8 Cocktails to Make With Summer Strawberries

Celebrate strawberry season in style with these refreshing cocktails.

Strawberry Daiquiri Recipe
Photo:

Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Lucy Simon

When we're not making jams, sauces, or cakes with fresh strawberries, you'll find us using them to infuse liqueurs, make syrups, and add delicate sweetness to warm-weather cocktails.

Once you've properly cleaned and stored a fresh batch of strawberries, reach for the blender to whip up our recipe for Boozy Frozen Strawberry Lemonade, or make a creamy, coconut-forward Miami Vice for dessert. Read on to learn how to make some of our favorite strawberry cocktails for summertime sipping.

01 of 08

Strawberry-Chile Balsamic Shrub

Strawberry Chili Balsamic Shrub

Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

Tart, tangy, and nonalcoholic, shrubs are among the best ways to showcase seasonal fruits and herbs.

Bright strawberries find balance from dried chiles de árbol, while balsamic vinegar adds a caramelized, acidic finish to this simple drink.

02 of 08

Meyer Lemon and Strawberry Caipirinha

MEYER LEMON AND STRAWBERRY CAIPIRINHA

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

Brazil's national drink, the refreshing caipirinha is one of our favorite drinks to serve at backyard barbecues and pool days.

This riff on the classic cocktail calls for floral Meyer lemons and fresh strawberries, making each sip a true celebration of summer.

03 of 08

Strawberry-Rum Coolers

Strawberry-Rum Coolers
Greg DuPree

Making use of both white and dark rum, these cheerful, batch-friendly coolers pack a punch.

A combination of spicy ground ginger and ginger beer keeps this cocktail from veering into saccharine territory, while fresh lime juice adds a bright, acidic note to round things out.

04 of 08

Boozy Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

Boozy Frozen Strawberry Lemonade
Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall

Who doesn't love a frozen cocktail in the summertime? Developed by longtime Union Square Hospitality Group pastry chef Claudia Fleming, this frozen lemonade straddles the line between dessert and cocktail.

This cocktail gets its pink hue from strawberries, but is also perfect for lemon lovers.

05 of 08

Strawberry Daiquiri

Strawberry Daiquiri Recipe

Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Lucy Simon

To make this frozen fruity treat, Chuck A. Rivera Rodriguez of JungleBird, a cocktail bar in San Juan, Puerto Rico, uses a syrup made by macerating lime peels and strawberries with granulated sugar at room temperature.

This drink easily scales up for a crowd, and comes together without the use of a blender.

06 of 08

The Retropolitan

The Retropolitan

Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

Consider the Retropolitan (a riff on a classic Cosmopolitan) your sign to infuse Aperol with ripe strawberries.

This grown-up fruit punch calls for an overnight infusion of fruit into Aperol, which can be stored for up to two weeks in an airtight, refrigerated container.

07 of 08

Miami Vice

Miami Vice
Photo by Caitlin Bensel / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

The Miami Vice looks and tastes like vacation in a glass.

Soaking strawberries with orange bitters gives the fruit a bittersweet, almost floral flavor, which plays especially nicely with rich, creamy Coco Lopez and white rum.

08 of 08

Frosé

Frosé
José Mandojana

A beloved warm-weather classic, Frosé is one of our favorite wine-based cocktails.

Our recipe calls for fresh strawberries and your clear spirit of choice. Opt for a botanical gin for a more complex, floral cocktail, or vodka to really keep things simple.

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