The best easy cocktail recipes for outdoor parties

Susy Atkins

May 13, 2021 at 8:17 AM·6 min read

best cocktail recipes easy ideas - Haarala Hamilton

With the late May bank holiday this Monday, May 31, along with some sunny weather finally on the cards across the country, it's the perfect occasion to enjoy a drink with some friends.

Groups of up to 30 can meet outdoors after lockdown eased a further notch, and that means that al-fresco drinks parties are back on – a cause for celebration.

Time, then, to revive the “batch” cocktail or summer punch, something you can scale up to refresh a crowd. I’m sharing eight recipes, all relatively easy to make and which don’t require buying lots of expensive and obscure ingredients (nor do they call for syrups or cordials to be made in advance). They major on truly summery flavours, be that elderflower, mint, vibrant fruit juices or sparkling wines, and each has a refreshing, mouth-watering style of its own.

Don’t be afraid to adapt them to suit your taste (or those of your guests) – there are no hardline rules here, so if you prefer cava to crémant as your sparkling base, or want to sub in gin for vodka, or cherry juice for cranberry, then go for it. Each recipe makes six drinks, so can be scaled up or down to suit.

After so many months without gatherings like these, indoors or out, you may need to dig out, dust down and polish your glasses, cocktail shakers, pitchers and so on. I will consider this quite a pleasure – and am getting in some fancy cardboard straws and beautiful paper napkins. I even plan to festoon an outdoor table with flowers. Let’s party again.

Top tips for al fresco drinks

Always try to keep drinks cool, so start off with chilled wines (even the lighter reds) and chilled cocktail ingredients, then put back in the fridge or plunge into an ice bucket between servings. You don’t have to have a special ice bucket – any large, clean container is fine.
Unless a recipe calls for crushed ice, make or buy the largest ice cubes you can find, both for the ice bucket and your drinks, as they are slower to melt.
Anything goes when it comes to garnishes, so let your imagination run wild (literally, in the case of foraged berries and leaves) but make sure your picks are edible and unsprayed. Always wash them before using. Ideas include fresh herbs such as tarragon, basil and rosemary (use the tender top sprigs); small berries such as redcurrants and blueberries, which look especially good bouncing about in sparkling cocktails; whole strawberries sliced at the base and perched on the rim of a glass; tiny pretty flowers or individual petals.
To avoid unwanted guests buzzing around, be prepared to close or cover opened bottles including sweet mixers and juices, and put away unused chopped fruit and sticky chopping boards – anything that might attract wasps or flies.
The best wines for warm-weather, al-fresco gatherings are, in general, crisper and lighter styles. Youthful wines, generally unoaked, are better than older, heavier styles, and those with bright fruit flavours appeal most. The only exception is for barbecues, when richer wines such as New World chardonnays and shirazes are best for standing up to chargrilled, smoky food and strongly flavoured marinades.
Buy wines that are easy to transport in and out, and which reseal easily – corks are out, so to speak, in favour of screw-caps, and do look at other formats such as pouches, bag-in-a-box and magnums (see below).
Never forget to provide decent soft drink options, whether making mocktails or buying in non-alcoholic wines, beers or spirits. And make sure there is plenty of chilled water to refresh all.

Shop-bought stars for entertaining

Domaine Jones Rosé 2020

Languedoc, France (12.5%, inveraritymorton.com, £12)

French-based British winemaker Katie Jones has delivered a gorgeous rosé from the last vintage; made from red carignan and grenache grapes with a little white muscat. Red cherries and strawberries abound, the finish is succulent and dry. Screw-cap.

Castellore Frappato 2020

Sicily, Italy (13%, Aldi, £6.49)

This is the kind of red – ripe, soft, low tannin – that benefits from a light chill to bring out its succulent red berry fruit. There’s a raspberry and black cherry core to it; perfectly good on its own or matched with charcuterie. Screw cap.

Domaine of the Bee ‘Field of the Bee’ 2020

Cotes Catalanes, France (13%, bibwine.co.uk, £36 for 2.25 litres)

Premium bag-in-a-box, containing the equivalent of three bottles so well suited to large gatherings. Apricots and oranges mix in a ripe but dry blend of grenache gris, grenache blanc and roussanne from south-west France that can take on plenty of buffet stalwarts.

Dog on the Tuckerbox Chardonnay

South-eastern Australia (13%, M&S, £13 for 1.5 litres)

An easily carried pouch containing two bottles’ worth of succulent, ripe Aussie chardonnay, tasting of pineapple and peaches, dry and fresh. It’s meant to be fun, and it is. Match with salmon, chicken or vegetable quiches.

Taste the Difference Conegliano Prosecco

Veneto, Italy (11.5%, Sainsbury’s, £21 for a magnum)

One of the best high-street proseccos, sourced from the high-quality Conegliano area of the Veneto region, here in crowd-pleasing magnum form. It’s super-fresh with masses of lively bubbles and fresh apple and pear fruit.

Everleaf Forest Non-Alcoholic Aperitif

London, England (0%, everleafdrinks.com, M&S, £18 for 50cl)

A cleverly concocted, lightly bittersweet blend of 14 botanicals including orange blossom, saffron and cassia bark for a fine booze-free aperitif best topped up with tonic and ice. Add mint, cucumber slices and fruit pieces as you wish.