Welcome to The Storied Recipe, a podcast about food, culture, and love.
I've curated this list of 23 Summer Bourbon Cocktails, the third post in my Summer Drinks Around the World series, in conjunction with Episode 39 I Thought My Mother Was the Strongest Woman in the World, and Kentucky Butter Cake recipe from my podcast guest, Cheryl Norris.
There is no better way than to spend these sunny days with a refreshing summer cocktail made with the best bourbon. This list was made for bourbon lovers to help you find new ways to make delicious cocktails during your summer happy hours or get-togethers. From classic combinations to innovative twists, each recipe highlights the versatility of bourbon, ensuring there's a perfect drink for every taste.
Make sure you check out my other round-up posts from the Summer Drinks Around the World series!
How to Use This List
- I know that all of the drink categories are technical "cocktails", but I split them up even further by arranging them by types of cocktails. The last category was a catch-all for the cocktails that didn't fit into a specific cocktail category.
- The FAQ at the bottom answers some questions about the difference between whiskey and bourbon, bourbon as an American product, and the "straight" bourbon rule.
- I categorized the list as follows: Classic Bourbon Drinks, Bourbon and Iced Tea Drinks, Bourbon Sours, Bourbon Smashes, and Bourbon Cocktails.
Classic Bourbon Drinks
A Mint Julep is traditionally made with bourbon and is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. However, the other classic cocktails listed below use bourbon instead of traditional clear spirits (e.g. gin) or whiskey (such as the Whiskey Highball) in these drinks. For example, instead of using vodka in a Moscow mule, swap vodka for bourbon, mix the bourbon with ginger beer, lime juice, fresh ice, and garnish with fresh mint, and there you have a Kentucky Mule!
Mint Julep
Cooks in 5 minutesWhether you make this mint julep recipe for a Kentucky Derby party or another occasion, it's bound to be a hit! This classic bourbon cocktail is aromatic and refreshing.
The Best Kentucky Mule
Cooks in 5 minutesThis very best Kentucky mule is the perfect refreshing cocktail for bourbon lovers! Freshly squeezed lime juice, smooth bourbon and cooling ginger beer come together to make one drink youll want to sip on the patio all night. You can whip up this favorite whiskey drink in under five minutes, and it couldnt be easier to prepare. Plus, this bourbon mule comes with a batching option for easy entertaining.
Bourbon Whiskey Highball
Cooks in 3 minutesOne of the most popular classic cocktails, the Bourbon Whiskey Highball is easy to make at home. Discover the best recipe for a bourbon highball cocktail.
Bourbon and Iced Tea Drinks
Bourbon and iced tea are quintessentially Southern drinks on their own, so it makes sense that someone decided to put them together to make the perfect summer cocktails to beat the summer heat. Fresh strawberries are the perfect addition to your cocktail, adding a burst of sweet flavor that enhances this easy cocktail of strawberry bourbon iced tea.
boozy strawberry iced tea
Sweetened with strawberry puree, flavored with lemon, & spiked with a splash of bourbon, this delicious, refreshing cocktail is perfect in summer.
Bourbon Sours
If you're looking for a sour, sweet, and refreshing cocktail, sours are the perfect drink for you. With a touch of sophistication, sours elevate any happy hour, featuring a silky egg white that gracefully sits atop your zesty beverage, sure to impress all your guests.
The Forbidden Flower Sour – An Elderflower & Pomegranate Bourbon Cocktail
Cooks in 5 minutesWith homemade lemon simple syrup, the Forbidden Flower Sour is a potent and refreshing elderflower & pomegranate bourbon cocktail, ideal for relaxing after a long day or sharing on the porch with friends. | FeastInThyme.com
Blackberry Bourbon Sour
Cooks in 5 minutesIndulging in a blackberry bourbon sour is a sensory delight; it's a harmonious blend of tangy lemon, muddled blackberries' sweet essence, and the rich depth of bourbon. With each sip, the zesty citrus notes swiftly intertwine with the fruity sweetness, while the bourbon's warmth elegantly complements the medley.
The Best New York Sour Cocktail
Cooks in 5 minutesThe New York Sour achieves the perfect balance of flavorssweet, tart, warm, and slightly dry. Stunning and classic!
