Memorial Day honors those who have died while fighting for our country as a military service member.
The federal holiday is celebrated on the last Monday in May every year.
Memorial Day originated after the Civil War to honor the soldiers who gave their lives — and was formerly known as Decoration Day.
It wasn't until 1971, with President Richard Nixon in office, that Memorial Day was made a federal holiday by Congress.
Celebratory Memorial Day weekend activities happen across the United States and is a day in which Americans beam with pride. Often, Americans will attend a local parade as well as barbecues accompanied by burgers, hot dogs, American made beers and cocktails.
Sipping on a cocktail next to a newly opened swimming pool is also a popular way to spend Memorial Day.
Here are a few refreshing and festive cocktails to enjoy Memorial Day weekend and a special recipe for those who prefer a mocktail.
Ingredients for blue pineapple cocktail:
In a glass, pour in the rum, blue Curaçao, pineapple juice, and lime juice and fill the glass with ice. Here, you’ll want to avoid using soda water for the added sugar. Cue the hangover headaches if you add too much sugar to this drink.
Fill the rest of the glass with plain seltzer water. If tonic water is the only plain carbonated beverage available to you, use that, but seltzer is preferred.
Stir the cocktail and serve with red, white and blue glass accessories.
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This recipe serves one. Double this recipe for each guest you intend to serve.
Red slushie ingredients:
1 ounce of vodka
2 ounces of lemonade
1 tablespoon of maraschino cherry juice
Ice
White slushie ingredients:
1 ounce of vodka
2 ounces of lemonade
Ice
Blue slushie ingredients:
1 ounce of vodka
½ ounce of blue Curaçao
2 ounces of lemonade
Ice
Begin by blending the ingredients of the blue slushie and pour it into a glass. Then, blend the ingredients of the white slushie and slowly top the blue slushie with the white. Avoid combining the colors. You’ll want to ensure the mixture is smoothie-like vs liquid to allow the layering.
Lastly, blend the red slushie mixture and slowly top the white slushie creating a red, white and blue cocktail.
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Start by cutting the stems from the strawberries and washing your fruit well. Rinse the blueberries and set them aside.
In a blender, first add the filtered water and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Next, add the sugar and strawberries. Include as much ice as the blender will allow for now. Blend well until the ingredients are smooth.
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Once blended, you can add more ice as the mixture will become more liquid than frozen mocktail. Blend again until ice is smooth vs chunky.
For serving, a few ways of presenting will work. You can pour the entire blended drink into a pitcher, garnish with blueberries and leave glasses aside for guests to serve themselves. You can also add blueberries to individual glasses and pour as mocktails as desired.
Lastly, feel free to make a "make your own mocktail" station and include glasses, a bowl of blueberries, a bucket of ice just in case and your mocktail mixture.
For an extra garnish, wash whole strawberries with the stems still intact.
Cut a small slice from the bottom of the strawberry up and sit on the edge of each glass or aside for guests to take and apply themselves.
This drink will be more pink than red, so feel free to include Memorial Day-themed drink decorations, including American flag toothpicks or umbrellas, red, white and blue straws — or you can rim the glass with blue-colored sugar.
If you like this recipe, but you want it in cocktail vs. mocktail form, top each glass with 1–2 shots of strawberry infused, citrus or plain vodka.
If you want to blend it for a whole pitcher of cocktails, include 6 cups of water and 2 cups of vodka vs. 8 cups of water.
