5 Summer Cocktail Recipes to Perfect this Summer

As warm weather arrives and days and nights are spent outside, the choice of what refreshing beverage to enjoy becomes more and more important. Lucky for you, we have FIVE new cocktails recipes for you. All of them look gorgeous when served in our drinking glasses and are the perfect way to enjoy a summer afternoon or night.

Brian Sandahl of Heavy Muddle has created five new recipes for us with awesome step-by-step instructions and tips and tricks to craft infused spirits. Whether it’s the Monte Colada, which is a twist on a Pina Colada, or the Made In The Shade, a cocktail featuring lavender-infused vodka that drinks like lemonade, these cocktails are a must-make.

Tulum Raider

Tropical and lightly smoky

Everybody loves a margarita! For bonus points, grill the pineapple before juicing to really bring out the earthiness and smokiness of the mezcal.

• 1.5 oz Tequila Blanco
• 1/2 oz Mezcal
• 1 oz Lime Juice
• 3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
• 1/2 oz Aperol
• 1 tsp Agave Nectar
• 2 dashes Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit Bitters (optional)

To make, shake all ingredients with ice to chill and dilute, then strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with pineapple frond.

Martini GT

Herbal & bittersweet

An inverted gin martini, lengthened with tonic. Perfect when you want something that is low ABV and sessionable.

• 2 oz Dry Vermouth
• 1 oz Gin
• 2 dashes Bitters*
• Big Squeeze of Lime
• Top with ~2 oz Tonic

To make, add vermouth, gin, bitters and lime to a glass filled with ice and stir briefly to chill. Top with tonic and garnish with fresh herbs and fruit.

*I used Crude Bitters' Rosemary, Grapefruit and Peppercorn blend and garnished my cocktail to match. Orange bitters would be more classic to a Martini, but really any fruit or herbal bitters will work here.

Made In The Shade

Floral & fruity

My boozy take on lavender lemonade, with a couple dashes of peach bitters to make it feel a lil' more Southern.

• 1.5 oz Lavender-Infused Vodka*
• 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
• 1/2 oz St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur
• 1/2 oz Cocchi Americano
• 1/4 oz Simple Syrup
• 2 dashes Peach Bitters
• Top with ~3 oz Soda

To make, shake all ingredients except soda briefly with ice to chill, then strain into an ice-filled glass. Top with soda (I prefer Topo Chico) and garnish with dehydrated lemon wheel and lavender.

* 1 Tbsp dried lavender buds infused in 1 cup vodka for up to 60 minutes.

Monte Colada

Tropical & fun

A reimagined Pina Colada using an Italian amaro as the base spirit and a healthy dose of absinthe.

• 2 oz Amaro Montenegro
• 2 oz Pineapple Juice
• 1/2 oz Absinthe
• 1/2 oz Lime Juice
• 2 scoops (~1/2 cup) Vanilla-Flavored Coconut Ice Cream
• 1/2 Banana
• Handful of Ice (somewhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup)

To make, add everything to a blender and blend on high for up to 1 minute. Pour into glass and garnish with pineapple fronds and orange wheel.

Ruby Mule

Spicy & refreshing

A Moscow Mule riff that doesn't use ginger beer...? Here we get our spicy ginger kick from Liber & Co's Fiery Ginger Syrup, and we get our bubbles from Austin Eastciders' Brut offering.

• 1.5 oz Tequila Blanco
• 3/4 oz Lime
• 1/4 oz Hibiscus Agave Syrup*
• 1/4 oz Fiery Ginger Syrup
• Top with ~2 oz Dry Apple Cider

To make, shake all ingredients except cider briefly with ice to chill, then strain into an ice-filled glass. Top with cider and garnish with lime wheel.

* Combine 1 cup water and 1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers in a 2 QT saucepan over low heat. Allow to steep for 15 min, removing from heat when the water starts to boil. Strain out the flowers and weigh the liquid. Add equal weight of agave nectar and stir to dissolve. Bottle and keep in fridge.