Many of us spend most of our weekends during the summer throwing or attending BBQs. A nice cookout with friends and family is the perfect way to spend a warm summer day. Not only do you get to spend quality time with your loved ones playing outdoor games, swimming, or just sitting and relaxing, but you also get to eat classic BBQ foods. We wait all year to enjoy our favorite cookout meals, and none of them are complete without the right drink to accompany it.
If you want to be a great cookout guest this summer, here are a few drink ideas for your next summer BBQ.
Sangria
The perfect summer BBQ drink is one filled with fresh fruits, which makes Sangria a great choice. Sangria can be made in a large batch, making it the perfect cool, fruity, drink for a summer day. It includes easy to find ingredients, including wine, sparkling water, sweetener, and fruit. There are also dozens of different Sangria recipes, so you can make one that you know everyone will love. You can use red or white wine depending on your preference, and load it up with your favorite fruit, such as peaches, apples, oranges, and pineapples.
Vodka and Lemonade
Lemonade is one of the most popular summer drinks. While a glass of lemonade is great on its own, it’s also perfect for mixing with vodka to create a refreshing summertime drink. All you need to make this simple mixed drink is your favorite vodka, maybe even a flavored one, and fresh or store-bought lemonade. You can also do this with pink lemonade, limeade, or any of your favorite fruit juice. If you want to put in a small amount of extra effort, you can even cut up lemons, other fruits, or fresh herbs to enhance the taste.
A Bottle of Rosé
Not all BBQ drinks require multiple ingredients or any mixing. A simple bottle of rosé will be gladly welcomed at any cookout or party you attend this summer. Many wines make a great addition to any cookout, but rosé, in particular, is an ideal summertime wine. A cold glass of rosé is light and crisp, which is exactly what most people are looking for while sitting outside in warm weather.
Mojitos
Mojitos are a common summer cocktail and are incredibly refreshing, so this is something you should make on the next hot day when you have a BBQ to go to. You can easily make mojitos with rum, club soda, limes, mint wedges, and a little bit of sugar. Lime gives mojitos the tart taste many people want in a summer drink, while mint gives it the freshness you need after spending a day in the sun. You can also make the drink your own by adding fruits like blackberries, strawberries, and pineapples.
Alcoholic Floats
A cold desert at a BBQ is a must. If you’re looking for a way to cool down and enjoy something sweet, you can do this by making alcoholic floats. These are just like the ice cream floats we all enjoyed as children, but are mixed with some of your favorite bubbly alcohol. For a drink that’s also a desert, take a bubbly drink, like prosecco, and add in a few scoops of your favorite flavor of sorbet.
Shandy
When you attend a summer BBQ, you can’t go wrong by bringing beer. Almost everyone at any summer event will enjoy this. There are plenty of beers to choose from to bring to a cookout, but a shandy is a great choice to enjoy in sunny, warm weather. A shandy is beer mixed with lemonade, which makes it the perfect summer beer. Shandy also has the benefit of being an incredibly easy drink to bring to a BBQ, since you don’t have to do any of the mixing yourself, so you can just enjoy the company of the party.
Margaritas
Few drinks feel as summer appropriate as a margarita. The main alcohol in a margarita is tequila, but you’ll also need orange liqueur to make margaritas. In addition to these two alcohols, you’ll also need lime juice and simple syrup. Since making a margarita is more involved than other mixed drinks, many people simply buy premade margarita mix that can make a margarita with just tequila. While margaritas are typically lime-flavored, which is already a great summer flavor, you can add juices and fruits as you see fit. Don’t forget to salt the rim of the glass you’re drinking from.
Pina Coladas
Pina Coladas have all the flavors you could want in a summer drink. You can get the great summer taste of a Pina Colada by mixing rum, frozen pineapples, pineapple juice, and coconut cream with ice. Like a margarita, pina coladas call for multiple ingredients and more work than you might want to put in at a party. Rather than make pina coladas from scratch, there are mixes that only require you to add rum to have a Pina Colada.
Get Your Drink Supplies Today
If you have a BBQ coming up, don’t wait until the last minute to get everything you need to bring drinks. At All American Liquor, we have all of the most popular beers, wines, and liquors, so you can get exactly what you need for any summer party.