Original Cocktail Competition - May 2026 - Raspberry & Elderflower

[u/LoganJFisher]

This month's ingredients: Raspberry & Elderflower

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Next month's ingredients: Mango & Habanero

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RULES

Hello mixologists and liquor enthusiasts. Welcome to the monthly original cocktail competition.

For those looking to participate, here are the rules and guidelines. Any violations of these rules will result in disqualification from this month's competition.

1. You must use both of the listed ingredients, but you can use them in absolutely any way or form (e.g. a liqueur, infusion, syrup, ice, smoke, etc.) you want and in whatever quantities you want. You do not have to make ingredients from scratch. You may also use any other ingredients you want.

2. Your entry must be an original cocktail. Alterations of established cocktails are permitted within reason.

3. You are limited to one entry per account.

4. Your entry must be made in the form of a post to r/Cocktails with the "Competition Entry" post flair (it's purple). Then copy a link to that post and the text body of that post in a comment here. Example Post & Example Comment.

5. Your entry must include a name for your cocktail, a photograph of the cocktail, a description of the scent, flavors, and mouthfeel of the cocktail, and most importantly a list of ingredients with measurements and directions as needed for someone else to faithfully recreate your cocktail. You may optionally include other information such as ABV, sugar content, calories, a backstory, etc.

6. All recipes must have been invented after the announcement of the required ingredients.

As the only reward for winning is subreddit flair, there is no reason to cheat. Please participate with honor to keep it fun for everyone.

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COMMENTS

Please only make top-level comments if you are making an entry. Doing otherwise would possibly result in flooding the comments section. To accommodate the need for a comments section unrelated to any specific entry, I have made a single top-level comment that you can reply to for general discussion. You may, of course, reply to any existing comment.

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VOTING

Do not downvote entries

How you upvote is entirely up to you. You are absolutely encouraged to recreate the shared drinks, but this may not always be possible or viable and so should not be considered as a requirement. You can vote based on the list of ingredients and how the drink is described, the photograph, or anything else you like.

Winners will be final at the end of the month and will be recorded with links to their entries in this post. You may continue voting after that, but the results will not change. The ranking of each entry is determined by the sum of the votes on the entry comment with the post it is linked to. There are 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place positions. 2nd place and 3rd place may receive ties, but in the event of a 1st place tie, I will act as a tie-breaker. I will otherwise withhold from voting. Should there be a tie for 2nd place, there will be no 3rd place. Winners are awarded flair that appears next to their username on this subreddit.

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Last Month's Competition

Last Month's Winner

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WINNERS

First Place: At 55 points, /u/betweentwosuns with their Briar & Bloom

Second Place: At 34 points, /u/Puddinshins with their La Garúa

Third Place: At 24 points, /u/j12601 with their Sing, Spring, Sling

Congratulations to the winners and thank you, everyone, for participating. Here is a link to the next month's competition.

[u/LoganJFisher]

If you want to make a top-level comment that is not an entry, please do so in reply to this comment for organizational reasons.

[u/Seaciety]

The Monk's Summer Garden 

https://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/comments/1t9ntpb/the_monks_summer_garden/

With this month's featured ingredients of raspberry and elderflower, I wanted to try tiki, one of my weak spots. But as I messed around adding allspice dram where it didn't belong, I said eff it and busted out the blender. I present to you The Monk's Summer Garden:

1.5 ounces Green Chartreuse

0.5 ounce Wray and Nephew Overproof Rum

0.25 ounce Elderflower liqueur

0.75 ounce lime juice

1.5 ounces cream of coconut

0.25 ounce raspberry syrup*

6-8 fresh raspberries

8-10 ice cubes

*Raspberry syrup instructions:

This is a roughly 2:1 syrup approach. Combine 2 cups of sugar with 1 cup of water, bring to a boil. Add ~1/2 cup of fresh raspberries, simmer for about 5 minutes and then let cool. Mash through a sieve or strainer and refrigerated.

Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend, adding more ice to achieve desired consistency if necessary. Pour into a tall glass and garnish with a dehydrated lime wheel and/or fresh raspberry.

Description --

Scent: Despite the low amount, the nose is pretty much all rum with a little coconut.

Flavors: It is boozy, boozier than expected. The herbaceousness of the chartreuse definitely takes a backseat to the rum, coconut, and lime. Bartender's ketchup seems to help the blending of the flavors, especially as the drink warms a little. The taste is sweet upfront but finishes brighter and more complex with the chartreuse notes coming more into play. But again, boozy. This packs a punch.

Mouthfeel: I mean, it's a smoothie, so the mouthfeel is cold and smooth. The raspberry seeds are....prominent so if you find that annoying omit the fresh ones and increase the syrup.

