Summer cocktails: what to make for the garden, barbecue and a hot day

Daytime drinks in summer are long: a measure of spirit or aperitif stretched with a mixer over a full glass of ice. Short, cold drinks such as the Daiquiri suit the end of the day or a single round. Choose by where you are and how many you are pouring for.

For what suits each season of the year, see seasonal cocktails. For the water, citrus timings and quantities behind every batch on this page, see how to batch cocktails.

The Pimm’s Cup is one part Pimm’s No. 1 to three of lemonade: 50ml to 150ml. Fill a highball or a jug with cubed ice, layering cucumber, strawberry and orange as you go. Pour the Pimm’s over the fruit, top with sparkling lemonade, stir just enough to lift the fruit, and seat a slapped mint sprig on top. For a jug of five, that is 250ml of Pimm’s and 750ml of lemonade. LWC’s UK listing gives Pimm’s No. 1 at 22% and Diageo’s UK shop at 25%, so a glass carries just over one unit.

The Aperol Spritz is built prosecco first. Fill a large wine glass to the top with ice, pour in 90ml of prosecco, add 60ml of Aperol, and run 30ml of chilled soda water down the inside of the glass. Lift once with a bar spoon and add an orange slice. It does not batch: the prosecco and soda go flat in a jug. Set out the bottles and a jigger and let guests build their own.

The Hugo Spritz is the lighter, floral alternative: 25ml of elderflower liqueur over ice in a wine glass, then 90ml of prosecco and 30ml of soda, poured gently, with a slapped mint sprig and a lime wheel.

Keep the glasses in the shade and the bottles in a cool box until they are poured. A spritz warms in the sun within minutes, and warm prosecco loses its fizz.

At the grill, serve drinks in rocks glasses, highballs or sturdy tumblers rather than stemware. Choose drinks that are poured, not shaken, once the food is on.

The Margarita is 50ml of blanco tequila, 20ml of triple sec and 15ml of fresh lime juice, shaken hard and served over fresh ice with a salt rim on half the glass. For a barbecue, make it a jug. For ten, mix 500ml of tequila and 200ml of triple sec ahead. On the day, add 150ml of freshly squeezed lime and about 200ml of cold water, a quarter of the batch, which stands in for the shake. Keep the jug in the fridge or a cool box and pour about 105ml over fresh ice in each salt-rimmed glass.

The lime goes in on the day because it fades within hours of squeezing. The water goes in because nothing will be shaken: without it, a poured Margarita tastes hot and sharp.

The Paloma needs no shaker at all. Salt half the rim of a highball, fill it with ice, and add 50ml of blanco tequila, 5ml of fresh lime juice and a pinch of salt. Stir, then pour in 100ml of chilled pink grapefruit soda and lift once. Garnish with a grapefruit slice and a lime wheel. Set out the tequila, soda, limes and salt, and guests can build their own.

The Storm & Spice is our house serve. Fill a highball with ice, squeeze 15ml of fresh lime juice over it and pour in 150ml of ginger beer to about two thirds. Float 50ml of Expedition Spiced Rum on top over the back of a bar spoon, add two dashes of Angostura if you like, and garnish with a lime wedge and crystallised ginger. Let the drinker stir it.

The Pack Mule is the stirred version: 50ml of spiced rum, 20ml of fresh lime juice and 10ml of sugar syrup over ice in a copper mug or highball, stirred, then 100 to 120ml of ginger beer poured gently down the side, with a lime wheel and a mint sprig.

A batch saves the host the shaking, but only the parts that keep go in early. Spirits, vermouth and syrup can wait days in the fridge. Citrus waits for the day, and anything sparkling waits for the glass.

Three follow: a Negroni Sbagliato base we keep for days, a Whiskey Sour mix we keep for a day, and a Sangria that rests overnight. The water, the timings and when to squeeze the citrus are in how to batch cocktails.

The Negroni Sbagliato base is equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth: 240ml of each serves eight. We keep it in the fridge and finish it within about four weeks, as we would an open bottle of vermouth. At the party, pour 60ml over ice in a rocks glass, stir briefly, then top with 30ml of chilled prosecco poured down the side. Garnish with an orange slice.

The Whiskey Sour is 45ml of bourbon, 25ml of fresh lemon juice and 20ml of simple syrup. For eight, mix 360ml of bourbon and 160ml of syrup ahead, and add 200ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice on the day. If the lemon goes in the day before, taste the mix before the party and sharpen it with a little fresh lemon. Shake 90ml of the mix hard with ice for each drink and strain over fresh ice; the shake adds the water, and a few drops of egg white can go in the shaker for foam. To pour it from the jug instead, leave out the egg white, add about 180ml of cold water, a quarter of the batch, and pour about 110ml over fresh ice.

