Watermelon hardly needs its own day in the middle of the summer, nonetheless it has one: August 3. But you can make these cocktails anytime you have a delicious watermelon on hand or a hankering for the fresh and fun flavor.
The Walton Street
2 oz. Ketel One vodka
¾ oz. Cane simple syrup
Watermelon
In a tin, muddle the watermelon, then add all other ingredients with ice and shake. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a watermelon slice.
Clint Loker, beverage director at The Draycott in Los Angeles, created this recipe.
Sparkling Melon Mint Lemonade
8 mint leaves
½ oz. Monin Classic Watermelon syrup
½ oz. Fresh lemon juice
1 ¼ oz. Limoncello
Top with 3 oz. Prosecco
Fill serving glass full of ice. Pour ingredients into mixing glass with 2/3 ice in order listed. Cap, shake and strain into serving glass with ice, top with prosecco. Garnish with lemon slices, a watermelon slice, and a mint sprig.
The mixologists at Monin created this recipe.
Grilled Watermelon Margarita
1 oz. Cointreau
2 oz. Tequila
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
½ oz. Grilled watermelon syrup
½ oz. Fresh grapefruit juice
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake and fine strain over ice into tajin-salted rocks glass (3:1 tajin to kosher salt) Garnish with a lime wheel.
For Watermelon syrup:
Cut watermelon into slices and grill until both sides of the watermelon have grill marks. After letting cool, blend simple syrup (1:1) and then fine strain.
The mixologists at Cointreau created this recipe.
Watermelon Spritz
1 ½ parts D’Usse VSOP Cognac
½ part Aperol
2 parts Fresh watermelon juice
½ part Simple syrup
½ part Fresh lemon juice
1 part Sparkling wine
Add Cognac, Aperol, watermelon juice, simple syrup and lemon juice into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into an ice filled wine glass. Top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a watermelon ball skewer and orange peel.
The mixologists at D’Usse created this recipe.
Frozé
(Makes two servings)
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
1 ½ oz. Martini Fiero (or other aperitif)
2 oz. Filtered water
2 oz. Coconut water
2 ½ oz. Lavender syrup
3 oz. Rosé wine (for drier, acidic profile, use Provencal style; for fruit-forward, use dark-fruit-based like pinot noir or syrah)
3 oz. Lillet Rose
4 oz. Fresh watermelon juice
Finish with a spritz of rose water (we mix water to rose water at a 10:1 ration and put into atomizer for this)
Combine all ingredients into empty 750-ml. bottle and place into freezer, agitating occasionally, until desired texture (should be about 2-3 hours). Combine all ingredients except water and place into ice cube trays overnight. Remove frozen cubes and put into blender and add water. Blend until desired texture is reached and serve.
The mixologists at The Waterfront in Venice, CA, created this recipe.
Watermelon Pep Pep
(shown atop)
2 oz.Tequila
¾ oz. Lime juice
¾ oz. Fresno chili agave syrup
1 oz. Watermelon juice
Slap of Basil
Shake/strain liquids over rocks into Collins glass. Add a pinch of pink Himalayan salt on the watermelon balls garnish. Add basil and edible flower garnish.
The mixologists at El Sativo created this recipe.
Sandia
2 oz. Casamigos Blanco tequila
½ Lime squeezed
Pinch of spicy salt
4 oz. Watermelon soda
Slice lime and fill glass with ice. Squeeze lime, add tequila & salt into a shaker. Shake and strain into glass with ice. Top with watermelon soda.
The mixologists at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami created this recipe.
