This summer bourbon pitcher cocktail is perfect for a crowd! With blackberries, raspberries, bourbon, lemon and sparkling water, it's a little bit of everything. Sweet, strong, tart, fizzy and seriously good. Make for your next summer bbq!
I have to credit my younger brother, Bryce, for this recipe. As a recent (this year!) college grad, he's been our resident bartender these last few months. He's really quite the mixologist; this blackberry bourbon lemonade is a favorite!
Inspired by his favorite summer fruit (berries) and his favorite liquor (bourbon), this cocktail basically screams summer. We make it in a big pitcher for the whole family. It's perfect for July 4th or just about any other summer entertaining occasion, even if entertaining looks a bit different this year.
If you're unable to see family/friends at the moment, you can also make a single serving. It's a bit of effort for one drink, but well worth it. Plus, I think we could all use a good, strong cocktail right now.
This pitcher cocktail serves eight. If you think everyone will have more than one drink, you might want to double the recipe. We'll also include the proportions for a single cocktail below!
Ingredients
- Bourbon: since there are so many other ingredients in this cocktail, don't use a super high quality, expensive bourbon. Something mid-range works well!
- Lemon juice: you'll need about 12-14 large lemons for this pitcher cocktail. Freshly squeezed, always!
- Chambord or another raspberry liqueur: optional, but love the sweetness.
- Blackberries and raspberries: fresh or frozen. Make sure to save extra for garnish!
- Agave nectar: we love agave in cocktails. It's a natural sweetener with a mild flavor, so it works well here. You could also sub with simple syrup!
- Water: you'll add a bit of water to the agave/berry mixture to keep it from burning.
- Sparkling water or club soda: I love using a berry-flavored sparkling water for extra flavor, but plain club soda works, too!
- Mint leaves and fresh berries: for garnish.
Instructions
- Heat the water and agave in a saucepan over medium heat. The idea for this cocktail is to make a berry syrup with the blackberries and raspberries.
- Add the berries and bring to a boil. Stir well and turn off the heat. Let the mixture sit for 20-25 minutes, then strain through a fine mesh sieve. Use a spoon to press as much juice out of the berries as possible.
- Add the bourbon, lemon juice, Chambord and berry agave mixture to a large pitcher. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Add sparkling water/club soda just before serving! You can either add it straight to the pitcher, or top off each individual drink.
- Optional: garnish with fresh berries and mint.
More summer cocktails you'll love:
- Frozen Watermelon Margaritas
- Blackberry Cucumber Vodka Cocktail
- Long Island Iced Tea (pitcher cocktail)
- Strawberry Peach Sangria
- Bourbon Peach Smash
If you make this summer bourbon berry cocktail recipe, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.
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Berry Bourbon Lemonade Pitcher Cocktail
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This summer bourbon pitcher cocktail is perfect for a crowd! With blackberries, raspberries, bourbon, lemon and sparkling water, it's a little bit of everything. Sweet, strong, tart, fizzy and seriously good. Make for your next summer bbq!
Ingredients
- 1 cup agave nectar (or simple syrup)
- 1 cup water
- 10 oz blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 10 oz raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 cups bourbon
- 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (10-14 lemons depending on their size)
- ½ cup Chambord or another raspberry liqueur
- 4 cups sparkling water or club soda
- Fresh mint and berries for garnish
Instructions
- Add water and agave to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk well.
- Add berries and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and use a masher to break up the berries. Let sit for 20-25 minutes, stirring once or twice.
- Strain the mixture into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve, pressing berries with the back of a spoon to remove as much liquid as possible. You should end up with 3 cups or slightly more of liquid.
- Add berry agave mixture, bourbon, lemon juice and Chambord to a large pitcher. Stir well to combine, and refrigerate for 4 hours, or until completely chilled.
- To serve, you can either add the sparkling water directly to the pitcher if you are planning on serving it all right away* or you may find it easier to add 2-3 oz to each individual glass as you serve it. This is actually how we prefer to serve it so each drink is a little fizzy, and that way each person can control how strong they want their drink to be.
- Garnish with mint and fresh berries.
Notes
*If you wish to combine all of the ingredients to serve at once, you will need a 100 oz or larger container since the ingredients add up to 92 oz of liquid. If you don’t have a large enough pitcher, simply cut the proportions back by ¼: ¾ cup agave syrup, ¾ cup water, 7 ½ oz of blackberries, 7 ½ oz raspberries, 1 ½ cups of bourbon, 1 ½ cups lemon juice, ⅓ cup raspberry liqueur, 3 cups of sparkling water.
**QUANTITIES FOR SINGLE SERVING**: 2 tablespoon agave, 2 tablespoon water, 1.5 oz each blackberries and raspberries, 2 oz bourbon, 2 oz lemon juice, 1 tablespoon Chambord, ¼-1/2 cup sparkling water
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Cocktails
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cocktail
- Calories: 190
- Sugar: 25.4 g
- Sodium: 8 mg
- Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 35.5 g
- Fiber: 4.9 g
- Protein: 1.6 g
Keywords: summer bourbon cocktail
Leah
I'm so excited to make this!! How far in advance do you think I could make the berry agave mixture? I'm wanting to serve this on Sunday during the Super Bowl! That's 6 days from now, so in the fridge it'd be ok for maybe 3 to 4 days?
Lexi
Hi! I definitely think it would be okay for 3-4 days since it's cooked down and not fresh. You can even make the entire pitcher up to a day ahead of time – it honestly tastes better when it has a chance to infuse a bit. I hope you enjoy, this is one of our favorites! Perfect for the Super Bowl.
Leah
Great! Thanks so much and I'll let you know the reviews!! 🙂