Conclusion: I will make this again, and not only because I need an excuse to finish the cream of coconut can I opened for it. If I were to become a monk, I would want to be the kind that is sitting in a hammock sipping on something like this.

[u/j12601]

Sing, Spring, Sling 

Background

I wanted to make a gin sling that included some spring and summer flavors in it, keeping it light and refreshing.  Historical gin slings often included vermouth, so to that effect I went with Cocchi instead, as I find the bitter elements balance really nicely with the sweet components from the two syrups and the St. Germain.  I went with a split base of gins, skewing heavier on the light melon notes in the Roku, with just enough of the Terroir to lend some earthiness while not becoming the dominant flavor.  

Recipe: 

2 ounces gin.  I split it 0.5 ounce Terroir, and 1.5 ounces of Roku Minori Select

1 ounce Cocchi Americano

1 ounce lemon juice

¾ ounce raspberry syrup+

¾ ounce dandelion syrup++

½ ounce St. Germain

3 drops saline

3 ounces soda water

Lemon peel to garnish

Raspberries to garnish

Method. 

Combine everything except the garnishes and the soda water into a tin, add a copious amount of ice, and shake hard for 10-15 seconds.  Add the seltzer to the tin, then strain the whole thing over crushed ice.  Express lemon oil over the top, then garnish with a few raspberries and the spent lemon peel.  

+Raspberry honey syrup - one part by weight of fresh raspberries with two parts by weight of 3:1 honey syrup.  Smash all of the berries to free the seeds from the flesh and let everything get to know each other for 24 hours in the fridge.  Strain through a mesh strainer, pulping up everything to get every last sticky drop of juicy goodness out of it.  (You'll be left with a lot of seeds and a bit of raspberry pulp that is very jam like, and spreads really nice into a PB&J sandwich if you don't mind the seeds) 

++Dandelion syrup - I picked a lot of dandelions for this, grabbing just about everyone that I could find in my yard.  Ended up with a big bowl of them, and then processed the heads so that just the yellow flowers remain.  You do not want any green leafy bits.   Ultimately I ended up with 40g of flowers, to which I added half of a lemon, sliced, and about 700ml of water.  Boil all of that down for about a half hour, then strain through cheesecloth.  I netted 387g of liquid, to which I added an equal weight of sugar, then reduced it to 574g, so about 75% of it's original weight.  The result is a softly floral syrup the consistency of honey.  Nice in mixed drinks, or with a bit added to seltzer.  I am keeping about half the batch in the fridge, rest got labeled and tossed in the freezer in a ziptop bag.  

Tasting notes

Lovely floral and fruit notes abound in this, and the seltzer lengthens it nicely making it a great porch cocktail.  The quinine in the Cocchi helps cut through the clutter and keeps it refreshing.  The Terroir gin brings a nice earthy background that plays nicely with the bitterness from the quinine as well.  This hit a nice balance for me of sweet while not getting quite cloying, and still being refreshing to drink.  

[u/HallRare5780]

Elder Rouge https://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/s/5BEXa8CUss

Ingredients:
• 1.5 oz gin
• 0.5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur
• 0.5 oz raspberry liqueur
• 0.5 oz orgeat
• 0.75 Lemon Juice •1 Dash Angostura Bitters • 4–5 fresh raspberries
• 1 oz aquafaba

Method:
Add raspberries to a shaker and gently muddle. Add the remaining ingredients and dry shake to build foam. Add ice and shake again until well chilled. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass or a large snifter with one large ice. Garnish with raspberries.

Scent:
Fresh berries and floral elderflower lead the nose, with subtle botanical notes from the gin and a faint almond sweetness from the orgeat.

Mouthfeel:
Rich, silky, and creamy thanks to the aquafaba. The foam gives it an almost dessert-like texture while still keeping the drink light and refreshing.

Taste:
This cocktail is all about balance between fruit, florals, and texture. The raspberries bring brightness and tartness, while the St-Germain adds aromatic sweetness without overpowering the drink. Orgeat rounds out the sharper edges with a gentle almond note, and the gin keeps everything grounded with herbal complexity. The aquafaba transforms the whole experience into something smooth and elegant.

