While people wear less in summertime, their cocktails tend to do the opposite, loading up on accessories such as fruit skewers, stems and leaves, and those tiny paper umbrellas. Of course, it’s been a while since “summer cocktail” meant drinking out of a coconut shell, but traditionally it’s a time when things behind the bar go a little bit, well, fruity.

“The best cocktail to drink in summer is something fresh, something long and fruity, which takes us to the beaches,” says Santino Cicciari, bar manager at the Connaught in London. The successful ones use fresh ingredients. For the best versions, look for cocktails made with fruits that are muddled, pureed or squeezed at the bar, not with their pre-made syrupy cousins.

“There’s no point in just chucking in fruit for the sake of it,” says Nick Strangeway, the cocktail impresario at the Hawksmoor and consultant. “Whether you go to the market or whether you go to Asda, see what smells good, what’s tasting good, and start with that.”

Cicciari adds: “The trend now is twisting classics, but not classics like the Cosmopolitan." Instead, mixologists are reviving quirkier originals that evoke eras like the Roaring Twenties: the sling, the fizz, the cup and the champagne cocktail. Meanwhile, the mojito is going through a myriad of costume changes. (Sadly, there’s no sight of a coconut shell renaissance yet.)

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The expert’s advice when making a summer cocktail:

Use light spirits like gin, rum and tequila.

Long drinks, served packed with ice, keep guests refreshed.

Citrus cut the sweetness of other fruit and gives drinks an edge.

Avoid crushed ice if drinks are going to sit out in hot weather. Nobody enjoys a watered-down cocktail.

Beyond the need for refreshing, thirst-quenching cocktails, the experts we spoke to also described the deliciousness not just of the tastes or smells but also of the memories they evoked - of homelands, childhood and simple pleasures. Think of this list as the liquid madeleines of the season.

The No5 Champagne Cocktail

Tony Conigliaro, one of London’s most creative cocktail innovators, developed this drink, whose aromas evoke the scent of Chanel’s classic perfume. “As you drink, it works like a perfume,” he says. “At the beginning you get the more floral notes. As you approach the bottom, you sense deeper notes like the sandalwood.”
It’s served at his new Islington bar, 69 Colebrook Row.

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