Coolers

By Food & Wine
Updated January 11, 2017
Fruity, lightly alcoholic coolers are ideal sippers for summer.
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Pimm's Cooler

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Pimm's Cups are traditionally made with lemonade, lemon soda, ginger ale or ginger beer and are garnished lavishly with cucumber, mint leaves and fruit. Ben Scorah's version incorporates Creole Shrubb, an orange liqueur made in Martinique.

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Colorado Cooler

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Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey is a distinctive small-batch whiskey made in Denver from 100 percent malted >barley. The flavor is malty and slightly vanilla-y.

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Cucumber Cooler

PHOTO © FRANCES JANISCH
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To complement its alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, Jack Falstaff in San Francisco specializes in fancy bar snacks such as fried sage leaves and pickled turnips.

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Cilantro Cooler

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According to Jamie Boudreau, a good aperitif often hints at the meal that will follow. This light, summery cilantro-spiked drink—which Boudreau likes to mix with a eucalyptus-infused simple syrup—would be a great lead-up to Mexican food.

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Cameron's Cooler

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Scotch-lover Father Cameron Ayers (a close friend of Duggan McDonnell’s) challenged the mixologist to come up with a Scotch-based cocktail that was bold and refreshing but stayed true to the whisky’s roots.

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Watermelon Coolers

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Bronson Van Wyck borrowed this recipe from his friend Susan Mason, a caterer in Savannah, Georgia. It's potent and refreshing.

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Strawberry & Ginger Cooler

PHOTO © WENDELL T. WEBBER
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At the Belle Epoque–style Absinthe Brasserie & Bar in San Francisco, general manager and cocktail book author Jeff Hollinger serves up modern adaptations of 19th-century classic drinks. His Strawberry & Ginger Cooler is one of the few nonalcoholic refreshers on the menu.

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Agricole-Guava Cooler

© Hector Sanchez
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Rhum agricole has a grassy flavor that's delicious in this cocktail from San Francisco's rum-loving Smuggler's Cove.

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Almond-Fennel Cooler

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Like an old-fashioned soda-fountain drink, this mocktail relies on a delicious small-batch syrup. Its creator is Jennifer Colliau, a mixologist at San Francisco's Slanted Door restaurant and an artisanal syrup maker who also owns Small Hand Foods, which sells classic ingredients for pre-Prohibition era cocktails.

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Harvard Cooler

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According to Hidetsugo Ueno, this somewhat obscure, apple-accented cocktail is extremely popular in Japanese bars. Some people omit the club soda and call it a Moonlight.

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