Plan the perfectly patriotic party to celebrate America’s semiquincentennial with these red, white, and blue cocktails that will quench your thirst all spring and summer long.
Sip and serve these stylish stars-and- stripes–inspired libations created by some of Virginia’s finest distilleries. Enjoy the tart and sweet flavor of huckleberries on a warm, relaxing evening or the freshness of blueberries on the beach. Or, be adventurous and take a trip to the Caribbean with blue curaçao and basil for a dreamy escape.
Sip, Sip, Hooray!
Up your Fourth of July game this year with Beach Vodka’s sunny Blueberry Lemonade cocktail that uses blueberry-infused vodka for a bold and fruity flavor that’ll make any backyard afternoon just a little sweeter.
“This cocktail highlights fresh, simple ingredients and classic American flavors,” Madison Dominick, marketing manager of Beach Vodka, says. “The deep blue from the blueberries, the bright lemon, and the light sparkle from the club soda create a patriotic vibe that’s perfect for summer celebrations.” She adds, “This drink always brings us back to easy summer afternoons in the backyard—it’s the kind of cocktail you can make in a big pitcher to share, passing glasses across picnic tables while the sun starts to set. It’s the perfect cocktail for relaxed gatherings with family and friends.”
Blueberry Lemonade
Recipe by Beach Vodka, Virginia Beach
1 cup fresh blueberries (plus extra to garnish)
1½ ounces Blueberry Infused Beach Vodka
4 ounces fresh lemonade
Splash of club soda
Lemon wedges to garnish
Fill a mason jar with 1 cup of fresh blueberries and Blueberry-Infused Beach Vodka.
Let sit for 2–3 days and strain back into a drinking glass of your choice and top with club soda and lemonade.
Garnish with fresh blueberries and lemon wedges.
Smoke & Berries
Lost Whiskey’s take on an Old Fashioned blends corn and barley from the Midwest, rye grain from the East Coast, and wild huckleberries of the mountainous West Coast in an all-American cocktail that celebrates the entire country.
“While I grew up here in the DMV area, my business partner and co-founder was born and raised in Wyoming. It’s in this terrain that the wild huckleberry grows, which we like to use in our simple syrup to cut down on the sweetness and punch up the tart and spice,” Nick Cioffi, director and co-founder of Lost Whiskey Club, says. “The Old Fashioned is a historic cocktail here in the USA. We love the history, especially here in Virginia, where distilled spirits are as old as it gets, and we don’t think Virginia celebrates this fact enough. As a veteran of the Marine Corps, I can’t imagine a better way to ring in the 250th birthday of the USA than with a Lost Whiskey Smoked Huckleberry Old Fashioned.”
Smoked Huckleberry Old Fashioned
Recipe by Lost Whiskey Club, Fairfax
1 cup wild huckleberries
1 cup sugar
2 ounces Lost Whiskey Club High Rye Bourbon
3 dashes cherry bitters
¼ ounce huckleberry-infused simple syrup (see below)
Cherries, huckleberries, and white berries for garnish
Cherrywood for smoking
For the huckleberry-infused simple syrup:
Muddle huckleberries.
Mix with sugar and 2 cups of water.
Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
Cool and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Pour bourbon, cherry bitters, and huckleberry-infused simple syrup over a large ice cube in a rocks glass.
Smoke with cherrywood and garnish.
True Blue
With its striking blue hue, the bright, crisp, and refreshing Blue Basil Cooler is lawn chair-ready for all gin lovers looking to mix up their patriotic celebrations this year with this citrus-y, sweet cocktail from KO Distilling.
“The inspiration came from an abundance of basil in our repertoire and wanting to create a cocktail that was both refreshing and visually memorable,” Aimée Coté, KO Distilling’s customer experience director, says. “Often, just delivering one of the coolers to a customer will result in multiple other customers ordering it. The reaction is almost always the same—people notice the color first and are pleasantly surprised by how clean and refreshing the cocktail is.”
Blue Basil Cooler
Recipe by KO Distilling, Manassas
2 ounces Battle Standard 142 Navy Strength Gin
½ ounce basil simple syrup
¼ ounce Blue Curaçao
Tonic water
Fresh basil for garnish
½ ounce lime juice
Mix gin, simple syrup, and Curaçao into a Collins glass with ice.
Top with tonic water, fresh basil, and lime juice.
