12 Underrated Summer Cocktails To Order In 2026

When I'm looking to imbibe a cocktail during a sweltering summer, I want something that's going to give me the perfect balance of refreshing and punchy — something that's going to take the edge off in a bright, invigorating way. Over my years as a bartender, I noticed that patrons often ordered the same few cocktails on warm weather days, and honestly, I get it. When it's too hot to think, the last thing you want to do is pore over a cocktail menu and make a decision. You want something cold and delicious in a glass in front of you, stat.

If your go-to summer cocktails have you feeling like you're in a bit of a rut, this list is here to help you out of it. These dozen drinks all pair perfectly with summer, and are largely underrated, in my opinion. I've got nothing against the margarita, the mojito, or an ice-cold martini, but when you feel like you need something different, give one of these lesser-known choices a try. Whatever spirit base you prefer, and whether you're looking for a light daytime drink or a strong, serious nightcap, there's something for every palate here.

My drink of choice when I go out is a negroni. I'm in good company, too, with fellow negroni enthusiasts like Anthony Bourdain and Stanley Tucci. This classic drink's silky texture and impeccable balance of spiritous, sweet, and bitter make it, to my mind, the perfect cocktail. The problem is, since all three of the negroni's elements — vermouth, Campari, and gin — are strongly alcoholic, it packs a punch. When I'm craving my favorite beverage but want something a little lighter, I'll go for this variation: The negroni sbagliato.

Remove the gin from the equation and replace it with Prosecco, Italy's famous sparkling wine, and you get a negroni vibe in a lighter, friendlier style. The effervescence gives this drink an ebullient freshness, taking the more serious negroni and giving it a perky pop makeover. It's often served on the rocks, but can be served straight-up as well, preferably in a chilled glass. Bubbly and bittersweet, this is the perfect summertime cocktail for negroni lovers and spritz lovers alike.

If a gin and tonic is your standard drink of choice, the Tom Collins might just be the summer cocktail you need. Back in the 19th century, when this classic cocktail first appeared, the recipe called for gin, lemon juice, gum syrup to sweeten, and a topping of soda water. Eventually, mass-produced bottled Collins mix made its way onto the market, which resulted in drinks that were too sweet (hello, high fructose corn syrup) and tasted artificial. Thus, the Tom Collins fell out of favor.

Make it with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and simple syrup, though, and you're in for a zesty summer treat. Think hard lemonade, but with a boozy, herbaceous kick from gin. Just as lemonade is the ultimate thirst-quenching beverage, a good Tom Collins will cool you off on a hot day, and the carbonation from soda water makes it extra refreshing. You can vary it a bit by adding other types of citrus — a lime and lemon combination is popular, or something like yuzu or bergamot can elevate its perfume and flavor. Personally, I make mine with Old Tom gin, but whatever your favorite style of the spirit, it will work just fine.

While most of the drinks on this list are underrated old-school creations, the white linen came about this century, invented by Sacramento, California bartender Rene Dominguez. It has blossomed in popularity over the last few decades, and understandably so — the drink combines gin, lemon, cucumber, and elderflower for an elegant, bright, and refreshing libation that's the ideal drink for the summer season.

Shaking a few cucumber slices with the rest of the drink's ingredients imbues the white linen with a delicate cucumber character, while allowing it to maintain its clarity as opposed to muddling (and it also cuts down on the effort). A bit of simple syrup is called for, though I often omit it as I think the elderflower liqueur is typically sweet enough. After a shake and a strain over ice, a splash of soda water tops things off for an invigorating fizz. The combination of floral, citrus, and vegetal flavors makes the white linen taste like a garden in a glass.

No spirit embodies summer to me more than rum. There's no shortage of rum cocktails that make fabulous warm-weather tipples, as anyone who's spent time at a beachfront bar or on a tropical cruise can attest to, but one that I never see ordered often enough is the Hemingway daiquiri. While the standard Hemingway daiquiri bartenders make today is a far cry from the booze-heavy, ultra-potent, unsweetened version the famed author reportedly drank during his time in Cuba, that's for the best. This refined cocktail is beautifully balanced and a summertime necessity for lovers of the daiquiri.

