10 Cocktails to Get You Through Quarantine

The overwhelming boredom and stir-crazy feelings that come with sheltering-in-place due to the widespread quarantine can seem never-ending. Although it’s not the healthiest option for a number of reasons, sometimes some good cocktails can help to get some fun and stress relief! One of the great things about cocktails is there are so many different variations you can make that you can appeal to a huge variety of tastes and preferences. Whether you’re looking to relax after working at home all day or for your virtual happy hour with your friends, here are 10 cocktails to get you through quarantine.

1. Frozen Blueberry Mojito

Frozen cocktails are perfect as summer and the hot weather comes along. This frozen blueberry mojito is a delicious combination of blueberries, mint, lime, and white rum. To give these fruity, frozen cocktails an even better taste you can make a simple syrup using the fruits involved. So for this cocktail, you’ll make a blueberry simple syrup using fresh blueberries, water, and sugar. Put them together over low heat until the sugar is dissolved then increase the heat to medium and simmer at a gentle boil for about 15 minutes and make sure to stir often. Once the mixture thickens into a syrup then put in a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and chill in the fridge until you’re ready for your frozen mojitos. Combine your blueberry simple syrup, fresh lime juice, mint leaves, rum, and ice into the blender!

2. Dark and Stormy

A Dark and Stormy is one of those cocktails that is both delicious and has a cool name. It’s a simple drink to make you just need to first put in your two ounces of dark rum into your glass full of ice. Then pour in your ginger beer and garnish with a lime wedge, maybe a little squeeze of lime juice as well. Put on Pirates of the Caribbean and feel like a fancier Captain Jack Sparrow while sipping on your Dark and Stormy.

3. Hawaiian Margarita

Many argue that tropical cocktails are some of the best and after trying this Hawaiian Margarita it’s gonna be hard to oppose that idea. For this drink, you’ll be using orange liquor, tequila, coconut water, pineapple juice, and lime juice. You’ll want to shake this cocktail up with some ice, if you don’t have a cocktail shaker then the whole drink is ruined. Not really just any closed-lid container like a mason jar or water bottle. Garnish your Hawaiian margarita with your choice of either lime slices, pineapple wedges, and/or cherries!

4. Pomegranate Paloma

This could be more considered in the holiday cocktails category, but during quarantine we can drink what we want. The Pomegranate Paloma is basically a pomegranate version of a Paloma- which is essentially a grapefruit version of a margarita. Cocktails aren’t confusing at all. For this drink, you’ll use white tequila, lime juice, simple syrup, and of course the salted rim glass. You can also top the drink off with some club soda for a boost of bubbles.

5. Jolly Rancher

That’s right – a Jolly Rancher cocktail! What adult hasn’t wished for having top-notch candies that we loved when we were kids turned into cocktails? The Jolly Rancher drink is a delicious blend of juices and flavored alcohol that takes you back to your childhood and ruining your teeth with that delicious hard candy. You’ll need green apple vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, and an orange wedge for garnish to make this delicious cocktail. The trade-off is these Jolly Ranchers won’t ruin your teeth necessarily but too many might ruin your liver.

6. Kentucky Buck

This is a great choice for all you who prefer bourbon cocktails. The Kentucky Buck is a delicious and easy-to-make drink perfect for any occasion. It uses lemon juice, a strawberry, Bulleit bourbon (or your preference of bourbon), simple syrup, Angostura bitters, ginger beer, and a lemon wheel and strawberry for garnish. You’ll want to shake this drink up when making it to mix the flavors. First, shake up the bourbon, simple syrup, bitters, and ice. Strain it into a glass over fresh ice and top with ginger beer. Garnish with your lemon wheel and thinly sliced strawberry for a delicious and strong Kentucky Buck.

7. Tropical Rum Punch

Another addition to our delicious tropical cocktails! This recipe for Tropical Rum Punch makes a great summer drink that is perfect for hot days. If our quarantining is ever let up, this is a great recipe to use to make for a pool party with some friends or family. You’ll need cranberry juice, orange juice, peach schnapps, coconut rum, as well as oranges, pineapples, limes, and strawberries! You’ll get a double-bonus of a delicious and a great-looking drink that has sunset-like layers.

8. Blue Mule

The cool thing about cocktails is how many different variations you can make of each drink. This Blue Mule is a “slightly updated” version of the classic Moscow Mule. The ingredients for this drink are lime juice, vodka, blue curacao, ginger beer, blueberries (dusted with sugar), lime slice, ice, and a rosemary sprig for garnish. It’s a delicious and very cool-looking drink that is perfect for any occasion, season, or quarantine.

9. The “Perfect” Manhattan

Here’s one of the most well-known, classic cocktails the Manhattan. I can’t exactly back it up without having had enough “different” Manhattans, but this recipe claims to be the “Perfect Manhattan.” If you’ve been waiting for a whiskey cocktail then I hope you’re happy with this one! Essentially, a Manhattan is like a whiskey martini, and like most cocktails, it has a lot of variations. For this “Perfect Manhattan” you’ll need whiskey, vermouth (dry and sweet), cherries, cherry juice, and bitters. Unlike others, you don’t need to shake this cocktail just add the ingredients together with some ice cubes, stir, and enjoy!

10. Thanos Cocktail

Putting this on your list of favorite cocktails during quarantine is… inevitable! The Thanos Cocktail is the perfect Marvel-fan drink when you want to rewatch the Infinity Sage. This drink uses vodka, blue curacao, cranberry juice, sprite, simple syrup, sweet and sour mix, gold cake sprinkles, and ice. Use some simple syrup around the rim of the glass to get your gold sprinkles to stick and give your drink that gold element similar to the infinity gauntlet. Add your ice and the rest of your ingredients in a shaker then after shaking add to your glass with ice inside. A delicious and cool-looking drink perfect for any Marvel movie binge session. The recipe also points to the IronMan and Enigmatic Black Widow cocktails so check those out too!