7 Summer cocktail recipes

Perfect for a long weekend at home

Let’s face it — long weekends are wasted on boring plans. So why not put your free time to good use and become the cocktail connoisseur you’ve always secretly dreamed of being? Crystalbrook Collection’s talented mixologists and bartenders have curated a line-up of seven standout summer cocktails, each inspired by its unique venue and local ingredients. Some recipes are refreshingly simple, while others might ask you to channel your inner mad scientist.

This isn’t about following the rules; it’s about breaking the mold (and maybe a sweat, if you’re shaking hard enough). From Rocco’s tropical Maghreb Star to the bold Negroni from Fiume Rooftop Bar, each cocktail is a chance to try something new, celebrate local flavours, and bring a little luxury into your weekend plans.

After effortless sophistication? Or the satisfaction of mastering a clarified piña colada? Either way we’ve got a drink to match your mood. So, grab your shaker, summon your inner bartender, and let’s turn your kitchen into the best new bar in town. No dress code required.

The Maghreb Star

Rocco, Cairns

• 45ml Dry gin
• 15ml Aperol
• 20ml Passionfruit pulp
• 30ml Lemon juice
• Ice
• A pinch of ground nutmeg

Add gin, Aperol, passionfruit pulp and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well with ice, before double straining into a glass of your choice. Dust the top of your cocktail with ground nutmeg.

Scroppango

Calypso Club, Cairns

• 90g Mango sorbet
• 30ml Brix Mango Rum
• 100ml Prosecco
• Mango slice or dried lime to garnish

Add rum and sorbet to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass of your choice, top-up glass with prosecco and then garnish with mango or dried lime.

The Botanist

CC’s Bar and Grill, Cairns

• 60ml The Botanist gin
• 30ml Lime juice
• 15ml Sugar syrup
• 5-6 Mint leaves
• Ice
• Thyme to garnish

Add gin, lime juice, sugar syrup, mint into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well with ice before double straining and pouring into a martini glass. Top with thyme to garnish.

Clarified Pina Colada

Whiskey & Wine

• 60ml Havana 3yr Rum
• 20ml cream of coconut
• 10ml sugar syrup
• 20ml lime juice
• Two pineapple crown leaves & maraschino cherry to garnish

Combine all ingredients and strain through a cheesecloth into a glass, removing the solids until the liquid is almost completely clear. Top with pineapple crown leaves and a marischino cherry.

Lemon Myrtle Gimlet

Forest

• 30ml Brookie’s Gin
• 400ml filtered water
• 400ml Chardonnay verjuice
• 300g caster sugar
• 40g lemon myrtle leaves
• 200g lemon peel
• 5g citric acid
• Native ginger leaf to garnish

In a vacuum seal bag combine filtered water, Chardonnay verjuice, sugar, lemon myrtle, lemon peel and citric acid. Vacuum seal for 12 seconds (with pressure for the water to pierce the lemon peel). Cook in a sous vide for 80 minutes at 55 degrees. Then, place the bag in an ice bath for 10 minutes. Strain through coffee filter. Pour 50ml of this infusion into mixing glass, add 30ml gin and stir for 10 seconds. Add ice to serving glass, then garnish with native ginger leaf.

Negroni

Fiume Rooftop Bar

• 30ml Campari
• 30ml Sweet Vermouth
• 400ml Monkey 47 Gin
• Peel of five mandarins

Combine Monkey 47 gin with mandarin peels to infuse for 36 hours. Pour Campari, sweet vermouth, and 30ml of mandarin-infused Monkey 47 gin into a mixing glass. Stir with ice. Pour over ice into serving glass. Garnish with a twisted orange peel.

Bar Beach Cruiser

• Romberg’s
• 30ml Cinzano Dry
• 30ml Triple Sec
• 15ml Ancho Reyes Chile
• Tsp Luxardo Maraschino
• 30ml Lime juice
• Spiced ‘sand’ to garnish

Start by adding all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, shake hard and single strain into a glass over ice. Serve in a short glass with spiced ‘sand’ on the side.