4 Delicious Low-Alcohol Cocktails That Are Made for Summer Sipping

For a wine and spirits writer, I am surprisingly a lightweight—usually one and done. But come summer, with the backyard parties and lazy afternoons that turn into long evenings, I yearn to enjoy two or even (gasp!) three drinks over the course of many hours, without getting too buzzed.

Enter low-ABV (alcohol by volume) cocktails. I asked my REAL SIMPLE test kitchen friend Melissa Gray-Streett to create four quaffable cocktails that don’t pack much of a punch. She delivered: These all come in at under 9% ABV. For perspective, a glass of wine is typically between 11% and 14% ABV, and a cocktail is much higher. I’ll drink (a couple) to that! 

To make sure these cocktail recipes are easy to find the next time friends stop by, I saved all of these recipes on MyRecipes, REAL SIMPLE’s digital recipe box. Want to save them too, or any of our other recipes? Just click the save button with the little heart near every recipe.