Big’s Top 10 Summertime Cocktails

Cold beer and cheap wine pretty much sums up the list of refreshments my buddies enjoy on a hot summer afternoon. I'm not a fan of beer and a glass of warm wine in the 100 degree summer sun would make me vomit, so I decided to give you some options for your summer parties and get togethers.

Here are some of my favorite Classic Summertime Cocktail Recipes:

Pimms – as English as the Queen and tastier than Scarlett Johansen.  250ml Pimms, 1 litre lemonade, 10 mint leaves, ½ sliced cucumber, 6 strawberries hulled and quartered, 1 sliced orange, ice. Mix in a jug, serve

Mojito – 2 measures white rum, 2 tsp fine sugar, 2 tblsp fresh lime juice, soda water, ice fresh mint leaves.  Crush the mint leaves with the sugar, add the lime juice and rum, top with soda water, serve with ice and garnish with lime wedge and mint sprig.

Cosmopolitan – 1 measure Cointreau, 1 ½ measures vodka, tablespoon of fresh lime juice, top with ice and cranberry juice. Lime wedge to garnish.

Caipirinha – 2 fresh limes quartered 1 tblsp of muscovado sugar, 2 measures white rum. Crush the sugar with the limes in a tumbler glass; add the rum top with ice and a mint sprig to garnish.

Awaiting grace – 1 measure Cointreau, 2 measures vanilla Absolut vodka, fresh sweet basil leaves, brown sugar and cloudy apple juice. Crush the basil and sugar together in the bottom of a tall glass. Add a lime wedge, the spirits and ice. Top with cloudy apple juice, stir and serve.

Tom Collins – 2 measures of gin, 1 measure of fresh lemon juice, 1 tblsp sugar syrup, 1 glace cherry, soda water. Mix the sugar syrup, gin and lemon juice in a shaker. Pour into a glass with the cherry ice and top with soda.

G&T – 2 measures Bombay Sapphire gin, 2 fresh lime wedges, top with tonic water and ice. Juniper berries to garnish if available).

Margarita- 1 measure Cointreau, 1 ½ measures tequila, juice of half lime, salt for the rim of the glass. Mix with ice, strain and serve in a glass with a fresh lime leaf and wedge.

Pastis – Aniseed flavoured drink served all over Southern France, very refreshing. Mix in a long glass, 1 part Pernod or Ricard with 5 parts cool water. Ice optional.

Sangria – 1 bottle of cheap red wine, 6 measures of white rum, 3 measures of Cointreau, 1 orange sliced, ½ apple sliced, ½ peach sliced, ½ litre lemonade. Mix the spirits, peach and orange in a jug 4 hours in advance, cover and chill. 20 minutes before serving add the remaining ingredients stir well and serve.