Americana Inspired Drinks Recipes

My collection of Americana Inspired Drinks will help your American Inspired Feast go off with a bang louder than 4th of July fireworks! This collection features everything from soft drinks to alcoholic milkshakes, short and long cocktails and even recipes for homemade eggnog!

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Just like with the food, the key to serving drinks is to set things up so that guests can help themselves as much as possible. You should have less waste and everyone gets exactly what they want. Whilst relieving you of some running around.

This collection was created as a companion to my Americana Feast recipe collection. The photos you’ll see throughout this post were taken at a dinner that I cooked.

This post was so easy to put together. Drinks which I think of as being typically “American” are so prevalent. I really didn’t have to think too far out of the box. I’ve included so many suggestions that easy as it was, it has taken me a long time so I really hope that you find it super useful!

Americana Inspired Beers

Is there anything more American than popping the lid off an ice cold bottle of Bud? I think probably not!

A bucket of beers will always form the main drink at my Americana Feast. Pop a few bottles in a bucket of ice along with a bottle opener and everyone can just help themselves. Easy peasy.

Plus you don’t have to stick with light lager. There are loads of options available nowadays, including a good number of craft ales.

The most commonly available options in the UK are:

• Budweiser/Bud Light (Lager)
• Coors/Coors Light (Lager)
• Samuel Adams (Lager)
• Brooklyn (Lager/Pale Ale)
• Sierra Nevada (Pale Ale)
• Blue Moon (Canadian Wheat Beer)
• Goose Island (Pale Ale)
• Flying Dog (Various)

You could of course serve the beers in glasses but I think just embracing the casual and drinking from the bottle is the better way. And involves much less washing up! Saying this, I would always keep a few glasses to hand. There is always a picky one!

Don’t miss a great suggestion for a lager cocktail in the “Something Unusual” section below!

Americana Inspired Wines

I added this section to the post as a bit of an afterthought. I probably wouldn’t bother with wine as I drink beer and cocktails, etc. And so I feel like they’re more ‘on theme’. But I do appreciate you or your guests might prefer wine.

The problem that I do have is that wine is not my area of expertise! I would really recommend heading to a wine retailer and asking them to recommend something to go with what you’re serving.

Obviously I do think you should try to stick with American wines! California is the obvious option and I’ve certainly enjoyed some time trying out options in Napa Valley.

But there are lesser known/more unusual options to look at too. Oregon, Washington State, New York and even a number of southwestern states have great wine growing regions.

Americana Inspired Soft Drinks & Mocktails

Whether you need to cater for someone younger, designated drivers, non-drinkers or not, having a nice non-alcoholic drink option on hand is always a good idea.

Here are some of my favourite ideas. Don’t forget that most of these can always play double duty and work as both a non-alcoholic option and as a mixer for booze. I am particularity partial to some golden rum in my peach iced tea!

Peach Ice Tea – Lauren Caris Cooks

Homemade Peach Ice Tea. Simple and absolutely perfect for the summertime, this cooling drink will leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated!

Lemon Iced Tea – Recipes From A Pantry

This caffeine free lemon iced tea is easy and perfect for a picnic, bbq or just brunch.

Americana Inspired Cocktails

I found so many great cocktail ideas that I have to break this section down further.

What you serve at your feast will depend on how much you enjoy making cocktails, how well stocked your booze cabinet already is and how much time and effort you’re willing to spend on cocktail making.

To really go for it, I’d serve something short on arrival. Have a pitcher of something long ready to go throughout the meal and then serve a hardshake either with or after dessert.

Or, I’d serve something frozen on arrival. Stick with a pitcher of something long for throughout the meal and then serve a short either with or after dessert.

But if you decided that a non-alcoholic long drink and beer is enough for you to serve, then do that. Cocktails are brilliant and you can really have fun with them but they’re not an actual requirement.

Short Cocktails

Shorts are generally served in a small tumbler, with or without ice, or in a martini type glass. They’re strong sipping drinks so go steady!

Fairytale of New York – Smitten Kitchen

This is essentially a winter spiced old-fashioned, a really wonderful variation on it for this time of year. The mulled simple syrup will make you home smell heavenly.

Maple New York Sour – Cookie and Kate

Learn how to make a New York sour cocktail. I sweeten mine with maple syrup instead of simple syrup, which tastes amazing! They’re easy to make, too.

