The Best Cocktails To Feel Warm And Sunny

January is the darkest month and there has been some crazy weather. Escape it all with these sunny, refreshing drinks!

January tends to second darkest month of the year. December makes up for being the darkness with the holiday season. But no, it is back to work, crazy snow in the Deep South, bone chilling temperature and short days. If you are looking for a mental escape, here are the best cocktails to feel warm and sunny. Hey, it is happy hour somewhere.

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Iced Tea Lemon Vodka Cocktail

Nothing says hot weather like cool ice tea, a squeeze of lemony sun and an extra kick and you have a sip on summer in a glass. This easy cocktail can be made at home or made at a bar. Perfect for a wet, cold, dark day!

Ingredients

• 12 ounces sweet iced tea
• 2 ounces Citrus Vodka
• 1 Teaspoon of lemon juice
• Lemon slice

Create

1. Put ice in a tall glass
2. Pour tea, vodka and juice into glass and stir well
3. Garnish with lemon slice

Skinny Margarita

What better way to feel like summer than imbibing in some tequila while watching your weight for bathing suit season.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ ounces silver tequila
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon light agave nectar (2 if you prefer it sweeter)
• Kosher salt & lime wedge, to rim the glass

Create

• Pour a thin layer of salt onto a small plate. Rub a lime wedge around the top edge of your glass to moisten it, then dip the glass into the salt so that it sticks, tapping all the way around.
• Fill the glass with ice and set aside.
• Fill a small cocktail shaker with additional ice.
• Add tequila, lime juice, orange juice, and agave
• Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds
• Strain into the rimmed glass over the ice

Gold Rush Cocktail

The Gold Rush is like a whiskey sour but without the fuss of the egg. This bourbon cocktail is a great way to escape the chill.  Delicious, light and refreshing – it makes you feel like you are sitting on the deck of a boat enjoying a sunset.

Ingredients

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Painkiller

Back to work and in the office? Enduring some long meaningless meetings? Why not enjoy a painkiller and think of a tropical location?  While in the meeting, think about being a tiki hut with a creamy drink and hearing the sound of the beach. This refreshing mixture originated in the 1970s at the Soggy Dollar Bar in the British Virgin Islands. 

Ingredients

• 4 ounces pineapple juice
• 2 ounces dark rum 
• 1 ounce cream of coconut
• 1 ounce orange juice
• ice
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Create

1. Combine pineapple juice, rum, cream of coconut, and orange juice in shaker
2. Add ice, shake for 20 seconds
3. Pour over ice in a tall glass
4. Sprinkle nutmeg on top and serve