Cool Off with Refreshing Gin Cocktails for Summer.
Summer is the season of vibrant flavors, sun-soaked gatherings, and refreshing sips that quench your thirst and lift your spirits.
And what better way to embrace the essence of summertime than with a tantalizing array of Summer gin cocktails you can make at home? As the mercury rises, it’s time to indulge in the art of mixology and explore the world of gin through a delightful lens. From classic concoctions to innovative twists, we present to you a unique, curated collection of 10 delicious summer gin cocktails that will transport you to a tropical paradise, awaken your taste buds, and elevate your summer soirées to new heights.
So grab your cocktail shaker, gather your friends, and embark on a journey of irresistible flavors that will make this summer one to remember.
Cheers to the season of endless possibilities and unforgettable moments!
Table of Contents
The Perfect Summer Drink: Gin
Gin is a spirit made from juniper berries and a variety of other botanicals. It has a distinct flavor that makes it perfect for cocktails. When it comes to choosing a gin for your summer drinks, look for a gin with a light and refreshing flavor profile.
Some popular gin brands include:
- Hendrick’s
- Bombay Sapphire
- Tanqueray
- Beefeater
Vesper
Possibly the most delicate Martini variant, great in summer.
Introducing the Vesper; the first on our list of Gin Summer Cocktails.
Traditionally shaken, we won’t scold you if you prefer to stir yours. Some might say that shaking liquor only drinks started only when stirring skills were lost, and is thus best avoided!
The vermouth is key to this drink.
Cocchi Americano or Sacred English amber work well. Lillet Blanc is also adequate here.
Ingredients:
- 0.5 parts Cocchi Americano
- 1 part Vodka
- 2 parts London Dry gin with ABV > 45%
- Lemon peel
Directions:
- Freeze a small, stemmed glass
- Add top 3 ingredients to shaker, then add ice
- Shake for 10 to 15 seconds
- Shake this drink with a long and gentle action, rather than a short, sharp one.
- This will give a slower, more controlled dilution which is helpful given how delicate the flavours of the drink are.
- Fine strain into a frozen glass, avoiding chips of ice falling into the glass
- Squeeze the peel of lemon above the drink so its oils spray over the drink when they are released.
- Feel free to switch the lemon zest for orange or grapefruit if you are feeling fruity.
Freezing Micromontgomery
Still in need of that hard spirit fix? This small format serve should disappear long before it loses its chill…
Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery was your standard issue psychopath and liked his martini accordingly brutal.
15 to 1 Gin to vermouth is borderline pointless as an exercise in flavor manipulation, but it does freeze exceptionally well, so we use it as our ratio for our freezing, but not frozen Martini.
It has the texture of velvet and a medicinal effect.
Easily the strongest of our gin summer cocktails, please don’t serve more than 3oz at a time, or it will take a montgomeryesque approach to maintain a velvety texture.
Since this requires 12 hrs in the freezer, we advise making it in large doses, however.
Ingredients:
- 29 Parts Gin @ 43% ABV
- 2 parts Noilly Prat extra dry
- 4 parts water
- Lemon peel
- Olive/blue cheese
Directions
- Combine the top 3 ingredients in a bottle
- Freeze to -18-20c overnight
- Freeze a small stemmed glass
- To serve, simply pour into a glass and spend lemon peel oils over the drink
- With the strength of this, we find a salty bite alongside works a treat. A morsel of Stilton is our favorite.
Corpse Reviver #2
Aromatic, refreshing, and distinctly grown-up recipe from The Savoy Cocktail book of 1930.
Similar to the Vesper recipe above the Corpse Reviver #2 is a delicate drink. Unlike some of the other Gine summer cocktails, this is one where the quality of ingredients will definitely show through.
Cocchi Americano is ideal again here.
For the absinthe, avoid the cheaper options.
Although not one of the bottles we’d recommend investing in when choosing the basic bottles for your home bar, absinthe is a worthy addition to any home cocktail bar setup. You won’t use it frequently, and when you do it’ll likely be in small quantities. A little goes a long way.
