On hot, hot summers, one of the great ways to cool off and relax is a refreshing cocktail. This method is chosen by many people in conjunction with other methods of summer recreation.
Summer cocktails can be milk, fruit or vegetable. There are recipes that are based on drinks such as tea, mineral water or kvass. Of course, there are also many cocktails with the addition of alcohol. But here everyone chooses those tastes that will be to their liking. Consider the most unusual and interesting flavor combinations.
Peach Ginger Soda
To prepare 8 servings of such a drink you will need: 2 ripe peaches, 2 tablespoons of chopped ginger, 1 cup of sugar, 16 leaves of fresh mint and 2 liters of mineral water.
Cooking method. In a medium-sized pot, add a glass of water, ginger and sugar and heat to a slight boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the resulting syrup from the heat, cover and set aside for half an hour.
Next, take a medium-sized bowl and filter the syrup through a sieve with a tablespoon to squeeze the ginger juice. Cover the bowl with cling film and set to cool in the refrigerator. If the syrup remains, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Pieces of peaches are laid out in glasses, add approximately 2 tablespoons of syrup to each, add ice cubes and fill with mineral water. Decorate the cocktails with 2 mint leaves and enjoy the taste.
Cranberry Basil Spritzer
Another rather unusual, but very tasty refreshing cocktail (non-alcoholic). For this recipe we will need: 1 glass of ordinary water, 1 glass of sugar, 1 glass of basil leaves, 2 glasses of unsweetened cranberry juice,, glass of fresh lime juice, 1 liter of chilled mineral water, 4 lime slices, 1 glass of fresh cranberries.
Cooking method. In a medium-sized saucepan, prepare the syrup: plain water + sugar, bring to a boil. Add half a glass of basil leaves and remove the pan from the heat, leave for 20 minutes.
Filter the syrup and let cool for an hour. At this time, in a pitcher (jug) we combine cranberry juice, lime juice and add syrup. Then we add mineral water, lime slices and the remaining basil (half a glass) to the resulting mixture.
When serving, put ice cubes on the bottom of the glass, fill in the spritzer, add some more sparkling water to add freshness and decorate with basil leaves. Berry refreshing cocktails look very harmonious on the table, because they have a beautiful color.
Pineapple tequila cooler
And this refreshing alcoholic cocktail even bears the name “cooler”, which means “freshener” in English. The recipe was invented by the director of drinks and co-owner of the dell'Anima restaurant in New York.
Ingredients: ¾ cup of water, ¾ cup of sugar, 1 small pineapple, ¼ jalapeno pod, ¾ cup of golden tequila, ¾ cup of silver tequila, two lime juice (about ¼ cup), 8 cups with crushed ice, and 1 peel of lime.
Cooking. In a small saucepan over medium heat, prepare a syrup from water and sugar, bring to a boil and wait until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
In a large pitcher, chop the pineapple with jalapenos in mashed potatoes using a blender, add tequila, our chilled syrup and lime juice.
In glasses filled with crushed ice, add our refreshing cocktail. Decorate with a spiral of lime peel and serve.
Strawberry Kvass
Summer refreshing cocktails can also be prepared on kvass, or rather, consider the option of making strawberry kvass.
To do this, take: 1 kg of strawberries, 5 liters of water, 100 grams of sugar, 25 grams of yeast, 25 grams of honey, 2 tablespoons of raisins, as well as citric acid on the tip of a knife.
We sort and wash the berries. Squeeze the juice, do not throw out the cake, but put it in a pan and fill it with water. Bring this mixture to a boil, remove from heat and leave for 10 minutes. We filter.
Rub the yeast, sugar, honey and citric acid in the strawberry juice, mix and add to our water base. Then leave somewhere in a warm place for a couple of days.
When the kvass is ready, pour it into bottles, add a few zest to each. Keep this drink tightly closed in a cool place.
Cucumber Agua Fresca refreshing cocktail
For this cocktail you will need the following ingredients: syrup (water + sugar), 5 medium-sized cucumbers (previously peeled and coarsely chopped, leave the rings for decoration separately), 4 cups of cold water, 1.5 cups of chopped ginger, 0.5 cups of fresh juice lime and ice.
We prepare syrup, as described in the recipes above. And then we prepare the cocktail itself: we collect the ingredients (cucumbers, ginger and a little water) in a blender. Blender until the cucumber is completely mashed.
Next, filter the resulting mixture well and discard the remaining cake. Add 4 tablespoons of syrup and lime juice. Serve cocktails with ice. You can also add mint leaves, they will also add freshness and decorate a refreshing cocktail.