This sparkling sake sangria recipe is full of bright fruit and uses sparkling sake, instead of wine. Sake is, after all, a rice wine, so it’s not entirely breaking the rules. With raspberry lemonade and fruit soaked in white rum, it makes a lovely Easter or sun-shiny Spring cocktail that packs a bit of a punch, so sip those sparkles slowly, no mater how delicious they are!
I love sake for cocktails! It’s a mild spirit that most guests enjoy, and mixes so well with fruity or floral flavors, so it’s especially perfect for Spring signature party cocktails. When I found out about sparkling sake, I just had to try it!
This “Japanese champagne” is delicious all on its own, lovely with a single raspberry or black berry, or mixed into cocktails like this one!
Why This Recipe is Special
It’s an inexpensive, easy and DELICIOUS cocktail to make for a crowd – I love to serve beautiful cocktails at parties, but I don’t want them to be too complicated and I don’t want to break the bank. The sparkling sake that I used in this recipe is only $22 and when all mixed together in just a few minutes, the sangria can serve at least 8 people. It’s quite a steal for such an original, tasty cocktail.
It’s makes such a lovely cocktail for any Spring party – It’s perfect for Easter but also Mother’s Day, cherry blossom celebrations, bridal showers… you name it! This cocktail is perfect for any light, bright Spring get-together.
It lasts for days – If, on the off chance, you have any of this cocktail left over, just remove the fruit, place it in a sealable container, place what’s left of the cocktail in a sealable bottle, and it will be lovely for at least 3 more days! It may not be as sparkly, but it will still be just as tasty.
Ingredient Notes
Green apple – You can use any kind of apple for this recipe, really, but the tartness of the green apple is nice because the sparkling sake is quite sweet.
Mio Sparkling Sake – It’s not soda or champagne that makes this recipe sparkle. It’s the sake itself! I used a popular brand of sparkling sake called Mio. If you use this brand too, make sure to use their non-dry sake (the dry version says “Dry” on the label). It’s still tasty, but the regular version is sweeter and floral, and this recipe is tastier when sweeter.
Raspberry lemonade – I specifically used Santa Cruz organic raspberry lemonade for this recipe, but you can certainly make your own or use another brand.
How to Make This Recipe
1. Slice ½ green apple into sticks.
2. Slice ½ cup red grapes in half.
3. Slice 1 lemon into thin slices, and cut each slice in half.
4. In a pitcher, add sliced fruit and ½ cup raspberries. Pour ½ cup white rum, ¼ cup fresh lemon juice and 1½ cup raspberry lemonade. Refrigerate and allow fruit to soak for up to an hour. Once fruit has soaked, add 1 full bottle of Mio Sparkling Sake (25 ounces). Gently mix and serve.
Common Questions
The particular brand that I used, Mio, is sweet, floral and a bit fruity with a hint of pear. It’s very easy to drink, even for someone not used to regular sake.
You honestly don’t have to soak the fruit in rum before serving. It just gives the fruit a nice kick! But if you want to allow the fruit to soak up some of that rum, you can leave it soaking for just an hour, and that’s enough time. In other words, it could take overnight if you really want “drunken fruit”, or it could take 5 minutes. It all just depends if you want your fruit rum-soaked.
Not for this recipe. Since it’s a sparkling sake, the bubbles would be all gone by the time your fruit is soaked, so soak in rum and juice, instead.
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Sparkling Sake Easter Sangria
Equipment
- sharp knife and cutting board
- lemon juicer
- pitcher
Ingredients
- ½ cup red grapes – sliced in half
- ½ green apple – sliced into sticks
- 2 lemons – 1 cut into slices, and the other for juicing
- ½ cup raspberries
- ½ cup white rum
- 25 oz. Mio Sparkling Sake (1 bottle) – or sweet sparkling sake of your choice
- 1½ cups raspberry lemonade
Instructions
- Slice ½ green apple into sticks. Slice ½ cup red grapes in half. Slice 1 lemon into thin slices, and cut each slice in half.
- In a pitcher, add sliced fruit and ½ cup raspberries. Pour ½ cup white rum, ¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice and 1½ cups raspberry lemonade. Refrigerate and allow fruit to soak for up to an hour. After fruit has soaked, add 1 full bottle of Mio Sparkling Sake (25 ounces). Gently mix and serve.
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