Summer Sippin’ Cocktail Recipes
Cocktails, Mocktails and Sweet Summer Punches!

Colonel’s Cocktail
The Windsor Restaurant Summer Sippin& Lounge at Castle Hill Resort, Oxford

3 ounces Firefly sweet tea flavored vodka
2 ounces soda water
Squeeze of lemon
Pinch of sugar
Shake and pour over ice. Garnish with lemon.

The Delta Martini
The Warehouse, Cleveland

2 ounces Firefly sweet tea flavored vodka
5 ounces Country Time lemonade
Splash of simple syrup
Turbinado sugar
Lemon garnish

Combine vodka, lemonade and simple syrup in a shaker and shake vigorously until well mixed. Rim a martini glass with turbinado sugar and fill with drink mixture. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Simple Syrup:

Bring 2 cups of cold water to a boil. Stir in 2 cups of plain, granulated sugar. Reduce heat to low and stir constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved. Allow the syrup to cool to room temperature. Store in an empty syrup bottle in the refrigerator for quick, repeated use.

Mint Ginny
Mint The Restaurant, Ridgeland

1 1/2 ounces Hendrick’s Scottish Gin
2 to 3 ounces fresh made lemonade*
Splash of Sprite
Cucumber wheel
Top of a mint sprig
Ice

Start by making fresh lemonade, usually to taste, in a large pitcher. Cut a nice sized cucumber into several wheels. Pick the top 2 to 3 inches from fresh mint sprigs. In a medium-sized glass pour 1 1/2 ounces of Hendrick’s Gin. Add ice. Fill near the top with lemonade. Finish with a splash of Sprite. Garnish with a mint speared cucumber ‘floating’ on top of drink. Best if mint and cucumber is “quaffed” while drinking.

*Country Time powdered lemonade will work in a pinch.

The Warehouse Signature Margarita
The Warehouse, Cleveland

2 ounces José Cuervo Gold tequila
1 ounce Cointreau
6 ounces margarita mix
Lime

Mix tequila, cointreau and margarita mix in a shaker, adding 1/2 of a fresh-squeezed lime. Shake and pour over ice. Garnish glass with salt if preferred and lime.

Frozen Chi Chi
Wonderful on a hot day by the pool!

1 1/2 ounces vodka
1 1/2 ounces Coconut Cream
4 tablespoons crushed pineapple
2 cups crushed Ice
Pineapple slice
Orange slices
Cherry

Place first four ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Pour into glass and garnish with pineapple, orange and cherry. Theresa Tate, Belzoni

Summer Stimulus

1/2 can of frozen (Minute Maid) lemonade
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups vodka
1 orange
1 lime
1 lemon
Cups of ice

Fill blender with ice. Add frozen lemonade, water and vodka. Blend together until smooth. Slice fruit into circles. Place 1 orange slice in the bottom of each glass and then some lemonade mixture. Place 1 lemon slice in glass and top with more lemonade mixture. Continue alternating fruit slices and lemonade until glass is almost full. Garnish with lime circle. Add straw. Serve . Leigh Anne Whittle)

Apple Pie Martini

1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce Goldschlager
3 ounces apple juice
Splash of cranberry juice
Apple slice, for garnish

Add all ingredients to a martini shaker filled with ice. Garnish with apple slice. (Don Joe, KC’s Restaurant, Cleveland)

Spring Freeze
Some friends and I got together and made this light spring drink. Too good!

1 can frozen limeade
Tito vodka, to taste
Fresh lime juice
Fresh mint
Cherries with juice

Blend the limeade and vodka with crushed ice. Pour in fabulous margarita glasses or cocktail glasses. Garnish with mint and lime, and drop a couple of cherries in and swirl in cherry juice. (Eva Kyle-Jones, Conway, Arkansas)

Sherberry Slush Delight
No guilt, no fat and sugar free. Really, really good.

Sugar-free orange sherbert
Lite cranberry juice

Thin slice the orange sherbert and put in a tall glass. Add cranberry juice about half full. Let sit for 3 minutes and stir. The cranberry juice will turn to a slush. (Johnny Jennings, Greenwood)

The Asian Persuasion

1 1/2 ounces Hangar mandarin
orange vodka
1 1/2 ounces pineapple juice
1 1/2 ounces orange juice
1 1/2 ounces cranberry juice
1 ounce sweet and sour mix

Combine all ingredients and serve over ice. Garnish with fresh pineapple wedge. (Don Joe, Cleveland)

Burbo-licious
The Second Sunday Book Club enjoyed this one Sunday evening while we were discussing our latest book selection and everyone loved it. It’s like a slush with a little kick! It would be great in McCarty old fashion glasses.

1 12-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 6-ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups bourbon whiskey, such as
Old Charter
2 1/4 cups brewed iced tea
6 cups water

In a large plastic pitcher, combine lemonade concentrate, orange juice concentrate, sugar, bourbon, tea and water. Mix well and freeze overnight. It’s great in a plastic ice cream tub, where it’s easy to stir and make slushy. Also good with a dash of club soda in each glass topped off with a cherry! (Christy Case Keirn, McComb)

Mint Tea
My family’s all-time favorite summer drink is mint tea. The recipe we use is from my sister, the late Farilyn Bell of Inverness. It is delicious.

