2025 Summer Cocktail Recipes

Summer officially begins on June 21, so it's time to highlight refreshing and bright cocktails on your menus. If you're looking for inspiration for your summer menus, we've got recipes for a few summer cocktail favorites as well as some new creations!

To get you started, here's a recipe for a vibrant twist on a classic, the Tropical Guava Sbagliato. The cocktail was created by Natalie Migliarini of Beautiful Booze for Kerry Foodservice using Island Oasis products. Natalie says, "Traditionally, the sbagliato features complex flavors from the bitterness of Campari and the richness of sweet vermouth. To balance these flavors and add a summer twist, we incorporated guava, which elevates the drink, especially with the effervescence of sparkling wine to enliven your palate."

Tropical Guava Sbagliato

Ingredients:
1 oz Campari
1 oz Sweet vermouth
1 oz Island Oasis Guava Beverage Mix
3 oz Prosecco
Luxardo cherries, for garnish
Mint bouquet, for garnish
Orange twist, for garnish

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients except prosecco in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake to chill and combine.
3. Fine strain mixture into a wine glass over fresh ice.
4. Top with prosecco.
5. Garnish with Luxardo cherries, mint bouquet, and an orange twist.

 Looking for more spring inspiration? Try one of the cocktails below.

Margarita Canopy

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces tequila

2 ounces pineapple juice

1 ounce lemon juice

1 ounce spice syrup

Tortilla salt

Directions: 

For the tortilla salt: 

1. For the tortilla salt, take 2 toasted tortillas on a griddle or in an air dryer, and add 100 grams of salt.
2. You can use a food processor or blender to pulverize the ingredients.

For the cocktail:

1. Combine the ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until well integrated.
2. Serve in a short champagne or martini glass, rimmed with smoked tortilla salt.

Queen Charlotte

Ingredients:

.75oz Woody Creek Mary’s Select Gin 

.75oz Lee spirits Crème de Violette

.75oz lemon juice

.5oz rose & pink salt simple syrup

.25oz Magdala triple sec

1 egg white

Garnish: pink Himalayan salt & orchid flower

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to shaker tin.
2. Shake vigorously.
3. Double strain into garnished glass.
4. Add flower garnish.

Amaro Della Luna

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Strawberry Amaro

.75 oz Fred Jerbis Gin 43

.5 oz Chrysanthemum Cordial

.5 oz Lavender infused Vermouth

Directions:

1. Shake all ingredients together.
2. Strain into a coupe glass.
3. Garnish with a bruleed strawberry.

Summer in Provence

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Woody Creek Vodka

.75 oz. Artonic Melonade Aperitif

.5 oz. Lemon juice

.5 oz. Black Pepper Tarragon cordial

• 1 oz. Fresh Tarragon (stems and leaves)

• 1 oz. Whole black pepper corn (toasted)

• .25 oz. Quality Vanilla paste

• 16 oz. Warm tap water

• 16 oz. Sugar

Directions:

For the black pepper tarragon cordial:

1. In a dry pan toast the black peppercorns.

2. Rough chop the Tarragon.

3. Combine Black pepper, Tarragon, and vanilla in warm tap water.

4. Let steep for 10-15 minutes then add sugar.

5. Stir to dissolve.

6. Let cool, and strain this recipe should make about 24oz. of syrup Shelf life 1 month in the refrigerator.

For the cocktail:

1. In a shaker tin combine all ingredients and shake with ic
2. Strain into a Nic and Nora glass
3. Garnish with a Tarragon Leaf

Beach Don’t Kill My Vibe

Batch: Serves about 100 cocktails.

Ingredients:
2L Toasted Coconut-Infused Don Q Cristal (recipe below)
2.6L Don Q Cristal
2L (2 containers) Kiwi Puree
1L Dragon Fruit Puree
750mL Velvet Falernum
1.75L Simple Syrup
.5 oz. Saline Solution
2L Lime juice

Garnish: Mint Leaves

Directions:

For the toasted coconut rum:

1. Take one 14-ounce bag of unsweetened coconut flakes and either spread them out
   evenly on a sheet pan, or add them to a large sauce pan.
2. If using the sheet tray, heat your oven to 450 degrees, put coconut in and watch very
   carefully, setting a timer every two minutes to check on the coconut, stirring around
   as needed so that it toasts as evenly as possible. ****coconut will burn super quickly
   if you're not careful, so definitely keep a close eye.
3. If using a sauce pan, follow generally the same instructions as the sheet pan, stirring
   the coconut to avoid burning and trying to toast as evenly as possible.
4. Once coconut is toasted, it's time to infuse the rum. Ideally you would sous vide the
   rum and coconut on low (about 130 degrees) for about two hours. Heating the entire
   mixture up to infuse seems to draw out the toasted coconut flavor a bit
   more. However, if you don't have a sous vide machine at home, it's perfectly okay to
   add the rum and coconut to a large tupperware or glass container and let it sit
   overnight in the refrigerator (if using sous vide machine, let entire mixture come to a
   complete cool in refrigerator before straining).
5. Once your rum is finished infusing, use a fine mesh strainer to strain the coconut out
   of the mixture. Some of the oils from the coconut will be left in the rum— that's
   okay! It just adds more body and mouthfeel.

For the cocktail:

1. Combine all ingredients in large bucket. Stir.
2. Fill rocks glass with ice and fill glass with cocktail.
3. Garnish w/ hearty mint bouquet and straw.

Lemon Popsicle

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Bombay Sapphire Premier Cru

½ oz. Limoncello

½ oz. Nardini Acqua di Cedro

½ oz. lemon juice

¼ oz. simple syrup

1 barspoon lemon curd

2 dashes TBT lemon bitters

Directions: 

1. Build all ingredients in a tin shaker.
2. Shake quickly and strain on crushed ice in a lemon rocks glass.
3. Add some San Pellegrino Limonata and stir.
4. Cap glass with crushed ice and garnish with grated lemon zest.

New Crush

Ingredients:

2 oz Nikaido shochu

1 oz red bell pepper juice

.5 oz Fresno-mango syrup

0.5 oz lemon juice

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice, shake thoroughly and strain into a rocks glass over a large cube.  Garnish with a bouquet of mint.
2. For Fresno-mango syrup, combine one 750mL bottle of high-quality mango syrup (e.g. Torani or Monin) and blend with 8 Fresno chilis (stems and seeds removed) in a high-speed blender.  Filter through a fine-mesh sieve and refrigerate for up to a week.
3. For red bell pepper juice, place de-seeded red bell pepper in any domestic juicer. Refrigerate and use within 7 days.

Are you registered for our Crave and Crave on the Menu newsletters? Sign up today!

Plan to Attend or Participate in Our Events:

• Register Now for the 2025 Bar & Restaurant Expo Colorado, October 26-28, 2025, Denver, Colorado
• 2026 Bar & Restaurant Expo, March 23-25, 2026, Las Vegas, Nevada.

To book your sponsorship or exhibit space at our events, fill out our form.

Also, be sure to follow Bar & Restaurant on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest industry news and trends.