Red, White and Blue Cocktails

By Food & Wine
Updated January 19, 2017
These festive recipes are perfect for a Fourth of July celebration.
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Sandia Smash

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“No single ingredient is more appealing than fresh watermelon,” says John Lermayer. “The second I serve one of these Caipirinhas, everyone else wants the same.”

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Horchata Milk Shake

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Horchata is a sweet, milky iced drink that’s popular throughout Latin America. Mexicans make it predominately with rice and chef Rick Ortiz blends in vanilla ice cream.

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Pacific Breeze

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This is a bluestreaked, vodka-spiked lemonade.

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Rhum Swizzle

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A swizzle is an icy drink named for the tool used to mix it, traditionally fashioned out of a woody stem. The base for this swizzle is rhum agricole, made from fresh cane juice in the French-speaking Caribbean islands.

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Daiquiri

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Daiquiris often mean frozen drinks flavored with commercial sour mix and cheap rum. Leo Robitschek loves introducing people to the real deal: “They’re shocked that three simple ingredients can create such a complex drink.”

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The Blue Steel

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In this festive tropical cocktail, rum is mixed with lime and passion fruit juices, then topped with vivid-blue curaçao.

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Cayuse Cherry Bomb

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Jim German is a master of classic cocktails, but he also loves to make his own creations. He juices bing cherries from the orchard owned by the famous Cayuse winery, then blends it with gin, bitters and a touch of sparkling wine. When cherries aren't in season, he substitutes good-quality bottled juice.

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Salt Air Margarita

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Chef José Andrés uses Sucro, a powdered emulsifier beloved by avant-garde chefs, to make the salty foam topping.

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Wonderlust

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"I have an affinity for the past," says Jonny Raglin. Wonderlust is his tribute to cocktail ingredients that were ubiquitous a century back but rare five years ago.

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Red Velvet

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This riff on the Black Velvet replaces the Champagne with Prosecco and the Guinness with raspberry-flavored lambic, a type of wheat beer made with wild yeasts.

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Wormwood Candy

Credit: © Tina Rupp
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This drink is adapted from one Philip Duff served at a cocktail-festival dinner in New Orleans. The dash of absinthe made it delicious with the dish it accompanied: crawfish and spinach spiked with Herbsaint, the anise-flavored liqueur.

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Finding Nemo

Credit: © Frances Janisch
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This festive drink is made with blue curaçao and coconut rum.

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Blueberries Gone Wild

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Health-conscious bar chef Debbi Peek created this gin drink to showcase antioxidant-dense ingredients, including blueberries and pomegranate. Defrosted frozen blueberries also will work here.

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Lychee Gimlet

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Lychee nectar balances the tartness of fresh lime juice in this Asian-Peruvian restaurant's take on the gimlet.

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Redhead in Bed

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One of chef Chris Yeo's first jobs was bartending. "But that was many, many, many years ago," he says. So he left it to his bar team to create this vibrant strawberry-and-vodka cocktail topped with a splash of white wine.

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