There's almost no better feeling than a hot summer afternoon with the grill going, the cooler loaded, and the guys showing up in rotation. The one thing that trips most of us up is the drink part — nobody wants to be the guy stuck muddling herbs and measuring bitters while everyone else is already a beer in. You need cocktails that come together in under a minute, taste like you actually put thought into them, and don't pull you away from the fire for long.
Smirnoff sent over two recipes that land exactly in that zone. Both run on Smirnoff No. 21, both need four ingredients or fewer, and both taste better than they have any right to for how little work they take.
Smirnoff Mule
The mule is the right call when it's 90 degrees out and someone is finishing a tri-tip. Ginger beer does the heavy lifting — it's sharp enough to cut through a hot afternoon and sweet enough that nobody's making a face. The copper mug matters more than you'd think; it frosts up almost instantly and keeps the whole thing cold through the first round off the grill.
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Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Smirnoff No. 21
- 4 oz ginger beer
- 3 lime wedges
- Mint for garnish
Directions: Fill a copper mug with ice. Add the Smirnoff No. 21. Pour the ginger beer. Squeeze the juice of two lime wedges in and drop them in the mug. Stir to combine. Garnish with the third lime wedge and a sprig of mint.
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Smirnoff Lemonade
This one is the lighter option — basically a spiked lemonade with a carbonated bite. It's what you hand the guy who doesn't usually drink cocktails, or the one who's pacing himself because he's on grill duty and doesn't want to torch the ribeyes. Four ingredients, and the carbonated water is what takes it from "just a vodka lemonade" to something that actually feels like a cocktail.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Smirnoff No. 21
- 2 oz lemonade
- 2 oz carbonated water
- Lemon wheel for garnish
Directions: Fill a glass with ice. Add the Smirnoff No. 21, lemonade, and carbonated water. Stir well. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
No Time to Mix? Grab a Smirnoff Ice
Sometimes you're running out the door to someone else's cookout and the last thing you want to do is haul a cocktail kit. That's what a cold bottle of Smirnoff Ice Original is for — hand it to the host, take one for yourself, and you've solved the "what should I bring" problem without cracking open a bottle of vodka in someone else's kitchen. The OG flavor has been around long enough that nobody gives you a hard time for showing up with a six-pack.
Both cocktails above scale easily — double the mule for a pitcher, triple the lemonade if the group's big. Keep the Smirnoff No. 21 in the freezer, keep the ginger beer and lemonade in the cooler, and the hardest thing about the afternoon is flipping steaks on time, not mixing drinks.