Hope your summertime is at peak flow. I know ours is. I watched a round of Aperol Spritz’s go across the bar last Saturday at midnight!
So what is this madness? Who are these wacky, late-night, do-gooders? What are they trying to tell us? Nothing? Everything? And, is it me or is everyone on Instagram hashtagging their vacations from an Italian coast right now?
Answer: No one is drinking Jack and Coke this summer.
Also, that round wasn’t an accident.
When we started researching our summer cocktail menu a few months back, we agreed on 3 things and then let the rest unfold in only the way that drinking your research allows your work to glow.
- REFRESHING
- LOW ALCOHOL (yeah, stick with me here)
- QUALITY INGREDIENTS
The result: Essential Summer Cocktails: Highballs & Refreshers
Some quick history: Highballs have been around since before the Great Depression. So around World War 1, your great-grandad was sipping on a scotch and soda. Later, it was your Grandma drinking 7 and 7s. Highballs are basically a family of cocktails made up of a spirit and a non-alcoholic mixer on ice, served tall.
And the beauty of the traditional highball is in its simplicity… but it’s not 1970, is it?
Nope. So as we developed our Highballs and Refreshers summer menu, we wanted to look at every spirit. Because we know you gotta do you, boo. Vodka, tequila, gin, whiskey… and Bubbles. Whoop! Also, we zeroed in on high quality, fresh ingredients and sic mixers. We considered playtime, too. Because we all know your brunch crew is only as strong as the peanut with the weakest tolerance. We see you, Bridgette. So think of low alc cocktails like the waterproof mascara you never knew you needed — until you were in 5 hours into a day-drinking sesh on the patio in July. Yes! The secret is out: low alcohol is on trend and refreshing is indispensable.
But still, why complicate a good thing? Our argument is not in the list of killer ingredients… keep scrolling. It’s in the recipes we also included with each of our essential summer cocktails. We want you to see for yourself how easy it is to elevate your refreshers AND your hang.
Florida panhandle or the Amalfi Coast?
Boss up. Drink Highballs.
Highballs & Refreshers
HIGHBALLS & REFRESHERS:
A GUIDE TO OUR ESSENTIAL SUMMER COCKTAILS
-WHISKEY-
Jenny’s Kick
2 oz Dubliner Irish Whiskey
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
¾ oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Grapefruit juice
Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice, shake for 30 seconds, strain over ice in tall drink glass and top with soda, garnish with blood orange wheel.
Lexington Lemonade
2 oz 1792 Small Batch Bourbon
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¾ oz simple syrup
1 oz blueberry puree
Build in a shaker over ice and shake for 20 seconds, strain contents into tall drink glass over ice. Splash with soda and top with blueberry puree, garnish with a lemon wheel.
-VODKA-
Pimm’s Cup
1 oz Reyka Vodka
1 oz Pimm’s
¾ oz fresh Lemon juice
¾ oz house made ginger syrup
Cucumber infused ice cubes
Add all ingredients to a shaker over ice, shake for 20 seconds. Add ice to long drink glass, topping with 3 cucumber ice cubes. Strain drink into a glass and garnish with a cucumber wheel.
Strawberry Passion Fruit
1 ¼ oz Hanger Rose Vodka
1 oz strawberry puree
6 oz Rekorderlig Passion Fruit Cider
Add all ingredients to a cocktail mixing glass with ice and stir with a bar spoon for 30 seconds. Strain into wine glass over ice, garnish with a mint sprig.
-TEQUILA-
The Ultimate Margarita
2 oz Don Julio Blanco
1 ¼ oz fresh lemon, lime, orange juices
1 oz agave nectar
¾ oz Cointreau
¾ oz Grand Marnier
Add all ingredients to a shaker then fill with ice halfway, shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Pour into an Old Fashioned glass over ice, garnish with lemon and lime wheel.
-GIN-
Basil Tom Collins
1 ¼ oz Hendricks Gin
1 oz fresh lemon Juice
1 oz Agave Nectar
2 oz Fever Tree Artisanal Soda
5 Basil leaves
Build all ingredients in a shaker tin over ice and then shake vigorously for 20 seconds, transfer into tall drink glass and top with soda. Garnish with a lemon twist and basil.
-BUBBLES-
Aperol Spritz
4oz Riondo Prosecco
3oz Aperol
Splash of soda
Fill a wine glass with ice, add Prosecco, add Aperol, top with soda, gently stir with a bar spoon, garnish with an orange pinwheel.