The Best Summer Tequila Cocktails
Explore our favorite summer tequila cocktails for keeping cool in the heat. These drinks are easy to whip up and will impress your guests.
There’s nothing like a refreshing tequila cocktail to cool you down during warm weather. Higher temperatures mean you have more opportunities to host and show off your mixology skills. Of course, you’ll want to concoct more impressive drinks than a traditional margarita. Our selection of the best summer tequila cocktails offers fresh takes on classic recipes and new ones you may have never tried before. We also included cocktails that highlight tequila’s smokier cousin, mezcal. These recipes will elevate your tequila drinking experience by the beach or pool — and make for wonderful cocktails to serve at parties big and small. Each recipe serves one person, but many can be doubled.
The Best Summer Tequila Cocktails
Patrón Reposado Spicy Margarita
This spicy margarita recipe juxtaposes reposado tequila’s sweet vanilla and cinnamon flavors with the spiciness of jalapeño. It features reposado tequila by Patrón, a 100% additive-free brand. To make this balanced drink, gently muddle the jalapeño slices in a cocktail shaker. Then, add the tequila, lime juice, agave syrup, and ice. Shake and strain into a glass that’s rimmed with Tajín. Garnish with a lime wheel and jalapeño slice.
Ingredients
3 seedless jalapeño slices
1 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz agave syrup
Tajín and lime wheel for garnish
Don Julio Rosado Spritz
If you enjoy bubbly cocktails, then the Don Julio Rosado Spritz is for you. It requires only a few ingredients, allowing the tequila’s unique, fruity flavor to shine, and makes it easy to serve large groups. Fill a wine glass halfway with ice, combine all the ingredients in your glass, and stir with a bar spoon. Garnish with a grapefruit slice.
Ingredients
1½ oz Don Julio Rosado Tequila
Splash grapefruit juice
Sparkling grapefruit soda
Grapefruit slice for garnish
Ilegal Mezcal Agua Verde
This summer cocktail is great for anyone who wants the refreshing effect of green juice — but with a kick. It features a bright flavor palate of mezcal, cucumber, and lime. To make this drink, combine all the ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a tall glass filled with fresh ice. Finally, garnish with a cucumber sliver.
Ingredients
1½ oz Ilegal Mezcal Joven
1½ oz cucumber juice
¾ oz simple syrup
½ oz ancho reyes
½ oz fresh lime juice
Cucumber for garnish
Flecha Azul Spicy Cucumber Margarita
If you want a summer tequila cocktail with a complex flavor palate, try this elevated margarita recipe. This light drink includes orange juice for an added layer of citrus, plus cucumber for freshness. First, slice the cucumber and blend it well in a blender. Strain and press the blended cucumber through a sieve. Then, muddle it with the serrano pepper and reposado tequila in a shaker. Add the remaining ingredients and ice before shaking well. Strain into an ice-filled glass that’s rimmed with Tajín.
Ingredients
1½ oz Flecha Azul Reposado Tequila
5 slices serrano pepper
¼ English cucumber, juiced
½ oz lime juice
¾ oz orange juice
Tajín for the rim
Grand Marnier Grand Margarita
Add an elevated twist to a classic margarita. Instead of a traditional orange liqueur, use Grand Marnier, a blend of cognac and orange liqueur that has even richer flavors. To make this summer tequila cocktail, combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice. Coat the rim of your glass with lime juice and then salt, and fill it halfway with ice. Shake and strain the mixture into your glass. Finally, garnish with a lime wheel.
Ingredients
¾ oz Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge Orange Liqueur
1½ oz tequila
¾ oz fresh lime juice
¼ oz agave nectar
Lime wheel and salt for garnish
Dos Hombres Es Berry Berry Good
Make the most of summer’s bounty of berries with this delicious berry cocktail. Whether you’re using berries from your own garden or from a local farmer’s market, this cocktail is easy to make and refreshing to enjoy. The sweetness of the pineapple juice nicely balances the smokiness of mezcal, and the tartness of the blackberries offers a tangy bite. To make this cocktail, combine the ingredients in a shaker over ice and shake vigorously. Serve on the rocks in your glass of choice, and garnish with blackberries.
