Cocktail & Other Recipes Occasion Spring

20 Cocktails to Make This Spring

Embrace the season with fresh, bright flavors.

By
Audrey Morgan
Headshot of Audrey Morgan, smiling and facing forward, wearing black sweater on solid dark gray background
Audrey Morgan
Audrey Morgan is the associate editor at Liquor.com, where she writes and edits features, explainers, bottle reviews, bartender profiles, and more.
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Updated 03/12/23
Fleur de Paradis cocktail

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

April showers bring May flowers…and a reason to shake up your cocktail rotation with fresh, light flavors and ingredients. Take your pick of pretty floral drinks and frothy egg-white concoctions, plus plenty of cocktails that make the most of the season’s produce like strawberries, rhubarb, and even snap peas.

  • Gin Fizz

    Gin Fizz cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    This classic cocktail first appeared in the 1876 edition of The Bar-Tenders Guide by Jerry Thomas, and its simple appeal has lived on. As refreshing as a Tom Collins and as silky-smooth as a Gin Sour, it sees gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup shaken with an egg white and topped with club soda. 

    Get the recipe.

  • Fresh Berry Delicious

    Fresh Berry Delicious cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Drinks pro Charlotte Voisey’s creation lives up to its name, thanks to a combination of raspberry vodka, blood-orange liqueur, muddled strawberries, lemon juice, and honey syrup. The Spanish liqueur Licor 43 adds an herbaceous foil to the drink’s brightness and sweetness.

    Get the recipe.

  • Strawberry Pisco Sour

    Strawberry Pisco Sour cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    The classic Pisco Sour—made with the grape-distilled South American spirit, lime juice, an egg white, and sugar—is hard to improve upon. This version adds a seasonal twist by swapping a strawberry-rosewater syrup for the traditional simple.

    Get the recipe.

  • Green Margarita

    Green Margarita

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Drink your vegetables. This savory-sweet Margarita riff combines a homemade pea puree with blanco tequila, Combier, dry vermouth, and lime juice.

    Get the recipe.

    Continue to 5 of 20 below

  • Pimm’s Cup

    Pimms Cup

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    This relatively low-proof cocktail is easy to throw back on a sunny day. Invented in 1840s London as a health drink, the classic combination of Pimm’s No. 1 liqueur, lemon juice, and ginger ale is best enjoyed with a garden’s worth of fresh garnishes.

    Get the recipe.

  • Fleur de Paradis

    Fleur de Paradis cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    New York City bartender Kenta Goto combines Plymouth gin, St-Germain, grapefruit and lemon juices, simple syrup, and orange bitters for a citrusy and gently floral cocktail that’s as pretty as its namesake flower. Topped with Champagne and garnished with a pansy, it’s perfect for Mother’s Day or a special brunch.

    Get the recipe.

  • French 75

    French 75 cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog 

    This drink is much more delightful than its namesake, the 75-millimeter field gun used by the French during World War I. Gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup are topped with Champagne for a festively fizzy cocktail that’s easy to drink any time of year or day. 

    Get the recipe.

  • Spring Fever

    Spring Fever cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    This fruity floral cocktail from New York City drinks pro Jamie Steinberg tops a combination of strawberries, elderflower syrup, lemon juice, and rhubarb bitters with sparkling rosé wine. It’s exactly what you’ll want to be sipping on the first day of patio season. 

    Get the recipe.

    Continue to 9 of 20 below

  • Scarlet Glow

    Scarlet Glow cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    A homemade hibiscus syrup is the secret to this drink’s floral flavor and, well, scarlet glow. Bar pro and distiller Allen Katz combines the syrup with pisco, Yellow Chartreuse, and grapefruit juice to produce a bright and complex cocktail. 

    Get the recipe.

  • Aviation

    Aviation cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    This classic gin drink dates to the turn of the 20th century, but it was revived at the height of the craft cocktail boom in 2007, when the importer Haus Alpenz brought crème de violette back to the United States after a long absence. The floral liqueur gives the drink its signature hue and plays with botanical gin, bittersweet maraschino liqueur, and tart lemon juice to yield equally vibrant flavors. 

    Get the recipe.

  • Lavender Honey Cream

    Lavender Honey Cream cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    This botanical-forward drink starts with Square One, a rye spirit infused with the essence of chamomile, lemon verbena, lavender, and citrus peels. Lavender honey syrup adds additional floral flavor, while heavy cream and an egg white produce a luscious, frothy texture. 

    Get the recipe.

  • Green Giant

    Green Giant cocktail

     Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Spring produce plays a starring role in this savory-sweet cocktail. Bartender Tom Macy muddles sugar snap pea pods and tarragon with simple syrup, then shakes the mixture with Old Tom gin, dry vermouth, and lemon juice.

    Get the recipe.

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  • El Chapo

    El Chapo cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Nashville bartender Ben Clemons infuses a bottle of Aperol with fresh strawberries to create a component of this fruity, refreshing cocktail. Infusion aside, making the drink is easy: Just combine Aperol with gin and grapefruit beer.

    Get the recipe.

  • Lemon Drop

    Lemon Drop cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    If you’ve only had a Lemon Drop in the form of a shot with bottled sour mix, try the sugar-rimmed 1970s classic in its original form with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Vodka, triple sec, and simple syrup also go into the shaker for a lip-smacking mix of sweet and tart. 

    Get the recipe.

  • Spring’s First Bloom

    Spring's First Bloom cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    This floral and herbaceous take on a Gin Sour from Voisey combines gin, St-Germain liqueur, lemon juice, lemongrass-infused syrup, and lavender bitters. Shaking the mixture with an egg white lends the cocktail its silky texture and frothy head.

    Get the recipe.

  • Garden Collins

    Garden Collins non alcoholic cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    For this non-alcoholic take on the Tom Collins, bar pro Lauren “LP” Paylor combines a syrup made from fresh-pressed celery juice with Seedlip’s Garden expression, brewed green tea, lemon juice, and ginger ale. The resulting drink is just as quaffable as the classic.

    Get the recipe.

    Continue to 17 of 20 below

  • Bunny Mary

    Bunny Mary cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Mix up your brunch-time Bloody Mary with this spicy carrot-juice-fueled variation from bartender Rob Krueger. Aquavit lends its herbaceous notes to a mix of honey syrup, lemon juice, caper brine, and hot sauce, but if you don’t have the Scandinavian spirit on hand, vodka will do in a pinch. 

    Get the recipe.

  • Rye House Spring Beer Cocktail

    Rye House Spring Beer Cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Sweet, fruity, sour, and spicy: This unique beer cocktail has it all. Bar pros Jim Kearns and Lynnette Marrerro invented the drink at New York City’s now-closed Rye House, where they topped a mixture of genever, applejack, loganberry liqueur, lime juice, and ginger syrup with lager.

    Get the recipe.

  • Hugo Spritz

    Hugo Spritz

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Switch up your Aperol Spritz and try this Northern Italian classic, which traditionally tops muddled mint and the elderflower cordial acqua santa with prosecco and soda water. Stateside, St-Germain liqueur is a great substitute for acqua santa.

    Get the recipe.

  • Vitamin Parade

    Vitamin Parade non alcoholic cocktail

    Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

    Natasha David calls this vibrant non-alcoholic cocktail “pure liquid fortification.” The extra-refreshing combination includes fresh-pressed carrot and pineapple juices, ginger beer, lemon juice, cinnamon syrup, and an egg white.

    Get the recipe.