Cheddar's Michelle Castillo sits down with Jane Danger, national mixologist with Pernod Ricard, to talk all about the top summer cocktails to try with friends. 

Between Bells

Best Cocktails to Try This Summer

Welcome back to Cheddars. Guide to summer on hot days. There's nothing better than a cool refreshing cocktail mojitos. Aperol spritz are just two of the many drinks that come to mind this season. But what drink will dominate this year according to the new york times, it might just be the dirty shoes. Adult take on a childhood face. I mean, we've all had at least a Shirley temple at least once or twice in her life for 100 to help us figure out this summer signature cocktail are. Michele Castelli was back with us. She caught up with Per Now's master mixologist jane danger all to find out what we should be mixing and shaken this year. Take a look. It's summer season and it means it's getting warmer and it's time for those summer cocktails. So, I'm here with no master mixologist jane danger. It's gonna tell me all about the drinks for this season. First of all, everyone's talking about this thing called the dirty Shirley. What exactly is that? It is a delicious summer treat. I'll tell you it is a wonderful blend of some nostalgic sweet, wonderful grenadine. We're gonna take a nice big glass and top it up to the very tip top with ice and we're gonna pour in one part of grenadine, give it some wonderful berry notes and some nice fresh, bright sweetness. Then we're going to do two parts absolut vodka, you know? Give a little summer kick. Yeah, get that in there. Alright. And then we're gonna do lemon lime soda and make it nice citrusy bubbly, super refreshing. Really fun. Get a little stronger me of my childhood favorite drink but with a little bit of a more mature twist. Yeah, that's why it's super nostalgic for a lot of people and I think it's going to be really big because people are definitely into those flavors right now, cheers. Absolutely. Surely I love the gradient. But I know you have to mix it a little mix. Yeah. Get all those flavors together. Get the nice bubbles working. Alright, let's try this. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Oh my God, so good. I love it. Can't even taste the vodka which is dangerous. Yeah, I think it's also more fun with the stars straw infested. Okay, so if I want something that's kind of refreshing and fruity, what would you recommend? Well next we're gonna go into one of my summer go twos, especially if you like aged spirits, cognac, things like that. We're going to be making a Blue Swift sour with martel. So we're gonna do some fresh lemon juice, we're gonna do just a splash of honey and I'm gonna give it a little mixed together. So um the honey doesn't stick these are really ingredients that a lot of people might have at home. Oh totally go to, to the pantry like pantry cocktails are really popular as well and we'll do two parts of the martell, Blue Swift go and we're gonna get some ice in here, give it a nice change. There we go. And we're gonna do a quick shift because then we're going to do rolling for make this really simple on you. Keep these summer drinks fast and delicious, you get a little more ice to top that. Alright, I love that. You're using a mason jar, I guess that's back this season. Oh, very much so. Another thing, everybody has to get some straws in there and here's the fun part if you want, you can muddle them or you can just put the blueberries on is a nice tasty treat, cheers thank you. So this is again like a very healthy version because you have your daily dose of fruit, yep, you do definitely. I'm always always looking out for that, that was super refreshing. I would never think of like a cognac for uh summer drink, but this works. It's a great go to yeah, if you loved aged spirits, I don't know which one I like better. Uh but right now I'm in a very big tequila vibes. So do you have any tequila cocktails that you could recommend for the summer? I totally do cocktail mashups are really in right now. So this one is a tropical margarita. It's a combination of a peanut colada and a margarita together. So we're going to get some lime juice in here, one part lime juice, one part pineapple and then we're gonna do some cream of coconut, a sweetened coconut that will kind of bring it together. So you don't need the triple sec or simple syrup or agave anything like that and give it a really nice creamy peanut colada texture that people really love. And then we're going to do two parts of the avian Kristalina. No. Yes. So it literally is a, you're right. It's a pina colada ordinary to put together. Yeah, you get both your favorite drinks all in wine. Get some ice and this is gonna be another shaken poor. Keep it easy. You just need to do a quick check for these. Get everything mixed together and chilled just like so yes. Mhm. A little more ice to top them off. Mm hmm. And then my extra fun seasonal upgrade for this is I like to do a little decoration of fireworks with my edible glitter. I like to do edible glitter. Yes, I love doing some gold. Okay, I have to buy this. It's so much fun. It lasts basically forever. I get such a kick out of it. It's fun for everyone, get a little in the drink and then I do some different colors on top of the metallic. So you kind of get like the firework setup going on and if you have friends who are not drinking or even kids, you can't even just do this as a nice little decoration. This is yeah, this is super fun for everyone. And then of course our pina colada margarita, tropical umbrella. Yes, it's back to tai umbrella. Season it is, cheers. Perfect match up. It is literally a pina colada meets a margarita. Alright, I don't know which one's my favorite, they're all really delicious. But if you guys are drinking cocktails this summer cheddar has you covered Michelle? She's just like holding all three of those special thanks of course to mixologist jane danger. Those were some good cocktails. Yes and per now sent us a lovely bottle of absolut vodka to make our very own dirty Shirley's our executive producer, Connor White made these forests literally just exactly like you would make your regular Shirley temple. Just add a little bit of vodka to it. So what's your initial reaction? Oh my gosh! It's delicious. Yes this is the drink of the summer refreshing. I actually just had my first aperol spritz because that's not just had your first, it's like not my order was so late. So lame. I know my MetroCard enough. Yes. Oh my God I didn't love it. This will be my drink. Yes, Hannah and her dirty Shirley's