I just love the idea of featuring a sexy, refreshing cocktail at summer get-togethers.  Offering your guests a cocktail, in a neat glass, when they arrive at your home simply sets the mood for the rest of the evening.  The cocktails don’t have to be complicated, use difficult-to-find ingredients and liquors or require you to seek the help of a mixologist to recreate.  Have fun with this concept!

1. Blood Orange Fix:  Squeeze half a blood orange and pour the juice in a Champagne flute.  From the second half of the orange, remove a segment, peel the outer membrane then place the bare segment in the flute with the juice.  Top the juice with sparkling wine (click here for some suggestions) and stir gently to combine.
2. Tipsy Pink Lady:  Fill a cocktail shaker ¾ full with ice cubes then add 1 cup of good quality pink lemonade (I use Simply Lemonade with raspberry) and 1 once of Vodka (I use Ketel One).  Shake vigorously for 10 seconds then pour the strained shaker contents into a martini glass.  Fun serving idea: Add a pink rock sugar on a stick as a stirrer.
3. BOA 405:  In a cocktail shaker, muddle 2 ripe strawberries with ½ ounce simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water boiled then cooled) into a puree.  Add 1 ½ ounces Vodka (I use Ketel One), ½ ounce lemon juice, a splash of Balsamic vinegar and enough ice to fill the shaker to ¾ full.  Shake vigorously for 10 seconds then pour the strained shaker contents into a martini glass and top with a pinch of freshly-cracked black pepper and a ripe strawberry.
   

   BOA 405

4. Lynchburg Limeade:  Fill a cocktail shaker ½ full with ice cubes then add 1 ½ cups good quality limeade (I use Simply Limeade), 1 ounce Whiskey (I use Jack Daniels) and a slash of Triple Sec.  Shake vigorously for 10 seconds and pour shaker contents, including the ice, in a tall glass or Mason jar.
5. Tequila Sunset:  Fill a cocktail shaker ¾ full with ice cubes then add 1 cup freshly-squeezed pink grapefruit juice (could use good quality juice like Florida’s Natural), 1 ounce Anejo Tequila (I use Cuervo) and a slash of Cointreau.  Shake vigorously for 10 seconds and pour the strained shaker contents into an old-fashioned glass.  Top with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

Do you have fun cocktail ideas that you’d like to share?  Post them here.

Cheers,

Veronique