18 Summer Cocktails and Coolers That Taste Like a Vacation in a Glass

Get out the fun cocktail glasses: It's time to make spritzes, frozen drinks, batched cocktails, and more at home.

By Robin Shreeves
Published July 30, 2025
Side view of a pina colada

Serious Eats / Two Bites

Going out to a bar with my friends is fun, and we're known to hit a happy hour in our neighborhood once in a while. But more often, we gather at someone's house and make our own cocktails. We can control the quality of the ingredients (fresh citrus is always a must), and we can control how much we spend. When we do our best professional mixologist impression in the warmer months, the drinks tend to be lighter, often full of seasonal fruits, and sometimes frozen. Any one of these 20 summer-worthy cocktails is a contender for a warm-weather hang at home.

  • Daiquiri

    Side angle view of a daquiri

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    Rum, fresh lime, and sugar in the right ratios create a pure summer cocktail that's super simple to make. Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, pour, sip, and listen for an audible sigh of relaxation to escape your lips.

  • Aperol Spritz

    Image of two aperol Spritz

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    An Aperol spritz is an obvious choice for a summer cocktail list for a good reason—it's a little bitter, a little sweet, and transports you to summer along Italy's Mediterranean coast. A 3:2:1 ratio of Prosecco, Aperol, and club soda is all you need, along with orange slices for garnish, to convince you that you're on summer vacation in Europe.

  • Strawberry-Mint Sparkler

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    Vicky Wasik

    Muddle strawberries and mint to make sure their flavors shine through in this vodka cocktail. The addition of simple syrup, lime, and fresh mint adds sweetness and complexity, and a club soda topper lightens it all up and gives this eminently day-drinkable cocktail some fizz.

  • Sierra Madre Sunrise

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    Elana Lepkowski

    In this cocktail, smoky mezcal plays nicely with herbal, orangey Aperol and fresh lemon juice, topped with club soda for a little effervescence. A dash of Angostura bitters adds some savoriness, or choose chocolate bitters to play up Aperol's sweet and bitter orange notes.

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  • 3-Ingredient Limoncello Spritz

    Side view of three limoncellos

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Just three ingredients—limoncello, Prosecco, and club soda—make a pleasantly light and fizzy cocktail. Use homemade or store-bought limoncello, and for best results, make sure the Prosecco is brut (it has a lower sugar content, which keeps the drink from being cloying) and the club soda is freshly opened for maximum fizz.

  • The Best Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri

    Side view of frozen strawberry daquiri

    Serious Eats / Morgan Hunt Glaze

    This recipe guides you through making a frozen daiquiri with fresh strawberries and takes into account that sometimes they're perfectly sweet and sometimes they're not, giving you permission to adjust the simple syrup as needed. Put the combined rum, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup into the freezer about eight hours before you make the drink, and you'll use less ice, leading to a more flavorful frozen cocktail.

  • Piña Colada

    Side view of a pina colada

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    Making a really good piña colada is tricky, but it's so worth it. Here's how.

  • French 75

    Two classes of a French 75

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    Shaken gin, lemon juice, and sugar topped with Champagne in a sparkling wine glass is the ultimate summer brunch cocktail. Tart, refreshing, herbal, and effervescent, it's the perfect complement for eggs Benedict served on the patio.

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  • Classic Margarita

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    Vicky Wasik

    You probably don't need to be told a classic margarita is perfect for summer, but perhaps you need the recipe to make a well-balanced one. Here, the ratios of blanco tequila, lime juice, and Cointreau are just right for making two classic margaritas, with or without a salt rim.

  • Frozen Negroni

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    Give the classic components of a Negroni—Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin—the frozen drink treatment. Each sip has some sweetness, some bitterness, and a bit of citrus for an upgraded flavor profile compared to the usual sweet, boozy slushies of summer.

  • Cucumber Gin Fizz

    Two glasses with cucumber garnished beverages on a marble surface

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    Muddle cucumber with lime juice and simple syrup before filling a shaker with ice and adding a gin on the floral, vegetal side (Hendricks would work well here). Shake, pour, and top with seltzer for a particularly refreshing summer cooler.

  • Batched Three-Piece Suit

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    Vicky Wasik

    Pre-make a batch of cocktails that stay chilled in the freezer so you can get right down to enjoying guests when they arrive. Add tequila, oloroso sherry, bitters, and simple syrup to a swing-top bottle, give it a few turns to mix, and put it in the freezer for at least two hours (but no more than four) for a ready-to-pour, chilled cocktail with nutty caramel notes.

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  • Frozen Mezcal Paloma

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    Vicky Wasik

    Bright and tart like a margarita but not too sweet, this frozen cocktail is made with fresh grapefruit and lime juices is perfect for prepping ahead: Mix juices, honey, mezcal, and salt in a container and freeze for at least four hours, then blend with ice to craft a cocktail that's lovely on a hot summer day.

  • Tradition's Southside

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    Serious Eats / Wes Rowe

    When topped with a little club soda to lighten it up, London Dry gin, mint, simple syrup, and citrus are an unbeatable combination to combat summer's heat. For authenticity, serve the Southside in a mason jar, but it works just as well in a highball glass.

  • Beretta's Pamplemousse

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    Maggie Hoffman

    If you've embraced the tiny cocktail trend, this one's for you. This shaken gin, elderflower liqueur, grapefruit juice, and lemon juice concoction fits perfectly into a Nick and Nora–style glass, preferably a vintage one bought at a thrift store.

  • The Jasmine

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    Vicky Wasik

    Campari, just a quarter ounce of it, gives this gin cocktail its beautiful hue while adding just a touch of the amaro's bitter notes. Cointreau and fresh lemon juice round out the balanced flavors, and the pretty cocktail ends up with a grapefruit vibe.

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  • El Gallito (Pineapple-Chipotle Pitcher Cocktail)

    OneBottleCocktail_El-Gallito-edit

    Batch 12 servings of this umami-rich sweet/salty/smoky chipotle cocktail made with vodka (or reposado tequila if you prefer) and refrigerate it for three hours. Cilantro, scallions, and tomatoes bring the savory, while pineapple brings the sweet. Serve in a rocks glass with a tomato garnish.

  • Great Gatsby

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    Vicky Wasik

    If the heat has you longing for something light, bright, and easy, the Great Gatsby will satisfy that longing. Stir (don't shake) vodka, Lillet Blanc, and fresh grapefruit juice with ice, then strain into an iced-filled glass—a stemless wine glass works well here—and garnish with an orange slice.

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