Bourbon Smashes
Smashes are refreshing cocktails that are perfect for warm weather during the summer, but they aren't specific to bourbon drinks. It is more of a method of creating a great cocktail than it is a prescription for one specific alcoholic beverage. The main ingredients in a smash are typically seasonal fruit (orange slices, peach slices, lemon wedges, etc.), a spirit as the base, ice (this is a must), typically a herb or mint sprig of some kind, and optionally you can add some soda water or club soda to your drink.
source: Imbibe Magazine
Peach and Basil Bourbon Smash
This Peach And Basil Bourbon Smash Cocktail is a delicious late summer cocktail made with simple fresh ingredients.
Strawberry Bourbon Smash
Celebrate the strawberry harvest with a Strawberry Bourbon Smash! Enhanced with fresh mint & a dash of balsamic instead of bitters, serve over crushed ice.
5-Minute Blackberry Bourbon Smash (No Simple Syrup)
Cooks in 5 minutesThis 5-Minute blackberry bourbon smash is part mojito and part mint julep. Made from fresh or frozen Oregon blackberries muddled with lime, basil, and sugar, this cocktail works for any season - no simple syrup required! With over a hundred 5-star ratings, this reader favorite is a refreshing twist on the classic whiskey smash.
Bourbon Cocktails
It's time to break out your cocktail shaker for these delicious bourbon-based cocktail recipes! I'll admit, I thought bourbon was typically enjoyed straight, perhaps with a few large ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass. However, when I found these recipes that combine bourbon with fresh juice (orange juice, grapefruit juice, fresh lemon juice, etc.) or fresh fruits, it changed my perspective. The resulting cocktail is equal parts sweet, refreshing, and cold, making these recipes the top summer bourbon cocktails in my book.
Bourbon Passion Fruit Cocktail
Cooks in 10 minutesThis fruity bourbon cocktail is the ultimate drink for a summer day!
Cherry Bourbon Smash
Cooks in 5 minutesCherry Bomb recipe, a fresh cocktail or mocktail made with fresh (or frozen) cherries muddled with bourbon, vanilla, maple syrup, lemon and club soda.
The Monarch: A Brown-Sugar Bourbon Cocktail with Thyme and Lemon
Cooks in 10 minutesInspired by the sweet nectar of summer flowers, we created a cocktail using Brown Sugar Bourbon,combining its notes of cinnamon and nutmeg with added fresh thyme, lemon and elderflower liqueur. Its tart, herbal, and beautifully smooth, luscious and very drinkable.
The Gold Rush Cocktail
Cooks in 2 minutesSweet honey, bright lemon, and belly-warming bourbon combine in the Gold Rush Cocktail for a classic show-stopping drink that's easy to make, elegant, and fun!
Brown Derby Cocktail Recipe
Cooks in 5 minutesA citrusy whiskey-based cocktail with notes of brown sugar and grapefruit. The brown derby cocktail is made with bourbon, grapefruit juice, and honey syrup.
Paper Plane Cocktail
Learn to make a Paper Plane cocktail using only four ingredients.
Bourbon & Ginger Ale
A great party drink, with a pour of ginger ale picking out the delicious, spicy wood notes of a quality base spirit in the form of Bourbon for a classy serve.
Honey Bourbon Lemonade
You just can't get more southern than a cocktail called Honey Bourbon Lemonade. It's absolutely perfect for any warm weather gathering and so easy to make!
Suffering Bastard Cocktail Recipe
Cooks in 5 minutesThis is a Nazi fighting cocktail recipe called the Suffering Bastard from Cairo in World War II. It's also now a popular Tiki drink.
How to Make Easy Old-Fashioned Moist Kentucky Butter Cake
Her mother, a single mom to 7 children with no time to spare, regularly made this super easy, one-bowl butter cake recipe for her appreciative children. You are sure to enjoy her mother's moist, glazed Best Ever Kentucky Butter Cake!
Listen to Cheryl Now
When Cheryl, an engineer by profession and also the blogger behind Bakes by Brown Sugar, and contestant on Great American Bakeoff Season 4, contacted me, it was the words she wrote about her mother that made me set up an interview as quickly as possible.
Several years after moving to Portland, OR in the 1940’s, Cheryl’s mother was a single parent of 7 kids, a self-employed seamstress, raising Cheryl, the baby of the family, all while also helping raise her grandkids. Cheryl writes, “Despite the poverty, mom always cooked amazing food with the simplest tools. I know her love was expressed in the food that she made and shared.”
