10 Refreshing Summer Cocktails To Help You Beat The Heat
With summer comes the heat. Don’t have a pool or a lake to jump into this season? Cool off with these refreshing summer cocktails instead. Or if you do, just bring them poolside for an even more delicious afternoon dip.
*Writer’s note: I’m all about cocktails that are simultaneously yummy, easy to make, and high in alcohol content. A lot of recipes leave you struggling to stay true to the recipe or stuck with a lot of leftover ingredients you’ll never have a reason to use again. In light of this, I’ve tried to curate my list to fit those needs.
1. Skinny Dragonberry Rum Twist
This cocktail comes from a list of Fresca-based alcoholic drinks. If you’ve never tried Fresca, it is a light and delicious zero-calorie lemon-lime soda, that can add taste and bubbles to lots of concoctions. In this recipe, it’s combined with Bacardi dragonberry Rum, raspberries, and lemon juice for a light, fruity, and easy taste. This is one of the sweetest refreshing summer cocktails!
2. Strawberry and Peach Rosé Sangria
Sangria recipes can often become too complicated to seem worth your while, but this one is quick and easy to whip up before any summer shin-dig. Its main ingredients are brandy, strawberries, peaches, Rosé, sauvignon blanc, and sparkling water, which adds fun bubbles to any sangria mix. All you have to do is add, stir, and chill.
3. The Cable Guide
If you liked the first cocktail incorporating Fresca, or you just have more on hand, add this simple drink to your repertoire. A simplified version of the cable car, the cable guide consists of vodka, mango juice, and Fresca. That’s only three ingredients needed to create something new, delicious, and deceptively fancy.
4. The Frenchy
The Frenchy is another simple, 3-ingredient cocktail, but with a new range of flavors you might not be expecting. If you’re tired of all the mango- and coconut-flavored summer drinks, give this one a try. All you need is pear vodka, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice
5. Lemonade Prosecco Punch
If you’re looking for something less sweet, try this lemonade Prosecco punch for your refreshing summer drink. It’s another easy punch you can prepare for any party in about 5 minutes. Combine lemonade, citrus vodka, blackberries, mint, and Prosecco for a drink that checks all three components off the list: easy, delicious, and sure to get you tipsy by the end of the night.
6. No-Fail Sangria
If you need an even easier Sangria recipe than the last one, go here for a “No-Fail Sangria” not even you can screw up. This recipe allows for a lot of variation as you can add whatever fruits you love to combine or are in season at the time. Again Fresca is here to solve your problems! Mix that yummy soda with white wine and fresh fruit for something simple and delicious.
7. The Paloma
Here you find another classic, three-ingredient cocktail to refresh yourself with. It will especially hit the spot if you’re a tequila kind of girl like me. All you need is tequila, grapefruit soda, and lime juice. One of the easiest refreshing summer cocktails to make!
8. Corona Margaritas
For a great go-to Margarita recipe and a nice twist on the basic tequila, triple sec, and lime, make these Corona margaritas. They incorporate frozen limeade so you don’t have to waste time juicing real limes and you can easily turn them into a frozen option. They have both tequila and Corona for an extra kick.
9. Sparkling Cucumber Mint Gin
This is the drink you should choose if you’re not really into the fruity flavors, but still want something light to sip on. It does unfortunately contain mint syrup, which requires boiling water, sugar, and mint leaves to make a mint-infused simple syrup. However, in reality, this shouldn’t be too difficult, and having simple syrup on hand can really broaden your cocktail horizons. Other than that, you only need gin, limes, sparkling water, and cucumbers.
10. Hawaiian Mimosas
Let’s end on a classic note: the mimosa. Mimosas themselves are ridiculously easy and delicious drinks for any morning or afternoon cocktail hour. This recipe gives them a new twist by incorporating coconut rum and pineapple juice in lieu of the typical orange juice.
Whether you’re lying by the pool or coming home from a day at the office, weave these light and refreshing cocktails into your life for a relaxing summer. They’re quick and easy ways to treat yourself on a daily basis.