The Bootleg Cocktail – Cookie and Kate

Basically, if spiked lemonade and a mojito collided in a blender, you would end up with a bootleg. Fresh mint leaves are blended together with fresh lemon and lime juice and natural sweetener.

Long Cocktails

Typically served in a highball glass, most of these cocktails are perfect to be made up in advance, kept in a pitcher and then poured over ice to serve. Perfect for fuss free entertaining.

Long Island Iced Tea – Super Golden Bakes

The Long Island Iced Tea is probably THE ultimate summer drink. A heady cocktail made with tequila, rum, vodka, gin, triple sec, lime and lemon juice topped with a splash of cola.

Cilantro Jalapeno Margarita – With Spice

This recipe is especially unique because it’s refreshing and aromatic, but not exceedingly sweet or fruity the way a lot of mixed drinks can be (although if you prefer them sweeter, it’s an easy fix!).

Sparkling Spiked Peach Lemonade – The Kitchn

Two of the best parts of summer are ice-cold lemonade and fresh-picked juicy peaches. Combine them, add a little vodka and some sparkling water, and now you’ve got the third best part: a pitcher cocktail to kick off the weekend.

Frozen Cocktails

A slushie cocktail feels very American to me. It’s impossible to go out in New Orleans or Las Vegas without seeing masses of people walking down the street supping on frozen cocktails the size of their heads.

Slush cocktails are probably best reserved for the summer when their cool and refreshing qualities are most in demand.

Bourbon Slush Punch – Smitten Kitchen

Really, you wouldn’t like this. Who’d want to drink a half-frozen blend of strong tea, lemonade, orange juice and bourbon garnished with fresh mint on a sticky, hot summer day?

Cherry Bourbon Slush – Dessert For Two

Bourbon slush recipe made with frozen cherries and a scoop of coconut sorbet or vanilla ice cream–your choice.

Frozen Rose Wine Slushies – Mommy’s Kitchen

Frosé (solidified rosé). It resembles an adult Icee – fruity, marginally sweet, and hazardously delectable.

Frozen Margarita – Isabel Eats

Made with only 5 ingredients, this Frozen Margarita recipe is cold, slushy, frosty and delicious! Perfect for cooling down and relaxing on those hot, sunny days.

Something Unusual

Mix it up! I especially love the sound of the bacon pisco, even if it does involve some pre-planning and effort. It would certainly be a talking point!

Classic Gin Rickey – Veggie Desserts

This is the ultimate classic Gin Rickey cocktail! It is refreshing and delicious, plus it’s super easy to make with just a few ingredients.

Maple Bacon Pisco Sour – Honestly Yum

You read that right. Bacon is rendered, the fat flavours the booze and the cocktail is made. This must be the ultimate refined Americana cocktail.

The Orange Buddy Beer Can Cocktail

Beer, liquor, juice, and a straw is all you need to turn a standby brew into a simple cocktail sure to please (almost) any palate.

Americana Inspired Dessert Drinks

I call these desserts because you need to leave room for them and I really wouldn’t recommend having one before the food. I’ve made that mistake before. See also mango lassies at Indian restaurants. Really big mistake!

Non-Alcoholic Dessert Drinks

Oreo Milkshake – The Salty Marshmallow

Oreo Milkshake Recipe – A super easy milkshake made with vanilla ice cream, milk, and Oreo cookies! This sweet treat is a hit with the whole family on a hot day!

Peanut Butter Milkshake – Honey and Birch

This toasted marshmallow peanut butter milkshake is decadent and can bring your mind back to warm summer nights even in the dead of winter.

Coca Cola Ice Cream Floats – The Forked Spoon

What better way to kick off warmer temperatures than with an easy backyard campout complete with crisp and creamy Coca-Cola® Ice Cream Floats.

Alcoholic Dessert Drinks

These sort of boozy milkshakes are also called “Hardshakes” and I just love them. They’re always such a treat and a total double decadence!

Boozy Pumpkin Milkshake – Broma Bakery

Pumpkin puree and bourbon combine with vanilla ice cream to make this ultimate American flavoured milkshake.

Boozy Key Lime Pie Shake – She Knows

This frozen cocktail, made with tart, sweet frozen fruit, creamy vanilla ice cream and top-shelf libations, not only tastes great and gives you relief from the oppressive heat, they are so easy to make.

Bananas Foster Milkshake – Savoring The Thyme

Don’t be confused: This is not a child’s milkshake. This is a, ‘Dang, I am a grown-up and I know it’.

