Make Your Labor Day Weekend Complete With These Drink Suggestions

Labor Day Weekend is upon us and while many across the nation are heading to end out their summer with a bang, others might want a more low-key affair. For those planning to stay close to home with family, or hang out with friends, come prepared with these Labor Day Weekend drink suggestions.

Batch & Bottle

The Ready To Drink (RTD) adult beverage category is consistently heating up and Batch & Bottle offers a quartet of classic cocktails with their own unique spins. The brand’s Reyka Rhubarb Cosmopolitan requires nothing more than a chill in the fridge and a pour into your favorite cocktail glass along with the lime wedge garnish. Using Iceland’s Reyka vodka as the base, this drink has all the makings for weekend refreshment all over it.

Hendrick’s Gin Cucumber Lemonade

Ingredients:

2 parts Hendrick’s Gin

1 part Lemon Juice

1 part Simple Syrup

Top with Soda Water

3 rounds of Cucumber & 1 wheel of Lemon to Garnish

Method: Combine all ingredients in a highball glass filled with cubed ice and lightly stir.

Hendrick’s Gin is a favorite of ours over here at CASSIUS and Spirit.Ed. The always excellent Scottish gin is paired nicely with lemon juice and soda water then garnished with cucumber and lemon to bring all the aromas and ingredients together for a tasty glass of feel-good flavor.

Watermelon Margarita (from East Coast Ambassador Manny Pena)

Ingredients:

2 parts Milagro Silver

2 parts Watermelon juice

1 part Lime

½ part agave nectar

Method: Shake and strain over fresh ice into glass with salted rim. Add lime wheel, lime wedge, or watermelon triangle to garnish

Milagro tequila is another favorite of ours around these parts and the brand’s silver expression is a versatile spirits base for a variety of cocktails. For the holiday weekend and as the summer winds down, go out big with this Watermelon Margarita.

Frozen Lemon Drop

Ingredients:

1 part Reyka Vodka

.5 part Triple Sec

1.5 parts lemon / lime juice

2 parts simple syrup

2.5 parts water

Method: Combine all ingredients into ice cup and place in the freezer.

The Lemon Drop cocktail has a richer history than most would expect as it is seen as a remix of sorts on the classic cocktail, the White Lady, which is essentially a Sidecar made with gin. Reyka vodka forms the base for this frozen version of the 1970s classic.

Black Cherry Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

2 Parts Fistful of Bourbon

¼ Parts Black Cherry Syrup

3 Dashes of Tiki Bitters

Method: Stir all ingredients and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange twist and Luxardo cherry. Garnish with an orange twist, luxardo cherry

If you’re a reader of the Spirit.Ed column, then you already know how we feel about the Old Fashioned. We’re really loving the concept of the Black Cherry Old Fashioned, using the blended goodness of Fistful of Bourbon as its base. Already a solid sipper on its own, Fistful really plays well in cocktails too due to its complexity.

Fronds With Benefits

Ingredients:

1 ½ parts Monkey Shoulder

½ part green tea syrup

½ part pineapple juice

3 parts coconut water

Method: Shake, strain over ice in Collins glass. Garnish with pineapple fronds.

Although the height of pineapple season wanes around June here in the states, something about the fruit just typifies summer. The Fronds With Benefits cocktail blends green tea syrup and pineapple juice with Monkey Shoulder, the malt whisky that was designed to be mixed. Salute to the good folks at Liquor.com, who put together an infused simple syrup recipe using tea. Find your favorite green tea and get to work!

Backyard Tea

Ingredients:

2 parts Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum

3 parts black tea

1 part fresh lemonade

Method: Build all ingredients in a rock-filled highball glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Summer and iced tea are a good combination, but let’s kick it up a few notches with Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. This simple cocktail pairs black tea and lemonade, which sounds like a good time on the greens if you ask us.

Iced Irish

Ingredients:

1 part Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey

1 part Irish Cream Liquor

4 parts cold brew coffee

Garnish with mint leaf

Method: Add all ingredients to an ice filled shaker. Shake and strain over fresh ice.

Who says Irish whiskey isn’t a summertime drink? Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey certainly stakes its claim as a spirit that’s worth mixing up for a Labor Day cocktail. The Iced Irish puts the chill into the typically hot Irish Coffee cocktail.

The Glenfiddich Highland Cooler (from Allan Roth, Glenfiddich Ambassador)

Ingredients:

1 part Glenfiddich 14-Year-Old Bourbon Barrel Reserve

5 parts Watermelon Juice

Garnish: Watermelon & Mint

Method: Simply cool the juice (pureed fruit) of a ripe, seedless watermelon, and mix it five to one with Glenfiddich 14-Year Bourbon Barrel Reserve. Pour into a highball or rocks glass and garnish with a small watermelon wedge and some mint.

For extra credit, stick the 5:1 mixture in the freezer. Once it’s set, scrape it out with a fork to create a delicious watermelon Glenfiddich snow cone.

We know that The Glenfiddich is probably preferred neat, on the rocks, or with a bit of water, but sometimes, we want to use our good stuff for a cocktail too. The Glenfiddich Highland Cooler doesn’t make a big to-do about what kind of cocktail it is, and sometimes, simple is best. Taking the labor out of Labor Day is the goal here.

SouthNorte Ready-To-Drink Cocktails

Going back to the RTD category, SouthNorte provides imbibers with ready-made cocktails and beer inspired by the flavors and culture of Mexico. The canned cocktails consist of three classics: the Paloma, the Mexican Mule, and the Matador.

Jose Cuervo Sparkling Cocktails & Hard Seltzer

Last and certainly not least, our friends Jose Cuervo are introducing a pair of sparking canned cocktails, the Tequila Mule and the Pink Lemonade Margarita, both made with real Jose Cuervo tequila and not any other funny business. The famed company also has two new flavors in its hard seltzer lineup, Playamar Pineapple, and Playamar Watermelon. We can’t wait to try these out!

As always, sip safely and surely! Have a happy Labor Day Weekend!

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Photo: Getty

Make Your Labor Day Weekend Complete With These Drink Suggestions  was originally published on cassiuslife.com