Purple Shots: The Recipes That Actually Come Out Purple

Half the purple shots on the internet come out brown.

I learned that on a Thursday college night. Somebody ordered twenty “purple” shots off a photo on their phone. The recipe had orange juice in it. Blue curaçao plus OJ plus grenadine. What landed on the tray was the color of a puddle. They drank it anyway. They also never ordered it again.

So here’s the rule before any recipe. Purple needs red and blue, or something that’s purple to begin with. No orange juice. No pineapple. Yellow and orange kill it.

There are four honest ways to get there.

Chambord does it alone

Chambord is a black raspberry liqueur, and it pours a deep purple-red straight from the bottle. Add vodka and it stays purple. That’s the whole trick behind the Purple Hooter.

Our Purple Hooter is vodka and Chambord with 7-Up. Shake the vodka and Chambord with ice, strain, then a short splash of soda on top. Equal parts vodka and Chambord, half an ounce each. The soda lifts it so it doesn’t drink like syrup.

No soda gun in reach? Make the Purple Hooter Shooter instead. Vodka, Chambord, Rose’s lime. It’s tighter and more sour. This is the one I’d pour for anybody who says they hate sweet shots. A quarter ounce of Rose’s is plenty.

Strip it down further and you get the Purple Passion. Vodka and Chambord. Nothing else. Shake it cold or it tastes hot. If you’ve got the bottle open, our Chambord cocktails list has more to do with it.

One warning. Generic raspberry liqueur is often redder than Chambord. Your Hooter will come out closer to magenta. Still tastes right.

Blue curaçao plus something red

This is the paint-box method. Blue curaçao and cranberry make purple. So do blue curaçao and grenadine. Get the ratio wrong and you get navy or maroon.

The Purple Rain Shot is vodka, cranberry juice and blue curaçao. I pour equal vodka and cranberry, half as much blue. Too much blue and it reads almost black in a dark bar. Shake hard. It’s the shot version of a tall drink, and we’ve got the tall Purple Rain written up separately.

Swap tequila in and you’ve got the Purple Midnight. Silver tequila, cranberry, blue curaçao. Tart and a little earthy from the agave. I like it better than the vodka version.

The Purple Shroud uses sloe gin as the red. Vodka, blue curaçao, sloe gin. Sloe gin is a plum-berry liqueur and it’s a darker, duskier red than grenadine. Gives you a moody violet. Less sugar too.

Then there’s the Purple VW. Grenadine and blue curaçao. Two sweet things and not much booze beyond the curaçao. It’s a sugar shot that looks great. If you’re doing it for the photo, layer it instead of shaking. Grenadine goes in first because it’s the heaviest thing on the back bar. Then float the blue curaçao over the back of a bar spoon, slowly. You get red on the bottom, blue on top and a purple band where they meet. Don’t make a second round.

For the blue side of this family, see our blue shots roundup. Same liqueur, fewer reds.

Grape and cream

Grape juice is purple. Obvious, but people forget it when they’re staring at a wall of liqueurs.

The Purple Mask is vodka, grape juice and white crème de cacao. Sounds weird. Tastes like grape candy with a chocolate finish. Bartenders roll their eyes at it, and I don’t care, because I’ve watched a whole bachelor party order it three rounds straight.

Cream turns purple into lavender. The Purple Dream is white crème de cacao, cream and Chambord. Soft pastel color. Dessert in an ounce. Use white crème de cacao, not dark, or the color goes muddy.

Purple jello shots

Grape gelatin is the easiest purple you’ll ever make. The Purple Passion Jiggle Shots are grape jello, boiling water, vodka and amaretto. Dissolve the box in a cup of boiling water. Let it sit a few minutes. Then a cup of cold liquid, half of it booze, split between the vodka and amaretto. Fridge for four hours.

Don’t push past half booze. They won’t set. I’ve seen trays of purple soup.

How I’d set up a purple round

My order of operations, if a party wants purple and you’ve got ten minutes:

1. Chill the vodka. Cold vodka needs less dilution to taste clean.
2. Chill the glasses. Purple looks better frosted.
3. Batch the Hooters in a shaker by the round. Four at a time, not one.
4. Keep blue curaçao away from anything yellow. That includes a heavy pour of yellow sour mix.
5. Pour the jello shots the night before. They need the time.

And if you’ve got bottles but no plan, ask CocktailBuilder what your shelf can pour. It’ll find the purple ones you didn’t know you had.

Stuff people ask me

What alcohol makes a shot purple? Chambord on its own. Or blue curaçao mixed with something red: cranberry, grenadine or sloe gin. Grape juice and grape gelatin work too.

What’s in a Purple Hooter shot? Vodka and Chambord, shaken, usually topped with a splash of lemon-lime soda. Some bars use lime instead of soda.

Why did my purple shot turn brown? Something yellow or orange got in. Orange juice, pineapple, sour mix with a heavy yellow tint. Blue plus yellow is green, and green plus red is mud.

Last modified on October 11, 2026