There’s nothing like a cool cocktail on a hot summer day. Except for maybe two or three of ‘em. Summertime cocktails are a fun way to liven up a party and to show off your bartending skills. And if said skills are lacking, you can probably find all the best drinks at your favorite bar. Enjoy those incredible cocktails and don’t forget to tip your bartender.

Here are a few refreshing summer cocktails:

Caipirinha 

This delicious drink is Brazil’s national cocktail. Fun fact: it is also a home remedy for the common cold, so if you cough or sneeze (or blink or breath), you better have one just in case. It’s made with cachaca––which is basically hard alcohol made out of sugar cane––lime and sugar. These simple ingredients add up to one of the most refreshing summer drinks out there. The cocktail is super versatile in that you can add in different fruits and flavors to create a drink perfectly suited to your taste. To make your own Caipirinha, blend the sugar and fruit together in a glass with a muddler (or anything smashy, like a fork or a mop handle), then pour in the cachaca and ice. Depending where you live, cachaca might not be readily available at your local grocery store, but it is not hard to find at liquor stores, especially ones like BevMo and Total Wine and More. If you don’t feel like playing bartender (if you’re not getting tips, it’s not that fun), head to your favorite Brazilian BBQ joint where you are sure to get a perfectly mixed Caipirinha and probably a cute bartender.

Mojito

Thank you, Havana, Cuba, for inventing this amazing cocktail. Honorable mention for the Cuba Libre. The Mojito traditionally consists of just five ingredients: white rum, sugar, lime juice, sparkling water and mint leaves. The combination of sweetness, citrus and mint makes for an outstanding summer cocktail. This is another one of those drinks where you can change up the flavor by adding different fruit combinations (I recommend blackberry and raspberry andstrawberryandwatermelonandjalepenoandpeachand). To make a Mojito, muddle the sugar, lime juice and mint, make sure you’re nice to the mint, it’s delicate. Then add the rum and the ice cubes. Finally, top it off with some sparkling water. Then you can garnish it with a lime or one of those cute little umbrellas. Umbrellas make everything taste better. True story.

Sangria

This wine-based cocktail is a specialty of Spain and Portugal. It normally consists of wine, chopped fruit, sweetener, brandy and seltzer water. However, the awesome thing about Sangria is that you can add just about anything to it, and make it with just about any type of wine. White-wine Sangria? Of course. Red-wine Sangria? Duh. Saki-and-cucumber Sangria? Good God, yes. This is the perfect party cocktail because you can make large quantities at one time, it can be made up to a few days in advance (the longer all the ingredients marinate together, the better) and since it’s pre-mixed, you can just pour a bunch in a punch bowl and let everyone serve themselves. Plus, when you finish your drink, you have all that yummy wine-soaked fruit to snack on.

Tequila over sorbet

The title is all the instruction you need. Pour tequila over sorbet. Then eat it. Lime sorbet is the go-to flavor because it basically turns into margarita sorbet when you add the tequila, but you can try this grown-up slushie treat with any flavor sorbet you like. Well, maybe not chocolate (but, maybe chocolate). This is such a simple and fun summer cocktail and it requires no prep time, no bartending skills and no special shaker-muddler-blender-hot poker equipment. It’s summertime, you shouldn’t have to work too hard to get a drink.

Enjoy one of these summer cocktails during your stay at your favorite Gia property!