For this reason, we’d advise investing in something decent as it’ll likely sit on the shelf for a while.
Ingredients
- 1 part Gin
- 1 part Dry Curaçao
- 1 part Cocchi Americano
- 1 part lemon juice
- 0.1 part absinthe
- Orange peel (other citrus is acceptable, according to preference)
Directions
- Freeze coupette glass
- Squeeze lemon juice by hand
- Combine the remaining liquids in a shaker
- Shake for 10-15 seconds
- Fine strain into glass and spend orange peel oils into the drink
Army & Navy
This recipe is adapted from David Embury’s 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.
The Army & Navy cocktail was first documented in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David Embury in 1948.
A bit like a Gin Daiquiri/Gin Mai Tai crossbreed, Embury adapted the original recipe (which he described as “horrible”) and tweaked the quantities.
Our version is a further adaption, with the inclusion of Navy strength gin here, for added oomph.
Ingredients:
- 4 parts Navy strength gin
- 2 parts freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 part Orgeat
- 1 part water
Method
- Freeze coupette glass
- Squeeze lemon juice by hand
- Combine the remaining liquids in a shaker
- Shake for 10-15 seconds
- Fine strain into glass
Clover Club
Hugely quaffable number. A gin sour with fresh raspberry served straight up.
A colorful, highly drinkable recipe, as you would hope for in a list of Gin cocktails for Summer.
For this recipe, a light & fruity gin is perfect. Don’t spend big $$$ or use one of the finer Gins you may have on the shelf as it’ll be eclipsed by the sweetness of the syrup & fruit.
Regarding the raspberry syrup required for this drink; you can easily buy a cheap bottle of it for convenience, but it can be more expensive than making raspberry syrup at home. Furthermore, you may be consuming colorings, flavoring, and preservatives unnecessarily. We’d highly recommend making a batch of your own – check out our recipe for raspberry syrup for cocktails.
For more complexity and depth, try adding young Calvados in place of half of the gin.
Ingredients
- 2 parts gin
- 1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 0.8 parts raspberry syrup
- 0.5 parts egg white
- 2-3 fresh raspberries
Directions
- Freeze a coupette glass
- Hand squeeze lemon
- Combine ingredients in a shaker
- Shake once without ice to incorporate egg
- Add ice to the shaker and reshake
- Fine strain into glass
Long Negroni
When you need that inimitable Negroni flavor, but also a little more liquid in your vessel.
This long version of the classic Negroni is by far the easiest to procure and make amongst this list of Gin cocktails for summer. Minimal ingredients are required, and can be made in the glass.
A modestly proportioned Negroni, built tall over ice, with a soda top. Ideal for those who like a Negroni but require a little more hydration. Also a useful introduction to the normally intense flavor of a Negroni for those unaccustomed to it.
For added fruitiness, a freshly squeezed pink grapefruit or orange make a relatively benign alternative to soda here.
Use the largest ice cubes that will fit in the glass. If your ice is small or wet, add the ice last, preferably having kept the other ingredients chilled before mixing.
Ingredients
- 1 part gin
- 1 part Campari
- 1 part red vermouth
- 3 parts soda water
- Orange slice
Method
- Pour ingredients into your favored long/large/tall vessel
- Mix
- Add orange slice
G&T Mojito
A mojito using gin and tonic in place of rum. Better than the original!
Lighter, cheaper, and more consistent than the classic Mojito cocktail. What’s not to love?
The Southside cocktail is very close to the G&T Mojito. The main difference here being the splash of tonic helps forge a distinct identity for this version.
Compared to a regular Mojito made with rum, this is lighter and more aromatic.
Ingredients
- 2 parts gin
- 1 part freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 part simple syrup
- 1 part tonic water
- 8-10 large mint leaves
Method
- Exactly as you would make a mojito!
- Mix ingredients in your chosen glass
- Add flaked ice and churn through with a spoon
- Add more ice until the desired level in the glass is reached
- Extra mint sprig to garnish
Celery Fizz
Celery, lemon, and gin combine in a fluffy, tall, and uniquely refreshing drink.
