Cold brew is the newest coffee fad that has almost surpassed the hot variety. Cold brew is a method of brewing coffee with cold water for up to 24 hours, creating a cold coffee drink with a super-strong flavor.
The rich coffee flavor inherent in cold brew makes for a delicious foundation for elaborate coffee drinks. It’s also the ideal mixer for cocktails, as its strong flavor stands up to liqueurs and spirits of all kinds.
Read on to discover a diverse list of cold brew cocktails to try at home.
Best Cold Brew Cocktails
This spiked cold brew cocktail blends chocolate bitters and Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey for a smokey, bitter cocktail with a chocolatey finish.
The bourbon-to-coffee ratio ensures that bourbon is the star of the show, but the rich coffee flavor neutralizes the alcoholic bite. This easy recipe makes one cocktail by pouring all ingredients into a glass and stirring.
A caffein-fueled take on the classic bourbon cocktail, this Cold Brew Coffee Old Fashioned adds equal parts bourbon and cold brew to simple syrup and bitters. The dash of water is a much-needed flavor neutralizer.
The orange slice and maraschino cherry garnish offer a delicious dessert garnish to compliment the bitter smokiness of a coffee-filled Old Fashioned.
Another novel take on a classic, the Cold Brew Negroni makes a few changes, including swapping traditional gin for aged rum. The cold brew gets a rich, smooth finish with the aged rum that’s preferable to gin’s botanical nature.
Campari and sweet vermouth add a dry and sweet finish to this elegant cocktail.
Considering tequila and vanilla are Mexican natives, this tequila cold brew recipe is an homage to Mexico. It blends cold brew and tequila with vanilla-infused simple syrup and heavy cream in a cocktail shaker.
Shaking the cream creates a velvety texture and frothy head to this cocktail, reminiscent of an iced latte.
This recipe further solidifies bourbon as one of the favorite coffee pairings. It’s a decadent cocktail that blends bourbon and cold brew with cream, triple sec, and maple syrup.
The result is both refreshing and comforting, with citrus and maple invoking fall and winter flavors.
A more convenient alternative to the classic Espresso Martini, a cold brew martini delivers the same ultra-caffeinated, rich coffee cocktail you crave without all the fancy machinery.
It’s a simple three-ingredient vodka martini recipe that combines equal parts vodka, coffee cream liqueur, and cold brew in a cocktail shaker for an elegant cocktail that’ll surely give you a second wind.
The perfect brunch cocktail for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, this Irish Cold Brew Coffee honors brews of every kind, from beer to spirits to coffee. It adds Irish stout and Irish whiskey to a full cup of cold brew, finishing it off with a pour of thick creamer.
This cocktail is a meal in and of itself!
If you’re a fan of elaborate Starbucks coffee drinks, this cocktail is an alcoholic version of Starbucks’ brown sugar oat milk espresso. Cold brew is a perfect espresso alternative with an equally rich coffee flavor.
It has you make a brown sugar simple syrup to sweeten a cup of equal parts cold brew and whiskey, adding a dash of dairy-free milk for creaminess.
This cocktail is for those amateur mixologists looking for a challenge. Black Mountain Coffee is the height of modern mixology, consisting of a cold brew concentrate and a sophisticated mix of Irish whiskey, bitter liqueurs, and banana liqueur.
If that flavor explosion isn’t enough, the recipe then has you top the cocktail with a scratch-made salted-cinnamon cream.
No brand would know how best to craft a cold brew cocktail than Kahlua, the king of coffee liqueurs. They’ve created the perfect cocktail to showcase their signature liqueur with this simple, three-ingredient Kahlua Cold Brew.
It blends lemon, Kahlua, and cold brew for the perfect summertime coffee cocktail.
Brandy is a sweet and smokey spirit that, like whiskey, is aged in oak casks. It has a similar flavor profile to whiskey, making it a great pairing for coffee cocktails.
This Cold Brew and Brandy Cocktail consist of equal parts brandy, cold brew, and whole milk. I like all the baking spice garnishes that enhance the tasting notes in the brandy.
