Summer is practically right around the corner—five weeks away, if we really want to get into the nitty-gritty details. (This year, the solstice lands on June 20.) But even that fleeting period of time in between spring and summer feels like an eternity after the terrible, awful, no good, very bad pandemic winter we’ve had.
And that begs the question: Is it really too early to enjoy all the things that evoke joy, sunshine, the great outdoors, long patio conversions, and the kind of simple revelry that’s specific to the season? I think not.
I’ve already relegated my trusty down coat to the “winter pile.” Margaritas, G&Ts, daiquiris, and highballs now dominate my daily at-home happy hours. And my seersucker short suit is ready to go. So as far as I’m concerned, summer starts now—because why the hell not? Many of us have been through hell and back in the past 365 days. We all deserve to enjoy a little something.
So here, some of America’s best spirits professionals are shaking up their favorite gin cocktails in anticipation for the glory days of summer. You should too.
The Best Gin Cocktails to Make at Home
Cucumber Lemonade
Hendrick’s Gin
CUCUMBER LEMONADE
“I don’t know if there’s a more fitting fruit that champions summer like watermelon. And other than iced tea, lemonade is easily one of the best warm-weather sips. The Hendrick’s watermelon lemonade is outlandishly delicious! Easy-to-make, fun, floral, and refreshing—all in one glass!” —Vance Henderson, national brand ambassador at Hendrick’s Gin
Ingredients:
1 part Hendrick’s gin
1 part lemon juice
1 part simple syrup
3 parts soda water
Method: Combine all ingredients in a highball filled with cubed ice. Lightly stir and serve. Garnish with 3 thinly sliced rounds of cucumber.
Basilberry Smash
Eric Medsker
BASILBERRY SMASH
“Although this isn’t a true smash—as there aren’t any lovely bits of fresh berry to suck through your straw while you drink—it’s no less refreshing and is far easier to throw together. The Chambord and fresh basil are an effective counterbalance to Fords’ botanical blend, complementing the soft juniper notes with a fresh and fruity effervescence. It’s batchable, the ingredients are easy to find, it’s not too boozy, and it’s downright delicious on the rocks—perfect for any sort of outdoor gathering or for batching and gifting to friends to enjoy alfresco.” —Joe Brooke, brand advocate at Fords Gin (Southwest)
Individual Recipe:
1 oz. Fords Gin
0.25 oz. Chambord
0.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
0.75 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. sparkling water
3 basil leaves
Method: Muddle 2 basil leaves gently in a shaker tin. Add all ingredients except sparkling water and shake until chilled. Strain over ice in rocks glass and top with sparkling water and garnish with remaining basil leaf.
Batched Recipe (Makes Approximately 10 Servings):
10 oz. Fords gin
2 oz. Chambord
8 oz. fresh lemon juice
8 oz. simple syrup
16 oz. soda water
20 basil leaves (5 for garnish)
Method (Batched): In a punch bowl or large pitcher, add gin and 15 basil leaves and muddle. Add remaining ingredients and ice and stir gently. Skim muddled basil off with slotted spoon or sieve, garnish with the remaining 5 basil leaves. Serve in punch or rocks glasses, adding ice as needed.
The Oceanside Cocktail
Gray Whale Gine
OCEANSIDE
“The Oceanside is a perfect summertime sipper. The mint emphasizes Gray Whale’s coastal foraged botanicals, while the slight hint of salt ties all the flavors together while transporting the drinker to days spent near the beach, breathing in the fresh ocean air.” —Matt Klette, trade advocacy manager at Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits
Ingredients:
2 parts Gray Whale gin
¾ part salted simple syrup
¾ part lime juice soda water
6 mint leaves, garnish
Method: To make salted simple syrup, combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. salt in a saucepan. Heat until sugar and salt are fully dissolved. To make the Oceanside, add all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake for 3–4 seconds. Strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Top with soda water and garnish with mint leaves.
The British 75
Highclere Castle Gin
BRITISH 75
“Why is the British 75 perfect for summer? Well, why not? It’s the most refreshing cocktail that’s perfect year-round. It goes with your salad, your pasta, your lamb, your chicken…you can have every course with a British 75. When I am home on Sundays, I am always drinking Champagne. And with a British 75, you get the perfect amount of gin with your Champagne. The Highclere Castle Gin British 75 is great because the gin’s orange and lavender flavor profile works well with the lemon in a British 75. It also adds to the subtle apple notes you get from certain sparkling wines or the nice dryness of a true Champagne. The flavors really complement each other.” —Thandi Walton, beverage manager at Bar Margot at the Four Seasons Atlanta (Atlanta, Georgia)
Ingredients:
50 ml. Highclere Castle gin
Simple syrup
Fresh lemon juice
Champagne
Lemon, garnish
Method: In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake gin, lemon juice and simple syrup. Strain into chilled cocktail coupe. Top with Champagne and garnish with lemon twist.
