So this week we’ve published our 4,000th post on the site, and this is our 230th recipe entry. So if you can’t find anything interesting to drink in 5.75% of our publishing history, I don’t know what to tell you.

But what I can tell you is that summer is coming to an end. While part of the nation is still enjoying temperatures in the 80-90 degree range, elsehwere things are starting to cool off and change colors. Soon the aroma of pumpkin-spiced everything will permeate and annoy us all. So until then, try some of these for a last gasp before autumn’s arrival.

Crisp Cucumber Cooler
1.5 oz Deleón Platinum Tequila
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
1 oz English cucumber (or domestic) puree
Small pinch of sea salt

Shake all ingredients together and strain over ice in old fashioned glass. Garnish with long cucumber slice.

Zen Lion
2 oz Deleón Platinum Tequila
.5 oz honey syrup
.75-1 oz lemon juice
3-4 oz Chamomile tea
1-2 dashes of lemon bitters

Build all ingredients in collins/tall glass. Garnish with Chamomile flowers. (Note: The flowers are totally optional. It is perfectly okay if you don’t use them.)

Highspire Smash
Courtesy Austin Hope, Paso Robles, California
3 blackberries, reserve 1 for garnish
3 raspberries, reserve 1 for garnish
1/4 oz simple syrup
1 1/2 oz Highspire Whiskey
1/2 oz Campari
1/4 oz lime juice

In a rocks glass, muddle berries with the simple syrup. Add the remaining liquid ingredients. Add crushed ice, and give the cocktail a quick stir. Garnish with berries. Makes 1 cocktail.

Clyde May’s Apples to Apples
2 orange slices
2 brandied cherries
½ oz honey
1 ½ oz Clyde May’s Whiskey
½ oz sweet vermouth
2 oz hard cider

Muddle orange slices and cherries with honey. Add ice, whiskey, sweet vermouth and cider. Stir all ingredients.

Cava Royal
1½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more for rims
2 oz gin
1/2 cup superfine sugar (or 2 teaspoons per shaker)
1 bottle brut cava
Grenadine

Mix lime juice, gin, and superfine sugar in a 2-quart pitcher; chill until ready to serve, several hours. Dip rims of glasses in lime juice, then sugar, to coat with 1-inch-wide band. Measure 4 ounces cava into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Add 3 1/2 ounces lime juice-and-gin mixture, and shake; strain into 2 glasses, and add 2 to 3 drops of grenadine to each. Makes 12.

Negroni Slushy
4 1/2 oz G’Vine gin
2 1/2 oz Campari
2 1/2 oz La Quintinye Vermouth Royal Rouge
3 cups ice
orange slices for garnish

Combine gin, Campari and sweet vermouth in airtight container. Place in freezer and freeze for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days. When ready to serve, add chilled alcohol and ice to blender. Blend on high speed until uniform and smooth. Garnish with orange slice and serve immediately.

Blueberry Collins
2 oz Cachaça 51
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
3/4 simple syrup infused with hibiscus
3 to 4 blueberries

Add ingredients in a shaker tin and shake with ice well. Pour over ice in a Collins glass and top with cold seltzer water. Drop a few blueberries in the glass for garnish.

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