5 Summer Cocktail Recipes

Raspberry Beer Cocktail // A Cup of Mai

Ingredients
1 cup of fresh raspberries
4 bottles of corona beer, chilled
1 container pink lemonade
1/2 cup vodka

Instructions
Stir together the corona, pink lemonade and vodka in a container. Serve over ice. Garnish with raspberries. Stir in raspberries and beer just before serving. Garnish, if desired.

Cucumber & Lime Daiquiri // Hello Natural

Ingredients
Basil Syrup:
1 cup water
Handful of basil leaves, fresh
2 tbsp agave nectar
Cocktail
3 medium cucumbers, with skin
Juice of 3 limes, fresh
4 teaspoons sugar-free basil syrup
1 shot of white rum
Ice cubes, lime slices and fresh basil leaves, to serve

Instructions
Basil Syrup
Mix all ingredients and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Cool, strain and store in the fridge for up to three weeks.
Cocktail
Wash the cucumbers thoroughly, cut into slices and add them in the blender along with the lime juice.
Process to obtain a gorgeous green liquid. Strain. Add the liquid in a cocktail shaker, together with the white rum and some ice cubes. Shake well to combine. Fill the serving glasses with fresh ice cubes, then strain the daiquiri mixture into glasses. Add one teaspoon of basil syrup to each serving glass. Garnish with lime slices and fresh basil leaves, and serve immediately.

Strawberry & Coconut Cocktail // Drizzle & Dip 

Ingredients
1 cup of coconut water, fresh
1 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced
3 teaspoons of sugar syrup or agave nectar
1 shot of white rum

Instructions
To make the sugar syrup you need to boil sugar and water together in a ratio of 1:3 sugar to water, and boil in until it thickens to a runny syrup consistency. Store in a jar for all future cocktail making. It pretty much lasts forever. Cut open the coconut, or if you are lucky enough to live in a country that sells fresh coconut water in a bottle, measure one cup. Add the strawberries, sugar syrup and rum and blend with a blender. Serve with loads of ice.

Gin & Grapefruit Cocktail // A Beautiful Mess

Ingredients
1 shot of Gin
1 cup of Grapefruit Juice
Grapefruit Wedges
Rosemary sprigs

Instructions
Mix 1 ounce gin with grapefruit juice and garnish with a grapefruit wedge and rosemary.

Blueberry Mojito // The Novice Chef

Ingredients

1 cup blueberries, fresh
1 shot clear rum
10 fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons sugar
juice of 2 limes
1 cup of club soda
ice

Instructions

In a food processor or blender, puree blueberries until smooth. Set aside. Add mint leaves and sugar to a cocktail shaker. Use a muddler (or the end of a wooden spoon) to muddle the mint and sugar. Add the lime juice, rum and pureed blueberries: shake vigorously. Pour ice and club soda into two tall glasses and then pour in rum mixture. Gently stir. Garnish with a lime wedge, extra blueberries and a sprig of mint. Serve immediately.

xo Elise