Summertime cocktails the local way

It’s Friday night, and you want a drink. Not a beer; a crisp, refreshing drink with plenty of ice and lots of flavor. Muddled fruits, fresh herbs, local and regional spirits — there’s nothing like a summer cocktail.

Local restaurants sent us their favorite seasonal cocktails, recipes included! You can easily pick up the ingredients and fix yourself an adult beverage in the comfort of your home.

Or, you can venture out to the restaurants themselves and have one of the friendly, talented bartenders stir, shake, and pour one for you.

Royal T’s at the Mansion Inn (New Hope)

Wild Blackberry Lemonade Cocktail

Bartender Jake Brogan

INGREDIENTS

5 – 6 mint leaves
½ oz wild blackberry syrup
½ oz simple syrup
1 oz lemon juice
2 oz Stateside Vodka

HOW TO

Put mint leaves in a shaker with syrups. Muddle gently. Add lemon and vodka. Add ice. Shake in a circular motion. Double strain into a tall glass over ice. Top off with club soda. Gently smack a sprig of mint in y0ur hand and garnish the drink with the mint.

Dad’s Hat Rye Whiskey (Bristol)

Whiskey Smash

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ oz. Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey
¾ oz. simple syrup
½ lemon
4 mint leaves

HOW TO

Muddle lemon then add all ingredients over ice in a shaker. Shake and strain into cocktail glass with crushed ice. Garnish with mint.

Water Wheel Tavern (Doylestown)

Basil Mojito

Bartender Eric Craven

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ oz white rum
½ oz Simple Syrup
2 TBSP sugar
5 basil leaves
½ lime

HOW TO

Create basil sugar by adding 2-3 basil leaves and ¼ sugar to a blender or food processor. Run a lime wedge around the rim of a tall glass then “salt” the rim in the basil sugar. Fill glass with ice. In a shaker, add lime wedges first, then basil leaves and muddle until basil breaks up. Add rum or vodka, and simple syrup. Shake together on ice. Pour drink into glass (do not strain). Add some club soda and a splash of Sprite. Garnish with basil and lime.

Frenchtown Inn (Frenchtown, NJ)

Cucumber Thyme Gin & Tonic

Bartender SaraBeth Emmons

INGREDIENTS

Tonic Water
2 slices diced cucumber
4 springs thyme
2 ½ ounces Hendrick’s Gin

HOW TO

Pour 1 ounce of tonic in the bottom of a 16 oz Mason jar, add and muddle 2 slices of diced cucumber and 3 sprigs of thyme. (As an alternative, if you don’t have a muddler, dice cucumber small and break the thyme into the Mason jar).

Fill the Mason jar with ice to the top. Measure 2 ½ ounces of Hendrick’s Gin. Pour the gin over the muddled cucumber and thyme. Fill with tonic and garnish with a sprig of thyme.