Tall Cool Ones: San Antonio bartenders share their spins on summer cocktails

San Antonio’s summer heat may be a familiar return, but that doesn’t mean you should settle for old standbys when it comes to quenching your summer thirst.

With apologies to mai tais and margaritas, we asked five San Antonio bartenders to share some of their favorite summer cocktails, including one that forgoes the alcohol. Try these at home for a change of pace, and don’t forget to leave a tip next time you visit their respective bars.

Enigma

By Emily Rohm, Hot Joy

½ oz. basil liquor
½ oz. melon liquor or muddled melon
1½ oz. shōchū
½ oz. simple syrup
½ oz. lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a tin shaker, mix vigorously, strain into a cold glass with pebble ice.

Summertime Swizzle

By Campbell Dobbs, Isidore

1½ oz. Jamaican rum
½ oz. honey
¾ oz. fresh lime juice
6-8 mint leaves
1 tbsp. chopped ginger
Pinch of salt
Bitters

Add rum, ginger, lime, mint and salt in a glass. Top with crushed ice and swizzle the ingredients together. Top with more crushed ice. Add a dash of bitters on top and garnish with a nice mint bouquet.

Vitamin Sea

By Bryan Merriman, The Modernist, Hot Joy

3 muddled strawberries
1½ oz. vodka or gin
¾ oz. lemon juice
¼ oz. simple syrup
Topo Chico
Balsamic reduction, make your own or purchase a bottle at the grocery

Add ingredients to a tin shaker and mix vigorously. Double strain into a Collins glass. Top with Topo Chico and garnish with a strawberry and three basil leaves. Lightly top off the drink with a drizzle of the balsamic reduction.

Brass Tax (NA)

By Ashanti Williams, The Modernist, Louie’s Ice House

1½ oz. simple syrup
½ oz. lime juice
4-6 blueberries or strawberries
2 basil leaves
1 shake cinnamon powder

Muddle basil leaves with the berries in the bottom of a tall glass with a light but firm weight, being careful not to make them look ugly. Add simple, lime juice, cinnamon powder and ice, then stir. Fill halfway with ginger beer, then top off with Squirt or another grapefruit soda. Optionally, you can add VERDE Powered by Plants, available at Alamo City Liquor, if you want to add a THC delta-9 non-alcoholic floater.

Halo Halo

By JC Salinas, Amor Eterno

1½ oz. white rum
¼ oz. condensed milk
½ oz coconut milk
¼ oz. lime juice
1 dash of ube
4 dashes of shisho bitters

Combine ingredients in a tin and shake, then pour in a glass over ice. Serve on the rocks.

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This article appears in May 29 – Jun 11, 2025.