3 mint tops
3 lemons
6 tea bags
1 2/3 cups sugar
14 cups water

Add mint tops, the rinds of the lemons and the tea bags to 7 cups of boiling water. Cover and turn off heat. Steep exactly 5 minutes. Remove mint, rinds and tea bags and drain the tea. Add sugar and the juice from the lemons. Add 7 more cups of water. Chill and serve over ice. (Philene Allen, Cleveland)

Cosmo-Julep Punch
A new Southern tradition!

1 bottle of cranberry juice
1 bottle of Sprite
1 dissolved 7-ounce jar of mint jelly
1/2 cup of fresh, strained lemon juice
1 cup of sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water

Mix all ingredients. Serve in frosted sugar-rimmed julep cups or glasses. Garnish with fresh mint. Beverly Beasley Mansour, Tupelo

Pink Lady

1 part orange juice
1 part pink grapefruit juice
1 part vodka
Squeeze of a fresh lime

Add all ingredients to a martini shaker. Shake and serve over ice or in a chilled martini glass. (Melanie Whitten Callicott, Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

Tony’s Tonic

Vodka
Coconut rum
Pineapple juice
Splash of orange juice
Mix all ingredients to taste.

(Tony Sancillo, Tupelo)

Ginger’s Punch
We often have this at bunco.

12 ounces frozen orange juice
12 ounce frozen lemonade
36 to 48 ounces cranberry juice
2 liters Fresca
1 fifth vodka

Do not dilute the orange juice or lemonade. Mix together and freeze. Serve slushy. Makes about 1 gallon. (Melanie Commander Saffold, Olive Branch)

Bella Cella
This is a great cocktail from the bartender at Ciao Bella Italian Grill in Memphis. My friends and I call it a “bella cella.”

1 ounce Cream of Limoncello
1 1/2 ounces Cruza Guava Rum
2 ounces cranberry juice

Mix in a shaker with ice and strain into glass filled with ice. (Sheryl Cassibry, Memphis, Tennessee)

Delta Belle Martini
My friend Kathy White, who works in catering in Raleigh, North Carolina, shared this with me. She’s a Delta girl from Cleveland. It’s yummy.

1 1/2 ounces of Absolute Ruby Red
Fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
Champagne

Add vodka and grapefruit juice to shaker filled with ice. Top with Champagne. Shake and strain into glass. Garnish with a grapefruit round, sliced super-thin, and crusted in sugar, floating on top. (Nancy Wells Jackson, Germantown, Tennessee)

The “Woo Woo”

2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce peach schnapps
1 ounce lime juice
1 lime wedge
Cranberry juice
Ice cubes

Fill a martini shaker half way with ice. Squeeze in lime. Add the vodka and schnapps. Shake, then strain into glass half filled with ice. Add the squeezed lime wedge and top up with cranberry juice. Enjoy!

(Jennifer Johnson Kitkowski, Durham, North Carolina)

Watermelon Gin Fizz

5 cups diced watermelon, divided
6 ounces gin, divided
8 tablespoons lime juice, divided
1 1/3 cups ginger ale, divided
Lime wedges for garnish

Freeze 1 cup watermelon for garnish. Puree the remaining 4 cups watermelon. Strain; divide the juice among 4 ice-filled glasses. Top each with 1 1/2 ounces gin, 2 tablespoons lime juice and 1/3 cup ginger ale. Garnish with the frozen watermelon and lime wedges. Omit the gin for a non-alcoholic yummy drink. (Jennifer Johnson Kitkowski, Durham, North Carolina)

Mermaid’s Brew
From the Whale’s Tale in Destin, Florida.

1 1/2 ounces Absolute vodka
1 1/2 ounces Chambord
1/2 ounce pineapple juice
1/2 ounce grenadine

Shake well with ice in a martini mixer and strain into a martini glass rimmed with colored sugar. (Jennifer Johnson Kitkowski, Durham, North Carolina)

Summer Punch
My summer punch is very simple. I like to make it and store it in bottles.

1 2-liter bottle of ginger ale
1 bottle of white grape juice1 can of pineapple juice

Mix all ingredients and chill. Keeps for days in the refrigerator. (Amy White, Memphis, Tennessee)

Boat Drinks

1 part vodka
1 part 7Up
Ginger ale
2 limes

Mix vodka and 7Up in equal parts. Half again with ginger ale. Add 2 whole limes crushed for each quart. Add ice. Mix in one-gallon coolers with a spout and hit the beach or the boat. Make sure it is tied to the dock. (Charlie Godbold, Jackson)

Senatobia Mimosas
This is a recipe for a mimosa I had at a bridesmaids luncheon in Senatobia a couple of years ago. It is really wonderful.

1/2 gallon pineapple-orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups Amaretto
2 bottles Champagne

Mix first three ingredients thoroughly and freeze overnight. Take out when ready to use and add Champagne just before serving. (Dot Strain Miller, Greenwood)

Hendrick’s Gin and Tonic

Hendrick’s gin
Tonic water
Squeeze of lemon
Cucumber slice, for garnish

Mix all ingredients to taste. Hendrick’s Gin is infused with cucumbers and roses. It’s definitely not your typical gin. My wife likes it with tonic, a squeeze of lemon and garnished with a slice of cucumber. (Scott Frederick, Birmingham, Alabama)

If you especially enjoyed any of these recipes, email editor@deltamagazine.com and let me know your favorite.