This delightful fizz is adapted from a celery sour we sampled with our friends at the fantastic Carlos y Matilda, Barcelona c 2015.
The celery and lemon in this recipe are borderline medicinally fresh, giving the drink a bright and uplifting look, feel, and taste.
Ingredients
- 2 parts gin
- 1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 0.8 parts simple syrup
- 0.5 parts egg white
- Approx qtr a stick of celery
- 2 parts soda
Directions
- Hand-squeeze lemon juice
- Combine with other liquids in a shaker
- Grate celery into the mix
- Add egg white
- Shake once without ice
- Reshake with ice
- Strain into a tall glass filled with cubed ice and soda
- Stir gently
Gin & Gewürztraminer Punch
Something tropical and possibly using up your leftovers/rejects.
The Gin & Gewürztraminer Punch is a serious drink.
Gin (of course) is combined Gewürztraminer, apricot jam, 2 x kinds of juices, and topped off with fruit & veg to finish. A decidedly tropical, but punchy tipple with real character.
One benefit of this recipe is that it can make use of wines that are often unloved. It works best with a bone-dry Gewürztraminer packed with tropical flavors, if you have some of that left over… If not, it works great with Torrontes, Muscat.
Anything massively fruity and floral.
This is another of our gin cocktails for summer that works in batches or larger quantities; just multiply out for your desired quantity.
Ensure the ice is added at the last minute, as always, so as not to overly dilute the drink.
And finally – have some fun with your vessel of choice when presenting to the recipients of this mighty drink. A jug, a tankard, or even a repurposed gravy boat will suffice.
Ingredients
- 2 parts Gin
- 2 parts Gewürztraminer
- ¾ parts Apricot jam
- 2 part Freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
- 1 parts Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Cucumber slices
- Orange slices
Directions
- Squeeze citrus by hand
- Combine remaining liquids and jam in a shaker
- Shake for 10-15 seconds
- Strain into a vessel of your choice, filled with large cubes of ice
- Add cucumber and orange slices
Monk Antrim’s Lintik Cocktail
Fancy a bit of a project? Got 2 weeks until you want to drink?
Rounding off our list of 10 delicious summer gin cocktails, we have something of an outlier.
This is a drink for those of our readers who like forward planning, are adventurous and enjoy the thrill of the more experimental side of mixology…
Below is quoted from the 1939 Edition of Jigger, Beaker & Glass. Not sure what we could possibly ever add…
“…Really isn’t any species of cocktail at all, but a sort of liquid triple threat originated for reasons strictly dishonourable, but electrifying… The main drawback to this concoction is that it must be aged for two weeks, then chilled…without ever coming into contact with ice…but the final result is well worth that little bother”
Fancy giving it a whirl? We’ll leave that up to you…
Ingredients:
- 3 bottles gin
- 15 lemons
- 2 tbsp Angostura bitters
- 1.25 lbs sugar
- 2.5 cups water
Method
- Strain the juice of lemons through 2 cloths.
- Boil sugar and water for 2 minutes, strain, and cool.
- Add gin and bitters.
- Bottle, placing the peel of 2 lemons in each bottle.
- Store in a cool spot, not too cold, to age.
- Serve chilled and under no condition add any ice.
- This will make 4 to 5 bottles…
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some common gin mixers?
Some common gin mixers include tonic water, club soda, citrus juice, and flavored syrups.
How do you make a gin and tonic?
To make a gin and tonic, fill a glass with ice, add 2 ounces of gin, top with tonic water, and garnish with a lime wedge.
What are some popular gin brands?
Some popular gin brands include Hendrick’s, Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, and Beefeater.
As a cocktail bartender with years of experience, I know that finding the perfect summer gin cocktail can be a challenge. But with gin, the possibilities are endless. From classic gin and tonics to herb-infused cocktails, there’s a gin drink for every taste preference. So why not mix up something special and enjoy a refreshing summer drink?
Remember to always drink responsibly and enjoy your summer gin cocktails in moderation. Cheers!