With its herbaceous and botanical flavors of juniper, flowers, and dried fruit, there is perhaps no spirit better suited for summer than gin. As temperatures rise and humidity spikes, gin’s light flavor profile blends perfectly into a number of cocktails ideal for quenching your thirst and cooling you down. This season, if you’re looking for a new aperitif, try one of these delightful gin cocktails for summer.
Berry Gin Cocktails for Summer
Peak of Summer
Nothing screams summer like the return of in-season berries, and the Peak of Summer cocktail knows this best. A riff on the classic Gimlet, the Peak of Summer is loaded up with heaps of fresh strawberries for a delicious cocktail that truly embodies the exact mood its name suggests. To make your own, combine gin, lime juice, strawberry syrup, and chopped strawberries to a cocktail shaker and serve.
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Strawberry Daydream
Another strawberry-infused gin cocktail, the Strawberry Daydream is light, fresh, and dripping with the essence of summer. Its mixture of gin, lemon, ruby red grapefruit, and strawberry syrup is certain to keep you cool all season long.
Gin-Strawberry Smash
Like air conditioning in a glass, the Gin-Strawberry Smash is refreshing and simple to throw together. With gin, lemon juice, and strawberry-mint syrup, this cocktail is flavorful and sweet, but it’s kept in check with the addition of aromatic bitters, making it a delightfully balanced cocktail to enjoy all season long.
The Berrycello Cooler
A riff on the Salty Dog — a cocktail featuring gin or vodka with grapefruit juice and a salt rim — the Berrycello Cooler combines gin, fig and strawberry syrup, limoncello, and grapefruit juice. The result is a wonderfully refreshing cocktail whose fruity sweetness is softened by the addition of limoncello for an extra zesty kick.
The Bramble
Made to be consumed over the course of a long afternoon, the Bramble is the perfect cocktail to sip in the summer sun. This cocktail is made by combining gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and crème de mûre in a shaker and is best served in a rocks glass over crushed ice, topped with a lemon wheel and a few skewered blackberries.
Bubbly Gin Cocktails for Summer
Rosé Blackberry Spritz
This summer, swap out your Aperol Spritz for the Rosé Blackberry Spritz, the perfect collision of summer’s favorite spirit with the season’s favorite wine — rosé. To make your own, combine a rosé aperitivo such as Starlino with gin and lemon juice in a shaker. Shake, strain, and top with blackberry soda.
Sparkling Raspberry Royale
Meet the Sparkling Raspberry Royale, a cross between the Breakfast Martini and the Kir Royale. This cocktail’s simple combination of gin, lemon juice, raspberry jam, and Champagne makes for the perfect opportunity to enjoy some of summer’s best flavors, all without breaking a sweat.
Last Summer Fizz
Inspired by the Last Word, the Last Summer Fizz (true to its name) will invoke memories of summers past upon your very first sip. Created at Portland, Ore.’s now-shuttered Trifecta Tavern, this cocktail is a shaken mixture of gin, fresh lime juice, green Chartreuse, lime cordial, and egg white, topped with club soda for some extra effervescence.
Citrusy Gin Cocktails for Summer
Argentinian Summer
Perfect for white wine– and gin-lovers alike, the Argentinian Summer cocktail is sure to please any crowd on the most sweltering of days. A blend of dry gin, Torrontés (a white wine), strawberry simple syrup, and grapefruit juice, this cocktail is light, delicious, and offers a perfect balance between sweet and citrusy.
Boozy Watermelon Lemonade
This concoction incorporates two of childhood’s most important summer flavors — watermelon and lemonade — for a zippy gin cocktail perfect for adult enjoyment all season long. The Boozy Watermelon Lemonade combines citrus-forward gin, ginger liqueur, lemon juice, rosemary simple syrup, watermelon, and dry lemon soda for a fruity, herbaceous sip.
Bee’s Knees
After the 1919 passing of the Volstead Act, which ratified Prohibition in the United States, illicit home-distilling took over and bartenders began adding powerful flavors like lemon juice to cocktails in order to cover up the at-best questionable spirits available to them. One said cocktail is the Bee’s Knees, which, despite Prohibition ending in 1933, remains popular today. Light and sessionable, the Bee’s Knees’ combination of gin, lemon juice, and honey is perfect for summertime imbibing.
