Happy cocktail Friday, everyone! This week is an especially awesome Friday for me since I just finished up my academic year of grad school, weeeeee! I’ve been studying for a while and finally got through my last hurdle this morning, which was an oral board. So now, it’s time to celebrate!
I love this cocktail for a hot summer day. Lemonade is a classic of course, but the addition of blueberry and rye is just perfect. I chose rye over some other styles of whiskey (*ehem* bourbon) thanks to a friend of mine from Kentucky who knows whiskey well and recommended that I use rye.
Bourbon tends to be a sweeter liquor, which isn’t really needed in this drink because of the sugar that’s already added. Plus, bourbon is a bit fuller in flavor which could have overpowered the lemon and blueberry.
Cheers and enjoy your weekend!

Blueberry Rye Lemonade
Ingredients
- 4 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 3 oz rye
- 3 oz blueberry syrup (see below for instructions)
- Top off with sparkling water
Blueberry Syrup
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Add blueberries, sugar, and water to a small pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir and lower heat to a simmer for 10 minutes, mashing blueberries as they simmer.
Remove from heat and strain blueberry skins and seeds out of liquid, then allow to cool.
Divide blueberry syrup, rye, and lemon juice into 2 glasses over crushed ice. Top with sparkling water and stir before serving.
For my macro trackers out there, I wasn’t able to create a My Fitness Pal barcode for this recipe since I would have had to decide for you whether to put the alcohol calories in as carbs or fats – that’s up to you! The 26 carbs listed here are just for the lemon juice, sugar, and blueberries added to the booze. For my non-macro trackers, here’s more info on what I’m talking about.
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