Best Summer Drinks You Can Make with Just 3 Ingredients; Recipes Inside

The best summer drinks of the season needn’t be complicated; they just have to be delicious. Do away with fussy, elaborate ingredients, complicated mixing techniques and equally confusing garnishes to instead prepare great summer drinks that will simply astound guests at your weekend gathering or cocktail party. Simple cocktails and mocktails, with very few ingredients, can do the trick. These can be made using as few as three components, procured from the kitchen or your home bar in summer weather to make excellent, seasonal mixes.

Of the different produce available in this weather, mango dominates the conversation. It is no wonder then that it is part of the roster of home bartenders mixing both cocktails and mocktails in the summer season. Along with mangoes, other seasonal fruits like watermelons, muskmelons, pineapples and citruses add tropical flavour to bright summer drinks. Imbue cocktails and mocktails with a seasonal flair by simply building ingredients in a cocktail glass or shaker and serving them up in bright glassware as vibrant options blended exclusively for this time of the year.

A simple recipe to make the watermelon mint splash involves using deseeded chunks of the fruit to create a sweet, fresh and brightly coloured number. Among different summer drinks, this cooler really bags one of the top spots in the mocktail roster for resonating so much with the vibrancy of the season. One of the best summer drinks to craft at a bartender’s station, the watermelon in this drink combines with the sharp zest of mint leaves in an elegant mocktail that can be served at brunch hour or early evening. Adding plenty of mint to the recipe imbues it with a sharp taste that balances out the fruity sweetness of the watermelon.

Ingredients:

• 6-7 large watermelon chunks

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 5-6 mint leaves

Method:

• Put 6-7 deseeded watermelon chunks in a blender, add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 5-6 mint leaves. 

• Blend the drink to juice the watermelon pieces until they are well integrated with the mint leaves. 

• Fill a tall, highball glass with ice and top it off with the blended mixture.

Use freshly squeezed tangy, sweet and sour pineapple juice to craft this fizzy drink. The best summer drinks of the season are those which optimise the use of local produce that ripens in the warm weather. The tropical fruit is available aplenty in the summer and if one wants to add fresh produce when concocting drinks in vacation months, they may opt for this juicy fruit. The flavours of the tropical fruit blend with ginger zest in a well-balanced mix of contrasting notes.

Ingredients:

• 30 ml fresh pineapple juice 

• 5-6 thin ginger shavings

• 90 ml chilled club soda 

Method:

• Add 30 ml fresh pineapple juice and 5-6 thin ginger shavings to a glass. Stir the mixture before topping it off with 90 ml chilled club soda. 

• Adjust the amount of club soda depending on the intensity of the drink. 

• Serve the mocktail in a tall highball glass.

Fresh raw mango pulp can be extracted from the green fruit in summer weather. Simply steam raw mangoes and scoop the softened flesh out of the fruit. Blend it with jaggery or sugar to prepare a sweet and tangy pulp that can be used as the foundation for building summer cocktails. The sourness of raw mangoes undercuts the herbaceous and savoury notes of gin, to produce a subtle complexity in the drink. 

Ingredients:

• 5-6 tablespoons raw mango pulp 

• 30 ml Tanqueray No. Ten Gin

• 90 ml chilled club soda

Method:

• In a cocktail shaker, muddle 5-6 tablespoons of raw mango pulp (increase or decrease the quantity depending on the acidity of the pulp) and 30 ml Tanqueray No. Ten Gin. 

• Add the mixture to a tall highball glass before topping it off with 90 ml chilled club soda. 

• Adjust the amount of soda according to the fizz preferred, without diluting the drink too much.

Another summertime ingredient used widely in tropical regions for making cocktails and mocktails is dried kokum. From the coasts of Konkan comes this dark, purple-hued fruit that brings a deep tint into your cocktail glass. Kokum is available in syrup form and can be used to make drinks laced with a sour and sweet flavour profile that exudes sheer tropical summer feels. 

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tablespoons kokum syrup

• 30 ml Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka

• 90 ml chilled club soda or sparkling water

Method:

• Bring together 2-3 tablespoons of kokum syrup and 30 ml Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka in a cocktail shaker and stir well. 

• Transfer this mixture into a serving glass and top it off with 90 ml chilled club soda or sparkling water, according to whatever is available in the fridge when guests show up.

Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.