Tootsie Roll Cocktail

The fizzy Tootsie Roll Cocktail is a black candy cocktail fit for Halloween or any candy craving. Made with root beer and coffee liqueur, it tastes just like the candy. Even though it’s spooky and dark, it is refreshing and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth! What’s in a Tootsie Roll drink and how do you make it? Let’s find out!  

About this Tootsie Roll drink recipe

Fellow candy lovers, this one for you. Much like you (probably), I loved dressing up for Halloween as a kid, but to be honest the candy was the biggest draw. A future foodie in the making, I guess!

It should be no surprise that as an adult, I have taken my love of candy and turned it into fun cocktails like the gummy bear and the peanut butter cup shot.

Of course, Halloween isn’t the only time you can enjoy a candy cocktail — this Tootsie Roll drink is delicious all year long. Made with just two ingredients you won’t believe go together, it’s easy to make and tastes exactly like the candy in liquid form.

Regardless of when you make it, the question of the night will certainly be, “How many sips does it take to get to the bottom of a Tootsie Roll cocktail?”

More candy cocktail recipes: Mexican Candy Shot • Candy Corn Vodka • White Gummy Bear Shot • Dry Ice Cocktails with Skittles Vodka

What is the Tootsie Roll drink?

This Tootsie Roll drink is a candy-flavored cocktail that takes sweet and fizzy root beer and spikes it with smooth, velvety coffee liqueur.

This is definitely one of those taste-bud trickers. It seriously tastes exactly like a classic Tootsie Roll candy. I’m not kidding ONE bit. Candy-lovers will adore it. It’s fun for Halloween because it looks like a poisonous, dark potion. (A trick! But also a treat!)

Some people will tell you that the combination of coffee liqueur and orange juice taste like a Tootsie Roll too — and they’re right! I don’t know what it is about these two ingredients, but the Tootsie Roll shot is equally perplexing and delicious as this root beer cocktail version.

Tools & equipment

There is no need to spend a lot of time behind the bar shaking up a complicated cocktail in a cocktail shaker ^* when you can make a quick and easy Tootsie Roll cocktail!

You really only need a jigger ^* for measuring the ingredients and a highball glass ^* or old-fashioned glass ^*. I use a paper straw for a garnish, but it’s not required.

favorite highball glasses

art deco highball glasses

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fluted highball glasses

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heavy base highball glasses

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^*

Ingredients

Like this bourbon and ginger ale cocktail, the Tootsie Roll cocktail is genuinely one of the easiest drinks you’ll ever make. All you need are two ingredients to mimic that classic Tootsie Roll flavor — and honestly they are kind of surprising!

1. root beer: Root beer’s signature herbal, earthy and spicy flavor has hints of licorice, sassafras and vanilla.
2. coffee liqueur: This sweet dessert liqueur tastes just like coffee! Kahlua is the most well-known brand of coffee liqueur, but others like Tia Maria work well too.

The best root beer

Since this drink has such a simple ingredients list, make sure you use a really good root beer. The most common brands at my grocery stores are A&W and IBC root beer, but I actually prefer craft root beer. A high-quality craft root beer will make all the difference.

Good root beer will have that signature sassafras flavor. Sassafras is a strong, fragrant spice with an earthy flavor that has notes of anise and lemon. Root beer can also have flavors of cinnamon, birch, vanilla, licorice and wintergreen.

Check your favorite local breweries to see if they make and bottle their own root beers. Maine Root’s root beer has a powerful flavor and is made the old-fashioned way. I also love Boylan’s root beer which is made with real cane sugar.

The best coffee liqueur

Coffee liqueur can either give the root beer more sweetness or it will add a deeper flavor to give the Tootsie Roll drink some more complexity.

Kahlua and Tia Maria are probably the most popular brands out there, but they’re not the only ones. I like Mr. Black’s Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur which, thanks to the cold-brew process, has a smoother, less bitter coffee flavor. You could make your own homemade coffee liqueur, you can bring in the flavor of your favorite coffee beans.

Dietary substitutions

If you need to mix things up with dietary substitutes, here’s what I suggest:

Make it lighter: There’s nothing wrong with diet soda! This cocktail would still taste great with diet root beer if you prefer it. However, there’s still sugar in coffee liqueur, so you may wish to use less or use black coffee instead.

Make it non-alcoholic: Use a zero-proof coffee liqueur like Lyre’s Coffee Originale ^* or some freshly-brewed espresso to make a Tootsie Roll drink without alcohol.

Variations

There are a number of ways you can make this drink your own! Feel free to experiment and come up with something delicious.

• Turn it into dessert: Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make a Tootsie Roll root beer float!
• Make it boozier: There are a few brands of hard root beer, AKA alcoholic root beer, out there. It would increase the alcohol content of this cocktail, but it would still be good I bet!
• Try the Tootsie Roll shot recipe: Served in a shot glass ^*, it uses orange juice instead of root beer, which is equally puzzling flavor-wise. Surprisingly, it works!

Tootsie Pop cocktail

Another idea is to make it a Tootsie Pop drink. Add an ounce of a fruit-flavored spirit or syrup to this recipe to make a Tootsie Pop cocktail. Tootsie Pops come in five flavors you can try to emulate:

1. Chocolate: Use creme de cacao or a little chocolate syrup to add chocolate flavor.
2. Cherry: Try cherry syrup, cherry vodka or cherry liqueur, such as Luxardo.
3. Orange: Add orange liqueur like triple sec, Grand Marnier or Cointreau.
4. Grape: Pour in some grape schnapps, such as De Kuyper, or grape liqueur, such as Dr. McGillicuddy’s.
5. Raspberry: Add raspberry syrup or raspberry liqueur, such as Chambord.

How to make a Tootsie Roll drink

You probably wouldn’t normally think these two ingredients would go together, but they do! And it’s delicious. Here’s how to make a Tootsie Roll Cocktail:

1. Grab a highball glass ^* and fill it up with ice. This is a drink that you’ll want to enjoy ice-cold!
2. Pour the coffee liqueur over the ice.
3. Then fill the glass up to the top with your root beer of choice. Stir gently if needed.
4. Ta-da! Add a cute straw and your Tootsie Roll drink is now ready to serve.

FAQ

Food pairings

Tootsie Roll Cocktails are so easy to make, they’re perfect for serving as a Halloween cocktail with chocolate spiderweb tarts. Some Tootsie Roll fudge or even homemade Tootsie Rolls would be great treats too!

But honestly? They’re so easy, it doesn’t have to be Halloween to enjoy a Tootsie Roll drink! You can certainly enjoy it any time. (Or perhaps for a HIMYM marathon with Tootsie Roll popcorn?)

More coffee cocktails

If you love coffee liqueur, you will love some of these other recipes:

• The Kahlua Coke float features coffee liqueur, cola and coffee ice cream for a boozy, caffeine-filled treat.
• An espresso martini is always a big hit! You can even make it booze-free.
• These baby Guinness jello shots are so fun for St. Patrick’s Day! They look just like mini Guinness cups but taste like an Irish coffee.
• A black russian cocktail features coffee liqueur and vodka. A cousin of the white russian, this one doesn’t feature any cream.

If you are looking for more black cocktail ideas, try these black magic champagne cocktails made with homemade black vodka!