Patriotic layered drinks

I’ve seen these non-alcoholic patriotic layered drinks in red, white, and blue floating around Pinterest.  They look so fun and festive for celebrating the 4th of July!

Red, White, and Blue patriotic non-alcoholic layered drinks - amerrymom.com

I sooo wanted to try them with my kids.  Unfortunately, some of those ingredients for the layers were flavors that my picky kids won’t actually drink.

I love the look of the layered drinks I saw on the blog In Katrina’s Kitchen.  It uses Sobe Pina Colada for the white layer, cran-apple juice for the red layer, and a blue Gatorade for the blue layer.  The only one of those ingredients that my kids like is the Gatorade.

So I set out to come up with a version that would appeal to my kids.  I understand that the layers are created due to different densities of the liquids – caused by the amount of sugar.  Thus, I looked for alternative ingredients in the red, white, and blue colors.

I came up with a few options.  Gatorade or Hawaiian Punch for the red layer, Gatorade or Mountain Dew Voltage for the blue layer, and Gatorade or lemonade Vitamin Water for the white layer.  I also considered Sprite/7Up/Sierra Mist, which are obviously clear, but I thought that could work in place of the white.

Keeping in mind that the sugar content is key, I experimented with different combinations to create the red, white, and blue layered drinks.

The combination of ingredients that worked best for me was:

  • Blue bottom layer:  Mountain Dew Voltage (46g of sugar per 12 ounces)
  • Red middle layer:  Hawaiian Punch (21g of sugar per 12 ounces)
  • White top layer:  Lemonade Vitamin Water Zero ( 0g of sugar)

Patriotic layered drinks - ingredients - amerrymom.comThe important aspect of layering the liquids was to add plenty of ice to the glass and pour directly onto an ice cube to prevent the liquids from mixing.  I don’t know how it works, but it does – mostly.

I found it most difficult to keep the white/clear layer separate.  I didn’t have any luck with the lemon-lime soda.  It mixed right into the next layer for me.  The lemonade Vitamin Water Zero worked better, but still didn’t stay as separate as I would have liked.

We decided it was close enough to red, white, and blue!Non-alcoholic red, white, blue layered drinks - amerrymom.com

 Since I was making these for my kids to try, I kept the blue layer fairly small due to the sugar and caffeine content in the Mountain Dew Voltage.  I didn’t want to amp them up too much!

We had fun experimenting with the drinks and watching the layers form.  These layered drinks are pretty and festive – and my family enjoyed trying them!

Have fun creating your own layered drinks!

2 thoughts on “Patriotic layered drinks

  1. AvatarJennifer | The Deliberate Mom

    So cool! I love the look of this… although I imagine it’s quite sweet hey?!

    Thanks for sharing! Wishing you a lovely weekend.
    xoxo

    Reply
    1. LisaLisa Post author

      It is sweet, but there is so much ice in there (to help keep the layers from mixing) that there’s not that much of the actual drink. It’s fun for a special occasion! :) Have a great weekend yourself! Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply

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