner

Ingredients

• 1 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. dark rum
• 1 oz. banana liqueur
• 1 oz. blackberry liqueur
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• splash of grenadine

Directions

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a glass over fresh ice. Garnish with fresh fruit.

Daiquiri

Ingredients

• 2 oz. white rum
• 1/2 tsp. superfine sugar
• 1/2 oz. lime juice

Directions

Squeeze the lime into your shaker, stir in the sugar, and then add the rum. Shake well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Paloma

Ingredients

• 2 oz. tequila
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• pinch of salt
• grapefruit soda

Directions

Combine the tequila (reposado, preferably), lime juice, and salt in a tall glass. Add ice, top off with grapefruit soda, and stir.

Hurricane

Ingredients

• 2 oz. dark rum
• 1 oz. passion fruit syrup
• 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
• orange slices
• maraschino cherries

Directions

Combine rum, passion fruit syrup, and lemon juice with ice in a shaker. Shake until frosty. Pour into a hurricane glass filled with more ice cubes. Garnish with orange slices and maraschino cherries.

Cape Codder

Ingredients

• 2 oz. vodka
• 2-3 oz. cranberry juice cocktail
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• club soda

Directions

Pour vodka, cranberry juice, and lime juice into a Collins glass over ice. Stir. Top with club soda, then garnish with a lime wedge.

Gin & Tonic

Ingredients

• 3 oz. gin
• 3 lime wedges
• 4 oz. tonic water

Directions

Add the gin to a highball glass filled with ice. Squeeze in lime wedges to taste. Then add tonic water and stir to combine. Garnish with a lime wedge.