32 Summer Drinks, Boozy and Not

Hello and welcome to this thing we’re doing where we help you figure out what you’re gonna put in your mouth this week. Some of these are recipes we’ve tried, some of these are recipes we’re looking forward to trying, all of them are fucking delicious. Tell us what you want to put in your piehole or suggest your own recipes, and we’ll talk about which things we made, which things we loved, and which things have changed us irreversibly as people. Last week, we ate a bunch of pizza.

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Generally I love drinking plain ol’ regular tap water, but when it’s hot out drinking glass after glass makes me want something more interesting.

From lemonades and limeades to spritzers to iced teas to mocktails to cocktails, the following drinks feature citrus, herbs, fruits, bubbles and light flavors to help you cool off in the heat. Try making adjustments on your own by adding more or less ice (cubes or crushed), adding or removing booze and using leftover ingredients as garnish.

Summer Drinks That Don’t Have Booze In Them

1. Cucumber- and Herb-Infused Water

cucumber-herb-infused-water

2. Rosemary Grapefruit Water

rosemary-grapefruit-water

3. Strawberry, Lime, Cucumber and Mint Water

strawberry-lime-cucumber-and-mint-water

4. Watermelon Coconut Agua Fresca

watermelon-coconut-agua-fresca

5. Louisa Shafia’s Watermelon, Mint, and Cider Vinegar Tonic

watermelon-mint-and-cider-vinegar-tonic

6. Lemon Rosemary Sun Tea

lemon-rosemary-sun-tea

7. Sophie Dahl’s Iced Tea

sophie-tea

8. Matcha Mint Iced Tea

matcha-mint-iced-tea

9. Iced Mint and Citrus Tea

iced-mint-and-citrus-tea

10. Tart Cherry and Mint Iced Tea

tart-cherry-mint-iced-tea

11. Perfect Peach Iced Tea

perfect-peach-iced-tea

12. Vanilla Bean Lemonade

vanilla-bean-lemonade

13. Picnic Pink Lemonade

pink-lemonade

14. Sparkling Cherry Lemonade

sparkling-cherry-lemonade

15. Blueberry Lemonade

blueberry-lemonade

16. Sparkling Honey Limeade

sparkling-honey-limeade

17. Cucumber-Lemonade Mocktail

Cucumber Lemonade Mocktail. A111206 Food & Wine March 2012

Summer Drinks That Do Have Booze In Them

18. Ginger Kombucha Cocktails

ginger-kombucha-cocktails

19. Boozy Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade

summer-watermelon-rosemary-lemonade

20. St. Germain Pomegranate Spritzers

st-germain-pomegranate-spritzers

21. Blackberry Gin Fizz

blackberry-gin-fizz

22. Pomegranate Orange Fizz

pomegranate-orange-fizz

23. Lemon Lavender Gin Rickey

lemon-lavender-gin-rickey

24. Minty Lime and Pineapple Sangria

minty-lime-and-pineapple-sangria

25. Ginger-Peach Sangria

ginger-peach-sangria

26. Two Classic Sangrias

smitten-kitchen-sangria

27. Chili Lime Mango Margaritas

chili-lime-mango-margaritas

28. Colorado Cooler

cocktails-colorado-cooler

29. Whiskey Punch

whiskey-punch

30. Jalapeñyaaas Queen

jalapenyaaas-queen-spicy-gin-cocktail-with-rosemary-and-pineapple

31. Watermelon Tequila Cocktail

watermelon

32. Sangrita and Tequila Shot

sangrita-and-tequila-shot

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Ryan Yates

Ryan Yates was the NSFW Editor (2013–2018) and Literary Editor for Autostraddle.com, with bylines in Nylon, Refinery29, The Toast, Bitch, The Daily Beast, Jezebel, and elsewhere. They live in Los Angeles and also on twitter and instagram.

Ryan has written 1142 articles for us.

20 Comments

  1. This is so cruel. Today was officially the coldest morning in my part of the world in years and I am starting to feel like I will never be warm again. I’m practically misty-eyed over the idea of lemon lavender gin rickeys and sunshine and tshirts and not being trapped in my office because there’s no heat in the rest of the building and its too cold to leave.

  4. I just saved so many recipes to Pocket!! And I’m glad so many of them are water; I’ve been looking for some things to add to my water bottle!!

  5. SO happy for all the non-boozy options (booze and heat are not my friends). It’s 90 and sticky and brutal and for some reason my boss won’t let me do my job in my bathtub with a pitcher of Rosemary Grapefruit water.

    • Glad I’m not the only one who finds booze and heat together a bad combo. (I have tried to make the boozy watermelon lemonade three times but after the first “forgot” the gin and just felt so much better after.)

  6. I find myself with great tumbler envy reading this post.

    Since when did I care about crockery?

    Oh god, I’m getting old and domesticated.

    I need a drink.

    Oh look, here’s a handy list of drinks!

  7. Several of these, but especially the lemonades, might enjoy this little presentation trick: in addition to ice cubes in the serving glass, toss in wedges if freshly-cut orange, lemon and lime. It adds color and flavor, and gives you something to chew on even when the liquid and ice are gone.

  11. Everything here is something I want to make right now. Los Angeles is too hot and humid right now

  12. These look GREAT! I really love a pink lemonade with vodka kinda-situation. Would highly recommend

  14. ginger, kombucha and vodka are probably my top three things to put in my mouth. will be making.

  15. I appreciate the inclusion of so many gin drinks! Gin=summer! And I was getting a little tired of the classic G&T

  16. Mmmmm now I’m thirsty. Holy crap that blackberry gin fizz sounds amazing. I like gin, but find it hard to pair with things outside the usual tonic+lime.

  18. Thank you very much for your post, it makes us have more and more discs in our life, So kind for you.I also hope you will make more and more excellent post and let’s more and more talk, thank you very much, dear.

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