Spark joy with these festive drinks.
By Liquor.com
Sure, you could toast to America’s birthday with the usual cooler full of beer, wine, and hard seltzer. Or you could step up your spread this year by mixing up a celebratory cocktail.
To help kickstart your holiday, we're offering a menu of nearly two dozen cocktails to help inspire your beverage creativity. From festive red, white, and blue-themed drinks to refreshing summer cocktails and big-batch recipes that can be made ahead of time to please a crowd, these drinks will delight your guests and shine as brightly as the fireworks.
1. Bomb Pop
This festive cocktail is inspired by the ice pop treat of the same name. Mixing blue curaçao with water ensures the blue layer will float above the citron vodka and grenadine to produce the drink’s striking layered appearance.
2. Firecracker
Combine sweet and spicy flavors for explosive results: This fruity cocktail mixes muddled watermelon with aged rum, triple sec, lime juice, simple syrup, and a dash of cayenne pepper.
3. Big-Batch Negroni Sbagliato
Negroni Sbagliato.
One of the most popular cocktails of the past year, the Negroni Sbagliato's combination of Campari, sweet vermouth, and prosecco is an instant crowd pleaser. And there's no better way to serve a crowd than with a large batched offering that cuts down on prep time.
You can easily create this recipe in a punch bowl, or bottle up in to-go containers for outdoor celebrations. Simply combine all the ingredients ahead of time except prosecco, then top your cocktail with bubbly when it's time to serve to ensure a refreshing, still-sparkling drink.
4. Red, White & Booze Popsicles
The only thing better on a summer day than a cold cocktail may be a boozy popsicle. These boozy ice pops pull double duty: Cherry Bomb, Piña Colada, and Blue Hawaii layers all lend their holiday hues.
The root beer float is an American classic. Adding an ounce of rum to the nostalgia-inducing combination of soda and vanilla ice cream produces an irresistible adults-only version.
Instead of (or in addition to) flying Old Glory, mix up this refreshing sweet-tart cocktail. It combines muddled blueberries, blueberry vodka, absinthe, lemon juice, simple syrup, raspberry brandy, and ginger beer.
7. Americano
Liquor.com / Tim Nusog
Stay on your feet until the fireworks with this low-ABV mix of Campari, sweet vermouth, and club soda. Despite its name, the Negroni’s precursor is an Italian concoction: It was first served in the 1860s at Gaspare Campari’s Milan bar, where it became popular among American tourists.
8. LiberTea
This party-ready batched cocktail combines black tea, lemonade, basil, bourbon, and honey liqueur to produce an herbaceous John Daly riff. Patriotic name aside, it’s the perfect drink for any summer gathering.
9. Hugh Spritz
Originally hailing from Italy, the spritz was made for outdoor drinking. This variation, the Hugo Spritz, has become one of the year's most popular cocktails, owing to it's refreshing flavor profile and effortless drinkability. St-Germain elderflower liqueur is paired with prosecco and a hit of mint, to create the perfect summertime drink.
10. Army & Navy
This Tiki-leaning Gin Sour riff has been tied to the annual Army & Navy college football game and Washington D.C.’s Army & Navy officers club. Whatever the true story, the mix of gin, lemon juice, orgeat, and Angostura bitters is undoubtedly American—and delicious to boot.
11. Rosé Cobbler
Rosato vermouth is made from a blend of white and red wines. Put it to use in this fruity bittersweet cocktail from bar pro Naren Young, which also calls for Aperol, strawberry puree, lemon juice, rhubarb bitters, and a homemade rhubarb shrub.
12. Big Red
If you already have Budweiser on hand for your party, put it to use in this refreshing three-part highball, which combines the American icon with Johnnie Walker Red Label scotch whisky and ginger beer. Any light lager will work just fine in this recipe, but stick to the theme with an American beer.
What’s more crowd-pleasing than a Margarita? This fruity frozen version, which adds fresh strawberries and a cup of ice to the classic combination of blanco tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and agave nectar.
14. Blue Hawaii
In 1957, a Bols representative asked Kaiser Hawaiian Village bartender Harry Yee to design a cocktail using its blue curaçao, a Caribbean liqueur made from the dried peels of bitter Laraha oranges. He came up with this fruity blend of the liqueur, vodka, light rum, pineapple juice, and sweet-and-sour mix. Like Elvis, who starred in the 1961 movie of the same name, it’s an undeniably bold drink.
15. Rosé Sangria
Turn summer’s unofficial beverage into a fruity punch with rosé wine, pamplemousse liqueur, raspberries, strawberries, lemons, and club soda. Its make-ahead nature means you can spend more time mingling and less time mixing.
16. Cape Codder
Cape Cod was the first place where the Pilgrims touched down, and it’s also the namesake of this 1980s favorite, more commonly known as the Vodka Cran. Combine vodka and cranberry juice right in the glass to produce an endlessly quaffable summer sipper.
Whiskey and lemonade is a foolproof combo on a hot summer day. Named for the Tennessee home of Jack Daniel’s distillery, this version combines whiskey, triple sec, lemon juice, simple syrup, and lemon-lime soda.
18. Miami Vice
It’s red and white, and you won’t even miss the blue with this delicious frozen cocktail, made by layering a Strawberry Daiquiri and a Piña Colada.
Wine drinkers will love this fruity frozen concoction: A blend of red wine, vodka, blackberries, orange juice, and agave nectar make it well-worth the potential brain freeze.
20. Hurricane
First invented in the 1940s at New Orleans bar Pat O’Brien’s, this potent concoction lives up to its name with a mix of light and dark rums, lime and orange juices, passion fruit puree, simple syrup, and grenadine. To really honor the classic, serve it in the glass of the same name.
21. Gin Rickey
This riff on a Bourbon Rickey is named for Joe Rickey, a 19th-century D.C. lobbyist. The tart and refreshing cocktail includes a simple mix of gin, lime juice, and club soda.
22. Bourbon Strawberry Iced Tea
It’s hard to beat iced tea for pure refreshment. This boozy version combines muddled strawberries and lemon juice, bourbon, simple syrup, and unsweetened iced tea. Don’t skip the strawberry-blueberry garnish for extra Fourth of July flair.
Originally Published: https://www.liquor.com/slideshows/fourth-of-july-cocktails/
Posted on 07/01/2024 at 10:00 AM
