This month, we announced the Best New Bartenders of 2026, our annual feature on rising talent in the industry, and launched the Summer Edit, a collection of recipes that we think you should make all season long. Unsurprisingly, these two features are home to our most popular cocktails of the month, from Erick Castro’s caffeinated tiki drink to Siddalee Lewis’ Piña Colada and Old-Fashioned mashup. Here are those recipes, along with the rest of the cocktails you deemed best in June.
Tiger’s Claw
We first tried this drink from Erick Castro while hosting a series of events as part of the search for the Best New Bartenders; he served it as a signature cocktail. Layered and tropical, with extra depth thanks to a reposado tequila base and coffee liqueur, the recipe stood out as a welcome addition to our summer drinks rotation.
Read More →Petrichor
Walking to work one day after it rained, Nikki Irvine got the idea to translate the smell of wet earth (aka petrichor) into a cocktail. They combined a woodsy gin, herbal génépy and amaro with a finishing mist of absinthe and rosemary garnish. Guests loved the drink. “It was one of the first times I truly felt validated as a bartender and really felt myself become familiar with ingredients and how to balance them,” they say.
Read More →Wicked Game
Dominique Muñoz trained to be an archeologist. As such, she takes an excavator’s approach to cocktails, breaking down familiar dishes or cultural histories to translate them into drinks. “When I’m developing a cocktail, especially for a competition, I think of it almost like curating an exhibit,” she says. “Every ingredient, technique and garnish is chosen with intention to help tell a larger story.” This drink was inspired by a summer salad and “the classic pairing of melon and anise-flavored spirits found throughout Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culture.”
Read More →Lusty Nail
The Rusty Nail is typically a two-part drink combining Scotch and Drambuie. This cheeky riff turns the drink into a summer-ready highball. A sesame-oil fat-wash adds body to the drink, while coconut and lime flavors give it a tropical edge. At Saksey’s, the Lusty Nail comes force-carbonated, but at home, you can make this simplified—but still nuanced and refreshing—version.
Read More →Steel Drum
“I wanted to make a version of a Piña Colada that drinks like an Old-Fashioned. Why? For fun,” says Siddalee Lewis. “It was one of those drinks that takes shape in your mind before you ever write it.” Searching for something sweet, nutty and clear—but not clarified—Lewis turned to a toasted coconut-infused bourbon and acid-adjusted pineapple cordial to channel those classics. Saline solution and chai-spiced bitters accent the drink. Creative, thoughtful, playful, and balanced, the recipe is, in Lewis’ words, “quintessentially my style.”
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