3 Easy Summer Highballs you'll make all season

A trio of easy, refreshing highball cocktails perfect for summer and Father's Day: a Dirty Martini Tonic, a Beericano (a beer-topped riff on the Americano), and a Kentucky Buck. All three are built for clear ice and minimal effort.

smart_display Published 2026-06-07 download Extracted 2026-06-20

10m Prep

10m Total

3 Servings

cocktail highball summer fathers-day gin campari bourbon no-cook drinks

Ingredients

Beericano

1.25 oz sweet vermouth
1.25 oz Campari
to top Pilsner beer (plus extra for frothed foam garnish)
for garnish orange peel (expressed across the top)

Dirty Martini Tonic

45 ml Empress cucumber lemon gin
45 ml dry vermouth
10 ml olive brine
2.5 oz tonic water (to top, equal part)
for garnish lemon peel (expressed across the top)
3 jumbo olives (for garnish)

Kentucky Buck

2 oz bourbon
3 strawberries (stemmed and chopped, muddled (plus 1 whole for garnish))
0.75 oz fresh lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
0.75 oz simple syrup
2 oz ginger beer (to top (ginger ale or muddled fresh ginger as substitute))
1 strawberry (for garnish)

Steps

Beericano

1

Build the drink directly in a highball glass with a large clear ice spear. Add the Campari and sweet vermouth.
2

Top with Pilsner beer and stir gently with a spoon to mix.
3

Add a little extra beer to a shaker tin and froth it with a milk frother to make a beer foam. Float a little of the foam over the drink.
4

Express an orange zest across the top for the oils.

Dirty Martini Tonic

1

Combine the Empress cucumber lemon gin, dry vermouth, and olive brine, then pour into a small bottle and place in the freezer until ice cold.

Tip: Make big batches in larger bottles for a freezer-door dirty martini ready to pour anytime.

~30 min
2

Fill a large glass with two clear ice cubes, pour in the ice-cold dirty martini, and top with an equal part of tonic water. Stir briefly to incorporate.
3

Express a lemon zest across the top and garnish with three jumbo olives.

Kentucky Buck

1

Stem and chop three strawberries. Add them to a shaker (along with a couple of slices of fresh ginger if no ginger beer is available) and muddle to release their juice and flavor.

Tip: Muddling the strawberries adds a creamy texture to the finished drink.
2

Add the bourbon, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup to the shaker. Fill with ice and shake for 10 to 15 seconds.
3

Add three clear ice spheres to a Collins glass and fine strain the cocktail in.
4

Top with about 2 oz of ginger beer (or ginger ale) and stir briefly to combine. Garnish with a strawberry.

Nutrition (per serving)

210

Calories

14g

Carbs

Cultural Context

These three drinks are modern bar riffs on established classics. The Dirty Martini Tonic is inspired by the 50/50 Dirty Martini Tonic from Schmuck in New York City, opening up the savory martini into a longer, more refreshing highball. The Beericano was created by Damon Boelte of Brooklyn's Grand Army Bar and was widely popularized on Instagram by Justin (@thirstywhale_); it swaps the Americano's usual soda for beer. The Kentucky Buck is a modern classic created by Eric Castro (also responsible for the Piña Verde), built around bourbon, muddled strawberry, and ginger beer in the 'Buck' family of ginger-topped cocktails.