A dairy-free twist on the classic White Russian, this vodka cocktail is just as rich without the cream. It’s a single-serving low-ball glass that combines vanilla vodka, Kahlua, and cold brew in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Vanilla and coffee are a match made in flavor heaven, and you get double doses of both ingredients.
Cinnamon is the most popular garnish for coffee drinks, so it follows that cinnamon whiskey would be a perfect pairing for cold brew cocktails. This three-ingredient cocktail spikes cold brew with a dash of cinnamon whiskey and a dash of milk.
Cinnamon whiskey is spicy and smokey, with a little going a long way. Therefore, this cold brew cocktail is flavorful without being too boozy.
The Siciliano is another less alcoholic cold brew cocktail consisting of cold brew and sweet vermouth. Not only does this cocktail prove that the unlikely pairing of wine and coffee works, but it also adds club soda to the mix.
Against all odds, a fizzy coffee and wine liqueur cocktail is both flavorful and refreshing.
Short for “reposado,” Repo Cold Brew Cocktail comes courtesy of Don Julio tequila. It combines its signature reposado tequila with milk, pouring the spiked milk mixture over a glass of cold brew.
The smooth, smokey finish of the tequila makes this the classiest hair of the dog iteration I’ve encountered.
A boozy homage to toasted marshmallows, this elegant cocktail has a bourbon and cold brew foundation. The marshmallow flavors come from a blend of brulée liqueur, orange juice, and amaretto.
The best part is the roasted marshmallow garnish. If you don’t have a torch, you can easily roast the skewered marshmallow over a gas stove flame.
This Cointreau cold brew cocktail adds nearly equal parts of cold brew and Cointreau, finishing it off with a rich pour of coconut milk. The combination of orange and coconut milk makes for the ultimate boozy cold brew creamer.
Cointreau has a lower alcohol content than the standard spirits, so this is a beverage you can enjoy two of.
True to its name, the Bold Russian is a stronger-tasting version of the classic White Russian. You replace coffee liqueur with a cold brew in the typical vodka, cream, and coffee recipe.
The Bold Russian gets a sweet and bitter boost from simple syrup and walnut bitters, which only embolden the Bold Russian even more.
Eggnog is a thick, creamy spiced beverage that you’ll see at most holiday parties, and it’s usually spiked with booze. This recipe takes it a step further by adding yet another spiced ingredient.
It has you make a spiced cold brew to add in equal parts with the eggnog and bourbon, sweetening the mix with a dash of vanilla simple syrup.
I’m ending with the ultimate winter-season dessert cocktail. The spiked caramel pumpkin cold brew is a boozy macchiato served in a large mason jar and topped with heaping dollops of whipped cream and caramel sauce.
This cocktail calls for scratch-made pumpkin cold brew concentrate spiked with spiced rum and Bailey’s Irish cream.
Cheers!
You can enjoy a glass of cold brew to fuel your mornings while enjoying a cold brew cocktail to fuel your evenings. My list of cold brew cocktails offers coffee-flavored twists on classics along with creative new cocktails.
Let me know which cold brew cocktail you enjoyed most in the comments below!
20 Delicious Cold Brew Cocktail Recipes
Ingredients
- Bourbon Iced Coffee
- Cold Brew Coffee Old Fashioned
- Cold Brew Negroni
- Tequila Cold Brew
- Cold Brew Coffee Cocktail
- Cold Brew Martini
- Irish Cold Brew Coffee
- Brown Sugar Cold Brew Cocktail
- Black Mountain Coffee
- Kahlúa Cold Brew
- Cold Brew and Brandy Cocktail
- Twisted Black Russian
- Cinnamon Whiskey Coffee Cocktail
- The Siciliano
- Repo Cold Brew Cocktail
- Roast & Toast Cocktail
- Cointreau Cold Brew
- Bold Russian
- Eggnog Cold Brew Coffee Cocktail
- Spiked Caramel Pumpkin Cold Brew
Instructions
- Pick your favorite recipe
- Gather all the needed ingredients
- Prep a summer cocktail in less than 5 minutes
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