7 Cocktails You Need to Try Before Summer Ends

Pardon us while we wipe the tears from our eyes. We’re less than a week away from the end of summer.

To help cure our sadness, we’re taking a look back at seven cocktails that captured the spirit of the season…and bringing those recipes to you. From concoctions with a kick of Mezcal smoke, to classic mojitos and libations melded with blackberries, these are the drinks you need to try before summer officially ends on Sept. 22. Whip them up for fun or at an end of summer party. We’ll be over here taking a few sips of these tasty concoctions from some of our favorite brands – and hotspots –  in the meantime.

1. Norah’s Spicy Passion Fruit Margarita: 

We fell in love with this cocktail when we went to this West Hollywood restaurant’s summer menu tasting at the top of the season. Melded with Serrano-infused Mezcal, this tasty drink is smooth with a hint of sweetness and smoke.

Spicy Passion Fruit Margarita Recipe: Make it your own with a combination of these ingredients — serrano infused mezcal, strega (Italian herbal liqueur), passion fruit, lemon, and agave, with a housemade spice rim. If you’re having trouble coming up with the right ingredients for the spice rim, try one of these rimming recipes from Food and Wine.

2. Belvedere Blackberry Mule

This was one of the three signature cocktails at Rachel Zoe’s Spring 2018 Collection Presentation at the London Hotel in West Hollywood, Calif. earlier this month – and it was a huge hit. Created with a mix of ginger syrup, blackberries, lime juice, and more, this colorful cocktail simply made us swoon.

BBM Recipe:
1.5 oz Belvedere Vodka
.75 oz Ginger Syrup
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
3 Blackberries
4 oz Soda Water

Place blackberries in a shaker and muddle. Add remaining ingredients and shake with one ice cube. Pour into a Collins glass over fresh ice and top off with soda water. Garnish with a mint sprig and blackberries.

3. Doheny Room’s Lolita

The hidden upstairs portion of West Hollywood’s Doheny Room is where we love to sip this bubbly cocktail in the summertime. A champagne float gives this drink an extra bit of sparkle while the muddled strawberries add a delicious splash of fresh summer fruit.

The Lolita Recipe:
1 oz grey goose
Muddled strawberries
.75 oz lemon juice
.75 oz simple syrup
2 oz champagne float

4. Skybar’s Mojito

A little lime, a little sugar, and muddled mint – mojitos are classic summer cocktails – and Skybar in West Hollywood gets it right every time. The mojitos here come in a few flavors, like their tasty watermelon mojito, but their signature classic mojito reels us in every time.

Skybar Mojito Recipe: Make it your own with these ingredients: Bacardi Superior Rum, fresh lime juice, sugar, club soda, and muddled mint. If you need more guidance, take a look at Bon Appetit’s mojito breakdown.

5. Cointreau’s Fever Dream

Every time Cointreau holds an Art of the Soirée Bash, we RSVP immediately. This year, we learned how to whip up a variety of Cointreau cocktails – but the Fever Dream continues to be one of our all-time faves. Created with tequila, Cointreau, lemon juice, and cucumber, this refreshing cocktail is fresh and crisp.

Fever Dream Recipe:
1.5 oz tequila blanco
0.75 oz Cointreau
0.75 oz Lemon juice
3 slices of fresh Cucumber
4 dashes of firewater tincture
Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

6. Cocktail in a Popsicle: Truly Spiked & Sparkling Key Lime Pops

Popsicles scream summer and these boozy frozen treats take them up a notch. Mixed with key lime juice, ginger infused simple syrup, Truly Spiked and Sparking Colima Lime and more, these popsicles will cool you down on the last hot days of the season. 

Recipe for 2 Boozy Key Lime Popsicles:
¼ Cup Key Lime Juice
¼ Cup Ginger-infused Simple Syrup*
¾ Cup Truly Spiked & Sparkling Colima Lime

Mix the lime juice, ginger syrup and Truly Spiked and Sparking Colima Lime together until well combined. Pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until solid, serve and enjoy!

*Ginger-infused Simple Syrup
¾ Cup water
¾ Cup granulated sugar
¼ Cup fresh grated ginger

Combine water, sugar and ginger into a small saucepan.  Heat over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved.  Remove from the heat and refrigerate for 6 – 8 hours or overnight.  Pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer and store in the refrigerator.

7. Watermelon Beer Rita

Created by The Southern Thing, this recipe is for Corona lovers. Whipped up with fresh watermelon, tequila, Corona, lime juice, and more, blend the ingredients below for a unique beer-cocktail you won’t forget.

Watermelon Beer Rita Recipe:
2 cups seedless watermelon, rind removed
3 tablespoons simple syrup
3/4 cup tequila
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 cups ice (add more as needed)
Cold Corona Light
Lime wedges (for garnish)
Margarita salt

Remove the seeds and rind from watermelon and cut into cubes. In a blender, combine watermelon, simple syrup, lime juice, tequila and ice, then blend. Dampen the rim of a large margarita glass or beer mug, then twist the rim in margarita salt. Pour contents of blender into a chilled glass, a little more than half full. Carefully place an ice cold Corona into a margarita glass and garnish with a fresh lime and serve.

Cheers to the end of summer, Destination Fabbers!