Give Classic Cocktails A Boozier Twist With The Help Of Hard Seltzers

When looking to upgrade some of your favorite cocktails, the next game-changing twist could be as close as your fridge — or, at least, the grocery store. Adding hard seltzer to classic cocktails can bring in new flavors, an unexpected and refreshing burst of carbonation, or both. There are already plenty of ways to update your hard seltzer, from rum to coconut water, so why not let your hard seltzer do the updating for an entire tipple?

Inspiration can come from anywhere when thinking about where hard seltzer could really jazz up a recipe. You could start by thinking about the best hard seltzer brands and varieties and come up with good cocktail matches for different flavors, or work the other way around. For brainstorming how to incorporate the hard seltzer, you can simply swap out other carbonated ingredients, like the prosecco in an Aperol spritz or the soda water in a Tom Collins for a hard seltzer, or, you can introduce carbonation to traditionally still drinks, like making your next margarita sparkle.

Some pairings are easy-to-spot matches. For example, the aforementioned margarita: A lime-flavored hard seltzer would further bolster the bright tartness of the lime juice in the cocktail. Where you might add a ½ cup of lemon or lime soda to make a bubbly margarita, instead add a ½ cup of lemon or lime seltzer. Or, if you're making a classic piña colada, top it with hard seltzer in pineapple or pineapple-coconut to underline those bright-meets-sweet flavors.

Another natural fit is lime hard seltzer for a gin rickey — a traditional gin rickey recipe calls for 4 ounces of club soda, so substitute that with the seltzer. If you decide to make a similar trade for that prosecco in an Aperol spritz, instead of three parts sparkling wine, use three parts orange or strawberry hard seltzer, or split the total amount between both. Alternatively, you could leave in the prosecco and swap out the one part soda water.

Seltzers in tropical flavors are perfect for any of the most classic tropical drinks. Introduce sweet mango hard seltzer to lime-forward caipirinhas, tart passion fruit seltzer to balance the cherry liqueur of Singapore slings, and maximize the fruity complexity of rum punch with a tropical punch-flavored seltzer. Another foolproof winner is the limoncello spritz with just about anything. It calls for 3 ounces of prosecco, 2 ounces of limoncello, and 1 ounce of club soda. For either the prosecco or the club soda, swap in hard seltzer in any flavors you'd like with lemonade, from strawberry to blueberry to raspberry. 

A few general guidelines so you can whip anything depending on what's in your refrigerator and on your bar cart: Citrusy seltzers like tangerine are great for spritzes, grapefruit seltzer brightens palomas and other agave-based tipples, and more unique flavors like BON V!V's Pear-Elderflower can star in their own cocktails with St. Germain, prosecco, and lemon juice.