Batch cocktail recipes for summer: The best five options for al fresco drinking

This summer, why not ditch the canned supermarket cocktails and batch your own libations to enjoy al fresco.

Ready-to-drinks have their place — they’re convenient, especially when travelling — but pre-batching a cocktail using fresh ingredients and sharing it with friends is a proper flex that will never go unappreciated. It’s the alcoholic equivalent of cooking someone dinner rather than relying on a takeaway.

To kickstart your summer of mixology, here are five crowd-pleasing cocktail recipes that are perfect for the warm weather. From rum punches that can be infinitely customised to other quaffable classics such as the tequila-laced paloma, all the recipes have been adapted for drinking outdoors and are single portions. To make a large batch, simply multiply the recipes by the number of drinks you’d like to prepare. Here’s to summer nights.

Punch, the cocktail’s progenitor, may have originated in India and made its way around the world thanks to the East India Company in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the drink really came into its own once it landed in the Caribbean and was promptly spiked with rum.

In Barbados, where punch was referenced as early as 1694, the drink follows a rhyming formula that goes: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak (and a touch of spice to make it nice). It’s a bare-bones template that’s up for interpretation, but is guaranteed to yield a tropical mix of deliciousness that’s fit for drinking everywhere from the garden to the beach.

There are few boundaries to navigate when making your own rum punch as long as you have rum, sugar, citrus, water (ice) and spice, so embrace your inner mixologist and get creative. The recipe below can be manipulated to showcase seasonal or regional ingredients, such as swapping funky Jamaican rum with a rum from Barbados instead, or ditching the demerara syrup for a hibiscus (AKA sorrel) sweetener, or even grenadine. Make a large batch for your next picnic, pair the drinks with some Caribbean tunes and let the rum rhapsody transport you.

Ingredients

Method

Add all ingredients to a mason jar with ice, secure the lid and shake vigorously. Pour the shaken drink into another cup or highball glass with ice and garnish with a fresh mint sprig and some nutmeg if you’re feeling enthusiastic.

Where to try it best: Limin’ Beach Club, Gabriel’s Wharf, SE1, limin.co.uk

If the pornstar martini went tiki, it’d be the East 8 Hold Up. Similar to the iconic London-born classic, the sunset-hued East 8 is also made with vodka, passion fruit and lime juice, but that’s where the two drinks part ways. The East 8 Hold Up also gets a bittersweet dose of Aperol, tropical pineapple juice and some simple syrup to balance. It’s summer in a glass.

For London barflies and bartenders, this cocktail has become a bit of a cult favourite in recent years as it was created by Kevin Armstrong, current owner of Satan’s Whiskers in Bethnal Green, back in 2006 for the now-shuttered Milk & Honey London, a pioneering cocktail bar at the time. Some imbibers may be hesitant to call it a modern classic as it’s yet to really make waves outside the UK, but it’s undoubtedly the most popular vodka sour since the Cosmopolitan — it just hasn’t had Carrie Bradshaw singing its praises (yet!).

If you’re feeling adventurous and want to add your own twist, it’s best to keep it simple. Tequila could make for a suitable base instead of vodka, and another tropical syrup—like guava or mango—could replace the tart passion fruit, but we’re very much of the opinion that this cocktail shouldn’t be overly tinkered with. Besides, it really is Armstrong’s signature “dash of pash” (i.e. passionfruit) that makes this cocktail the beautiful guzzler that it is. Our recommendation: bring a lot of it to the party, because it’s not going to last very long.

Ingredients

Method

Add all ingredients to a mason jar with ice, secure the lid and shake vigorously. Pour the shaken drink into another cup or rocks glass, top with fresh ice and garnish with a lime wedge.

Where to try it best: Satan’s Whiskers, 343 Cambridge Heath Road, E2, satanswhiskers.com

Based on the margarita’s global popularity, you might think the beloved tequila daisy is totally dominant in Mexico, the motherland of agave spirits. But that’s not entirely the case. Over there, the Paloma is one of the most popular cocktails — a refreshing mix of tequila, lime juice and grapefruit soda.

Many contemporary bartenders prefer to add some fresh grapefruit juice as well to the existing recipe to really drive home the fresh citrus character of the cocktail. To add your own twist, a dash of Campari adds a bittersweet depth and transforms the drink into a vibrant reddish-pink, while swapping mezcal for tequila is doable if you prefer the earthier agave spirit. With these simple options for customisation, a DIY Paloma bar with all the ingredients laid out is a fun way to involve guests if you’re hosting at home; but a pitcher of the classic will also do.

Ingredients

Method

Add all ingredients to a mason jar with ice, secure the lid and shake vigorously. Pour the shaken drink into another cup or highball glass, top with fresh ice, then grapefruit soda and garnish with a half grapefruit wheel. If you’re particularly short on time, forgo shaking and simply build all the ingredients in a cup or highball glass over ice.

Where to try it best: Side Hustle at The Nomad Hotel, 28 Bow Street, WC2, thenomadhotel.com

For a man that’s known to drink Martinis like water, Champagne in the morning with his eggs and Scotch whenever times get tough, it may come as a surprise to some that the very first drink James Bond orders in 1953’s Casino Royale is an Americano. Not a glass of Bollinger, nor Taittinger, but an appetite-stimulating mix of Campari, sweet vermouth and soda water.

It’s a drink that’s considered to be the predecessor to its boozier, voguish cousin, the Negroni, but it’s not yet hit the mainstream despite it being around longer. Nonetheless, the Americano is a perfect cocktail for indulging in the heat given its low-ABV, and is an excellent accompaniment to small bites. To create your own twist on the Americano, simply swap Campari for another bitter aperitif, such as the Venetian Select aperitivo or Sipello, a hand-crafted British aperitif that’s taking London’s cocktail scene by storm. It’s a tipple that’s perfect for session drinking, and is the next step up for the passionate Negroni drinker.

Ingredients

Method

Build all of the ingredients in a cup or highball glass over ice and garnish with a half orange wheel.

Where to try it best: Swift Soho, 12 Old Compton Street, W1, barswift.com

While the French 75 as we know it first appeared in print in 1927 in a New York humour magazine, it didn’t become popular until 1930 when it was published in the Savoy Cocktail Book. After it was backed by The Savoy, it was a near-instant classic.

The French 75 is a sophisticated cocktail that can be served a couple ways, but its simplicity, and versatility, is what makes it ideal for drinking outdoors. The recipe is a perfect balance of gin, or cognac, lemon juice, simple syrup and Champagne — it’s effervescent enough to lift your spirits, and spirituous enough to lay you down after a heap of them. Make it seasonal by substituting the simple syrup for your own herbaceous syrup — rosemary is a favourite of ours — and garnish accordingly.

Ingredients

Method

Add the spirit, lemon juice and simple syrup to a mason jar with ice and shake. Strain into another cup or glass — with or without ice — and top with sparkling wine when it’s time to drink.

Where to try it best: American Bar at The Savoy Hotel, Strand, WC2, thesavoylondon.com