Rum, lime juice, and sugar are the only ingredients in a classic daiquiri. The Hemingway version swaps out sugar for maraschino liqueur (though some recipes call for a touch of simple syrup), and adds just a smidge of grapefruit juice. The lime and grapefruit combo creates a complex, tart citrus character, while the maraschino liqueur adds just enough sweetness to round its edges, and adds a layer of nuttiness. A good quality light rum is essential — you want a rounded texture, a slightly sweet flavor, and lots of tropical fruit notes to really make this drink sing.

If you're from the U.K., you certainly wouldn't consider the Pimm's cup an underrated summer cocktail. In the United States, however — with the exception of New Orleans, which has embraced this import whole-heartedly — they're much harder to find. Pimm's makes a wide variety of styles of its liqueur with different spirit bases, but the first and most well-known is Pimm's No. 1, which is gin-based. A combination of herbs and spices, along with fruit elements, go into its concoction, though the exact recipe is a secret.

While there are plenty of ways to enjoy the herbaceous, bittersweet liqueur, by far its most popular application is in a cocktail known as the Pimm's cup. It's a simple combination of Pimm's and a bubbly topper, typically sparkling lemonade, citrus-flavored soda, or ginger ale. Gin can be added to make it a higher octane drink, but traditionally, this is meant to be a low-alcohol, easy-drinking daytime sipper. The garnishing game is really what gives Pimm's its fame: Anything picked from a garden can be crammed into a Pimm's Cup, with cucumber, mint, and strawberries being the most traditional. I like to add citrus slices, sprigs of herbs, and edible flowers, too.

While it has the vibe of an old-timey cocktail, the old Cuban is actually quite a modern invention. In 2001, New York City bartender Audrey Saunders decided to put her own twist on the super-popular mojito, and ended up with this masterpiece. Rich and flavorful aged rum is shaken with mint, lime, bitters, and sugar, then strained into a cocktail glass and topped with sparkling wine (Champagne, if you can swing it). 

The result is a sophisticated rum drink that builds off of the simple trio of mojito flavors — rum, lime, and mint — and adds depth without losing the drink's bright herbal and citrus essence. The addition of Angostura bitters, the iconic bottle you see behind every bar, plays well with the aged rum to give the drink layers of spice. The old Cuban straddles the line between a serious, spiritous cocktail and a zesty, bubbly summertime drink.

The painkiller came to be in the 1970s at a bar in the British Virgin Islands, created by the bar's owner, Daphne Henderson. She kept her recipe a secret, refusing to give it to anyone, in particular a man named Charles Tobias, who happened to be in charge of Pusser's Rum. Eventually, Charles got tired of asking and secretly took a painkiller home with him so he could reverse-engineer the drink. Once he got it right, he trademarked the cocktail, despite not being its inventor. Thanks to this legal nonsense, technically every drink with the name painkiller must be made with Pusser's rum (but I won't tell if you don't).

All the drama aside, the painkiller has become a classic tiki drink, though it doesn't have quite the household name status of something like a mai tai or hurricane. Many bartenders (and patrons) find the original recipe to be cloyingly sweet — aged rum mixed with pineapple and orange juices, cream of coconut, and dusted with freshly grated nutmeg. Many modern mixologists have tweaked this to create more balance, adding sharper citrus juices and pushing the rum flavor forward by lightening the juice amounts. Whichever version you prefer, the heart of this drink is in the tropics, and it may be the ultimate summer vacation in a glass.

In general, the entire category of cobbler cocktails is underrated. Named for the ice they're served over, which is "cobbled" or crushed, these drinks are typically low in alcohol and sweetened with sugar and fresh fruit. Aromatized or fortified wines, like vermouth or port, are common bases of cobblers, though any base can be used — including spirits if you're looking for something stronger. Personally, I think the best cobblers are made with sherry. 

