The sweet Honey Deuce Cocktail is not only the perfect drink for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships — it’s a colorful summer cocktail worth of sipping anytime. With vodka, raspberry liqueur and lemonade, it’s a light, bright and crushable cocktail. And don’t forget the tennis ball garnish made of juicy honeydew melon.
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About this Honey Deuce Cocktail recipe
Usually in America, we associate beer with sports. But cocktails are becoming more and more common as a companion to your favorite sporting events.
You might already know about the mint julep for the Kentucky Derby (plus a whole bunch of other derby cocktails). There’s also the spiked Arnold Palmer, a must at golfing events.
Then there’s lesser known ones like the Pimm’s Cup, which is more famous one in the U.K. as the official drink for the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
Not wanting to miss out on the fun, the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament has a cocktail too: the Honey Deuce. Made with raspberry liqueur, lemonade and vodka and garnished with a melon ball garnish that looks like tennis balls, this simple drink is the ideal summer sipper to serve at your watch parties — and soirées all season long.
More raspberry cocktail recipes: Raspberry Martini • Raspberry Daiquiri • French Martini • Raspberry Kir Royale
Why you’ll love this recipe
The Honey Deuce is a perfectly balanced sip! It’s great for brunch, entertaining or celebrating any tennis occasion.
- The Honey Deuce is the perfect companion cocktail for watching the U.S. Open.
- It’s full of summery flavors: raspberry, lemonade and honeydew melon.
- If you’re not usually a cocktail fan, vodka cocktails are a great place to start. This sweet drink doesn’t taste too boozy.
What is a Honey Deuce Cocktail?
The Honey Deuce is the official cocktail of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. With vodka, raspberry liqueur and lemonade, it’s a simple three-ingredient drink that is easy to batch and serve a large crowd.
According to Grey Goose, a sponsor of the 2006 U.S. Open, commissioned restaurateur Nick Mautone to create a drink that was “interesting and memorable, but easy enough to serve at a high-capacity event.”
Mautone was inspired by honeydew melon, a light green colored melon. When scooped into ball shapes, it resembles tennis balls, the ultimate garnish for a tennis tournament cocktail. The name Honey Deuce is a play on words: honeydew melon combined with deuce, a type of tie in a tennis match.
This simple summer classic cocktail is the official drink of the U.S. Open and is served at the tournament each year, but it’s easy to create one at home for your watch party.
Tools & glassware
To make a Honey Deuce, you don’t need a lot of special equipment. A jigger and a bar spoon is enough for mixing the drink. And if you plan to make a batch for a party, a big pitcher will be perfect.
Rocks glasses are perfect but you could use highball glasses as well.
To make the honeydew melon ball garnish, you will need a melon baller or some other kind of small scoop. A measuring spoon would work! And then some cocktail picks as well.
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Ingredients
To make a Honey Deuce, here’s what you’ll need to grab at the grocery store:
- vodka: Vodka provides a nice blank slate in this cocktail that lets the citrus and sweetness shine. You can also substitute a flavored vodka or use gin, if you prefer.
- raspberry liqueur: This cocktail gets its raspberry flavor from a French black raspberry liqueur with a cognac base, called Chambord. Another brand you can use is called DeKuyper Razzmatazz. If you’re okay with a slightly different flavor, you can also substitute crème de cassis, which is a blackcurrant liqueur, or crème de mure, a French blackberry liqueur.
- lemonade: The very best lemonade is always going to be homemade lemonade, but a store-bought version works too!
- honeydew melon: This is the green-colored melon is the key to the perfect tennis ball garnish. It adds a refreshing summer flavor to this raspberry-lemon drink.
Garnishes
The Honey Deuce cocktail’s signature garnish is made with honeydew melon.You’ll want to scoop two or three melon balls with a melon baller or measuring spoon.
Skewer them on a cocktail pick and splash them into the drink before serving. You can do this ahead of time as fresh melon keeps a few days in the fridge in a food-safe, airtight container.
Best vodka for the Honey Deuce
Vodka brings its lovely, clean and crisp quality to the Honey Deuce. The original recipe was created with Grey Goose Vodka, so that’s the most authentic vodka to use here.
Howevery, you can certainly substitute. With any three-ingredient cocktail, quality matters. Always use the best alcohol you can afford! My go-to vodka brands right now are Tito’s, Deep Eddy, Reyka and Absolut.
A cheap vodka will taste cheap and stand out in your drink — and not in a great way — so stick to the $15-20 range if you can! If you’d like to know more about vodka, dive into my Vodka 101 crash course.
Substitutions & variations
Other spirits: This recipe calls for vodka, but you could try it with gin, tequila or rum.
Other flavors: Try adding new flavors to this drink to make it your own. Flavored vodka, other types of fresh lemonade (like peach lemonade) and other kinds of melon could all be really interesting!
Non-alcoholic Honey Deuce: Substitute 1:1 a zero-proof spirit such as Ritual gin alternative or Seedlip Garden 108 for the vodka. For the Chambord, use raspberry simple syrup.
Simple non-alcoholic Honey Deuce: You could also simply serve the melon garnish in a glass of raspberry lemonade.
Instructions
Ready to make this easy vodka raspberry lemon drink? Let’s get started!
To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add vodka and lemonade.
Add the Chambord raspberry liqueur. Then stir gently to combine everything.
Cut a honeydew melon in half and scoop out the seeds. Use a melon baller to carve out small spheres. Spear three honeydew melon balls on a cocktail pick to garnish the cocktail.
Tips & tricks
Here are some tips and tricks for making your Honey Deuce cocktail the absolute best:
- Try it with Grey Goose vodka and Chambord for the most authentic flavor.
- Fresh lemonade will have the most delightful flavor. It’s worth it if you have the time to make it!
- Use a ripe melon to get the best and easiest melon balls. (Martha Stewart has some tips for choosing a ripe melon.)
- To get perfect balls from the melon, scoop out the seeds. Insert the melon baller just into the center of the melon. Twist it gently it to carve out the spheres and pull them through.
Food pairings
Here’s what to serve with your Honey Deuce cocktails:
- Chicken wings or pizza pinwheels would be perfect game day snacks:
- If you’d prefer to nosh, a charcuterie board would be great too.
- This melon mozzarella salad would be a nice savory side, and you can use leftover melon balls.
FAQ
Grey Goose invented the Honey Deuce cocktail, so it would be best to start there. Other high quality vodka would work too. Skip the bottom-shelf vodka and choose a medium-priced bottle.
The tennis ball garnish on the Honey Deuce is made from honeydew melon, a green-colored melon that, when scooped into spheres, resembles tennis balls. It was originally made for the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, where the garnish is a signature look.
More sports drink recipes
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Honey Deuce Cocktail
ingredients
- 1½ ounce vodka such as Grey Goose
- 3 ounces lemonade fresh
- ½ ounce raspberry liqueur such as Chambord
- 3 balls honeydew melon for garnish
instructions
- In a glass filled with ice cubes, add the vodka, lemonade and raspberry liqueur. Stir well.
- Garnish with melon balls on a cocktail pick.
- To make melon balls: Cut a honeydew melon in half and scoop out the seeds. Use a melon baller (or measuring spoon) to carve out small spheres. You can make the melon balls ahead of time, as fresh melon keeps a few days in the fridge in a food-safe, airtight container.
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Lori T says
My friends loved this drink – a new favourite
Susannah says
Thanks Lori! So glad you loved it! It’s a great one for sure. 🙂