Midnight Sunshine – a Frozen Aquavit Cocktail

I’m back with another aquavit cocktail! If you’ve hung around here for a little while, you know that I love aquavit, and I think it deserves a starring role in more summer cocktails, just like gin or vodka. Ever tried an Aquavit and Tonic? Or maybe a Nordic Summer, a simple sour-style alternative to the Aperol Spritz made with aquavit, lime juice and Aperol. If you enjoy the botanical flavors of gin, you might find yourself a fan of aquavit as well!

This frozen cocktail slushie combines the appeal of fruity, poolside summer cocktails with the slightly more adult, multidimensional flavors of aquavit and herbs. Combining aquavit, lemon, honey, thyme, and peaches, the Midnight Sunshine is a unique frozen cocktail that’s also a fun crowd-pleaser. And it’s easy to batch for summer gatherings, too!

What is aquavit?

Like I’ve discussed in my Elderflower & Grapefruit Aquavit Sour recipe, aquavit is a clear distilled spirit made from either grains or potatoes and flavored with a variety of botanicals, the most prominent of which must be either caraway or dill seed. This gives aquavit a somewhat savory, spicy, herbal flavor profile that’s often paired with flavors like tomato (think Bloody Marys) or cucumber. Grapefruit is another common pairing, and you can’t go wrong with a simple Aquavit Greyhound (2 oz aquavit, 4 oz fresh pink grapefruit juice)!

What’s in the Midnight Sunshine cocktail?

This frozen, herb and fruit cocktail is made with:

• 2 oz aquavit
• 1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 oz thyme honey syrup
• ½ cup frozen peaches (about 4-5 large slices)
• 1 cup of ice

How to make the thyme honey syrup

This cocktail syrup is what I like to call a long steep syrup. This means that rather than cooking the syrup on the stove to infuse the herbal flavor, you steep the herb in hot syrup until the liquid cools completely, like a cup of tea. Once the syrup has cooled, you strain the herbs out and it’s ready to go. This method is a bit gentler on the herb and helps to impart a fresh herb flavor, rather than a cooked herb flavor. If you’re interested in making your own cocktail syrups, you might enjoy my Ultimate Guide to Cocktail Syrups!

For this syrup, I’ve used a half cup of honey, a half cup of boiling water, and stirred them together until the honey completely dissolves. Next, I stirred in 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme, covered the syrup, and allowed it to cool fully. This takes about 20-30 minutes.

Batching the cocktail for a group

This recipe multiplies easily to batch for a group. Simply multiply the measures by the number of guests, and blend all ingredients until smooth. Depending on the capacity of your blender, you might need to make a few batches. Here’s a breakdown with kitchen measurement conversions for easy batching for a group of four.

How to make a batch of four cocktails:

• 8 oz (1 cup) aquavit
• 4 oz (½ cup) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4-5 lemons worth)
• 4 oz (½ cup) thyme honey syrup (½ cup honey, ½ cup boiling water, 5-6 sprigs thyme)
• 2 cups frozen peaches
• 4 cups of ice

More aquavit recipes to enjoy:

• Nordic Summer (aquavit, lime, Aperol)
• Elderflower & Grapefruit Aquavit Sour
• Cranberry Aquavit & Tonic
• Aquavit Negroni
• Garden Fairy (with aquavit, absinthe, cucumber)