9 Refreshing Summer Cocktail Ideas

We’re always on the lookout for fun cocktail recipes for you to try and, below, you’ll find 8 refreshing cocktail ideas (and one delicious, frozen popsicle) to enhance your celebrations. There’s something for everyone including drinks made with rum, vodka, tequila, whiskey, prosecco, and Aperol. If you prefer gin, check out our gin libations.

Mount Gay® Rum

Every great story begins with a time and a place. For Mount Gay Rum that time and place is the Caribbean Island of Barbados in 1703. Rum, originally called “Kill-Devil” by the Barbadians who first distilled it, is truly a product of the island. The abundance of molasses combined with the culinary ingenuity of early settlers and, of course, their legendary thirst for alcohol led to this unique discovery in the production of spirits.

Barbados Slim

Ingredients

1.5 ounces Seasonal Berry Infused Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum

1.5 ounces Oloroso Sherry

2 grams turbinado sugar

Directions

Muddle sugar in glass. Combine ingredients in a shaker. Pour liquid over crushed ice. Garnish with seasonal berries and mint.

Shore Leave

Ingredients

1.5 ounces Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum

1 dash, orange bitters

2 dashes, aromatic bitters

0.5 ounces Fresh Persian Lime Juice

1 ounce Pumpkin Seed Horchata

Directions

Combine ingredients in a Collins glass. Fill glass halfway with crushed ice and swizzle. Top with more crushed ice and a dash of aromatic bitters. Garnish with orange peel.

Bajan Punch

Sparkling Ice®

Sparkling Ice is a fruity, flavorful sparkling water—without all the sugar. The company offers a variety of fruity flavors that can be enjoyed as-is, in cocktails and even fun frozen popsicles.

Soaked Watermelon Slice Popsicles

Ingredients

3/4 cup tequila

1/2 cup Sparkling Ice Strawberry Watermelon

1/4 cup lime juice

1pound watermelon

Directions

Stir together tequila, Strawberry Watermelon Sparkling Ice, and lime juice in a large bowl. Cut watermelon into wedges and soak in Sparkling Ice mixture for 15 minutes. Insert popsicle sticks into wedges then freeze on a rack-lined baking sheet for 1 hour.

Aperol Spritzer

Ingredients

2 ounces Aperol

6 ounces Sparkling Ice Lemon Lime

Orange twist, for garnish

Directions

In an ice filled Collins glass, add Aperol and float with Sparkling Ice Lemon Lime. Garnish with an orange twist and serve.

Santa Margherita Wines

Santa Margherita has vineyards across Italy, from the Veneto to Tuscany, producing distinctive, authentic wines of deep tradition and regional character. The wines are crafted for the evolving tastes of today’s fine wine lovers.

Frozé Watermelon Granita

Ingredients

1 bottle Santa Margherita Sparkling Rosé

1 quart watermelon-rosemary sorbet (store bought or recipe below)

2 cups diced, seedless watermelon

Directions

Spoon a scoop of sorbet into the bottom of a chilled glass and top with a tablespoon or so of the watermelon cubes. Pour the Santa Margherita Sparkling Rosé over the sorbet and melon. Garnish with mint. Serve immediately with a silver spoon.

Option: Purchase sorbet from a gourmet market instead of making your own.

To Make Your Own Sorbet

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup water

3 sprigs of rosemary

3 pounds seedless watermelon cut into cubes (about 10 cups)

1/2 cup lime juice

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons tequila

Directions

In a small saucepan bring the sugar, water, and rosemary to a boil. Remove it from the heat and let it cool to room temperature, then strain. Combine the rosemary syrup, watermelon, lime juice, and tequila in a blender and process until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and refrigerate overnight. Freeze the sorbet “granita-style” by putting it in the freezer and stirring every hour for five hours.

Blackberry Smash

Ingredients

2 ounces Santa Margherita Prosecco Superiore DOCG

Fresh blackberries

Fresh basil leaves

1 ounce gin

1/2 ounce simple syrup

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

Directions

Find some fun glasses to use – rocks glasses or stemless wine glasses look great. Muddle 6 blackberries and 3 basil leaves. Add gin, simple syrup, and lemon juice. Top off with Santa Margherita Prosecco Superiore DOCG. Garnish with an extra few blackberries and a sprig of basil.

Magnus Highland Park

This single malt scotch whiskey is crafted in the old way by a new generation of Vikings. MAGNUS bears the soul of the Viking ancestors and the name of just one – its founder, Magnus Eunson.

Strawberry Moon Cocktail

Ingredients

2 strawberries (muddled)

5 marjoram leaves (will work with thyme or oregano)

2 ounces Magnus

1 ounces lemon juice

0.75 ounces simple syrup

Directions

Shake then double strain. Top with 2 ounces soda water. Garnish with strawberry and lemon wheel. Serve in either Collins or wine glass.