Sangria is 120ml of red wine, 25ml of brandy, 30ml of fresh orange juice, 15ml of fresh lemon juice and 15ml of simple syrup a glass. A 750ml bottle of wine makes about six glasses, with 150ml of brandy, 180ml of orange juice, 90ml of lemon juice and 90ml of syrup. Add sliced orange and chunks of apple, and refrigerate it for at least an hour, overnight if you can, but never past a day. Taste it before serving and sharpen it with fresh lemon if the citrus has dulled. Serve over ice in wine glasses, with the fruit ladled in.

A glass packed with ice melts more slowly than one with a few cubes, because the cubes keep each other cold. Fill every glass to the top before anything goes in.

The Mojito is built in a highball. Put six sprigs of mint and two teaspoons of cane sugar in the glass and press the mint once or twice to release its oils, without crushing it. Fill the glass with large cubed ice, add 45ml of white rum and 20ml of freshly squeezed lime juice, and stir briefly. Pour 75 to 100ml of chilled soda water down the inside and lift once with a bar spoon. Finish with a mint sprig and a lime wheel, and serve with a straw. Muddling harder makes it bitter rather than stronger.

The Tom Collins is built over ice in a Collins glass: 60ml of gin, 30ml of fresh lemon juice and 15ml of simple syrup, stirred, then 90ml of chilled soda water and one lift of the spoon, with a lemon slice and a cherry. The Gin Rickey is the driest long drink on this page, with no sugar at all: 60ml of gin and 25ml of fresh lime juice over ice, topped with 100 to 125ml of soda water.

The Daiquiri is the short one, for the end of the afternoon. Stir 60ml of white rum, 20ml of fresh lime juice and two bar spoons of caster sugar in a shaker until the sugar dissolves, add ice, shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain into a chilled coupe. Do not batch it with the lime in. Lime more than about three hours old tastes flat, and a Daiquiri has nothing to hide it behind. For a round, measure the rum ahead, squeeze the lime within three hours, and shake each one to order.

A mixed drink carried in a bag arrives warm and flat. Carry the parts instead: the spirit, unopened cans or small bottles of mixer, a lime or two, and a jigger. Pack them in a cool bag with a bottle of water frozen the night before, which keeps the rest cold and can be drunk as it thaws.

A Gin & Tonic is the simplest picnic drink: 50ml of gin over ice, 100ml of chilled tonic poured slowly down the side, and a squeeze of lime. A Pimm’s Cup travels well as a bottle of Pimm’s, lemonade and a box of cut fruit. The Sparkling Elderflower Lemonade base, equal parts cordial and lemon, can go in a small bottle ready to top up.

Use plastic, enamel or metal cups. Some parks and beaches restrict alcohol or glass under local rules, so check before you pack a bottle.

Someone at every summer gathering is driving, or not drinking. Give them a drink made with the same care and served in the same glass.

The Virgin Mojito is 25ml of fresh lime juice, 20ml of simple syrup and ten mint leaves, pressed gently in a highball, then crushed ice and 120ml of soda water poured through the middle. Cap it with more crushed ice and a slapped mint bouquet.

The Sparkling Elderflower Lemonade is 25ml of elderflower cordial and 25ml of fresh lemon juice over ice, topped with 150ml of sparkling water. We keep the cordial and lemon for a couple of days in the fridge, so it is the easiest jug to make ahead.

The Watermelon Cooler is 150ml of fresh watermelon juice, whizzed smooth and strained, with 25ml of fresh lime juice over ice and a top of soda water. Taste before adding any syrup; ripe melon rarely needs it. We keep the juice for a day. The Rose Lemonade Fizz, 25ml of rose syrup and 25ml of lemon topped with sparkling water in a flute, is the one to pour for a toast.

Label the jugs. A Virgin Mojito looks exactly like a Mojito.

Ice runs out first. Plan on half a kilo to a kilo a guest, and the top of that range on a hot day: around ten to twelve kilos for twelve people. Buy it bagged, keep it in a cool box in the shade, and fill an ice bucket from it as you go rather than setting it all out at once.

For a four-hour party, plan on about five drinks a head: two in the first hour and one an hour after that. Twelve guests drink around sixty, and a 700ml bottle gives fourteen 50ml measures.

Put a jug of cold water on the drinks table and refill it. In a heatwave, the NHS advises drinking extra fluids and avoiding alcohol. On an ordinary warm day, long drinks and smaller pours do the same job. A UK unit is 25ml of a 40% ABV spirit. A Pimm’s Cup carries just over one unit and a spritz around one and a half, while the Tom Collins, Gin Rickey and Daiquiri, each built on 60ml of spirit, carry nearly two and a half. Measure with a jigger rather than pouring by eye.

Glass breaks on patios and is hard to find in grass. Use tumblers and highballs outdoors, and keep the stemware for the table.