WOW your summer cocktail party guests with this vibrant 4 ingredient Empress Gin Cocktail recipe that whips up in just 5 minutes! It’s a show-stopping cocktail! The layered blue and purple look is mesmerizing and you don’t need a mixologist degree to make it. On a summer day, you’ll love the refreshing taste that is both tart and sweet.
The summer season is when most fruity cocktail recipes shine. The bright colors, the tropical and refreshing flavor, not to mention they are so much fun to serve at parties! The ombre layered look is one of my favorite bartender tricks, similar to how I make Tipsy Mermaids. You can also use your leftover gin for some drink recipes like blackberry cocktails or mix it with ginger beer and lime juice for a classic Moscow Mule.
As you may know, a summer party cannot be a hit without some food to pair with those tasty cocktails and perhaps some piña colada jello shots! As an easy meal, serve grilled shrimp skewers with roasted veggies. Then display your peach shooters or pink lemonade jello shots to get the party started.
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Easy Gin Cocktail Recipe
- Light and refreshing.
- Tart but sweet on your taste buds.
- The crowd goes wild over how majestic it looks.
- Easy to make.
🍸 Ingredients:
- Ice Cubes – you’ll need just enough to fill your glasses.
- Pink lemonade – adds the tartness without having to use fresh lemon juice but still offering the citrus notes.
- Blue Curacao – gives the drink more blue color and beautiful indigo color and sweetness without needing more sugar or a sweet syrup or regular simple syrup.
- Empress Gin – Only the best for the gin lover, the colorful star of the show for these empress indigo gin cocktails.
- Creme de Violette – a liqueur that is lavender purple (violet liqueur) and filled with delicate floral notes.
- Garnishes – Pineapple wedges (for that pop of color), maraschino cherries, orange slices or a grapefruit slice (for those extra flavors of citrus), lemon twist, a mint leaf, rosemary sprig, or lime slices.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Substitutions and Variations
- Feel free to use the purple empress gin and mix with tonic water, a splash of soda water, or club soda for a more classic drink.
- Combine the extra gin with an egg and lemon juice (shake and strain) for a gin sour.
- If you are not a gin fan, you can also use Vodka but the weights are lightly different. It may not have as clear of a layered look, but it will still be quite yummy.
- You can garnish with just about anything bright.
- Tropical fruit, edible flowers, mint leaves, fresh bright lemon.
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Have a spoon ready. This is how we create the unique layered look.
Step 1: Fill the glasses with fresh ice and pour in the pink lemonade.
Step 2: Pour the Blue Curacao down the backside of the spoon against the glass.
Step 3: In a separate glass, combine the creme de Violette and Empress gin.
Step 4: Pour the gin mixture on the back of the spoon resting against again the glass. Garnish and serve.
Pro Tip: Be sure to use the back of a spoon to seperate the layers. This is a great way to achieve the layered dramatic look for this signature cocktail.
Step 5: Garnish and serve this beautiful cocktail.
GARNISH/SLICE/SERVE: Garnish with fresh pineapple and a maraschino cherry. Enjoy with your favorite friends!!
- Even though most cocktails like this one use a simple syrup, I like the Blue Curacao for the look and the amount of sweetness. If you didn’t have any on hand you can use a homemade simple syrup recipe, the drink just won’t be as blue.
- We prefer to use a straight sided glass so we can see all three layers. However, you could use champagne flutes or a martini glass, it will just mix and will not look the same.
- Do not add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker. They will mix together and won’t look nearly as pretty.
Fun Fact
Because there are no artificial dyes in Empress gin, if the bottle is in the sunlight for too long, the color can fade.
Recipe FAQs
It’s a London Dry Gin that is a rich blue or indigo color and has hints of juniper (complex citrus flavor) in every sip, along with Fairmont Empress Tea. This liquor was inspired by the famous Fairmont Express Hotel, located in British Columbia and is made by Victoria Distillers.
This liquor gets its beautiful color from butterfly pea blossom and butterfly pea flowers, which is bright blue. However, depending on the type of cocktail you create, it can change colors based on the mixer added.
Nope! The distillers directly state that they do not use artificial dyes. Instead, the color comes from the botanicals and flower it’s made with.
More Boozy Summer Cocktail Recipes
If you tried this Empress Gin Cocktail Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Empress Gin Cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 cup ice cubes or enough to fill glass
- ½ cup pink lemonade
- ¾ oz. Blue Curacao
- 1 oz. Empress Gin
- ½ oz. Creme de Violette
- Pineapple wedges maraschino cherries, orange slices, or lime slices to garnish
Instructions
- Fill glass with ice.
- Add pink lemonade to the glass.
- Slowly pour the Blue Curacao over an upside down spoon to direct the blue liquor down the side of the glass.
- In a separate dish, combine Empress gin and creme de violette.
- Pour the gin mixture slowly over an upside down spoon resting against the side of the glass as you did with the blue curacao.
- Garnish with tropical fruit, as you wish.
Would you like to save this?
We’ll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Notes
- Even though most cocktails like this one use a simple syrup, I like the Blue Curacao for the look and the amount of sweetness. If you didn’t have any on hand you can use a homemade simple syrup recipe, the drink just won’t be as blue.
- We prefer to use a straight sided glass so we can see all three layers. However, you could use champagne flutes or a martini glass, it will just mix and will not look the same.
- Do not add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker. They will mix together and won’t look nearly as pretty.
Nutrition
Make this recipe?
Share it with me on Instagram @girlinspired1 and follow on Pinterest for more!
Leave A Reply!