If you’re a lover of White Claw or Truly and are ready to level up, this project is for you. It may take some extra know-how and time, but the results always pay off! Bottling your own cocktails allows so much freedom to your flavors and frankly, they’re gonna be way fresher. With a few supplies, recycled materials, or mason jars, you’ll be on your way to ready to go cocktails or sodas!
We love taking these bottled cocktails on adventures or they make the perfect “I’m thinking of you” treat to give to friends and family. Fun fact: instead of Christmas cookies, we always give out Christmas cocktails to our friends and vendors during the season!
For our own summer project, we bottled up a few different versions of the Aperol Spritz made with Iconic Lime Leaf Tonic, Watermelon Rose Tonic, and Pichuberry Peach Sour. This technique below is perfect for bottling any carbonated cocktail.
What you’ll need to make your own carbonated cocktails and mocktails:
- Bottles
- We are using these 187mL Clear Champagne Bottles that we found at Tempe Brewer’s Connection but they are also online. You could use a recycled beer bottle that is crown cap ready. Mason Jars are a great alternative but might not hold carbonation the same way that a crown cap would.
- Crown caps
- Buy online or find at Brewer's Connection in Tempe.
- Bottle Capper
- An inexpensive tool to invest in! We found our Red Baron Capper at Brewer's Connection but again, you can find this online!
- Funnel and Mixing Vessel
- A delicious cocktail or mocktail to fill your bottles
- Keep reading to get the recipe for our Bottled Aperol Spritz!
- A way to keep everything extra chilly
- We like using an ice bucket while making ours or you can just be close to the freezer.
Here is our technique for bottling a carbonated beverage:
- Step 1: Start with clean bottles that are room temperature
- Step 2: Store bottles in the freezer to keep chilled. For maximum carbonation, keep your bottles on ice while you prepare your bottles. After they’re capped, transfer them to the freezer
- Step 3: Prepare your cocktail or mocktail in a mixing vessel. If your cocktail calls for sparkling water, keep that separate so you can do that at the end for optimal carbonation.
- Step 4: Fill your chilled bottle, sans sparkling water, with a funnel.
- Step 5: Add sparkling water at the end
- Step 6: Crown cap as quickly as possible and keep chilled in the fridge
Here’s our recipe for Bottled Aperol Spritz:
Makes 6 bottled cocktails
- 12oz of Aperol
- 12oz of Prosecco
- 6oz of Iconic Mixer (We split our into three flavors using Watermelon Rose Tonic, Lime Leaf Tonic, and Pichuberry Peach Sour)
- 12oz of Sparkling Water
- 6 chilled 187ml bottles with caps
-Combine Aperol, Prosecco, and Iconic Mixer in a chilled mixing glass.
-Add 5oz of the batch to each of the chilled bottles
-Top the bottle with 2oz of chilled sparkling water
-Cap and keep chilled
Tips and tricks
- To make a bottled mocktail or soda, replace any spirit with a strongly brewed tea or fruit juice. For a virgin Aperol Spritz, brew a strong fruity herbal tea to replace this bitter liqueur and substitute prosecco for sparkling water.
- Fill your bottles slowly and with a funnel. Do not overfill! Leave a good amount of space in the neck of the bottle.
- If you choose to use a mason jar, be sure to crank the lid nice and tight on to get a good seal.
- Keep all your ingredients as cold as possible when preparing the cocktail. Cold = lots of carbonation.
- For the freshest cocktail, consume within 2-3 weeks after making them.
- For supplies, we LOVE supporting local. We were able to find everything in one stop at Tempe Brewer's Connection. Check your local brewing store before buying everything online!
- Get creative! We love our citrus flavors for a summery take on the classic Aperol Spritz but the options are endless!
