Invariably, 50% of the listicles about summer cocktails which are bound to inundate your newsfeed in the run-up to Christmas will propose elaborate, on-theme ideas.
Lo and behold, as in bygone holiday seasons, we thought it’d be more practical to fix the BH readership up instead with a few cocktail recipes that are of the persuasion that you can drink all summer long.
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The recipes that you’ll find below are exactly what you should be making before and during silly season. Balanced, refreshing, and ripe for a weekend full of fun in the sun; chances are you’ll be making these long into 2024 even as the mercury begins to dip.
Now how’s that for a gift that keeps on giving?
Our Favourite Summer Cocktails (2023)
Americano
Read our full Americano cocktail recipe, complete with useful tips from industry pros, at the link below:
Bloody Mary
Ingredients
- 60 ml Vodka
- 120 ml Tomato juice
- 15 ml Lemon juice
- 4 Dash Worcestershire
- 8 Dash Hot pepper sauce
Method
- Combine all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice
- Gently “roll” the ingredients until the shaker becomes visibly cold
- Strain into a glass (or pitcher, if making multiple serves)
- Garnish with cracked black pepper and a pinch of celery salt
Much like the vaunted Martini or Boulevardier, there is nothing inherently festive about the Bloody Mary; yet the latter’s unrivalled customisability and savoury, food-friendly factor make it a goer during the festive season — especially when you find yourself lunching on the terrace or out of doors.
This modern riff on the American classic (ostensibly invented by St. Regis bartender Fernand Petiot) requires only a handful of ingredients to make, most of which are common in all but the most spartan household pantries.
Rather than mucking about with unnecessarily premium vodka or gimmicky hot sauces (Tabasco gets the job done admirably), the secret of how this cocktail comes together is in technique. Remember to “roll” all of the ingredients in your cocktail shaker, as opposed to hard-shaking.
Sgroppino
Ingredients
- 15 ml Vodka
- 7.5 ml Single cream
- 45 ml Champagne/Prosecco
- 3 Bar Spoon Lemon sorbetto
Method
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl
- Whisk until mixture achieves a homogenous, slush-like consistency
- Serve in chilled coup glass
- Garnish with fresh-grated lemon zest (optional)
A recipe that you’ve probably gleaned at high-touch Italian eateries around Melbourne and Sydney, the dramatic appeal of the Sgroppino — essentially, a kind of spiked slushie built upon sorbet — is easy to understand. Ladled high into a coup or old-timey sundae glass, it’s a lightly flavoured yet visually spectacular way to bookend a meal: offering an experience at the opposite end of the spectrum to our other dessert/cocktail hybrid, the Affogato.
Traditionally, for the purposes of volume and efficiency, bartenders have favoured the blender when making multiple batches of the Sgroppino; yet the powerful compressive forces that this appliance exerts can sometimes produce an unpleasant splitting effect in your final cocktail.
Instead, we recommend rolling up your sleeves and applying a bit of elbow grease — whisking your ingredients manually (preferably, in a large metal mixing bowl) until a texture akin to just-set soft serve has been achieved.
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Patrón Silver Paloma
Ingredients
- 45 ml Patrón Silver
- 90 ml Pink grapefruit juice
- 15 ml Lime juice
- 15 ml Agave syrup
- 30 ml Sparkling water
Method
- Combine all ingredients, except the sparkling water, in a shaker
- Hard-shake with ice until chilled
- Strain into a chilled Collins glass that has been pre-rimmed with salt and sugar
- Top up with sparkling water
- Garnish with grapefruit wedge (optional)
Should you still find Sgroppinos to be a little too food-adjacent for your liking, Palomas are a lighter more refreshing option that embodies all the best qualities associated with summertime drinking. A more inspired alternative to the ubiquitous Margarita, the original recipe (translated from the Spanish word for “dove”) is a Mexican classic of legendary standing.
The agave syrup’s mild sweetness, coupled with crisp green notes from the Patrón Silver lend the Paloma its characteristically refreshing quality; making for a cocktail that is handily the easier to quaff during high summer. As a bonus: they show up great in photos, probably explaining why every influencer (and their dog) can be seen sipping one around this time of year.
French 75
Ingredients
- 45 ml Four Pillars Rare Dry gin
- 15 ml Lemon juice
- 75 ml Brut Champagne
- 1.5 Bar Spoon Powdered sugar
Method
- Combined the lemon juice and powdered sugar in a shaker, until latter dissolves
- Add gin, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass
- Top mixture with Champagne, and lightly stir to incorporate
- Garnish with lemon peel (optional)
If you’re anything like the boys at BH HQ, odds are you’ve probably over-corrected on your Champagne order in Christmases past: doubling down on magnum after magnum of Brut, in the hope that you’ll be well-stocked for whatever large-format festivities the final few weeks of December throw at you.
Assuming you find yourself in a similar position (i.e. thinking of imaginative ways to divest yourself of excess bubbles) the French 75 is an absolutely killer recipe.
A stalwart of fancy cocktail bars across the globe, it remains one of the most reliable ways to spruce up a handful of Champagne flutes — injecting potent energy into any tepid social gathering with devastating effect.
Named after WWI-era artillery of the same name, the 75 is a drink for those who favour, more than anything else, a qualitative approach. Our advice? Ring in Christmas dinner with one (at most, two) of these before moving onto a bottle of something fresh and fruit — the combination of powdered sugar, gin and sparkling wine has the firepower to “knock you flat” on your back otherwise.
Spicy Margarita
Read our full spicy Margarita cocktail recipe, complete with links to a number of the drink’s most popular variations, at the link below:
