How To Make A Peach Summer Cocktail With Just 2 Ingredients

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

When looking for something boozy but also nice and cooling for the summer, it makes sense to lean into fruit juice. You can put a spin on the classic bay breeze with rum in place of vodka — or go in more of a tart and slightly bitter direction with a grapefruit-based greyhound cocktail. The latter is nice and cooling, and the bitterness helps make it a sipping cocktail, so you can keep yourself from going too hard at once. But when you want something that's a bit sweeter with a nod to the South, perfect for humid afternoons, a peach-flavored cocktail may be in order. Best of all, you can make it with just two ingredients: vodka and peach juice. This is sort of a spin on the classic fuzzy navel that was big in the 80s, but with a bit more of a punch.

A fuzzy navel is a concoction of peach schnapps and orange juice that, while delicious, can be a bit cloyingly sweet. Then there's the hairy navel, with vodka added to the mix. But if you can skip the schnapps altogether and go straight to peach juice. Simply mix an ounce and a half or a couple of ounces of your favorite vodka with some peach juice over ice and give it a nice stir. The vodka melds beautifully with the peach juice, giving a thicker, sweeter, perhaps more summery flavor than the standard screwdriver (traditionally made with vodka and orange juice). And if you find it too thick or sweet, you can play with the recipe to get it right where you want it.

Whether you call it a peach screwdriver or maybe even a shaved navel, the vodka peach is a super easy cocktail that will add some new flavor to your next get-together — great for backyard barbecues or a quick mix for relaxing after a long day. A simple Jumex Peach Nectar (available on Amazon) from concentrate will work fine, but you can invest in a cold-pressed Pomona Organic Peach Juice (also on Amazon) to go for more of a natural, fresh flavor. While it only requires vodka and peach juice, you may want to play around with the amount of ice, or even give it a toss in the cocktail shaker to dilute it a bit, if the vodka's too strong or the juice is too sweet. 

If you want to go the full mixology route, you can add fresh peach slices, some lemon juice, and a bit of sparkling water. You can even muddle ripe peaches with a bit of simple syrup and lemon juice, then add your vodka and ice for a truly fresh, handmade cocktail. Peach blends perfectly with vodka because the sweetness of the peach mixed with the neutral flavor of the vodka makes something that's refreshing, sweet, and completely fruit-forward. And you can dial it in to get exactly the right amount of booze and sweetness. It only takes a minute to stir them together, or you can get creative with a couple extra ingredients — shoot, maybe even add a champagne topper for a revved-up peach and vodka Bellini.