Lush Life: 10 Juice Cocktails To Make This Weekend

If you want a great cocktail, you don’t need to hit the trendiest bar in town and spend exorbitant amounts for a small drink with obscure ingredients. All you need is some fresh fruit juice, good spirits, and quality recipes. The godfathers and godmothers of mixology never intended for their creations to be made with cheap corn syrup-sweetened artificial mixers, so do them and yourself right by making a transcendent cocktail with fresh fruit juice. From classic drinks to newer creations, we’ve got you covered with the 10 Juice Cocktails To Make This Weekend.

The neon green frozen sugar bomb that you may know as a margarita is most certainly not a real margarita. Made with fresh lime juice and a splash of orange juice, decent tequila (we prefer gold over silver), triple sec, and a dash of agave for sweetness, the traditional margarita has a level of complexity that a booze-enriched slushy could only dream of.

Gin Fizzes are refreshing, totally customizable drinks. We like to start by muddling a leaf or two of basil in the bottom of the glass, adding gin and blueberry or blackberry juice, and filling the rest with club soda. Stir, and serve. Feel free to mix it up with juices and add some agave or simple syrup for extra sweetness if needed.

The classic brunch and early evening drink, the mimosa is another simple cocktail to make that can be greater than the sum of its parts. Champagne or Prosecco, with a healthy splash of fresh orange juice is all it takes to make this drink sing. If you want to mix it up, replace the orange juice with peach nectar to make a bellini, a delicious twist on this classic champagne cocktail.

A great brunch alternative to the mimosa is its Russian cousin via South Beach, the Screwdriver. We like to make it even better by using and orange-carrot juice instead of simple orange juice, which adds a nice level of smoothness to the drink, not to mention some extra Vitamin C. Combine one part vodka with one part Bolthouse Farms Orange + Carrot Juice in a shaker with ice, shake well, and serve chilled in a martini glass with an orange twist. We call it the OC Martini.

A drink that often gets relegated to cheap sour-mix purgatory, the Whiskey Sour can be a much more sophisticated drink. Mix equal parts fresh-squeezed lime and lemon juice, with simple syrup, add American or Canadian whiskey (anything that’s not too sweet or smoky), and serve on the rocks with a maraschino cherry garnish.

Feeling like having something a bit more tropical? The rumba is a classic with multiple variations. Feel free to personalize it and try out new combinations of juices. Always start with a base of rum. Next, we like to add mango juice and guava juice if available, and a little pineapple juice to round it out. To get real fancy, pour a little dark rum on top to add a molasses-like depth to the drink. A lime on the rim never hurts either!

Tiki drinks are infamously complicated to make, as well as precariously boozy. Why not skip all that and make yourself one of the most delicious tiki drinks around: the Painkiller. Traditionally, this drink calls for two ounces dark rum, four ounces pineapple juice, one ounce cream of coconut, one ounce orange juice, and some freshly grated nutmeg for garnish. Shake everything but the nutmeg, and pour into a highball glass, with the nutmeg on top. Mmmm, tastes like the Caribbean.

The greyhound couldn’t be easier to make. Simply mix fresh grapefruit juice with vodka and serve chilled or on the rocks. The tartness of the grapefruit mellows the vodka in a really nice way. Though not as well known as some other cocktails, the greyhound is definitely a go-to for us. Mix it up by using tequila instead of vodka with a salted rim for a drink called the Salty Dog.

One of our favorite cocktails (and Mr. Lebowski’s favorite) is the White Russian. We like to pep it up by using Bolthouse Farms Protein PLUS Blended Coffee in place of boring old milk, adding both caffeine and protein to this classic drink. It’s easy to make too—it calls for one third of the Bolthouse coffee, one part vodka, and one part Kahlua.

This one is the classic tiki drinks. Similar to the Margarita, its long history is often shamed with pre-mixed mixers of highly dubious quality. Do yourself a favor and have a real Piña Colada with fresh juices—the difference is night and day. Blend two cups of ice with two ounces white rum, six ounces pineapple juice, and 1.5 ounces coconut cream (the traditional recipe also calls for a little condensed milk, but some find this addition to be too sweet). Blend these ingredients until smooth, pour, and garnish with a cherry and pineapple wedge if you have them handy.