The world of sherry is complex and vast, and something one could study in depth for their entire life. Suffice it to say, there's a ton of variation when it comes to sherry, from briny and dry manzanilla to richly sweet, raisinated Pedro Ximénez, and every style in between. That means there's a sherry cobbler for every palate and occasion, and the fruit mixed into the drink can change it up, too. For a summer sherry cobbler, fresh berries are a must, but stone fruits like peach and tropical fruits like mango and pineapple can be excellent as well.

Of course, summer's not summer without a frosty, zesty margarita. Should you wish to branch out with a different tequila-based cocktail, though, el diablo is like a margarita and a mule combined, with a quick little trip through France. Tequila and lime are sweetened and deepened by a bit of crème de cassis, a French liqueur made from blackcurrants. That combination is served over ice and topped with a spicy cap of ginger beer.

While you can use any style of tequila, I think el diablo truly shines with a reposado, which is barrel-aged to give it a deeper flavor than a blanco. That intensity puts the spirit on the same playing field as the other full-flavored ingredients, whereas a blanco might get lost in the mix. A good quality crème de cassis has a brambly, woodsy, tart character that boosts the spicy oak notes of reposado, and ginger beer's piquancy and carbonation enhance those flavors even further. Lime juice keeps everything bright and fresh. 

The naked and famous cocktail is the youngest cast member in this play, having been invented in New York City in 2011. Bartender Joaquín Simó created a four-ingredient equal parts cocktail, similar to classics like the last word and the corpse reviver #2. In this case, those four parts consist of mezcal, lime juice, Apérol, and yellow Chartreuse. The fruity and floral notes of both liqueurs mesh incredibly well with each other, as lime juice balances out their sweetness and brightens everything up even more.

Mezcal is the base spirit, which can add various flavors to the drink depending on the style used. Because this is a four-equal-parts recipe, the amount of spirit in the drink is less than it is in most cocktails, so you can use an intense and smoky mezcal if you'd like, and it won't overpower the other ingredients. If you like a mellower drink, though, a lighter, fresher mezcal works, too. The naked and famous brings depth and complexity while still being a refreshing and bright summer cocktail.

While it's not nearly as commonly known as the mint julep, a whiskey smash is arguably a better drink. The biggest difference between the two drinks is citrus — the smash has it, while the julep doesn't. Muddling fresh lemon slices or wedges releases juice as well as flavorful oils from the peels, both of which meld with the mint and sugar. The spirit base is typically bourbon, but other types of whiskey can be used as well, depending on your personal preference or what you have on hand.

Much like a cobbler, a smash can be tweaked to include any kind of fruit in addition to citrus, with summer berries and peaches making incredible seasonal additions to the classic recipe. If you're a mint julep fan, you owe it to yourself to try a whiskey smash. It's brighter, more refreshing, and more flavorful than a julep, but works just as well to cool you off on a hot day.

The gold rush is another modern American classic cocktail that was created in the early 2000s in New York City. It's so simple and so delicious, you'll wonder why it took until the 21st century for it to be invented. At its most basic, it's a whiskey sour, only sweetened with honey instead of sugar. Bourbon is the whiskey of choice here, which melds beautifully with honey thanks to its vanilla and caramel notes. Lest you think that sounds too sweet, the zip of fresh lemon juice ensures there's enough tartness to keep things fresh and balanced.

It can be tough to craft a cocktail that's both rich and bright, and the gold rush accomplishes this beautifully. If you're making this at home, you can adjust the richness of the drink by how you incorporate the honey. Honey syrup is the easiest way to mix it in, which can be made by dissolving honey in hot water, in the same way you'd make simple syrup. Depending on the ratio you use, you can adjust the concentration and sweetness level. The choice of bourbon will also affect the character of this cocktail, with longer-aged bourbons adding more depth and complexity. No matter what specific combination is used, the gold rush is a sunny option that's perfect for whiskey drinkers in the summer.