The Southside Fizz
While the origins of this cocktail may be in question, there is no debate to be had regarding its popularity. Existing in the space between Gimlet and Mojito, the Southside Fizz combines gin, simple syrup, lime juice, and fresh mint leaves for a quaffable cocktail ideal for summer’s oft-extreme temperatures.
Gin Highballs for Summer
Gin Rickey
While the Gin Rickey has inspired a number of variations, this classic cocktail is a tried-and-true option for relaxing in the afternoon sun. Created by Missouri lobbyist and Civil War veteran Joe Rickey in the 1800s, the Gin Rickey combines gin, lime juice, and club soda for an easy-to-make and easier-to-drink cocktail for the dog days of summer.
Tom Collins
The Tom Collins is another classic highball perfect for summer imbibing. A mixture of gin, lemon, and simple syrup topped with club soda, this cocktail is light, perfectly balanced, and certain to chill you down on summer’s hottest days.
Gin Gin Mule
The Moscow Mule is arguably one of the greatest summer cocktails, known for its refreshing blend of citrus and spice. If vodka isn’t your spirit of choice, try idling this summer with the Gin Gin Mule, a mixture of gin, lime juice, ginger beer, simple syrup, and mint.
Turmeric Rickey
While turmeric may not be the first ingredient you think of when you imagine seasonal cocktail ingredients, the Turmeric Rickey seems to have been invented with summer on the brain. A take on the classic Gin Rickey, this cocktail combines Von Humboldt’s Turmeric cordial with London dry gin, lime juice, and club soda for a light and sessionable drink perfect for combating summer’s high temperatures.
The Floradora
With its vibrant, Flamingo-pink hue, the Floradora was practically invented for summer. A combination of gin, lime juice, ginger ale, and your choice of either crème de framboise liqueur, Chambord, or raspberry syrup, this cocktail is tart and sessionable — perfect for an afternoon of sunny sipping.
Pineapple-Basil Highball
As the name suggests, this cocktail features two of the summer season’s greatest flavors: fresh basil and ripe pineapple. The highball mixes gin, lime juice, pineapple juice, simple syrup, basil leaves, and lime sparkling water for a wonderfully light cocktail ideal for the warmer months.
Frozen Gin Cocktails for Summer
Mango & Strawberry Gin Slush
When summer’s heat strikes, sometimes cocktails on the rocks aren’t enough to keep us cool. If that’s the case for you at any point this season, try refreshing with this Mango & Strawberry Gin Slush. A blended mixture of gin, strawberries, mango sorbet, and thyme, this frozen drink is tart, delicious, and perfectly balanced.
Tropical Gin Cocktails for Summer
The Toucan Sam
Garnishing a drink needn’t be a serious task, and no cocktail knows this better than the Toucan Sam. A mix of gin, Campari, simple syrup, pineapple juice, and lime juice, this cocktail is garnished with a plethora of Fruit Loops and is perfect for easygoing sipping all summer long.
The Starfruit-Mint Bramble
The beauty of the Bramble cocktail is its ability to be tinkered with, producing entirely new versions with an easy ingredient swap or two. The Starfruit-Mint Bramble adds starfruit- and mint-infused simple syrup to the classic mixture of gin, crème de mûre, and lemon juice for a quaffable cocktail carrying tropical hints ideal for beating the heat.
The Rosy Gin Punch
For many, the onset of summer indicates the return of hosting outdoor dinner and cocktail parties. To impress your guests this summer, try making a batch of this delicious Rosy Gin Punch. Easy to make in larger formats, this combination of gin, pineapple juice, lemon juice, and rose syrup is simple to keep your thirst quenched all season long.
Groovy Gimlet
This summer, when you’re dreaming of escaping to the tropics, try making the Groovy Gimlet — a tiki-inspired twist on the classic gin cocktail. Made by combining butterfly pea tea-infused gin, lime juice, and toasted coconut syrup, this summer gin cocktail is bright and flavorful, plus has a vibrancy that practically begs you to take that next sip.
