Drinks for a Crowd

"With this punch I wanted to re-create classic tiki flavors," says bartender Erick Castro. "They highlight the botanicals in the gin and the playful funkiness you can only get from Jamaican rum." The drink's uncommon garnish—a pinch of cinnamon—accents the rum.

When he's grilling for pleasure on a hot summer night, Francis Mallmann invariably has a cool cocktail in his free hand. The extra-refreshing one here combines sweet wine and the bitter Italian aperitif Campari.

This classy, Cognac-based drink is sweet and gingery.

Of course Maria Helm Sinskey and her husband, Rob (co-owner of Napa's Robert Sinskey Vineyards), serve their wine at parties. But she also offers refreshing punches like this one, made with tart-sweet pomegranate juice and finished with Prosecco.

This sangria-like drink is a cobbler—a classic cocktail combining some kind of liquor or wine with sugar and fresh fruit. John Salas spikes his with a vinegar syrup called a shrub, for a tart, refreshing, complex edge.

This savory seasonal infusion takes advantage of Blue Hill at Stone Barns' homegrown produce: The fennel comes from gardens just steps from the restaurant's kitchen.

Beer, an increasingly popular mixer, adds carbonation and a pleasant funkiness to cocktails. The apricot ale here offers fruitiness, too.

Strawberries sweeten these mojitos from Joaquin Simo of New York Citys Death & Co.

This clever bloody Mary variation gets its heat and flavor from pureed kimchi, along with a dash of Sriracha chile sauce.

Instead of combining vodka with flavored Jell-O mix, Michael Symon concocts a refreshing mojito and stirs unflavored gelatin into the mint-and-lime-spiced rum drink to mold a fun and sophisticated version of the lowbrow shot.

Chef Dean Fearing calls this drink "the fall margarita." The sweet-tart blood orange flavor intensifies the margarita-ness of it.