Let’s Toast: Refreshing Red Drinks To Elevate Your Juneteenth Celebration

Picture this: It’s hot outside, and you’re at the family cookout, whooping on your cousins in a game of Spades. The uncles are gathered around the grill while the aunties whisper about who made the potato salad. Grandma is sharing stories of the past, only breaking to enlist a young’n to do this, do that, bring her this, grab her that. The kids are running around, hollering and screaming, having a good ‘ole time, and Frankie Beverly and Maze are blaring through the speakers. Just about everyone has a cup in their hands, and if this scenario is the setting for a Juneteenth function, then those cups are probably full of red drink.

Juneteenth, a holiday that’s long been observed by Black Americans, honors the day when on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger, Commanding Officer of the Union Army for the District of Texas, arrived in Galveston and informed citizens that all slaves were free under the Emancipation Proclamation, which had gone into effect two and a half years prior. In the subsequent years, the day was referred to in Texas as “the 19th of June” or the “June 19th” celebration, but by 1910, Black people throughout the South began recognizing the day as “Juneteenth.” In 2021, the day was proclaimed a federal holiday when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, officially recognizing Juneteenth as the day commemorating the end of slavery.

The holiday coincides with the beginning of summer, and for many, Juneteenth marks the start of grilling season. It’s not uncommon to find platters of smoked meats being passed around at a Juneteenth party or thick-cut slices of watermelon and various other tasty treats associated with summer barbecues. However, there’s one major staple featured at these celebrations that sets it apart from a typical cookout, and that’s red drink. Whether it’s sweet sun tea, red soda, watermelon punch, or something spiked with love, all the red and all the flavor always show up to the function.

“Red drinks are non-negotiable,” says Tiffanie Barriere, an Atlanta-based bartender and former Tales of the Cocktail Visionary Award winner. “That red is symbolic. It honors the blood shed by our ancestors and ties back to the West African traditions that used red kola nuts and hibiscus in celebration. Plus, it’s delicious and vibrant, just like our people.”

Although the significance of red drinks in emancipation celebrations is unfounded, historians and researchers have suggested that their ties go back to the West African tradition of serving guests red-colored beverages. Over the years, as more Black Americans began to observe Juneteenth, pouring red-colored drinks became a way to honor the traditions of their ancestors. Incorporating red-colored beverages into Juneteenth celebrations today offers Black Americans a chance to “actually celebrate us and connect to our history,” says Keyatta Mincey-Parker, an Atlanta-based bartender and former finalist for Bombay Sapphire’s Most Imaginative Bartender award.

Red sodas, punches, and sweet teas all have a place on the table at the Juneteenth celebration. However, the holiday marks a good time to get creative with cocktails, too, by using fresh ingredients like hibiscus or sorrel, watermelon, strawberry, or any red berry you can get your hands on. “I make watermelon cocktails, and I use that fruit because it was so vital to us. It was survival. It replenished us in the fields and kept us going. Same with hibiscus,” says Mincey-Parker.

“Having the red drink takes away the negative stigma that so many people try to put on us, Black people, and watermelon. Celebrating with pride and using ingredients people have tried to shame us for, it erases the negative stereotypes people try to turn it into,” Mincey-Parker adds. “Last year, a couple of us got together, and literally everything we had was red. We had watermelon. We had Doritos. We had red drink. We only ate and drank red stuff that day, and it was a really fun way to be together and celebrate.”

Not to mention, the traditional fruit and floral ingredients associated with Juneteenth are downright delicious and offer a refreshing respite from the heat of summer. Although hibiscus, watermelon, and strawberry all deliver distinctly different flavors, what they do share in common is their flexibility. Barriere notes that these are all ingredients that can work well with a variety of liquors, including tequila, vodka, gin, rum, and cognac.

“You can really do whatever you want to do. If you want to do something sweet, something strong, you can be creative with your red drink, just as long as it’s red,” says Barriere. “All things red. That’s the theme.”

The Cookout Cocktail by Tiffanie Barriere

Ingredients

-1.5 oz cognac or rum

-1 oz watermelon juice

-0.5 oz lime juice

-0.75 oz hibiscus syrup (or sorrel syrup)

-Garnish: watermelon wedge

Instructions: Combine ingredients. Shake with ice, and then strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish and serve it up with a smile and a toast to freedom.

Watermelon Equiano Splash by Keyatta Mincey-Parker

Ingredients

-2 oz Equiano Rum (African–Caribbean blend, named after abolitionist Olaudah Equiano)

-3 oz Simply Watermelon juice

-0.5 oz fresh lime juice

-0.5 oz agave syrup

-Bubly Strawberry Flavor Sparkling water

-Ice for shaking and crushed ice for the finished cocktail

-Watermelon wedge for garnish

Instructions: Fill a shaker with ice. Add rum, Simply Watermelon, lime juice, and agave syrup. Shake hard until well chilled. Strain into a glass over fresh crushed ice. Top off with sparkling water for a light fizz and give it a gentle stir. Garnish with a watermelon wedge. Serve in a Collins glass.