Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Juicy and berry red, a love potion cocktail is just the thing to serve to someone you’re sweet on. This recipe is a fun and easy cocktail that works for a variety of occasions.
How long it takes: a few minutes
Equipment you’ll need: cocktail shaker, ice, cocktail glass
Servings: 1 (or as many as you like)
When I first envisioned this cocktail, I was thinking about Valentine’s Day. The cherry red color is perfect and the name says it all: Love potion. Cupid’s little helper, intimate dinners, red roses, chocolate, conversation hearts, love potion #9 (“I started kissing every thing in sight”), and all that romantic stuff came to mind.
But my son is really into Harry Potter. And of course, if you’re studying magic like Harry Potter, you’re going to study magic potions. Yeah, like Love Potions! A blood red cocktail … perfect for Halloween with lots of spiders and other creepy crawlers.
Love Potion Cocktail
Please remember, this alcoholic beverage is for adults only. Offer an attractive alternative to kids. Check out this site, All The Party Ideas, for a collection of 29 alcohol-free drinks and punch recipes.
Versatile. Whether you want to make this a Halloween cocktail or Valentine’s Day cocktail, it’s a winner! It works for Christmas or Thanksgiving, too, with the berries and rosemary garnish. I don’t know, when would a love potion be a bad idea?
Easy to make as many as you like. The recipe is written for one cocktail but it’s super easy to double or triple the ingredients. If your cocktail shaker is large, you could make at least a couple of drinks at once, or make multiple batches.
Serve this cocktail in coupe glasses. Coupe glasses are shallow bowl-shaped glasses with a long stem. The shallow bowl showcases the berry garnish beautifully. Since this cocktail is chilled but doesn’t contain ice, it’s important to have a stemmed glass to prevent body heat from warming up the drink.
Optional sugared rim. For special occasions, you may want to add a sugared rim. Simply dip the rim of the glasses into a shallow bowl or plate of grenadine to moisten the edge, then into a shallow bowl filled with sugar.
Cocktail Shaker
This essential bar tool is inexpensive and indispensable for making lots of different cocktails. The drink ingredients are shaken with ice until well chilled and then the ice is strained out with the built in strainer. Your cocktail is chilled but not diluted with ice.
Ingredient Notes
- Ice: Make sure your ice is fresh. Crushed ice or small ice cubes are fine.
- Raspberry Liqueur: A well-known brand is Chambord. This sweet liqueur is made with raspberries, blackberries, vanilla, citrus peel, and honey. It’s fortified with cognac and is 16.5% alcohol.
- Vodka: Choose your favorite brand.
- Grenadine: This popular cocktail mixer is used to add a deep red color and sweetness.
- Sparkling Water: Look for club soda, soda water, or seltzer water. Sparkling water is carbonated, making it slightly fizzy, and is usually unsweetened.
- Fresh Raspberries, Blackberries, Sprig of Rosemary: These optional garnishes add so much beauty and flavor (or may I say spookiness?) to the cocktail. Lightly crush the rosemary to release the aromatic oils.
More About Grenadine
Grenadine is a sweet red cocktail mixer made with pomegranate juice and sugar. Often folks mistakenly think grenadine is cherry juice. It is non-alcoholic, does not contain artificial color, and can be used like a simple syrup.
How to store grenadine: Grenadine can be stored at room temperature for up to six months. It will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator.
How to make A Love Potion
It’s so easy to make a love potion, even for Muggles like you and me! Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice.
Note: If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, use a jar with a lid and pour the cocktail through a strainer after shaking it.
Add the raspberry liqueur, vodka, and grenadine. Cover and shake for 30 to 60 seconds. If you like, close your eyes and whisper a magic spell…
Strain the contents of the shaker into a glass. Top with a splash of sparkling water, a few fresh berries and /or a sprig of fresh rosemary.
Immediately, serve the love potion to your favorite person and watch them fall in love with you.
Or not. It doesn’t matter, everyone will fall in love with this love potion cocktail!
A Few More “spooky” recipes
- Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting – it’s easy to turn these bars into edible mummies for a fun Halloween treat.
- Pumpkin Dip – so easy to make!
- Pumpkin Seeds – pepitas eight ways
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Halloween Pancakes with marshmallow decorations from Pancake Recipes
- Black Pancakes (naturally colored) from Pancake Recipes
Possible Recipe Variations
- Make it a champagne cocktail. Instead of sparkling water, top the cocktails with a dry prosecco.
- Don’t care for vodka? Substitute blanco (silver) tequila, gin, or white rum.
- Adjust the sweetness. If you like a sweeter cocktail, increase the amount of grenadine added; vice versa if you like cocktails that aren’t as sweet.
- Make it N/A. Use a non-alcoholic vodka and raspberry syrup instead of raspberry liqueur.
- Looking for a punch recipe? Try sparkling pomegranate punch.
More Red Cocktails
Love Potion Cocktail
Ingredients
- sugar for rims, optional
- ice
- 1 ½ ounces raspberry liqueur (such as Chambord)
- 1 ounce vodka
- ½ ounce grenadine, plus more for dipping rims
- sparkling water (club soda, soda water, seltzer)
- garnishes: fresh raspberries, blackberries, and rosemary sprig
Instructions
- Optional: Prepare cocktail glasses. Dip each rim in grenadine or raspberry liqueur, then dip into a shallow bowl or plate filled with sugar. Set aside.
- Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice and add raspberry liqueur, vodka, and grenadine. Shake well for 30 to 60 seconds. Strain into a glass and top with sparkling water, fresh berries, and rosemary.1 ½ ounces raspberry liqueur, 1 ounce vodka, ½ ounce grenadine, plus more for dipping rims
Notes
- All occasions: This red cocktail works well for many holidays and special celebrations. Garnish it to match the occasion. For Thanksgiving or Christmas, a rosemary garnish is perfect. For Halloween, add a spooky garnish like a plastic spider. For Valentine’s Day, garnish with hearts, a simple ribbon tied around the stem of the glass, etc.
- Don’t have a cocktail shaker? Put the ingredients into a jar with a lid (such as a Mason jar), shake vigorously, and strain the contents through a fine strainer into a glass.
- Make it N/A. Use a non-alcoholic vodka and raspberry syrup instead of raspberry liqueur.
- Nutrition note: The information below does not include optional sugar rim, berries, or garnishes. Sparkling water does not contain sugar and has zero calories.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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