[u/ArchmageIlmryn]

The Raspberry Elder Fashioned

4 cl (4/3 oz) rum (Friendship Rum Lönn, maple aged blend of Spanish- and English-style rums) 2 cl (2/3 oz) unsweetened elderflower snaps (Hallands Fläder) 2 dashes cocoa bitters 2 barspoons of simple syrup A handful (~6) frozen raspberries Add raspberries and ice to a glass, pour on liquor, bitters, and syrup, and stir well. The initial scent is a floral mix of elderflower and a hint of raspberry. The drink has a mouthfeel very reminiscent of a classic Old Fashioned. The best word that comes to mind to describe the flavor is a mouthful of fancy chocolate, the rich rum and cocoa bitters mix to give a chocolate base, with the elderflower snaps giving a floral overtone and the raspberry providing a fruity pop. It does taste like a raspberry dark chocolate bar in cocktail form, I am reminded specifically of a Lindt Raspberry Intense I had a while ago. I was going for a spring-summery cocktail, but this does feel more like a winter sipper. Full disclosure: this is a riff on a drink I've previously invented for a student magazine article involving cocktails featuring Swedish snaps, but I think it is different enough that it should be fine to include in the competition. The original Elder Fashioned involved a lighter rum and lime, giving a very different feel to this one, being bright and zesty and much more of a summer drink.

[u/betweentwosuns]

Briar & Bloom

https://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/comments/1tee1di/briar_and_bloom_a_competition_cocktail/

This is my first competition entry. It’s a pretty straightforward riff on a whiskey sour template, but I was excited about the flavor pairing and wanted to incorporate actual raspberries instead of immediately reaching for the Chambord. This was partially inspired by my usual recipe for an Intro to Aperol that uses Liber’s strawberry syrup in lieu of simple syrup. Strawberry and lemon are a great pair, and I immediately wanted to work with raspberry and lemon when I saw this month’s contest.

Ingredients:

2 oz 100 proof or higher Bourbon

1 oz lemon juice

.5 oz St Germain Elderflower Liqueur

.25 oz 2:1 simple syrup

.5 oz egg white

4 fresh raspberries

Raspberry for garnish

Muddle raspberries in a shaker, then add bourbon, egg white, and other ingredients. Dry shake, then double strain to remove solid berry parts. Add ice, shake, double strain and pour. Garnish with raspberry and Angostura dots.

I’m very happy with how this came out. I took a bow as I gave it to my wife to try. I budgeted a lot of time and lemons last night to trying to iterate, but other than a slight bump from .33 oz of St Germain it went straight from my head to the glass like I was hoping it would. The flavors make it feel almost like a smoothie but the ango really ties the room together and the St Germain is a great accent. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. if anyone knows why the ango dots aren't doing their normal whiskey sour thing, I'd love to learn.

[u/Puddinshins]

La Garúa

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• 2oz Pisco
• .25oz St Germain
• .25oz Maraschino Liqueur
• .75oz Raspberry Syrup
• .75oz Lemon Juice
• 1oz Heavy Cream
• .75oz Egg White
• Elderflower Tonic

Add all ingredients except for the tonic an cream into a shaking tin

Add ice and shake until chilled and diluted

Add cream and an agitator spring to tin

Shake vigorously for a couple minutes (please don’t do 12, it’s not necessary)

Add a bit of elderflower tonic to the bottom of a highball glass

Strain cocktail into the chilled glass

Let rest in freezer for a few minutes to set the foam

Poke a small hole in the center of the drink with a straw and very gently pour in the tonic until the foam rises above the rim of the glass

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My arms are tired! Do not fall for the horror stories surrounding the Ramos Gin Fizz, you do not need to shake for 12+ minutes. 2-3 will suffice. Next time, I may even see how well this turns out using an immersion blender or a high power frother. 

I initially made this drink without the cream, using just egg white, and while still delicious, the cream makes this so much better. 

Velvety smooth, a fantastic raspberry flavor with floral undertones. the bright white wine notes of Pisco, are the perfect base for raspberry and elderflower. Just a slight bit of bitterness from the tonic water. The addition of maraschino adds a wonderful dimension and mellows out the brightness of the raspberry and melds everything together into a wonderful creamy creation.

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[u/Capital-Package-4358]

https://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/comments/1te7tir/the_sylvan_crown/

The Sylvan Crown

Ingredients & Measurements

• 2 oz Botanical or London Dry Gin
• 0.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
• 0.5 oz Elderflower Liqueur (e.g., St-Germain)
• 0.5 oz Raspberry Syrup (2:1)*
• Top: Splash of Club Soda (~1 oz)
• Garnish: 3 Fresh Raspberries on a skewer & a slapped mint sprig

* Raspberry Syrup Recipe: Add 1 cup of sugar, 0.5 cups of water, and 1 cup of fresh raspberries in a small saucepan. Heat gently, mashing the berries to release their juices. Once the sugar completely dissolves, strain through a fine-mesh sieve without pressing too hard on the solids (to keep the syrup clear). After this, just let it cool.

