These Crushable Cocktails Will Liven Up Your Fourth of July Festivities

These cool summer sippers are designed for Independence Day drinking.

Summer brings light, bright, refreshing cocktails with ingredients that are are perfect for sipping by the pool, on the deck or anywhere else your celebrating the Fourth of July.

We’ve done the leg work to gather a balance of sophisticated craft cocktails for those who will be marking the Independence Day with some sophisticated day drinking, and frozen tequila pops for those who just want to party, because there’s always room for both.

Good Enough Gatsby – Sean Quinn of Death & Co, Denver

The pairing of fresh pineapple and unaged pear brandy brightens up this whiskey cocktail, making it perfect for a hot summer day.

• 1.5 oz Wild Turkey 101 Rye Whiskey
• .5 oz Clear Creek Pear Eau De Vie
• .75 oz cinnamon syrup
• .75 oz pineapple juice
• .5 oz lime juice
• 1 tsp Fernet-Branca

Add ingredients to shaker with ice and shake until chilled; strain into double old-fashioned glass with pebble ice, then top with pebble ice and garnish with pineapple fronds and grated cinnamon.

Venetian Cobbler

Fresh fruit paired with tequila and the popular Venetian Aperitivo Select make for a refreshing summer cobbler to drink around to pool.

• 1.75 oz tequila
• .5 oz Select Aperitivo
• .5 oz honey syrup
• .5 oz lemon juice
• 3 muddled blackberries

Add blackberries and honey syrup to a collins glass and muddle; add the rest of the ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake to integrate ingredients and chill, then strain into glass; top with pebble ice, then garnish with a mint sprig, blackberries, and maraschino cherry to serve.

Pirate – Esquire Tavern, San Antonio

When cognac and funky rum get together with strawberry and lemon in this sophisticated summer sour, there are only good things to come.

• 1 oz Paul Beau VS Cognac
• 1 oz Rhum JM-Esquire Single Barrel Selection
• .75 oz strawberry syrup
• .75 oz lemon juice

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake until chilled and diluted; double strain into a Nick & Nora glass and garnish with an expressed and discarded lemon peel and a sliced strawberry on the glass.

Austral Summer – Eryn Reece of BANZARBAR, New York City

Bright, tropical, and refreshing: all the best qualities for a summer sipper. The Monteru Brandy is finished in a Sauternes barrel, which adds a light honey note. When combined with the herbal blend of chartreuse and the creamy roundness of coconut, the result is a beautifully balanced drink; both sophisticated and approachable.

•  
  1.50 oz Monteru Brandy
• .50 oz Redbreast 12 yr Irish whiskey
• .75 oz lemon juice
• .50 oz Kalani Coconut
• .25 oz green chartreuse
• Dash angostura bitters

Whip shake with a few small pellets of ice; strain into a collins glass, top with ice, and garnish with banana leaf and more pebble ice.

Tequila Paletas

This large batch tequila cocktail freeze pop is perfect to prepare ahead of time for company. Pull them out of the freezer, and get the party started. (Pro tip: Pour yourself a glass of bubbly, and dip this delicious frozen cocktail in there—it’s the perfect pairing.) 

• 4 cups fresh fruit
• .5 cup Partida Tequila Blanco
• 3 tbsp. fresh lime juice
• .5 cup sugar
• 10 tsp. chile powder (optional for spice)

Place the fresh fruit, Partida Tequila, lime juice, and sugar in the blender and process until smooth. Pour the mixture into molds, snap on lids, insert popsicle sticks, and freeze for six hours or until frozen.