Summer Sangrias

I'm not that big of a drinker. But you wouldn't know that looking at my Pinterest board. In addition to non-alcoholic drinks and food recipes, I've collected a whole slew of cocktails - most of which I haven't actually tried.

When I do drink, I'm into stereotypically girly drinks - wine or fruity cocktails. Thus I love sangrias, because they are both wine-based and fruity. In fact, at its basic, that's all sangria is, wine and fruit. Its perfect in that it is both simple (sort of) and customizable. Along with the wine and fruit/fruit juice can be added other liquors (often rum), soda or seltzer water, and various sweeteners or spices.

In my collecting of drink recipes, I've come across sangrias for all seasons - sugar plum for Christmas, various fall apple cider based sangrias. It is summer, though, that I think sangria is truly best suited for.

Here are some of the most summer-worthy sangrias I've come across:

Cherry Limeade Sangria c/o Recipe Girl 

Limeades themselves are the epitome of summer, but this sangria ups the ante by mixing store-bought limeade with cherry juice, fresh cherries, Sauvignon Blanc and vodka.

Or how about a lemonade sangria? 

There are different variations around, but the above raspberry lemonade sangria looks amazingly easy and simple as well as refreshing. It uses just white wine, vodka, raspberry lemonade concentrate, fresh raspberries, and Sprite.

Did I mention I like fruity drinks? The tropical passion sangria from the blog Pineapple and Coconut is basically a cross between a pina colada and a sangria, with a little bit of passion fruit juice thrown in. The pineapple simple syrup sounds a little daunting though.

Krista from Joyful Healthy Eats mixes sweet summer fruits with a kick of spice in a Strawberry Jalapeno White Sangria. 

Of course it wouldn't be summer without iced tea. The Loveless Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee features a sweet tea sangria made with red wine, sweet tea, lemonade, strawberries, oranges and lemon.

Of course if I don't feel up to attempting any of these recipes, there's always chilled white wine mixed with frozen strawberries for a simple summer slush.

Cheers to summer!