Best Summer Cocktails - Crystal Mixer

With the weather heating up and the days getting longer, almost everyone is searching for that perfect summer cocktail to cool down with. Each cocktail on our list of the best summer cocktails tastes as good as it looks, so prepare for a collection of fruity, sparkling, and downright sensational drinks that will make your next garden party one to remember.

Whether you’re partial to a zingy Mojito or prefer to keep things light and vibrant with an Aperol Spritz, there’s sure to be something among our picks that will appeal to the senses.

If you’re ready, then let’s dive right in. Bottoms up!

Bellini

Ingredients

1 medium ripe, peeled and pureed - peach
4 - 6 oz - Champagne

Directions

Pour peach puree into glass and slowly add champagne. Stir gently. Garnish with a peach slice.

Cape Codder

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz - vodka
3 oz - cranberry juice
1 - lime

Directions

Pour Vodka and Cranberry Juice into a highball glass over ice. Stir well, add the wedge of lime, and serve.

Cosmopolitan Cocktail

Ingredients

1 oz - vodka
1/2 oz - triple sec
1/2 oz - Rose's® lime juice
1/2 oz - cranberry juice

Directions

Shake vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice vigorously in a shaker with ice. Strain into a martini glass, garnish with a lime wedge on the rim, and serve.

Gin Fizz

Ingredients

2 oz - gin
juice of 1/2 - lemons
1 tsp - powdered sugar
- carbonated water

Directions

Shake gin, juice of lemon, and powdered sugar with ice and strain into a highball glass over two ice cubes. Fill with carbonated water, stir, and serve.

Long Island Iced Tea

Ingredients

1 part - vodka
1 part - tequila
1 part - rum
1 part - gin
1 part - triple sec
1 1/2 parts - sweet and sour mix
1 splash - Coca-Cola®

Directions

Mix ingredients together over ice in a glass. Pour into a shaker and give one brisk shake. Pour back into the glass and make sure there is a touch of fizz at the top. Garnish with lemon.

Mai Tai

Ingredients

1 oz - light rum
1/2 oz - creme de almond
1/2 oz - triple sec
- sweet and sour mix
- pineapple juice
1/2 oz - Myer's® dark rum

Directions

Pour light rum, creme de almond and triple sec, in order, into a collins glass. Almost fill with equal parts of sweet and sour mix and pineapple juice. Add dark rum, a large straw, and serve unstirred.

Mint Julep

Ingredients

4 fresh - mint
2 1/2 oz - bourbon whiskey
1 tsp - powdered sugar
2 tsp - water

Directions

Muddle mint leaves, powdered sugar, and water in a collins glass. Fill the glass with shaved or crushed ice and add bourbon. Top with more ice and garnish with a mint sprig. Serve with a straw.

Mojito

Ingredients

1.25 oz - Captain Morgan® Original spiced rum
12 - mint
1 tbsp - sugar
0.5 oz - lime juice
2 oz - soda

Directions

Place mint leaves in bottom of glass. Add crushed ice, Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, sugar, and lime juice, and muddle. Add soda water and garnish with mint leaves.

Paloma

Ingredients

2 oz - tequila
6 oz - club soda
1 splash - lime juice
1 pinch - salt

Directions

Pour the tequila into a salt-rimmed collins glass filled with ice cubes. Fill with club soda. Splash lime juice on top, and serve.

Pina Colada

Ingredients

3 oz - light rum
3 tbsp - coconut cream
3 tbsp crushed - pineapples

Directions

Put all ingredients into an electric blender with 2 cups of crushed ice. Blend at a high speed for a short length of time. Strain into a collins glass and serve with a straw.

Sangria Liqueur

Ingredients

1 bottle - red wine
1/2 cup - sugar
1 cup - orange juice
1 cup - lemon juice
- cloves
- cinnamon

Directions

Mix all together and put in the refrigerator till cold. Add cloves and cinnamon sticks to taste.

Strawberry Daiquiri

Ingredients

1/2 oz - strawberry schnapps
1 oz - light rum
1 oz - lime juice
1 tsp - powdered sugar
1 oz - strawberries

Directions

Add ingredients with a bit of ice in a blender. Blend and then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish w/ strawberry.

Strawberry Margarita

Ingredients

1/2 oz - strawberry schnapps
1 oz - tequila
1/2 oz - triple sec
1 oz - lemon juice
1 oz - strawberries
- salt

Directions

Rub rim of cocktail glass with lemon juice and dip rim in salt. Shake schnapps, tequila, triple sec, lemon juice, and strawberries with ice, strain into the salt-rimmed glass, and serve.

Tequila Sunrise

Ingredients

2 msr - tequila
- orange juice
2 dashes - grenadine syrup

Directions

Pour tequila in a highball glass with ice, and top with orange juice. Stir. Add grenadine by tilting glass and pouring grenadine down side by flipping the bottle vertically very quickly. The grenadine should go straight to the bottom and then rise up slowly through the drink. Garnish stirrer, straw and cherry-orange.

Original Singapore Sling

Ingredients

2 oz - gin
1 oz - cherry brandy
1 oz - lime juice
1/4 tsp - benedictine herbal liqueur
1/4 tsp - brandy

Directions

Combine the gin, cherry brandy and lime juice in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into a collins glass almost filled with ice cubes. Drop the benedictine and brandy into the centre of the drink, and serve.

Aperol Spritz

Ingredients

3 oz - Prosecco
2 oz - Aperol®
1 oz - soda water

Directions

Add all ingredients into a Wine Glass with ice and stir. Garnish with an orange wheel.

Blackberry Wine Slushie

Ingredients

4 oz - Red Wine
1 1/2 oz - Vodka
5 - Blackberries
1 oz - Orange Juice, freshly squeezed
1 tsp - Agave Nectar
2 - Blackberries (Garnish)

Directions

Add all the ingredients with about 1 1/2 cups of ice into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a stemless wine glass. Garnish with 2 blackberries.

Grapefruit Shandy

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz - Grapefruit Juice
6 oz - Beer
1 1/2 oz - Simple Syrup
3 oz - Water
1 - Grapefruit (Garnish)

Directions

Pour the water, simple syrup, and grapefruit juice into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake well. Strain that grapefruit mix into a beer glass, filling it half-way, and top it with beer. Complete it by garnishing with a grapefruit slice.

Rocky Cucumber Cocktail

Ingredients

2 oz - Vodka
1 oz - Lime Juice, freshly squeezed
3/4 oz - Simple Syrup
4 Slices, divided - Cucumber
3 Dashes - Hot Pepper Sauce
1 - Cucumber (Garnish)

Directions

Muddle 3 slices of cucumber with the vodka, lime juice, simple syrup, and 3 dashes of hot sauce, in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake well. Strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with fresh ice and top with club soda. Garnish with a cucumber slice and add an extra dash of hot sauce. Note: Take it easy with the hot sauce. One dash too many can easily throw off the balance and burn the drink to the point where it's undrinkable.