Bees Knees
Sam Nelis
BEE’S KNEES (BY FRANK MEIER, C. 1920s)
“When thinking about pandemic-era drinks my motto (credit to Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle from Parks and Rec) is ‘Treat Yourself!’ We should be drinking the best cocktails and spirits we can this year. After all, we deserve it! It’s not about finding the most obscure ingredients or packing in as many components as possible into one shaker: Simple cocktails are often the most delicious and paying attention to each ingredient is important. Grab a quality spirit, it will make the cocktail taste better, trust me. Use fresh citrus when possible. And unrefined sugars like raw honey or maple syrup make a difference. Choosing an independently owned spirit company will help you feel more connected to your community in a time when folks are feeling isolated.” —Sam Nelis, head bartender at Barr Hill Distillery (Montpelier, Vermont)
Ingredients:
2 oz. Barr Hill gin
0.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
0.75 oz. raw honey syrup
Method: Shake and pour into a coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Cherry Blossom Martini
Emily Arden Wells
CHERRY BLOSSOM MARTINI
“This cherry blossom martini is inspired by spring and the beautiful cherry blossoms that are one of the first signs of the changing of the seasons. It’s made with Roku, a Japanese gin that’s distilled with sakura flowers and leaves—along with a gorgeous bouquet of other Japanese botanicals such as sencha tea, gyokuro tea, sansho pepper, and yuzu peel. The cocktail is stirred over ice with dry vermouth and just a touch of sakura blossom liqueur that I brought home from a trip to Japan in 2018. The liqueur gives the martini the loveliest pink color, evoking days when the cherry blossom trees are in peak bloom.” —Emily Arden Wells, founder at Gastronomista (@gastronomista_)
Ingredients:
2 parts Roku Gin
0.25 part Dolin dry vermouth
0.25 part cherry blossom liqueur
Method: Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a fresh flower and/or a lemon express (both ways are lovely).
The Bar at the End of the Tunnel Cocktail
Susan Eggett
THE BAR AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
“During quarantine, my business partner Alex Maynard and I have fielded tons of great questions from home bartenders. We shifted our business model to include virtual cocktail tutorials and the question we were asked the most has been: I bought this big beautiful bottle of Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao, and I’ve made many, many mai tais, what else can I do with it? So, we got to work and had a great time workshopping some options we could share with folks. One of our favorite recipes is a riff on the Corpse Reviver No. 2. As vaccines are rolled out and folks continue to be thoughtful and safe imbibers, we hope we may come to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. As a category of pick-me-up drinks, corpse revivers felt like a good concept to build a drink around. A drink to represent our hope and optimism for a summer where we welcome back our bar industry. To that concept we added a few elements from our springtime farmers markets: cara cara oranges and fennel. We purposely omitted the absinthe from the recipe because we wanted this drink to be something many folks could make at home without having to get a ton of ingredients. The fennel lends the herbaceous anise element the absinthe would have delivered, while the fresh cara cara orange juice ties all the flavors together with a spring-summer bow. Shake, serve, and violà! Now we can see the light—and the bar at the end of the tunnel.” —Susan Eggett, cofounder at Sequoia Gold (Oakland, California)
Ingredients:
1 oz. Pierre Ferrand dry curaçao
0.75 oz. Citadelle gin
0.75 oz. Lo-Fi sweet vermouth
0.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
0.75 oz. fresh cara cara orange juice
Two slices from a fennel bulb
Salcombe Rosé Spritz
Salcombe Distilling Co.
SALCOMBE ROSÉ SPRITZ
“This cocktail is a reimagination of a classic spritz using Salcombe’s Mediterranean-inspired expression, Rosé Sainte Marie. A delicate and all-natural pink gin, this is the perfect sip for summer—beautifully refreshing after a long day in the sun or at sea, easy to mix, and a great aperitif option for outdoor entertaining.” —Angus Lugsdin, cofounder at Salcombe Distilling Co.
Ingredients:
1.25 oz. Salcombe Gin Rosé Sainte Marie
0.5 oz. Aperol
Twist of orange peel
Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic water
Method: Fill a large wine glass with ice. Add the gin and Aperol. Top with Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic water. Stir gently and garnish with a twist of orange peel on the side of the glass.