Cool down this summer with these Inviting cocktail selections

While great cocktails can be enjoyed any time of year, there's no denying that summer brings its own special joy to sipping. After all, we talk about the drink of the summer and not the drink of fall for a reason.

More than just being seasonally appropriate refreshments as temperatures rise, summer cocktails seem to give us permission to indulge our senses. Whether it's a simple three-ingredient highball you can whip up quickly on the porch, a low-ABV sipper you can nurse all afternoon, or a bursting technicolor drink made with the brightest liquors and fruits around - summer invites experimentation and flavorful abandon.

The longer days and laidback atmosphere of the season gives our home bartending creativity room to shine. Using seasonal produce at its peak and focusing on light, bright mixes is not just delicious, but feel good way to enjoy the sunny weather.

To provide inspiration as the summer heats up, we've gathered some of our favorite easy yet impressive cocktail recipes to serve all season long. Crack open the bar cart and let the summer sipping commence!

Jungle Negroni

Ingredients:

1.25 oz Brugal 1888 rum

0.25 oz Campari

0.25 oz pineapple syrup

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass filled with ice.

Stir ingredients vigorously until the outside of the glass is frostbitten and the liquids are thoroughly combined, about 20-30 seconds.

Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer and into a highball glass filled with fresh ice.

Garnish with a pineapple wedge if desired.

A splash of ruby-red Campari adds lively color contrast to the gold rum and natural sweetness of pineapple in this easy highball cocktail. The brief stirring chills and dilutes the drink for very refreshing sipping on warm days.

Garden Spritz Cocktail

Ingredients:

1.5 oz bitter Italian aperitif

0.5 oz elderflower liqueur

2 oz club soda

5 oz Peroni beer

Garnish:

Grapefruit slice

Edible flowers

Add ice to a highball glass.

Pour in the aperitif, elderflower liqueur, and club soda.

top with the Peroni beer.

Stir to combine.

Skewer a grapefruit slice and edible flowers on a pick and use as a garnish, resting it on the rim of the glass.

Refreshing and lightly effervescent, this spritz cocktail brings together herbal Italian bitter, elderflower sweetness, and a dash of bubbly club soda for a sunny springtime sipper. The Peroni balances the layered flavors with its crisp, wheaty notes.

Strawberry Basil Smash

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Aberfeldy 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch

3-5 strawberries, hulled and sliced

3 basil leaves, torn

0.75 oz fresh lemon juice

0.5 oz simple syrup

Garnish:

Strawberry slice

Basil leaf

Add the strawberries, basil, lemon juice, simple syrup and scotch to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

Shake vigorously until the shaker is very cold, about 15-20 seconds.

Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass.

Skewer a strawberry slice and basil leaf on a pick to garnish the rim of the glass.

Light yet lively, this smash cocktail lets the flavors of strawberry and basil shine alongside the smooth, peaty scotch. A refreshing sipper perfect for leisurely summer afternoons on the patio.

Mediterranean Gin & Tonic:

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Spring 44 Gin

5 oz Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water

Lime wheel

Lemon wheel

Equipment:

Wine glass

Fill a wine glass with ice.

Pour the gin over the ice.

Top with the tonic water and gently stir with a bar spoon until combined.

Skewer the lime and lemon wheels onto cocktail picks.

Garnish the drink by resting the skewers across the rim of the glass.

Light and refreshing, this gin and tonic highlights the Mediterranean-inspired botanicals in Spring 44 gin with a complementary tonic water. The lime and lemon provide bright bursts of flavor in each sip. Enjoy outdoors on a warm summer evening!

Cool Summer Fizz

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Don Papa 7 rum

0.5 oz ginger syrup

0.5 oz peach purée

0.5 oz fresh lemon juice

1 egg white

Soda water

Garnish:

Grapefruit twist

Lemongrass spear

Instructions:

Add the rum, ginger syrup, peach purée, lemon juice and egg white to a cocktail shaker.

Dry shake without ice to emulsify the egg white.

Add ice and shake vigorously until chilled and frothy, about 15 seconds.

Double strain into a chilled collins glass filled with fresh ice.

Top with soda water and gently stir to combine.

Express grapefruit oils over the drink and garnish with a twist and lemongrass spear.

A light and lively cocktail, the creamy egg white combines ginger, peach and citrus flavors for a refreshing summer sipper.