5 Easy Summer Cocktails You Can Make Without a Shaker

You don’t need a shaker to make a great cocktail. In fact, some of the tastiest and most popular vodka cocktails in the world are built directly in the glass.

These five easy summer cocktails are made using the built method, which means you pour everything directly into the glass over ice and combine with a gentle stir. No fuss, just great tasting drinks.

Pick your drink, grab your ingredients and step away from the bar. Summer is waiting.

1. Moscow Mule

The Moscow Mule is one of the most popular vodka cocktails around – it’s loved for its zesty citrus and spiced ginger character year-round and the fact that it takes minutes to make.

What’s in a Moscow Mule?

• Absolut Vodka
• Fresh Lime Juice
• Ginger Beer
• Ice Cubes
• Lime Wedge

Built directly in a copper mug over ice and garnished with a lime wedge, the Moscow Mule has been a fixture of bars, backyards and summer gatherings since 1941. And it remains every bit as relevant today.

Check out the recipe for a classic Moscow Mule.

2. Harvey Wallbanger

The Harvey Wallbanger is a 1970s classic – Absolut Vodka and fresh orange juice built directly in a highball glass over ice, with a float of vanilla liqueur poured gently over the back of a bar spoon to sit on top. Garnish with orange zest.

Harvey Wallbanger ingredients:

• Absolut Vodka
• Orange Juice
• Vanilla Liqueur
• Ice Cubes
• Orange Zest

The warm, sweet vanilla liqueur sits on top of the orange juice and vodka, adding a layer of complexity to what would otherwise be a classic Screwdriver (vodka and orange juice).

The Harvey Wallbanger is retro in the best possible way and long overdue a comeback. Watch how to make a Harvey Wallbanger:

3. Cape Cod

The Cape Cod – also known as the Cape Codder and the Vodka Cranberry – is the foundation of an entire family of vodka and juice cocktails. Change the mixer and you get an entirely different drink with an entirely different name.

Dating back to the 1940s, this simple combination of vodka and cranberry juice, built directly in a highball glass over ice, gave rise to the Sea Breeze, the Bay Breeze (see #5 on this list) and even the Cosmopolitan.

Cape Cod ingredients:

• Absolut Vodka
• Cranberry juice
• Ice Cubes
• Lime Wedge

Master the Cape Cod and you’ve not only got a classic easy summer drink but the building blocks for an entire cocktail repertoire.

Watch how to make a Cape Cod:

4. Spicy Lemonade

Consider the Spicy Lemonade your hottest summer drink – Absolut Tabasco, our chili pepper-flavored vodka, and lemonade, built directly in a Cajun spice-rimmed highball glass over ice and garnished with a lemon wheel.

What you need to make a Spicy Lemonade:

• Absolut Tabasco
• Lemonade
• Ice Cubes
• Lemon Wheel
• Cajun Spice

Run a lemon wedge around the rim of the glass, then dip it into Cajun spice to coat before building the drink directly in the glass over ice. Check out the recipe for a Spicy Lemonade.

Watch how to make a Spicy Lemonade with Absolut Tabasco:

5. Bay Breeze

The Bay Breeze is part of the Cape Cod family (above) and features the same vodka and cranberry base but with pineapple juice in place of grapefruit.

Sweeter and more tropical than its cousins, but just as easy to make.

Bay Breeze ingredients:

• Absolut Vodka
• Cranberry Juice
• Pineapple Juice
• Ice cubes
• Lime Wedge
• Pineapple Leaf

Built directly in a highball glass over ice, garnish your Bay Breeze with a lime wedge and a pineapple leaf – your guests will think you’ve been to bartending school.

Watch how to make a Bay Breeze.