If you are looking for a bright red cocktail to serve at your next get together, check out one of these 20+ fun drinks. Red cocktails can be simple two ingredient highballs or much more elaborate shots and cocktails.
The Best Red Cocktails
Red cocktails make the perfect drink for many different themed occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Anniversaries, Christmas/Winter Holidays and even July 4th. Many are also easy to make and work well for other informal get togethers or parties.
These cocktails range from simple, two ingredient highballs to more elaborate shots and multiple ingredient, gradient colored cocktails. There’s certainly something for everyone from decadent dessert drinks to tart sippers. Here are some of our best red cocktails.
Jump to:
- The Best Red Cocktails
- The Red Devil Drink
- Transfusion Drink
- Redheaded Slut Shot
- Vodka and Cranberry
- Rum & Cranberry
- Whiskey & Cranberry
- Tequila & Cranberry
- Gin & Cranberry
- Royal Flush Shot
- Strawberry Sunrise
- Strawberry martini
- Strawberry Margarita
- Strawberry Lemondrop Martini
- French Kiss Shot
- Tree Smacker Drink
- Cherry Bomb Shot
- Cherry Vodka Sour
- Red Cocktail FAQ
The Red Devil Drink
The Red devil cocktail maybe one of the brightest red cocktails on this list. It was also one of the highest alcohol content drinks so be cautious when enjoying this one.
To make this one you’ll need to toss into your cocktail shaker peach schnapps, Southern comfort, sloe gin, vodka, Grand Marnier, orange juice and grenadine. The resulting drink tastes surprisingly like a sweet fruit cocktail cup.
Transfusion Drink
The Transfusion cocktail is a highball drink that is quite easy to make. It is a darker red almost purple color.
To make this one you’ll need grape juice, ginger ale, lime juice and vodka. The resulting flavor is quite heavy on the grape with the refreshing fiz of the ginger ale.
Redheaded Slut Shot
This shot is a dark red color, hence it’s name the redheaded slut shot. It tastes like cranberry peach juice with a little zing of the herbal flavors from jager.
This one is super easy to mix up. Toss equal parts of cranberry juice, jager and peach schnapps into your shaker shake well and pour it into your shot glass.
Vodka and Cranberry
Vodka cranberry sometimes called a Cape cod or Cape coddler is a very classic to ingredient highball. Of course, for this one you simply need vodka and cranberry juice.
The vodka being rather tasteless mixes perfectly with the cranberry juice resulting in a sweet tart flavor with a little bit of an alcoholic bite on the end.
Rum & Cranberry
The rum and cranberry is very similar to the vodka and cranberry with a slightly sweeter flavor from the rum mixed in. It of course is a bright red color and looks pretty much exactly like cranberry juice.
The tart yet sweet cranberry flavor mixed with a sweet flavor of rum makes for an easy sipper in the spring or summertime.
Whiskey & Cranberry
Another cranberry highball, this time mixed with whiskey. Of course the resulting whiskey cranberry is a bright red cocktail.
This one has the sweet and tart cranberry flavor with the caramel and okie undertones of whiskey. It is perfect for any season.
Add a little spin to this one by whipping up a Cranberry whiskey sour which adds lemon juice and simple syrup into the cocktail.
Tequila & Cranberry
A tequila and cranberry is yet another two ingredient cranberry juice highball that is super easy to make. It is a refreshing flavor with the sweet tart cranberry juice.
The tequila lends to almost a cranberry margarita flavor, but not quite as sweet and missing the lime.
Gin & Cranberry
This gin cranberry highball is probably the most complex flavor of all of them. It has the punch of botanicals and pine-like flavor from the gin added in to the sweet tart cranberry flavor.
Again, a super easy to ingredient drink to mix up. You can have this one ready in 2 minutes or less.
Fruit Punch Highballs
Similar to the above mentioned cranberry high balls, you can also make fruit punch highballs with any of the common liquors such as tequila, vodka, gin, whiskey.
The resulting drinks are of course a bright red color. They’re all full of sweet fruity flavor courtesy of the fruit punch. You simply need 4 oz of fruit punch in 2 oz of liquor or any of the drinks.
