Welcome to our summer drinks guide. We’ve pored over hundreds of recipes to select the best cocktails of the 2015 season. The recipes are broken down by category: vodka, gin, rum, tequila, whiskey, and beer.
We hope you enjoy our selections and get a few ideas for your summer drinks program.
These are the best tequila cocktails:
Victory
¾ oz. Lime juice
¼ oz. Simple syrup
½ oz. Ancho Reyes chile liqueur
1 ½ oz. Herradura silver tequila
10-12 Fresh mint leaves
Chile-arbol-infused Peychaud’s bitters
Throw mint in highball glass. Combine lime juice, syrup, liqueur and tequila in a mixing tin. Shake and strain into highball. Top off with ice and add four dashes of the chile-arbol-infused Peychaud’s on top. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Juan Martinez, head bartender at Toca Madera in Los Angeles, created this recipe.
Honey Tea Cooler
Honey Tea Cooler
2 parts Hornitos Spiced Honey tequila
½ part Lemon juice
½ part Agave
4 parts Black tea
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake vigorously and strain over fresh ice. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
The mixology team at Hornitos created this recipe.
Banana
2 oz. Herradura reposado tequila
¾ oz. Palo Cortado sherry
½ oz. Giffard Banane Du Bresil liqueur
2 dashes Orange bitters
Stir ingredients together and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Kevin Diedrich, bar manager of BDK Restaurant & Bar in San Francisco, created this recipe.
Blue Moon Margarita
1 ½ oz. Tequila
½ oz. Blue Curacao
2 oz. Pineapple orange juice
½ oz. Sour mix
In a shaker, shake the tequila, Blue Curacao, fruit juice and sour mix. Strain into a chilled, salt-rimmed glass and garnish with a lime slice.
The mixologists at the Wave Bar at Kelley House in Martha’s Vineyard, MA, created this recipe.
Gherkin Fresca Margarita
(Pictured as feature image)
1 ½ oz. Sauza Silver tequila
1 oz. Cucumber-lime agua fresca*
¼ oz. Hendrick’s gin
¼ oz. House-infused jalapeño simple syrup**
Build the cocktail in a rocks glass over ice and garnish with one or two cucumber wheels.
*For the cucumber-lime agua fresca:
Puree 1 cucumber with 1 cup of water and strain through a fine strainer. Add ¼ cup of fresh lime juice and ¼ cup agave nectar or simple syrup (agave is recommended).
**For the jalapeño simple syrup:
Combine 1 cup water with ½ cup sugar and 2 jalepeño peppers (make a small slit lengthwise so that oils in peppers release) in a saucepan. Boil all of the ingredients together for 20 minutes.
Scott Clime, wine and beverage director of Passion Food Hospitality, created this recipe for Fuego Cocina y Tequileria in Arlington, VA.
Dhania Delight
Dhania Delight
2 oz. Roca Patron añejo tequila
½ oz. Chrysanthemum Honey liqueur
½ oz. Hibiscus syrup
1 oz. Lime juice
1 tbsp. Yuzu marmalade
Combine ingredients in a shaker and shake. Double strain into coupe glass and garnish with an orchid.
The mixologists at Hakkasan in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach created this recipe.
Sin Humo
1 ½ oz. Fidencio Unico mezcal
¾ oz. Cointreau
½ oz. Patron Citronage liqueur
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
½ oz. Cranberry juice
Lime slice for garnish
Shake all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain and serve straight up with a lime garnish.
Erik Thiess-Kusiak of the Mirbeau Inn & Spa in Skaneateles, NY, created this recipe.
Cucumber Chili Rita
2 parts Sauza Cucumber Chili tequila
1 part DeKuyper triple sec
2 parts Fresh lemon sour
Juice of one whole lime
Add ingredients to an ice-filled shaker. Shake and strain over ice in a salt-rimmed cocktail or Margarita glass. Garnish with a lime and float a thin slice of cucumber.
The mixologists at Sauza created this recipe.
Tequiliano
Tequiliano
2 parts Sauza 901 tequila
1 part Campari
1 part Sweet vermouth
½ part Agave syrup
Combine all ingredients. Stir well. Pour over ice in a double rocks glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
Mixologist Eddy Buckingham created this recipe for Sauza.
L’Orange Fumée
1 ½ oz. Sombra mezcal
1 ½ oz. Blood orange juice
½ oz. Campari
½ oz. Ancho Reyes chile liqueur
½ oz. Agave nectar
Rim half of a Collins glass with Tajin chili-lime seasoning. Add ingredients and ice to mixing tin. Shake and strain into the Collins glass and garnish with a lemon wheel.
The mixologists at Meat Market in Miami Beach created this recipe.
Big Bright Stars
1 oz. Vida mezcal
½ oz. Ancho Reyes chile liqueur
¾ oz. Lime juice
¾ oz. Ferrand Dry Curacao
½ oz. Simple syrup
Combine ingredients in mixing tin and shake, strain into glass rimmed with Omani Limon powder.
Jay Zimmerman, owner of Sekend Sun in Queens, NY, created this recipe.
What I’m Drinking Now
Johnny Zander
Johnny Zander
Owner of Los Angeles cocktail club Grandpa Johnson’s
It’s summer time, so customers tend to want something that is light but still packs a punch—like our gin cocktail, the Kubrick, made with carrot juice, or our vodka drink, the Lorraine, made with cucumber juice. They taste like an organic juice you get from the market, but with alcohol. My favorite cocktail in the summer is The T-Bizz. I absolutely love mezcal, but it is a very heavy spirit. So mixing it up the way we have on our menu you can have several of them—without having to have your friends carry you out of the bar!
T-Bizz
T-Bizz
1 ½ oz. Vida mezcal
1 oz. Aperol
1 oz. Cocchi Torino
2 dashes Orange bitters
Combine ingredients in mixing glass and stir. Strain into glass over fresh ice and finish with orange zest.
What I’m Drinking Now
Daniel Strauch
Daniel Strauch
Bartender at Circa in Washington D.C.
After reading The Bar Book by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, I was inspired to further our barrel-aged cocktail program with a reposado tequila drink. The combination of the unique ingredients and the barrel-aging process round out the flavor of the cocktail. Additionally, tequila is a perfect spirit for the summer season. I dare you to not ask for a second!
Reposado Batch #2
Reposado Batch #2
Two 750-ml. bottles of Espolon Reposado tequila that have been aged in an oak barrel for 2-3 weeks
1 ½ cups Agave simple syrup
1 ½ oz. Fee Brothers orange bitters
½ oz. Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
Combine ingredients and serve neat, garnished with a grapefruit peel.
