Top 10 Fourth of July drinks

If you are thinking about hosting or attending a Fourth of July party this week, here’s our guide to some red, white and blue drinks for you.

Fourth of July Fireworks in Washington

The US Independence Day celebrations commemorate the country adopting the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. The declaration saw the US become independent from the United Kingdom.

It is a federal holiday in the US and is often marked with fireworks, baseball games and parades. Social gatherings are also a big part of Fourth of July celebrations with family reunions, barbecues and picnics. Americans all over the world celebrate this day and gather to have some drinks with friends. But what drinks should you be looking at if you are going to an Independence Day celebration?

Click through the following pages to see db‘s suggestions for some red, white and blue drinks that you can enjoy.

White wine sangria

Sangria is usually made with red wine, and is a great drink to enjoy during summer, but we’re going red, white and blue here so try making a white wine sangria. As we’re looking at an American celebration, you should use a US wine as your base.

Ideally the wine should be quite dry so try a Californian Chardonnay or even a Pinot Grigio from Oregon. To that add some sugar, apple liqueur and sparkling water. And finally add red and blue fruit like strawberries and blueberries to give it the all American red, white and blue feel.

Beer – Red ale

It’s quite complicated to offer a wide range of drinks that fit within the singular red, white and blue category in the way that a white wine sangria does. So the other way to get round that is to offer a group of drinks that fill the brief. For instance you can offer a red beer, a white beer and even a blue beer.

In terms of a red beer, go for a red, or amber, ale; this style of beer is very popular in the US, particularly among craft brewers. The Lagunitas Brewing Company produces an imperial red ale, as does Sierra Nevada, Ridgeway and the Alaskan Brewing Company. The leading US craft brewer, Samuel Adams, also offers an Irish Red ale, which would meet the ‘red’ criteria.

Weissbier

Although this is a Bavarian-style beer in origin, it’s translation means “white beer” so it is the prefect beer for your red, white and blue beer serving.

White beers are brewed with a significant proportion of the malted barley being replaced by malted wheat and specialised strains of yeast are also used. It is also possible to keep the US theme going with these beers as a wide range of US brewers have released their own versions of the beer.

The Celis White beer is particularly well known and awarded, while other brewers include Samuel Adams, Pyramid and Blue Moon.

Blue beer

Obviously it is difficult to serve a blue beer without using up a huge amount of food dye, so it may have to be a case of getting round this with a name rather than a specifically blue drink.

One option is the Belgian beer Chimay Blue, which is a strong, dark beer at 9% abv. The Trappist beer has a strong aroma and flavour but it is not American, so what US options do we have?

As previously mentioned there is the Blue Moon Brewing Company, Samuel Adams produce a Blueberry Hill Lager and there is even Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Wine – Napa Cabernet

In moving on from beer, the next range of red, white and blue drinks to serve is wine, again with a distinctly American feel.

In terms of red wine it simply comes down to which wine you wish to choose. As we reported recently the Miami Herald‘s wine writer, Fred Tasker, wrote that Cabernet Sauvignon is a great wine to have with barbecue food. Tasker wrote: “A good Cab has the powerful, dark-red fruit flavours and body to stand up to the burn.” He recommended the 2009 Hestan Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, which comes from the Napa Valley, but any Napa Cabernet would be ideal.

Carneros sparkling wine

Independence Day is a celebration in the US, and Champagne is still widely considered the perfect celebratory drink. Champagne only comes from Champagne, France, in spite of some recent controversy caused at President Obama’s inauguration lunch.

So as an alternative to Champagne you could try some premium US sparkling wine. Carneros is an excellent area to look at for sparkling US wine and Domaine Carneros was founded by French Champagne house Taittinger in 1970. The Domaine offers a Brut, Brut Rosé and Blanc de Blancs.

Blue Mountain wine

Again blue wine is quite tricky to serve, but thankfully the Blue Mountain winery, from New Tripoli, Pennsylvania comes to the rescue. The winery, which produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines, has been in production for over 24 years.

Cocktails – Cosmopolitan

With red, white and blue beers and wine now taken care of, the final option for your Fourth of July drinks is a selection of cocktails. First up is the red version and the Cosmopolitan is a classic American cocktail. Bartenders from San Francisco, Miami and New York have all claimed to have invented the Cosmopolitan, which became hugely popular during the 1980s and 1990s. The drink’s popularity then soared among the gay community before becoming more mainstream after featuring in the hit US TV show Sex and the City.

The cocktail is made with vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and lime juice and is a great American red cocktail for Independence Day.

Star spangled punch

This drink was created by cocktail writer and historian Professor Dave Wondrich, and is an eye-catching drink, which was “designed to cool you off in the July heat”.

Although it is actually made using Chilean Pisco, the addition of star fruit gives it enough of an American touch to make it ideal for 4 July.

Made with lemon juice, Chilean Pisco, sugar, water and the star fruit all the ingredients are mixed together and chilled until ready to serve.

Blueberry vodka

One obvious option for a blue cocktail is anything that uses a Blue Curaçao liqueur, a strikingly blue drink flavoured with the dried peel of the laraha citrus fruit. But in trying to keep the drinks somewhat American, and also to avoid the obvious, why not try a blueberry vodka? Smirnoff makes a version of this drink, but there is also a blueberry vodka produced in the US by Maine Distilleries, with its Cold River Blueberry Vodka. You could serve this with the well-known American dessert Blueberry pie.

And finally…

Don’t want to go to all this trouble? Well, as we revealed recently the best selling beers in the US are Budweiser and Bud Light, and let’s face it (from the outside looking in) nothing is considered more American than sipping on a Budweiser or a Coors Light. So these classic American beers could be served and you can save the red, white and blue theme for your clothing or the fireworks.