Best Mixed Drinks for Enjoying Country Music

Country music jams sessions or live bands at your local bar always signal a good time. Laughing, dancing until your feet ache inside your cowboy boots, and sharing good times with friends just naturally go together. What are the best mixed drinks for enjoying country music?

Country music and drinks are lifetime companions, too! Whether you are listening to a haunting country ballad or a line dancing number, there are some drinks that just go down perfectly with country and western music. Me? I like a long-neck bottle of Sam Adams or a glass of Jim Beam but many of my friends are partial to a glass or two of their favorite cocktail between line dancing and a Texas two-step.

These are some of the ones they order at Denver’s favorite country bar, Grizzly Rose. Some of their choices have been prompted by country songs where they’ve heard them mentioned!

Why not sidle up to the bar and order a mixed drink inspired by one of your favorite country tunes (or rising country artists) or throw a CD on your home player, kick back, veg out with your friends or your sweetheart and sip on a classic country-themed beverage or two? Read on for amazing cocktail recipes.

Best Mixed Drinks for Enjoy Country Music

Margaritas

 

We have to go with a classic for one of the best mixed drinks for enjoying country music. Who can resist ordering a margarita when Jimmy Buffet is belting out his classic song? Let the traditional margarita or one of its variations take you out to some beach, somewhere! Just in case you want to make up a pitcher or two of these, here’s my never-fail recipe!

How to Make a Traditional Margarita

• 2 ounces tequila
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 1 ounce Cointreau

Rub the rim of the glass lime slice. Shake sea salt around the edge.

Shake tequila and Cointreau with ice. Pour into glass. Garnish with a slice of lime.

Greyhound

Think about “Big Dogs” by Hank Williams Jr or “Don’t Pet the Dog” and “Fox on the Run” by the Good Brothers. Country songs pay tribute to faithful pets and to good old hunting dogs. Sit back and enjoy an animal song and sip this “Greyhound”.

How to Make a Greyhound

• 1 1⁄2 ounces grapefruit vodka
• 1 1⁄2 ounces of grapefruit juice
• 1⁄3 ounce lime juice
• Soda water

Fill a shaker with ice, vodka, grapefruit juice, and lime juice. Shake and strain into a highball glass with fresh ice.

Top with soda water and garnish with a grapefruit wedge.

Scarlet O’Hara

Ah! Country and western music and Southern Comfort are perfect companions. And, although Texas likes to claim all of Country Western music and Nashville insists it is the heart of Country Western music, Georgia has a thing or two to teach them with the Scarlet O’Hara. It’s one of singer Buddy Jewel’s favorites.

This is a genteel southern drink named for the southern belle of Tara in Gone with the Wind. Its main ingredient, Southern Comfort is a favorite for folks who live south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Scarlet O’Hara Ingredients

• 2 ounces Southern Comfort
• 6 ounces cranberry juice
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• Lime wheel, to garnish

Pour Southern Comfort and lime juice into a glass filled with ice. Top with cranberry juice. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Rhett Butler

How could southerners serve Scarlet O’Hara cocktails without giving equal time to a Rhett Butler?

How to Make a Rhett Butler

• 2 ounces Southern Comfort
• 1/2 ounce​ orange Curacao
• 1/2 ounce lime juice
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• lemon twist

Shake Southern Comfort, orange Curacao, lime and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Classic Whiskey Sour

Whiskey is a mainstay of country music. Just give Kenny Rogers’ Lucille a listen if you don’t believe me. This tangy cocktail is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step!

How to Make a Classic Whiskey Sour with a Western Twist

• 3 Blackberries
• 2 Ounces Simple Lemon Syrup
• 1 Ounce Jim Beam bourbon
• Crushed Ice

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with blackberries OR a maraschino cherry, lemon rind and/or an orange slice

Moscow Mule

I know what you are thinking! Moscow? Country music? Really? But beer and country music are inseparable. If you want a beer mixed drink then the Moscow Mule combines the ultimate southern staple in a mixed drink. While you are sipping it, listen to good beer drinking songs from such artists Zac Brown Band.

How to Make a Moscow Mule

• 2 ounces vodka
• 6 ounces ginger beer
• Juice of one lime
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup
• Fresh mint

Mix the light vodka and ginger beer in a copper mug filled with ice. Add lime juice and agave syrup. Stir gently. Garnish with a lime slice.

Sangria

While you sing along to Deanna Carter’s “strawberry wine” why not sip a version of Strawberry Sangria?

How to Make Strawberry Sangria

• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 bottle of sweet red wine
• 1/2 sliced strawberries
• Cored, thinly sliced Red Delicious apple
• Thinly sliced blood orange
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 2 limes, thinly sliced
• Club soda
• Strawberry syrup

In a large container, like a punch bowl, mix brandy, orange juice, wine. Add equal parts club soda. Stir in fruit. Dip from the large bowl into punch cups or glasses. Drizzle with strawberry syrup and garnish with a chocolate-dipped strawberry.

Salty Dog with Saddle Strips

Need another to add to your list of best mixed drinks for enjoying country music? This country and western-themed drink pay tribute to hard-working cowboys of western songs. Listen to heartthrob Ricky Nelson sing, “My Rifle, My Pony, and Me” while you sip this drink.

How to Make a Salty Dog

• 2 1/2 cups grapefruit juice
• 6 ounces vodka
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 4 sticks buffalo or beef jerky

Dampen each glass rim with grapefruit juice. Press the rims in a saucer of salt. Pour ingredients over ice into four glasses. Stir well. Garnish with jerky pieces on a stick.

There are dozens of choices for a good cocktail, but not all pair well with country music. These are some of our favorites! Drop into Grizzly Rose and enjoy one, plus some great country music.

Some would even argue that a cold beer pairs best with country music and don’t let anyone ever tell you that wine and country don’t get along great!