Eggnog

I couldn’t let this section go without talking about Eggnog. I think it is such a mysterious thing to those of us in the UK. The whole of America (according to Hollywood!) appears to be supping on this drink for a good month and we don’t really have it at all.

Advocaat is probably the nearest thing we have. But it is much thicker and stronger than eggnog. I’ve found both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions for you to try. Probably most appropriate in the winter. I don’t get the impression is is a great summer drink!

Best Eggnog – Jamie Oliver

My eggnog recipe is pretty special. It could be that it’s actually flavourful and doesn’t just taste like sweet milk (or maybe it’s just the bourbon, who knows?), but the holidays aren’t the holidays without it.

Non-Alcoholic Eggnog – Ahead Of Thyme

Nothing says the holidays more than a cup of classic eggnog. If you are still buying store-bought eggnog, take one sip of this non-alcoholic homemade version and I bet you’ll never look back! Creamy, thick and smooth, who wouldn’t want some nog?!

Americana Inspired Hot Drinks

Coffee

Coffee is absolutely ubiquitous in North America. I’ve been to the original Starbucks shop in Seattle. It was poorly designed with the queue a mess and they got my order wrong. It explained a lot for me!!

But to me, it is regular drip filter coffee that screams Americana. You can be as snobby as you like about coffee but I’m quite happy with some bottomless diner coffee. In fact, I think I prefer it.

I don’t tend to do a lot of coffees after meals but if it is something you want to serve, then just go ahead and serve your favourite kind.

On the basis that you are unlikely to have a filter coffee machine, use whatever you have available like a cafetiere or stovetop espresso maker. Or just use instant. Alternatively, if you have a pod coffee machine, that could be plugged in somewhere convenient.

I’d serve it with single cream for a little extra decadence. But for true authenticity, you probably need to pick up a tub of “non-dairy creamer”. Or go with single cream but call it half-and-half!

Tea

I once made the mistake of asking for tea with my breakfast in the dining cart of an Amtrak train heading south to Memphis. I got a pint of sweet iced tea.

This English lady weeped a little then asked for ‘hot tea’ instead. When it came, it was a glass jar with no handle filled with lukewarm water with a teabag on the side. I sobbed a little more but gave it a go. Then I ordered a coffee instead. This is not a mistake I made again.

The moral of the story is that it is very difficult to get good tea in the US. (Any Americans that tell you otherwise are just accustomed to the ming that they’re used to, don’t believe their hype!). And so this isn’t something that I would serve as a matter of course.

Stick with Long Island Iced Tea.

Drinkware for Americana Inspired Drinks

What drinking vessels you need will obviously depend on what drinks you are choosing to serve.

Mugs, Cups and Saucers

If you are planning on serving coffee after the meal, you will need suitable sized cups or mugs. I think I’d be fine with mugs as informality really is key.

For a larger crowd, unless you can hire some mugs or are willing to buy a bunch of cheap ones, you could buy some disposable (recyclable) cups which are available in a few different sizes.

Glassware

Again this will be very dependent on what you choose to serve…

I would expect to have a minimum of one small tumbler available per person. This allows for a water glass each.

If serving a short cocktail, you’ll need another tumbler each. I often use some slightly fancier glasses for my cocktails. Or my current favourite option is to use these lovely jam jars.

Hi-ball tumblers are ideal for soft drinks, longer cocktails, slushies, milkshakes and hardshakes. One per person, per drink will be needed.

For larger crowds, glasses can often be hired from wine shops and supermarkets so this might be worth looking into. Otherwise children’s or picnic tumblers can made a handy substitute.

You will likely wish to have at least one pitcher/jug of water on the table. This cork lidded number is my current favourite option from Ikea. A similar jug can also be used for any pitcher cocktails that you wish to serve.

Alcohol – When the Fun Stops, Stop!

As I’ve provided you with a whole bunch of alcoholic drink suggestions, it would be remiss of me to not remind you to be sensible.

Please don’t pressure your guests into drinking, drinking more than they want to or having ‘just one more for the road’. Especially if they’re driving.

The industry standard is to tell you to “drink responsibly”. To me that sounds like they want you to recycle all wine bottles.

I much prefer the gambling industry’s slogan. “When the Fun Stops, Stop”. I think that applies to both drinking on the day and generally in life.

So if the fun has stopped, do indeed stop. Have a look over at www.drinkaware.co.uk if you need some help doing just that.

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