Sour Blue Raspberry White Claw Cocktail Recipe with Rum

Have a classic variety pack of White Claws and looking to mix up your drink options? Raspberry white claws are definitely one of the more popular flavors out there and perfect for mixing into a refreshing fun cocktail like my sour blue raspberry white claw cocktail with rum.  

Why I’m Making a Blue Raspberry White Claw Cocktail Recipe with Rum

White claws are not a serious drink, but they are bubbly fun party drinks. I wanted to accent this fun spirit forward with a visually striking “candy” throwback cocktail.

If you grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, you definitely remember “sour blue raspberry” everything. I don’t know who decided raspberry-flavored candies should be blue, but it has been a candy hallmark ever since. 

I really wanted this to be a fun drink – the kind you could put a curly straw or umbrella into. So when it came time to design a cocktail around White Claws I wanted to highlight its light, bubbly, and playful nature. 

I chose to go with blue raspberry specifically because it was such a unique flavor growing up. This naturally led me to use raspberry White Claw, one of the most widely available flavors after lemon and lime. 

Ingredients

What I love about these types of White Claw cocktails is that they involve very few ingredients: 

• A Raspberry White Claw is the base of this cocktail. This is mostly just to make a play on the whole idea of “blue raspberry” as being something I associate with being blue in color. 
• Blue Curacao gives me the fun blue color that really makes this drink stand out. While this technique adds a bit of an orange flavor, it still pairs nicely with the raspberry flavors from the White Claw. 
• Rum 
• Limes will add acidity to the rum cocktail and will balance out the other flavors in the drink. Ideally, use fresh lime juice for a stronger citrus flavor (rather than bottled lime juice).
• Raspberries make a great garnish for this drink and help keep the drink to the blue raspberry theme. I also like to muddle a few to get some natural raspberry flavors into the mixed drink.
• Ice makes this drink more refreshing, especially for a spritzer-based cocktail.

Recipe Instructions for Rum Blue Raspberry White Claw Cocktails

Step 1: Add Ingredients into a Shaker

Add the following ingredients into a shaker: 4 whole raspberries, blue curacao, rum, juice of 2 limes, and a handful of ice.

Step 2: Cover and Shake

Cover and shake the shaker vigorously for 10 seconds. Do not over shake as this will cause the drink to get too cold and diluted with water which will decrease the flavor. Let’s face it White Claws aren’t exactly known for being over the top with flavor so I don’t really want to dilute more than I have to. 

Step 3: Pour Into a Glass

Pour the shaker contents evenly into your glasses. 

Step 4: Add Raspberry White Claw to Top

Top the drink with raspberry flavored White Claw. The amount you need should be between 1/3rd and ½ can for each glass but this will depend on the glasses and ice you used. 

Step 5: Garnish

With the remaining raspberries you have, garnish the drink. 

Step 6: Stir

Before sipping the drink, be sure to give it a stir. Since I added the White Claw on top, you’ll want to mix everything together for a balanced drink. If you are wondering why I don’t mix the white claw into the shaker, it is for two reasons. 

First, I want a color gradient in the glass for presentation. Second, since White Claw is lightly carbonated, I don’t want to waste that carbonation in the shaker, flattening the drink. 

Substitutions in the Recipe

Similar to the lime flavored White Claw cocktail I made, you can substitute the Raspberry White Claw for another seltzer brand, such as High Noon (one of my new favorite easy drinking seltzers).

If you don’t have any Blue Curacao on hand, you can definitely substitute any other orange liqueur like triple sec or Grand Marnier. If you use one of the other types, consider adding a tiny bit of lemon or lime juice, as they are both sweeter than Curacao. A little blue food dye can also help keep the blue raspberry color theming here. 

Blue Raspberry White Claw Cocktail Tips

Because White Claws are naturally mellow in their flavor, the goal of turning it into a cocktail is to strengthen the overall flavor of the drink.

Since I’m working with the raspberry flavored drink, I want to focus on getting a stronger raspberry taste in it. This is why I’m adding in real raspberries, along with lime juice to help brighten up the flavor profile.

Another use of the fresh lime juice in my cocktail is to provide a bit of sourness (think of a sour blue raspberry candy). If you have access to sour cocktail mix, you can greatly increase the strength of the pucker. Even more so, if you have citric acid powder, you can get to some extreme levels of sour, more like a Warhead. 

An alternative method for introducing sour into a cocktail that I have not tried yet (but will be looking into) is making simple syrup with the citric acid powder mixed in.  

Since this is a novelty drink, I recommend drinking it with foods of a similar flavor profile. Fresh fruits are the clear and obvious choice, especially those with some tartness in them.   

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