Royal Flush Shot
The royal flush drink can be serve either is a shot or a cocktail. It is a dark red fruity flavored drink.
For this one you’ll need crown Royal, Chambord, peach schnapps and cranberry juice. Toss everything in your shaker give it a couple good shakes and you’re ready to serve.
Strawberry Sunrise
The strawberry sunrise is a variation of the classic tequila sunrise where you replace the grenadine with actual strawberries. The resulting drink has that classic red to orange gradient color.
To whip this one up you’ll need tequila or vodka, orange juice and strawberry puree. The resulting drink is quite sweet and bursting with orange and strawberry flavors.
Another sunrise variation that is a red cocktail is the the amaretto sunrise. Not surprisingly, the tequila vodka typically used in sunrise drinks is replaced with amaretto in this one.
Strawberry martini
A strawberry martini is relatively easy to make and is full of strawberry flavor. One of the main differences between this and a classic martini is it you’ll have to muddle the strawberries together. However, that’s relatively easy to do
To make this one all you need are some strawberries, simple syrup and vodka. Give yourself about 5 minutes and you’ll have your drink ready to go.
Strawberry Margarita
Strawberry margarita is just like a classic margarita but with the flavor of strawberry added in. For this one you’ll need to tequila, lime juice, triple sec, simple syrup and strawberries.
You’ll muddle your simple syrup and strawberries together in your cocktail shaker then add the rest of your ingredients.
Strawberry Lemondrop Martini
A spin on the regular strawberry martini is a strawberry lemon drop martini. It tastes just like strawberry lemonade and a super delicious and easy to make.
For this one you’ll need strawberries, simple syrup, lemon juice, triple sec and vodka.
French Kiss Shot
This super cute and sweet layered french kiss shot starts with a bright red layer on the bottom a pink layer in the middle and a white layer on top. The flavor is delicious tasting almost like a strawberry cream candy with a kick of cinnamon from RumChata.
To make this one you’ll need grenadine, tequila Rose, RumChata and a large dollop of whipped cream. This one does take a little tiny bit of time to make as you have to pour slowly to get your layers correct.
Tree Smacker Drink
The tree smacker drink is a dark orange at the top and has a gradient color down to a dark red at the bottom. This drink is quite heavy on the alcohol content but still has a sweet fruit flavor.
To with this one up you’ll need apple pucker, peach schnapps, white rum, dark rum, 151, pineapple juice, orange juice and grenadine. Despite the multiple ingredients it’s quite easy to make and you can have either a glass or a whole pitcher whipped up in 5 minutes or less.
Cherry Bomb Shot
This bomb shot is not a bright red color but does have red in the bottom of it. To make a cherry bomb shot you fill a highball glass with 4 oz of Red Bull drop a few ounces of grenadine in the bottom. The grenadine is where the red color comes from.
Then, you take a shot glass of cherry vodka drop it into your Red Bull and chug your shot.
Cherry Vodka Sour
Sour drinks are delicious and this cherry vodka sour is no exception. All you need to toss this one together is vodka, simple syrup, lemon juice and grenadine.
The resulting cocktail has a very tart lemonade flavor with a cherry kick from the grenadine.
Red Cocktail FAQ
What alcohol is red in color?
Yes, there are a few alcohols that are red in color: Campari and Vampyre red vodka are two. Campari is a liqueur from Italy that is considered a type of bitters made from infused herbs and fruits.
Is there a red vodka?
Yes, there is a red vodka which comes from a brand called Vampyre Red Vodka and the vodka is a red color.
Is there a red martini?
Yes, there are several different martinis that are red in color including: strawberry martinis, strawberry lemon drop martinis and cranberry martinis.
Ingredients to make red cocktails?
There are several different ingredients that can be used to make your cocktails red. Here are a few common ones:
- Grenadine
- Strawberries
- Cherries/Cherry Juice
- Fruit Punch
- Cranberry Juice
- Red sodas such as mountain dew code red
- Pomegranate Juice
- Raspberries
- V8 Juice
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