This Raspberry Bourbon Smash is the perfect Summer cocktail! Loaded with tons of fresh raspberries, cozy bourbon and fresh mint + lime! Delicious and refreshing! Cheers!
Hello Summer! It’s official – you’re almost here. Even though the first official day of Summer isn’t until mid June, I’m celebrating you now. Why? Because 1) it’s the weekend and 2) we deserve it!
Oh, and it’s been a long week. Or rather, a long three months. Ha!
So, here we are! A brand new cocktail recipe on OBB that is so super light, refreshing and full of Summery flavor.
I hesitated posting cocktails on here for a long time. I did when I first started and they barely got any traffic – but I recently re-posted my Simple Lemon Lime Margaritas and they were SO popular! So I thought – I will give the people what they want! Summery, fresh cocktails! YAY!
Why You’re Going to Love This Drink
So this particular cocktail is just THE BEST. It’s fresh – with both fresh fruit and herbs in it and I love the warming coziness of the bourbon that helps balance it all out.
If you didn’t know – it’s berry season here in NC! So you best believe I’ve been picking up berries every time I’m out at the store – including raspberries!
Raspberries are super underrated in my opinion and they really shine in this drink! They have an amazing mix of sweetness and tartness. The fresh lime really helps bring out the sweetness and adds a nice *zing* to the drink.
By the way – you do add a little dash of simple syrup in this drink to help add cut the bitterness from the alcohol – but you can choose how much or little you’d like to add!
The mint adds an amazing amount of freshness to this drink and a cooling effect for those extra hot Summer days we have ahead of us!
Combined with the bubbly club soda (or see my list below for substitutions), it’s super stimulating and is the best drink to have when you’re sitting on your back porch on a warm Summer evening.
Ingredients You Need:
- Bourbon
- Fresh raspberries
- Squeeze of lime
- Fresh mint
- Club soda/seltzer
- Dash of simple syrup
Tips for Making This Drink:
Make sure and muddle the raspberries and mint together – this will really help the flavor go a long way and give it a much better depth of flavor.
Taste and adjust! Before you add the simple syrup, I recommend tasting the drink and then adding either 1-2 tbsp of simple syrup and make it as sweet as you like it!
Garnish with fresh mint and extra raspberries – not only does it look pretty BUT it adds great texture to the drink itself.
If you prefer a stronger bourbon flavor, I suggest using 2 oz of bourbon to 1.5 oz (which is my normal). If you want more raspberry lime flavor, I would suggest sticking to 1.5 oz of bourbon! It’s all up to you though 😉
Substitutions/Ways to Jazz it up:
Instead of club soda, use ginger beer or my all time favorite seltzer: Spindrift in the flavor Raspberry Lime! You could also get really crazy and maybe put a splash of prosecco in it as well!
No raspberries? Sub with blackberries! Or try it with raspberry preserves!
Don’t have mint? Try out thyme!
Whatever you do, just try this drink! It’s delicious and smashing 😉 Food puns for the win! Stay safe, friends. XO – Haylie
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few more you might like:
Pear and Ginger Crisp with Bourbon
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Raspberry Bourbon Smash
This Raspberry Bourbon Smash is the perfect Summer cocktail! Loaded with tons of fresh raspberries, cozy bourbon and fresh mint + lime! Delicious and refreshing! Cheers!
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz bourbon (see notes!)
- 1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 cup raspberries
- 4-5 fresh mint leaves
- 1-2 tsp simple syrup (depending on how sweet you like it)
- heavy splash club soda or seltzer
- ice
Instructions
-
Muddle the raspberries and mint together in the bottom of the glass. Add in the lime, simple syrup and bourbon. Mix together with a spoon. Add ice and a heavy splash of club soda or seltzer. Mix together one last time. Garnish with additional raspberries and sprig of mint. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
If you prefer a stronger bourbon flavor, add 2 oz. of bourbon instead of 1.5 oz.
My favorite seltzer to use in this recipe is the Spindrift Raspberry Lime flavor! See substitutions above in the post for other recommendations.
Raspberries are so good! Since they mush anyway, they’d be perfect for muddling in a cocktail! Can’t wait to try this one. Cheers, Haylie!
Great point about the raspberries – definitely very easy to mush and muddle! Thank you my friend!
Such a gorgeous colour Haylie and looks so refreshing. It’s a perfect summer drink. Our weekend is looking nice here, and this would be perfect for sipping on while relaxing on my back deck under the sun!
Thank you so much, Leanne! It is super refreshing!! 🙂
Hey Haylie, this sounds amazing! Does it HAVE to be bourbon? Is there any thing you could substitute with?
Hi Cynthia – thank you so much for the compliment! 🙂 I haven’t tried it – but I think it would work with silver tequila or rum (dark or white would work I think!) Or you could have a fun mock-tail! Let me know how those turn out for you! Best – Haylie