Warmer weather is here, finally, and that means plenty of fresh spring cocktails with vibrant colors and flowery garnishes. We’ve gathered a few here that would go well with your backyard porch, weekend brunch or pretty much any springtime occasion.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
1 ½ oz. Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey
½ oz. Aperol
¾ oz. Lemon juice
½ oz. Vanilla syrup
1 Strawberry
2 dashes Rhubarb bitters
3 drops Black pepper tincture
Muddle the strawberry in the bottom of a mixing tin, then add the rest of the ingredients. Add ice and shake until chilled. Fine strain into a rocks glass over ice and garnish with an additional strawberry.
The mixologists at Nelson’s Green Brier created this recipe.
French Twist
1 ¾ parts Courvoisier VSOP Cognac
½ parts Orange Curacao or Triple Sec
¾ parts Simple syrup
½ parts Fresh lemon juice
3 parts Fever-Tree club soda
Build all ingredients except soda water into tin. Add ice, shake and strain over fresh cobble or crushed ice. Top with soda water and garnish with a lemon wheel and raspberry; add botanicals for pops of color.
The mixologists at Courvoisier created this recipe.
Pineapple Ginger Spritz
1 ½ oz. Italian bitter aperitif, such as Aperol
1 oz. Pineapple ginger juice*
3 oz. Chilled Mezza di Mezzacorona Brut prosecco
Pour pineapple ginger juice and Aperol into a chilled rocks glass filled with ice. Carefully top with the chilled prosecco. Garnish with an orange slice and fresh herbs, such as mint, rosemary and thyme.
*For Pineapple ginger juice
Add 2 medium knobs peeled ginger root (about 2 inches total) and 1 cup fresh pineapple juice to a blender, then blend on high speed just until the ginger root is liquified. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and store in the refrigerator until ready for use (one cup will make 8 cocktails).
The mixologists at Mezza di Mezzacorona created this recipe.
Tipsy Tiramisu
2 oz. Rhum Barbancourt 5 Star rum
½ oz. Coffee liqueur
½ oz. Frangelico
½ oz. Orgeat
Add all ingredients except the club soda into a shaker and vigorously dry-shake (without ice) for 10 seconds. Add ice and shake again until well chilled. Strain into a Collins glass. Fill with the club soda, pouring from about 6 inches above the glass.
Michele Alfonso, mixologist and head instructor at the New York Bartending School, created this recipe.
The T-Dot
2 oz. Double Cross Vodka
¾ oz. Grapefruit juice
½ oz. Lemon juice
½ oz. Maple syrup
2 Dashes Lavender bitters
Combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with lavender.
The mixologists at Double Cross created this recipe.
Pomegranate Orange Mimosa
2 oz. Champagne
1 oz. Pomegranate juice
½ oz. fresh orange juice
4 oz. Q Mixers Ginger Beer
Pomegranate seeds and orange slice for garnish
In a chilled flute glass, add Champagne, pomegranate juice, and orange juice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with pomegranate seeds and orange slice.
The mixologists at Q Mixers created this recipe.
Butterfly
2 oz. Smirnoff vodka
1 oz. Lemon juice
¼ oz. Blue Curaçao
½ oz. Egg white
Add all the ingredients into a Boston shaker. Shake for 10 seconds without ice (dry shake). Shake again with ice. Pour in a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a sprig of dried lavender.
The mixologists at the Tiepolo Bar in the Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria hotel, created this recipe.
Passion Fruit Slushy
2 oz. E11EVEN vodka
1 oz. Chinola passion fruit liqueur
1 oz. Lemon and hibiscus simple syrup
1 cup of ice
In a blender add all ingredients. Blend for 1 minute or until ice has been slushed. Pour into glass of choice and garnish with a lemon quarter.
Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila, with locations in South Beach and Fort Lauderdale, FL, created this recipe.
Mezcal Bunny
1 ½ oz. Recuerdo Mezcal Joven
1 oz. Calahua (cream of coconut)
1 Egg white
½ oz. Pineapple juice
Grated coconut
Cinnamon powder
Dry shake the mezcal, calahua, egg white, and pineapple juice and then shake it again with ice. Strain into a coupe glass and gently top with grated coconut and cinnamon powder.
The mixologists at Recuerdo created this recipe.
Melissa Dowling is editor of Cheers magazine, our on-premise sister publication. Contact her at mdowling@epgmediallc.com, and read her recent piece, Mezcal and Tequila Trends in 2021.
