This slushy cocktail made with ouzo and lemonade is the perfect summer slushie treat!

Summer makes us thirsty! There is nothing like a refreshing cocktail, sipped poolside, to help celebrate the warm weather months. Flavours and recipes we would pass on in winter, we crave in the summer – frosty cocktails are one of those things.

Montreal summers can get pretty hot and humid. Temperatures ranging in the high twenties or early thirties, with a high humidex can make you feel hot and sweaty and pretty uncomfortable. The best place to be when that happens is by the water (a pool, a lake, the shower), sipping a nice cool drink.

A refreshing summer drink made with ouzo and lemonade

Ούζο λεμονάδα. Let’s all raise a glass to Billie’s Koumbara Georgia. Several years ago, during a summer get together, Georgia served a pitcher filled with ούζο λεμονάδα or ouzo lemonade. She made it simply, with a good quality store-bought lemonade and a generous glug of ouzo. Stir, serve over ice, and marvel at the simple things in life.

Since then ouzo lemonade has become a staple during the warm weather months. It is refreshing, tart and sweet in the way that ouzo is. We like to keep this drink as simple as Koumbara Georgia did; the only way we dress it up is by adding a sprig of either mint or rosemary (our preference) to help stir the drink and add an extra layer of flavour. So go ahead, pour yourself a glass of ouzo lemonade and cheers to family, friends and Koumbara Georgia!