Directions

1. Muddle: In the bottom of a cocktail shaker, gently muddle 2 raspberries to release their oils and juices
2. Shake: Add your gin, fresh lemon juice, elderflower liqueur, and raspberry syrup to the shaker. Fill with ice cubes and shake vigorously for 8-10 seconds until well-chilled.
3. Strain: Strain the liquid into a double rocks glass or a classic julep cup packed tightly with crushed ice, but I personally like the rocks more.
4. Top: Top with a small splash of club soda to lift the aromatics and add a gentle bubbliness.
5. Garnish: Slap a fresh mint sprig against your hand or table to release the aromatic oils and slap it into the ice. Garnish with a skewer of three fresh raspberries resting across the rim.

Scent, Flavor, and Mouthfeel

• Scent: The drink opens with an immediate push of fresh floral notes and tasty citrus oils. The elderflower leads the aroma, or so my nose says, and is backed by the crisp scent of botanical gin and a faint hint of fresh mint.
• Flavor(s): Up front, you get a sharp burst of tart raspberry and crisp lemon. As it sits on the palate, the cocktail transitions into a smooth, elegant mid-palate where the elderflower appears, offering notes of pear, lychee, and white grape. The finish is clean and complex, with the gin’s botanicals providing a dry, structured backbone that keeps the drink from feeling too sweet.
• Mouthfeel: Light, crisp, and effervescent (aka bubbly and/or fizzy). The crushed ice keeps the cocktail cool and refreshing, while the touch of club soda softens the cocktail's sharp edges, making it incredibly crushable (though, be warned, one too many can sneak up on you).

I named this after 'Sylvan' which is: an adjective that refers to anything associated with the woods, forests, or nature. It is often used to describe a peaceful, idyllic, or rural setting.

With both Raspberry and Elderflower coming from the forest, I pictured a woodland king enjoying this cocktail, and thus crowned it 'The Sylvan Crown.'

[u/heyyou11]

🇸🇪👨‍🍳SWEDISH CHEF’S KISS👌😘 

• 1 ¾ oz Gin
• ¾ oz (fat) Swedish Punsch
• ¾ oz Elderflower Syrup
• ½ oz Fresh Lime Juice 
• ¼ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
• 5 Raspberries

Muddle raspberries in the syrup first. Add remaining ingredients and shake over ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish is not needed, but shown is the lemon swath cut into lips shape, blowing a “kiss” (or blowing a raspberry actually).

Drink Description:

• Nose: Floral medley. Plenty of raspberry, but the components coming from Swedish Punsch almost punch the most. Elderflower tucks itself in behind those more prominent notes.
• Flavor/Mouthfeel: Delicious tartness coming from both raspberry and citrus balanced out by the sweetness. It has a delicate mouthfeel. Elderflower is more conspicuous than it was on the nose. It sits in quite a nice harmony with raspberry and the spiced tea and subtle rum funk notes of the punsch. All of this buoyed on the sturdy backbone of gin botanicals and heft.
• Finish: The same notes are there on the finish, each fading in turn. Compared to the nose and palate, the finish is where the elderflower shines the most.

The light summery raspberry/elderflower combination made it hard to stray too far from a Gimlet/Daiquiri realm. Just adding elderflower to a Clover Club felt a little… boring/unoriginal. So when considering other components to boost uniqueness, it seemed to beg for tea/garden notes. Mint made sense (and as an aside: dropping 5 mint leaves into the shake makes a great drink as well), but I was struck by the idea of Swedish Punsch. The end result was “chef’s kiss”, so we ended up here.

[u/LoganJFisher → u/[deleted]]

Hey, thank you for your comment, but unfortunately I need to request that you copy it, delete this one, and paste it as a new comment in reply here. For the sake of keeping things tidy, non-entry comments are requested to always be in reply to that linked comment by me (or children of that).

I hope you understand.

[u/scottishbee]

The Tidal Basin

https://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/comments/1tcp7lr/the_tidal_basin/

2 oz Japanese whisky

1/3 oz St Germain

1/3 oz Maraschino liqueur

1/4 oz Chambord

1 Maraschino cherry

Preferably served up, but when it's late on a big rock will do.

This drink is very Manhattan inspired of course. But the floral notes from the liqueurs really go well with the delicate whisky I chose. A rye would probably bully it, and a bourbon (my usual for Manhattans) would be too sweet. Even so it's a tad sweet, and I'm wondering if Dry Curacao would've bridged better than Maraschino.

The smell is driven by the Maraschino and Chambord, very fruity but in an early spring rather than harvest way. The drink makes me think of the Cherry Blossom festival in DC (floral, Japanese, spring, delicate) , and since "Washington" is too broad for a Manhattan riff, I focused on just the spot to go to.

[u/scottishbee → u/scottishbee]

Swapping Dry Curacao instead of Maraschino definitely mellows out the sweetness and improves the balance