Cranberry-Raspberry Champagne Cocktail Recipe

A Cranberry-Raspberry Champagne Cocktail is a sparkly festive cocktail that’s perfect for any celebration.

​An Ode to Champagne

Ah, champagne. Such a popular choice to celebrate any type of special occasion. A bottle of champagne provides the perfect drink for personal life events, professional milestones and, of course, for holiday parties and events.

As we head into the holiday season, there are many reasons we raise those champagne flutes high and filled with bubbly champagne. Get-togethers over Thanksgiving, holiday parties celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, toasting each other on New Year’s Eve, and of course, intimate dinners on Valentine’s Day.

During this time of year, I like to try my hand at making festive cocktails that I can use as a signature drink for all occasions. Try this Cranberry Vodka Spritzer using fresh cranberries that is perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday.

This time around, I wanted to create a more sparkly festive cocktail. And, what is more sparkly than a beautiful bottle of bubbly champagne!

Popular Champagne Drinks

Now, one of the more popular champagne drinks is the traditional champagne cocktail. This typically consists of champagne, sugar cubes, Angostura bitters and a lemon twist. There are some variations to this, but this is the basic approach.

There is also the ever-popular champagne punch. The possibilities here are pretty endless and we’ve all probably had several different types over our lifetimes.

In addition to champagne or sparkling wine, you add in fruit juices such as orange juice, pomegranate juice, or even grapefruit juice. Then top that off with triple sec, grand marnier, ginger ale, club soda – you name it. Kind of a smorgasbord of fruit juice and alcohol that while can be delicious, is not what I was looking for here.

So, staying away from champagne punch, I was looking on how to update the more traditional champagne cocktail recipes. Because of the time of year and availability of fresh cranberries, I tend to gravitate towards that flavor around the holidays. However, while wanting that flavor in my cranberry champagne cocktail recipe, I didn’t want the work of creating a cranberry puree.

So, I went with 100% unsweetened cranberry juice. But unsweetened cranberry juice can be very tart. So, where to get the sweetness but not drop in a sugar cube or simple syrup into the drink?

That’s where the raspberry liqueur comes in. The addition of raspberry liqueur, also known as chambord, adds even more berry flavor and just the right amount of sweetness. Once you cut the unsweetened cranberry juice with a little water and add in the raspberry liqueur, you have yourself a cranberry-raspberry champagne cocktail!

So, we now have elevated the champagne by adding vibrantly red cranberry juice along with raspberry liqueur. It’s a celebration in a glass!

Can I Make this a Mocktail?

Everyone enjoys a festive drink at a celebration, but not everyone drinks alcohol. So I like to offer a non-alcoholic version of my cocktails, as well (mocktail!). This cocktail is easily made non-alcoholic by omitting the raspberry liqueur and mixing the cranberry juice with either sparkling cider or sparkling water.

Can I Use Cranberry Juice Cocktail?

This cocktail really couldn’t be easier to make. But, I need to point out that it does not use cranberry juice cocktail because I feel that it makes the cocktail too sweet.

Instead, I use 100% unsweetened cranberry juice. If you’ve never tried this before, I will tell you it’s very tart. So to cut down on the tartness, I dilute it with water.

When you do that, it’s still tart, but not too tart. It’s very refreshing and the flavor of the cranberry shines through and it does not taste watered down. Once you mix the cranberry juice with the champagne, you taste a nice berry flavor in the background.

As I mentioned, this cranberry-raspberry champagne cocktail is the perfect drink for any special occasion during the holiday season. And, you can easily make it a mocktail so everyone can be part of the celebration.

Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

• This cocktail can easily be made into a mocktail. Substitute the champagne with sparkling cider or sparkling water and omit the raspberry liqueur. If you would still like the mocktail to have a touch of raspberry flavor, substitute cran-raspberry juice cocktail for the unsweetened cranberry juice, although this will make the drink sweeter.
• If you’re not making this a mocktail, I highly recommend using unsweetened 100% cranberry juice rather than cranberry juice cocktail. The raspberry liqueur (chambord) adds just the right amount of sweetness to the cocktail.

Ingredients Needed to Make this Cranberry-Raspberry Champagne Cocktail

Full instructions for making this cocktail can be found below in the Recipe Card

• 100% cranberry juice (unsweetened) – I like to use unsweetened cranberry juice so that the cocktail doesn’t become too sweet.
• Water –  This is used to cut down on the tartness of the cranberry juice.
• Raspberry liqueur – This gives the cocktail a slight raspberry flavor as well as just the right touch of sweetness.
• Champagne or sparkling apple cider – Any champagne that you like will work for this cocktail, but I recommend a Brut champagne as it is less sweet than others. The sparkling apple cider (or sparkling water) can be used to make this non-alcoholic (you also need to omit the raspberry liqueur if it’s a mocktail).

How to Make this Festive Champagne Cocktail

• Combine cranberry juice and water.
• Pour 2 tbsp each, cranberry water mixture and raspberry liqueur into the bottom of a champagne flute.
• Fill the rest of the glass with champagne.

More Festive Cranberry Cocktail Recipes

• Cranberry Christmas Mule
• Rosemary Infused Cranberry Bourbon Martini
• Cranapple Fizz Cocktail
• Roasted Cranberry Bourbon Crush
• Classic Cosmopolitan Cocktail

ENJOY!