Entertaining

The 4 Best Guava Cocktails for Sweet Tropical Fun

This crossover between an American Shandy and an Italian Americano uses salted guava syrup to make a wonderfully nuanced, fruity beer-tail. Malty Low Life Pilsner adds floral and yeasty notes to a base of Campari and rosé-based vermouth, Cocchi Rosa. Together with the guava syrup, they create a bittersweet taste reminiscent of an Americano, but with deeper fruit flavors and a touch of salt to really punch your palate.

Grassy, funky rhum agricole makes a perfect match for the sweet tropical flavors of guava. Puréed like peach in a Bellini, the guava adds texture and flavors of ripe fruit, while a combination of Rhum Clement and J.M. Rhum contribute their overripe flavors. The mixture is topped with just an ounce of dry Champagne for an effervescent fizz that elevates the flavors without watering down the heady fruit mixture.

Guava-mango kombucha anchors this massive punch named for a legendary sea monster that mythically plagued the rum merchants of the Caribbean. Stiegl Radler grapefruit beer, pineapple juice and papaya purée round out the fruity punch, but it’s the three kinds of rum—including the overproof Plantation O.F.T.D.—that make the drink pop with flavors that range from deep molasses to bright and grassy. Meanwhile, a touch of the walnut liqueur Nocello, along with walnut bitters, punctuate every sip with nutty, buttery complexity.

Guava plays a supporting but key role in this quadruply fruity punch. Made with watermelon, passion fruit, pineapple and the aforementioned guava, the punch overloads your palate with sweet flavors from around the world. Coconut and clementine flavored vodkas enhance the tropical playfulness even further, while an orchid garnish clearly marks this punch as a warm weather pleasure.