We love cocktails for their creativity, layered notes, and complexity. A well-made drink can feel like a small act of discovery — a little bitter, a little bright, something smoky or unexpected unfolding in the glass. Always choosing the same drink, even if it is your favorite, can keep you from experiencing new adventures. Take some advice from these Pittsburgh bartenders and even try a new summer cocktail recipe at home.
Like most of us, I, too, tend to return to my favorites: bourbon or mezcal, or a cocktail with a unique feature like house-made bitters, fresh ingredients, or something surprising like herbal tea. I enjoy trying new things, but I have also stared at a cocktail menu while wondering how to explain what I want.
Maybe you’re like me. You have a go-to drink, but you also want to branch out — something familiar enough to trust, but new enough to feel exciting. And when a bartender asks a perfectly reasonable follow-up question, you find yourself at a loss for the right language. No one wants to pretend expertise just to impress the table. No one wants to spend $20 on a cocktail they don’t enjoy.
How to Find a New Summer Cocktail According to Pittsburgh Bartenders
Because summer feels like the right time to loosen that up, I spoke with bartenders at The Lion and Fig & Ash about how to move from the familiar toward something brighter and more seasonal. What I learned was reassuring: you don’t need perfect bar language. You just need a starting point.
Pay Attention to Flavor, Not Just the Drink Name
One of the easiest ways to move beyond your usual order is to start noticing flavors. Do you love a margarita because you love tequila or because you like something tart, acidic, and punchy? Do you love a French 75 for the gin, the bubbles, or the citrus?
Rachel Sinagra, general manager at Fig & Ash, said she listens for whether guests talk about the spirit or the flavor. That distinction helps her know where to guide them. Someone who loves a margarita for the tequila may enjoy a very different recommendation than someone who loves it for the lime and freshness.
Many of us don’t know the technical terms for what we like, but we do know the experience we’re after: light and fresh, smoky but not heavy, floral but not perfumy, bitter but balanced. That language is enough.
Let the Menu Give You Clues
At The Lion, the cocktail experience is built around house-made infusions. Guests begin with flavors that catch their attention — pomegranate mint vodka, hibiscus mezcal, ginger lime tequila, orange vanilla bourbon — and the bartender asks a few discovery questions from there. Sweet, bitter, or neutral? Those answers point toward an Old Fashioned, a Boulevardier, or a Manhattan variation.
This approach doesn’t require a performance. Fig & Ash takes a similar stance, avoiding brand-name emphasis on their menu and describing flavor profiles instead. The idea isn’t to quiz the diner. It’s to help them find their way.
Talk to Your Bartender
The bartenders I spoke with were clear. Start with what you usually drink. Tell them what you like or don’t like: refreshing, citrusy, bitter, floral, smoky, strong, low-ABV, or not too sweet. That’s usually all a good bartender needs.
For the more adventurous, there’s always “bartender’s choice.” Offer a few preferences — a spirit, a flavor, a mood — and let them create from there. At Fig & Ash, Rachel recalled a guest who wanted a nonalcoholic drink with ginger, strawberry, and something light and sparkling. Throughout the evening, the bartender remixed those same notes in different ways, creating a fresh experience each time.
Play “If This, Then That”
You don’t have to leap from your familiar cocktail into completely unknown territory. Look at what’s adjacent like a similar spirit, brightness, bitterness, or mood.
If you love a margarita, you may love the way lime, salt, and acidity wake up the palate. Jason McCarty, owner and bartender at The Lion, suggested a Spicy Paloma: jalapeño cucumber tequila, grapefruit, lime, cayenne, and soda. It keeps the brightness and punch, but shifts toward something more refreshing and summer-ready.
Rachel at Fig & Ash pointed me toward a caipirinha as another warm-weather cousin — cachaça, lime, and sugar, with a little funk from the spirit that feels fresh. A gimlet is also a smart move if what you love is the tartness of a margarita but you’re open to gin.
If your go-to is a French 75, you may love bubbles, fruit, and a little elegance. Rachel suggested moving toward an Aperol Spritz with sparkling rosé instead of prosecco. It keeps the sparkle and aperitif quality but softens into something more summery. Or swap the classic gin for a pea flower gin infusion: same structure of spirit, citrus, and bubbles, but with a floral finish and vivid indigo color made for late spring.
And if, like me, you love an Old Fashioned but want something less dark and moody when the weather turns warm, the Paper Plane is an easy next step. Bourbon still anchors the drink, but Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon bring citrus, bitterness, and lift. It’s still complex and spirit-forward, but suddenly, it has sunlight in it.
What If You Don’t Like Your Summer Cocktail?
Say so, with kindness and specificity. The worst outcome for a bartender isn’t that you dislike the drink; it’s that you quietly abandon it after two sips. If something is too sweet, too bitter, or not quite what you expected, say what isn’t working. Most bartenders would rather adjust than have you sit politely with something you don’t enjoy.
And when you do like something, ask about it. What’s in this? Why did you make it this way? That’s how taste develops, not through expertise alone, but through curiosity, conversation, and pleasure.
This summer, your go-to cocktail doesn’t have to disappear. It may just be asking for a little more brightness and play.
A Summer Cocktail Recipe to Try at Home from Jason McCarty at The Lion
Print
Pineapple Serrano Painkiller
Description
Something different to try on a hot summer day…
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz of pineapple serrano rum (see infusion instructions below)
- 1.5 oz orange juice
- 1.5 oz pineapple juice
- ¼ oz creme of coconut
Instructions
- Shake in a cocktail shaker.
- Serve with an orange as a garnish in a rocks glass or a tiki glass.
For the infusion:
- Slice a whole pineapple, roast the slices on 400F for 5 minutes on each side.
- Roast 10 serrano peppers whole on 400F for 10-20 minutes.
- Combine roasted pineapples and peppers in 1.5 gallons of rum.
- Let it sit for 5 days, then strain.
Story by Fatimah Williams, PhD
Recipe by Jason McCarty, The Lion
Styling by Star Laliberte
Photography by Dave Bryce
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