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This Raspberry Gin Cocktail is the perfect sweet and fruity drink for Valentine’s day. This refreshing cocktail is made with two types of liquor, fresh lemon, and a refined sugar-free raspberry simple syrup!
Elderflower Gin Cocktail with Lemon and Raspberry
This Raspberry Gin Cocktail is a fabulous mixed drink recipe. It’s light and refreshing, made perfectly sweet with an easy raspberry simple syrup and fresh squeezed lemon, spiked with gin and elderflower liqueur, then topped with a splash of bubbles.
I serve mine over ice cubes with fresh raspberries frozen right into them. It’s the perfect presentation for the perfect drink!
Enjoy this gin cocktail for Valentine’s day (or any holiday for that matter) or whip it up to make your weeknight meal a little fancier!
Ingredients Needed
You need just a few simple ingredients to put together this refreshing raspberry elderflower cocktail. See the recipe card below for ingredient amounts!
- Raspberry Simple Syrup: We’re making a homemade refined sugar-free simple syrup with a mix of raspberries, filtered water, and maple syrup. It’s easy I promise!
- Gin: Use your favorite variety of gin. I recommend good quality stuff!
- Lemon Juice: Use freshly squeezed lemon juice for the best flavor.
- Elderflower Liqueur: This is optional, but does give the cocktail an extra layer of fruity flavor.
- Club Soda or Sparkling Water: They are only subtly different. Either one will work!
- Ice Cubes: You’ll shake the cocktail with ice to chill the drink, then strain them out.
- Rosemary Sprigs: Optional. For garnish!
- Raspberry Ice Cubes: Optional but fun! You can easily make raspberry ice cubes by placing raspberries into an ice cube tray, covering them with water, then freezing them.
How to Make a Raspberry Gin Cocktail
This easy gin cocktail is the perfect drink for a dinner date at home. It takes just 10 minutes to make!
- In a small saucepan, mix together raspberries, water, and maple syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Strain and cool completely.
- Add gin, lemon juice, club soda, 1.5 ounces of raspberry simple syrup, and elderflower liquor to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into your serving glass.
- Serve with raspberry ice cubes and a garnish of rosemary.
Tips and Notes
- Make the syrup ahead of time. It needs time to cool completely before you add it to the drink. If it’s still warm when you shake your cocktail up, it will melt the ice and dilute your drink.
- Use large ice cube molds for the raspberry ice cubes. The large ice cube molds are meant for making cocktails. The bigger cubes melt more slowly so they won’t dilute the drink as quickly as smaller ice cubes would.
- If you want a fizzier drink, wait to add the club soda until just before serving. Shake everything else up together, pour it into the glass, then top with the club soda and stir gently. This maintains more of the carbonation.
Your Own Simple Syrup
I love making Simple Syrup at home! This version below is spruced up with raspberries and I promise it’s super duper easy.
Gin Lemon Cocktail Variations
- Use another fruit. Swap the raspberries out for any other berry you like. Blackberries or strawberries would be delicious.
- Swap the club soda. You can use Prosecco or a moscato wine (sweeter) to a similar effect.
- Use a different citrus. Orange or lime is great!
Serving Suggestions
This elderflower gin cocktail is perfect for Valentine’s Day with this menu!
- Restaurant Worthy Caesar Salad or Harvest Salad with Maple Balsamic Dressing
- Air Fryer Steak or Seared Steak
- Chili Maple Glazed Salmon or Air Fryer Salmon
- Perfect Oven Roasted Veggies or Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Raspberry Swirl Brownies or Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownies
- Paleo Chocolate Truffles or Cookie Truffles
How to Store
The only component of this recipe that you can really store is the raspberry simple syrup. It will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
The raspberry cocktail itself is definitely best served immediately. The fresher the better!
More Cocktail Recipes You’ll Love
Raspberry Gin Cocktail
Ingredients
For the Raspberry Simple Syrup:
- 1 pint raspberries
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
For the Cocktail:
- 1.5 ounces gin
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 ounce club soda or sparkling water
- 1.5 ounces raspberry simple syrup
- 1/2 ounce elderflower liquor optional but highly recommend
- Rosemary sprigs for garnish
- Ice Cubes
Instructions
- Add raspberries, water and maple syrup to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, and then reduce the heat to simmer until the syrup has reduced to half, about 10 minutes. Strain, and let cool completely.
- Add gin, lemon juice, club soda, 1.5 ounces of the raspberry simple syrup, and elderflower to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well, and strain into a cocktail glass.
- Serve immediately with one or two raspberry ice cubes (or regular ice cubes) and a sprig or rosemary.
We are spending New Years at home this year and looking forward to it. I did want something new and different as a beverage though and came across this recipe! LOVED IT! It is beautiful to look at and just invites you to take a sip. Love the fruity “not too sweet” flavor and count this as my new Favorite! Thanks so much for sharing!
For the syrup when you say ne package of raspberries Howe much is that? We buy them in big packages of 1kg here so I’m wondering how much to use. Looks fantastic cannot wait to try it out!
Could gin be substituted with vodka?
Sure.
Hi there … Fantastic well written article and also highly helpful. Nice to check your current blogs.
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This looks great! How much simple syrup does it make? Enough for a few drinks? Can you save it and use another time?
Yes — enough for a few drinks. Lasts up to 1 week in the fridge!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. This is going to be one of my fav summer drinks. Weather is getting warmer here so time for my drink gynny gynnnnnn…. mmmm