Ingredients
1½ oz Dos Hombres Mezcal
½ oz blackberry purée
½ oz lime juice
¼ oz velvet falernum liqueur
½ oz pineapple juice
Blackberries for garnish
Keys Razor
The mixology team at Paradisea — a restaurant in La Jolla, California that’s famous for its imaginative cocktails — has crafted the perfect drink to welcome the summer: The Keys Razor. It is a cool blend of tequila, mezcal, mint, jalapeño, and melon. To prepare the honeydew jalapeño mint syrup in this recipe, remove the seeds from the honeydew melon before cutting it into medium-sized chunks. Then, deseed the jalapeño and chop it into fine pieces. Combine the syrup ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth before straining through a chinois strainer or a sieve. Once the syrup is ready, combine the cocktail ingredients in a shaker. Shake and strain into a glass with ice.
Ingredients
1 oz mezcal
1 oz blanco tequila
¾ honeydew jalapeño mint syrup
1 oz fresh lime juice
Honeydew Jalapeño Mint Syrup:
1 c chopped honeydew
¼ oz mint
¼ oz chopped jalapeño
16 oz granulated sugar
8 oz water
Patrón Summer Mule
This cocktail takes the framework of a traditional Moscow mule and shifts its focus to tequila and strawberries. To make this bright beverage, first muddle the strawberries, mint, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Then, add tequila and ice to a shaker. Shake and strain the mixture into a Collins glass with fresh ice. Lastly, top off your drink with ginger beer, and garnish with a strawberry and sprig of mint.
Ingredients
3 strawberries
10 mint leaves
¾ oz simple syrup
3 oz ginger beer
Strawberry and mint sprig for garnish
Ojo de Tigre Mezcal Tiger Lily
This cocktail showcases Ojo de Tigre Mezcal, a less smoky version of the spirit made of espadín and tobalá agaves. Overall, this cocktail has a sweet profile with a kick resulting from the pineapple’s acidity and the ginger’s spiciness. To make this recipe, simply combine the ingredients over ice in a highball glass. Mix with a bar spoon and garnish with a pineapple or lime slice.
Ingredients
1½ oz Ojo de Tigre Mezcal
1½ oz pineapple juice
2 oz ginger beer
Pineapple or lime slice for garnish
Lalo La Mandarina
Tangerines are sweeter and bolder than oranges, which can be sour or tart. This summer tequila cocktail offers the refreshing aspect of oranges but with the sweetness of tangerines, or mandarinas in Spanish. To make La Mandarina, combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled flute glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Ingredients
1 oz Lalo Blanco Tequila
¾ oz honey syrup
¾ oz tangerine juice
Lemon twist for garnish
Volcán De Mi Tierra
Volcán, which means “volcano” in Spanish, named its signature cocktail after the famous volcano that rests in the valley of Jalisco, Mexico. The volcano last erupted thousands of years ago, covering the region in rich volcanic soil that’s ideal for growing blue agave. The De Mi Tierra cocktail is a mixture of herbal, citrus, and spicy notes. This recipe is fairly simple: Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain the mixture into a short, wide glass that’s rimmed with black lava salt. If you don’t have black lava salt, you can use regular salt.
Ingredients
2 oz Volcán X.A Tequila
¾ oz Chareau aloe liqueur
¾ oz lime juice
½ oz agave syrup
2 basil leaves
Black lava salt for garnish
Avión Blood Orange Paloma
This spin on a classic Paloma incorporates blood orange juice for a sweeter flavor profile than the traditional grapefruit cocktail, which can be too tart for some people. You can either use pre-squeezed juice or squeeze your own blood orange and grapefruit juices for this recipe. First, fill a short glass with ice and add Avión Cristalino tequila. Cristalino tequila is an aged tequila that is filtered through charcoal; the filtering process removes the color and results in a smooth texture. Second, add the fresh blood orange, lime, and grapefruit juice. Stir the mixture with a barspoon. Garnish with a grapefruit or blood orange wheel. If you prefer an even sweeter cocktail, add agave nectar or simple syrup as desired.
Ingredients
½ oz fresh blood orange juice
¼ oz lime juice
1 oz grapefruit juice
Grapefruit or blood orange wheel for garnish
The Cocktails Archives
The Best Whiskey Cocktails
The Best Hot Cocktails for Winter
The Best Fall & Winter Tequila Cocktails
The Best Valentine’s Day Cocktails
The Best Cozy Cocktail Recipes for Fall & Winter
