This Berry Gin Cocktail is packed with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, plus mint simple syrup and a splash of soda water. It's bright, refreshing, and just the right amount of fancy for a porch night or a backyard BBQ.

A red berry cocktail packed with ice and a berry and mint garnish with baskets of berries in the background and "Berry Mint Gin Smash" text at the top.

Jump to:

❤️ Why this recipe works
🗒 Ingredients
🍓 Recipe tips
🍹 How to make a big batch cocktail
🎉 Variations on recipe
🫐 More berry cocktails
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

This berry gin cocktail is loaded with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, plus a homemade mint simple syrup and a splash of soda water. It's the easiest way to drink your way through summer berry season and it tastes exactly as good as that sentence makes it sound.

It's technically a gin smash, which is just a fancy bartender word for "muddle some fruit, add booze, shake, and drink." It's easy, casual, and impressive without being stressful (you know how I feel about that).

I originally set out to make a berry mojito, but I wanted the berries to be the actual star of the show, rather than the mint. So I used the mint flavor in a more subtle way, by infusing it into a quick simple syrup, and built the rest of the cocktail around three of my favorite summer berries.

The result is a berry gin cocktail that's bright, fresh, and not too sweet. And the perfect complement to gin.

❤️ Why this recipe works

It uses real berries instead of flavored syrups or liqueurs: you can actually taste the fruit in this drink instead of artificial berry flavor.

The mint simple syrup has so many uses: buy or make a batch of the mint syrup and you've got the base for at least a dozen other summer drinks.

Quick and easy to make: once you have the simple syrup in hand, this drink comes together in about five minutes, It's perfect for last-minute summer gatherings.

It's a pretty drink: obviously not the most important thing, but this drink is gorgeous. The berries float up through the crushed ice and your guests will want to take a photo before taking a sip.

🗒 Ingredients

Here's everything you need for the berry gin cocktail (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

Strawberries: I recommend removing the stems and hulling strawberries before muddling.
Raspberries
Blackberries
Gin: any gin will work here, so use your favorite. A classic London Dry like Tanqueray or Beefeater works nicely with the berries. If you want something more floral, try Hendrick's.
Mint simple syrup: you can either make your own with my mint syrup recipe or you can purchase a bottle of it.
Ice: I highly recommend using crushed ice if you can get it.
Soda water

If you're making your own mint syrup, you'll need:

Granulated sugar
Water
Mint leaves

🍓 Recipe tips

I have a full post on making homemade mint syrup and it's easy to do! But you can also purchase it instead of you prefer. Sometimes mint syrups can taste more like toothpaste than actual fresh culinary mint, so I recommend reading reviews before purchasing.

If making your own, be sure to use fresh mint. Dried mint will not work and will make your syrup taste like a tea bag.

Let syrup cool completely before using it in the berry gin cocktail. You can even make it in advance as it will keep fresh for about 4 weeks in your fridge.

Mint leaves simmering in sugar water in saucepan

If you can't get fresh berries, you can use frozen berries instead. Let them thaw before muddling. The texture won't be quite as bright, but the flavor should hold up well.

Be sure to muddle the berries rather then pulverize them. You want them broken down enough to release their juices and color, if you over-muddle them, the drink can get cloudy and bitter from the seeds.

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You can use any ice, but crushed ice is always going to be best for a smash cocktail. The crushed ice melts faster, dilutes the drink slightly, and lets the berries float up through the glass for the gorgeous layered look. If you don't have crushed ice at home, put cubes on a clean kitchen towel and whack them with a rolling pin.

Add a pretty garnish! Add a few whole berries and a sprig of mint on a pick to really make this drink photo-worthy.

A head on view of a red berry cocktail with a garnish with raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry and mint leaves.

And now some of my very favorite berries have come together into one berry cocktail, which is basically a dream come true.

🍹 How to make a big batch cocktail

This berry gin cocktail is pretty much summer in a glass. While this recipe serves two, it can also be made in a pitcher to serve a crowd.

Here's what I recommend for a cocktail that serves 6-8:

4 cups mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries)
1 ½ cups gin
1 cup mint simple syrup
Soda water, added to each glass

Muddle the berries in a large bowl and strain through a fine mesh sieve into your pitcher, pressing very lightly to release the juice without forcing pulp through.
Add gin and simple syrup to pitcher and stir to combine.
Refrigerate until ready to serve (I recommend no more than 6 hours of refrigeration).
When you're ready to serve, fill each glass with crushed ice, pour the cocktail mixture about three-quarters of the way up, and top with soda water. Garnish with mint and a few extra berries.

A head on view of a red cocktail with a berry and mint garnish with berry filled baskets in the background.

🎉 Variations on recipe

This cocktail is perfect as is, but I also have some ideas for variations on the recipe if you're looking to switch things up a bit:

If you're not a fan of gin, vodka also works wonderfully in this drink. Tequila is also delicious and gives the drink a margarita-like vibe. And light rum works, too, for more mojito flavor.
If you love the idea of a berry gin cocktail, but don't drink alcohol, you can make this a virgin drink! Just omit the gin and double the soda water with a squeeze of fresh lime added.
On that note, you can easily add citrus flavor to this drink with a little bit of fresh lime or lemon juice.
Mint is my favorite syrup to use as it gives the drink a mojito-like taste, but you could also do a rosemary syrup or a basil syrup.

A head on view of two red berry cocktails with lots of ice and berry and mint garnishes.

The mint flavors some through in this cocktail, but definitely aren't overpowering. I kind of love the simple syrup as the berry pulp was enough without the lingering mint leaves.

And the soda water gives the berry cocktail a light and refreshing fizz- I'm all about bubbly cocktails this time of the year!

🫐 More berry cocktails

If you're looking for more berry cocktails to take you through summer, I've got plenty of recipes for you! Here are some of my favorites:

You can also check out all my gin drinks here.

An arial view of two red berry cocktails with berry and mint garnishes and blackberries and raspberries in berry baskets in the background.

If you make this berry gin cocktail, I'd love to see it. Tag @wearenotmartha on Instagram and share a photo, or leave a star rating below to let me know what you think.

What's your favorite berry to turn into a cocktail? Muhaha yes, I'm making you answer!

📖 Recipe