Unique Cocktails with Mint

Mint: The essential cocktail garden herb

Whether you’re muddling mint into a mojito or using it to infuse a simple syrup, mint’s versatility knows no bounds. Plus, this plant is easy to care for and those pesky garden party crashers — deer and rabbits — tend to avoid it. Need some minty inspiration? Read on to learn about a few different ways to use mint in your cocktails and find four recipes for mint cocktails you can try this summer!

Ways to use mint in cocktails

Garnish a drink with mint

Dress up your favorite drinks with mint flowers and leaves. Just snip a few sprigs, rub them in your hands to activate the flavor and toss in a cocktail or beverage.

Muddle mint leaves

Place leaves at the bottom of a cocktail shaker or your glass and gently bruise them with a cocktail muddler to release the juices and flavors. No muddler? Try the end of a wooden spoon!

DIY mint simple syrup

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar or honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 1–2 sprigs of mint

Heat sugar, water, and mint sprigs in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves; cool to room temperature, then discard herb sprigs. (Makes 2/3 cup)

Easy & delicious recipes for cocktails with mint

Watermelon mint julep

Cocktail ingredients

4 –5 cups seedless watermelon, diced
½ cup bourbon
¼ cup torn fresh mint leaves
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
Crushed ice
Fresh mint sprigs

How to make a watermelon mint julep

1. Combine watermelon, bourbon, torn mint, sugar, and lime juice in a bowl; let stand 5 minutes.
2. Mash melon with a potato masher to release juice from the watermelon and muddle the mint.
3. Press mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher; discard solids.
4. Fill 4 tumblers with crushed ice, then top with watermelon mixture.
5. Garnish juleps with mint sprigs.

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Gin bramble cocktail with fresh mint

Cocktail ingredients

2 cups fresh blackberries
½ cup fresh mint leaves
½ cup gin
½ cup light agave nectar
⅓ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup crème de mure or blackberry brandy
Crushed ice
1 bottle club soda (10 oz.)
Garnish: Chilled Fresh blackberries and fresh mint sprigs

How to make a gin bramble

1. Purée 2 cups blackberries, mint leaves, gin, agave, lime juice, and crème de mure in a food processor for at least 1 minute.
2. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher.
3. Divide bramble among four old-fashioned glasses filled halfway with crushed ice, then top with club soda
4. Garnish with blackberries and mint sprigs.

Ruby-berry cocktail with mint

Cocktail ingredients

2 ¼ cups club soda, chilled
2 cups ruby port
½ cup fresh lemon juice
Fresh lemon, mint sprigs, and fresh raspberries or strawberries
Berry mint simple syrup (1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 12 oz. fresh or frozen raspberries or strawberries, hulled and quartered (thawed if frozen)
2 –3 sprigs fresh mint

How to make a berry simple syrup

1. For the simple syrup, heat water, sugar, raspberries, and mint in a saucepan over high to a boil, crushing raspberries with a spatula.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer syrup until sugar dissolves and flavors infuse, 10 minutes.
3. Let syrup cool to room temperature; strain and discard solids. Chill syrup until ready to use.

How to make a Ruby-berry cocktail with mint

1. Combine club soda, port, lemon juice, and ½ cup simple syrup in a pitcher.
2. Serve cocktails in ice-filled glasses.
3. Garnish with lemon, mint sprigs, and fresh raspberries.

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Orange mojito

Cocktail ingredients:

12 leaves fresh mint
2 oranges, quartered
2 Tbsp. sugar
Crushed ice
2 Tbsp. orange-flavored rum or white rum
Lemon-lime soda (such as 7-Up)
Garnish: Sprigs of fresh mint and orange wedges

How to make an orange mojito

1. Place 6 mint leaves, 1 orange quarter, and 1 Tbsp. sugar in each of two tall glasses. Muddle mint and orange with sugar.
2. Fill glasses with ice.
3. Squeeze the juice from remaining three orange quarters into each glass.
4. Add 1 Tbsp. rum and a splash of soda to each glass; stir to combine.
5. Garnish with mint sprigs and orange wedges.