6 Cotton Candy Cocktails Filled With Nostalgia (& Booze)

Enjoy grown-up versions of your favorite childhood carnival treat with these sweet and nostalgic cotton candy cocktails.

Published August 2, 2023
Cocktails with Cotton Candy

Forget the three R's that are reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic. Now you have the three Cs: cotton candy cocktails. These confectionary tipples will have you dreaming of summer days at the carnival. But this time, there won't be bees or scary rides - only all the fun. Come one! Come all! Come get your cotton candy cocktails!

Barbiecore Pink Cotton Candy Cocktail

There's only one way to describe the color and vibe of this cocktail: Barbiecore pink.

Glasses with tasty cotton candy cocktail

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. In a cocktail shaker, add ice, vanilla vodka, cranberry juice, strawberry simple syrup, and lemon juice.
  2. Shake to chill.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
  4. Garnish with fluff of pink cotton candy.

Cherry Cotton Candy Cocktail

Sweet like candy, but just tart enough to cleanse the palate after each sip, you'll always want to go back for more.

Cherry Cotton Candy Cocktail

Ingredients

  • 1 large fluff white, red, or pink cotton candy
  • 2 ounces cherry vodka
  • 1 ounce grenadine
  • Ice
  • Lemon-lime soda to top off
  • Cherries for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a highball glass, fill three-quarters of the way with cotton candy.
  2. Fill remaining space with ice.
  3. Add ice, cherry vodka, and grenadine.
  4. Stir briefly to mix.
  5. Top off with lemon-lime soda.
  6. Garnish with cherries.

Rosé Cotton Candy

Rosé all day? Rosé with cotton candy all day, we say!

A bottle of sparkling wine rose pouring liquid with glasses and cotton candy

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounces rosé
  • 1 ounce Aperol
  • 1 ounces lemonade
  • Ice
  • Cotton candy for garnish

Instructions

  1. Chill a martini glass or coupe.
  2. In a cocktail shaker, add ice, rosé, Aperol, and lemonade.
  3. Shake to chill.
  4. Strain into the chilled glass.
  5. Garnish with cotton candy.

Fairy Floss Martini

Cotton candy has different names around the world, but fairy floss might be our favorite. Plus, it gives this martini the air of whimsy. And isn't that what cocktails and cotton candy are all about?

A vodka martini cocktail topped with pink cotton candy

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces vanilla vodka
  • 1 ounce watermelon juice
  • ½ ounce pomegranate juice
  • ½ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • Ice
  • Cotton candy for garnish

Instructions

  1. Chill a martini glass or coupe.
  2. In a cocktail shaker, add ice, vanilla vodka, watermelon juice, pomegranate juice, and lemon juice.
  3. Shake to chill.
  4. Strain into chilled glass.
  5. Garnish with cotton candy.

Sparkling Cotton Candy Spritzer

I love sparkling cocktails. You love sparkling cocktails. The world loves a sparkling cocktail. That's science. You know what else is science? The magic that happens when cotton candy meets prosecco.

Glasses with sweet cotton candy cocktail

Ingredients

  • 1 ounce gin
  • ½ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ¼ ounce simple syrup
  • Ice
  • Prosecco to top off
  • Cotton candy for garnish

Instructions

  1. Chill a Champagne flute.
  2. In a cocktail shaker, add ice, gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
  3. Shake to chill.
  4. Strain into the chilled glass.
  5. Top off with prosecco.
  6. Garnish with cotton candy.

Blue Lagoon Cotton Candy

Grab your suit, you're off to the pool! Okay, maybe it's just a pool that's in your cocktail shaker, but a pool's a pool. Dive in!

Blue Lagoon Cotton Candy Cocktails

Ingredients

  • Cotton candy fluff
  • 1 ounce vodka or white rum
  • 1 ounce blue curaçao
  • 3 ounces lemonade
  • ½ ounce limoncello
  • Ice

Instructions

  1. Fill a rocks glass three-quarters of the way with cotton candy.
  2. Fill the remaining space with ice.
  3. In a cocktail shaker, add ice, vodka, blue curaçao, lemonade, and limoncello.
  4. Shake to chill.
  5. Strain into the prepared rocks glass.

Whimsical Clouds of Cotton Candy Cocktails

Grab your shorts, those shoes you always wear for carnival rides so you can slip them off and avoid them going flying through the crowd, and bear hug a giant bag of cotton candy. You're about to sail into the tunnel of love - cocktail love, that is.

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6 Cotton Candy Cocktails Filled With Nostalgia (& Booze)