Thrilled to welcome Cheryl to the podcast and to share her mother’s deceptively simple Kentucky Butter Cake, so good it’s worth burning your fingers to get the first syrup-soaked piece.
FAQ:
What is the Difference Between Whiskey vs Bourbon vs Scotch?
The short answer to this is they are all varieties of whiskey drinks. It is kind of like in Math class when you learned that all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. All whiskeys are made from fermented grain which is distilled and barrel-aged into a spirit. Though Bourbon and Scotch are varieties of whiskey, that doesn't mean that there aren't differences.
Bourbon
- Has to be made with at least 51% of corn
- Must be aged in new charred oak barrels
- Bourbon has to be no less than 40% ABV (or 80 proof) when bottled (this is different for every other type of whiskey)
- Doesn't have to come from Kentucky, but to be considered Kentucky Bourbon it must come from Kentucky
Scotch
- Must come from Scotland
- Usually produced by malting a single grain (barley)
sources: Food and Wine, Copenhagen Distillery
Why Can Bourbon Only be Made in the United States?
Did you know that there was a resolution passed in the Senate in 1964 that forbade bourbon from being made outside of the United States because it was a "distinctive product of the United States"? I certainly didn't. Even before that, in 1909, President Taft signed an official definition of American whiskey which outlined what could or could not be in the spirit, as this article explains from Angels Envy. Since I have already listed the permitted distilling processes for whiskey above, any addition of juices or molasses-distilled spirits during the distilling process would render it an "imitation" whiskey.
source: Angels Envy
What is the "Straight" Bourbon Rule?
This article from New Riff Distilling says that the primary difference between regular bourbon and "straight" bourbon is that it has to be aged, at minimum, two years in new charred oak barrels. Other requirements include:
- If it is aged less than four years, the law requires it to be labeled with the age on the bottle
- There is an 80% ABV (or 160 proof) concentration limit for the mash before bottling (aka while it is distilling), no more than that and no less than 40% ABV (or 80 proof) when it is bottled
- No coloring, flavoring, or other blending materials can be added
source: New Riff Distilling
More Summer Drink Recipes Around the World
Summer Bourbon Cocktail Recipes: 23 Easy Refreshing Drinks
Perfect for summer parties, recipes for 23 easy, refreshing bourbon cocktails including Classic Bourbon Drinks, Bourbon and Iced Tea Drinks, Bourbon Sours, Bourbon Smashes, and Bourbon Cocktails.
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Classic Bourbon Drinks
Mint Julep from Love and Lemons
Kentucky Mule from Burrata and Bubbles
Bourbon Rickey from My Bartender
Bourbon Highball from Casual Foodist
Old Fashioned from A Beautiful Mess
- Bourbon and Iced Tea Drinks
Bourbon Sweet Tea from JC Peats
Bourbon Strawberry Iced Tea from Call Me PMC
- Bourbon Sours
Forbidden Sour from Feast In Thyme
Blackberry Bourbon Sour from The Perks of Being Us
New York Sour from Zestful Kitchen
- Bourbon Smashes
Tamarind Bourbon Smash from Stella 'n Spice
Peach and Basil Bourbon Smash from The Boozy Ginger
Strawberry Bourbon Smash from Chasing the Seasons
Blackberry Bourbon Smash from Renee Nicole's Kitchen
- Bourbon Cocktails
Bourbon Passion Fruit Cocktail from Ricardo Cuisine
Fresh Cherry Bourbon Cocktail from The Fresh Cooky
The Monarch: Brown Sugar Bourbon Cocktail from Nerds With Knives
Gold Rush Cocktail from Beaming Baker
Brown Derby Cocktail from Kitchen Swagger
Paper Plane Cocktail from A Beautiful Mess
Bourbon Ginger Ale from The Bar
Bourbon Lemonade from Biscuits and Burlap
Suffering Bastard from Whimsy Soul
Directions
- Listen to Cheryl's episode, I Though My Mother Was the Strongest Woman in the World while you make these bourbon cocktails!
Notes
- Listen to Cheryl's episode, I Though My Mother Was the Strongest Woman in the World while you make these bourbon cocktails!
Would love to hear from you!