Celebrate Taylor Swift's 'Red' with a cocktail for every track on the album

The Taylor Swift Red album is a rollercoaster of emotions. Here are some cocktails to accompany you on that ride.

The Red album by Taylor Swift has always been something to be celebrated. It marked a real transition into pop music for the singer with tracks like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “22,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” while also leaning into her country roots and exploring entirely new sounds. It features some of her best lyrics to date, and was an all around amazing compilation of music that her fans still hold dear to their hearts.

Now that Red (Taylor’s Version) is here, there’s even more to celebrate! We’ve prepared a cocktail for every track on the original album for your listening parties and the inevitable hundreds of listens that come after.

Please drink responsibly and only consume these beverages if you’re over the legal drinking age in your area.

Taylor Swift ‘Red’ cocktails to celebrate Taylor’s Version

1. ‘State of Grace’

“State of Grace” is one of Taylor Swift’s strongest album openers, so it deserves a strong, celebratory cocktail companion. The song introduces us to Red by explaining that “love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right,” which is a theme that comes up again and again on the album.

The lovers in this song are described as “twin fire signs, four blue eyes,” so we decided to play with that idea for this cocktail. As Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal, who allegedly inspired many songs on Red, share the fire sign of Sagittarius and have blue eyes, we took inspiration from this Sagittarius cocktail. But we made it blue!

You’ll be singing “State of Grace’s” repeated “I never saw you coming, I’ll never be the same” about this drink by the end of the night because although it’s delicious, it packs a serious punch, much like the love story that Swift sings about in this song.

Ingredients

1.5oz tequila
1.5oz blue curacao
0.75oz lemon
0.25oz honey
Dash of aromatic bitters
Sprig of mint to garnish

Recipe

Shake all ingredients together and pour into glass.
Fill glass half full with crushed ice and stir. Then fill to the top with crushed ice.
Garnish with mint.

2. ‘Red’

The Red album’s title track tells of a love that is, well, red! To us that means something that is fun and full of flavor, but it leaves you with a nasty hangover. We thought red wine was the perfect ingredient to help achieve this dichotomy and to honor the name of the song and album.

The perfect cocktail for “Red” is a classic cocktail known as the devil’s margarita. There are few drinks more synonymous with fun than a margarita, but when you add a layer of red wine on top, both the flavor and potential for disaster go through the roof.

Ingredients

1.5oz tequila
1oz lime juice
0.75oz simple syrup
0.5oz red wine
Strawberry to garnish

Recipe

Shake the tequila, lime juice and simple syrup with ice and strain the cooled liquid into your glass.
Slowly pour the red wine on top using a bar spoon. If you pour too fast the layers will mix!
Garnish with a fresh strawberry.

3. ‘Treacherous’

On Taylor Swift’s Red album, “Treacherous” captures the feeling of knowing something could really hurt you but falling into the gravity of it anyway. The lyric “you’re quicksand” perfectly articulates both the danger and inevitability of the fall, so we decided to pay homage to that with this “cocktail,” which actually turned out to be a simple glass of white wine with a fun addition.

Brew Glitter takes your everyday drink and gives it some extra sparkle. Literally. By adding the gold Brew Glitter to your drink, you’ll create a cool quicksand effect as irresistible as the romance this songs speaks of. It will make you feel like you’re sinking deeper with every sip, with the wine helping that feeling along, of course!

Ingredients

5-9oz white wine
Brew Glitter

Recipe

Simply pour your glass of wine, add Brew Glitter per the directions, and watch the magic happen!

4. ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’

Taylor Swift knew he was trouble when he walked in, and you’ll know this tequila shot is trouble before you even pour it. If you’re just like Taylor and you want to go there anyway, all you’ll need is a shot of tequila and our “I Knew You Were Trouble” chaser.

Since we imagine this relationship left Swift with a salty, sour taste in her mouth, the chaser consists of lemon juice and a salted rim of pink himalayan salts to pay homage to the pink tips of her hair in the music video. We just hope you’re not lying on the cold hard ground by the end of the night!

Ingredients

1 shot of tequila
Pink himalayan salt
0.5oz lemon juice

Recipe

Pour your shot of tequila.
Pour some himalayan salt into a bowl to create a layer at least as wide as a shot glass.
Wet the rim of a second shot glass and press into the salt to lightly salt the rim.
Add lemon juice to the rimmed shot glass for your chaser!

5. ‘All Too Well’

If Red is Taylor Swift’s quintessential Fall album, we’ll go one step further and say that “All Too Well” is the quintessential Fall song. With talks of autumn leaves, cold air, plaid shirts and scarves, the song places itself squarely into the season of pumpkin spice and apple orchards.

Because Swift spends most of this song mulling over the details of a past relationship, we chose a mulled apple cider to represent “All Too Well” on Taylor Swift’s Red album. Also, to honor the song’s hidden liner notes message, “maple latte,” we’ve spiked the cider with maple whiskey to tie the delicious Fall flavors together.

Ingredients

16 cups apple cider
4 cinnamon sticks
Thinly sliced orange
1 tbsp whole cloves
1 tbsp allspice
Thinly sliced small ginger root (about 1 inch)
3 star anise
1.5 cups maple whiskey

Recipe

Add all ingredients except for the maple whiskey to a large pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and let simmer, uncovered, for two hours.
Remove from heat.
Remove spices and add maple whiskey.

6. ’22’

“22” was one of Taylor Swift’s first songs about friendship, and it’s such a fun representation of that “happy, free, confused, and lonely” time that you spend surrounded by new and old friends in your early 20s.

A single serve cocktail would not do for “22,” because there’s not nearly enough to go around! Instead, we chose a pitcher of DIY hard lemonade, because you really don’t get more “22” than that.

Ingredients

6 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 cups lemon juice
2 cups vodka
Lemon for garnish

Recipe

Add lemon juice and sugar to a pitcher. Stir until combined.
Add water and vodka to the mixture. Mix well.
Add lemon slices for garnish.

7. ‘I Almost Do’

Under no circumstances should you have a cocktail while listening to “I Almost Do,” because it will certainly turn your “I almost do” into an “I did!”

8. ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’

“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” was a huge leap into pop music on the Taylor Swift Red album. The song is so much fun and feels incredibly empowering to belt out, and it just has a hint of bitterness baked in to give it that extra bite.

To represent the empowerment of this song, we’ve chosen bourbon as the base, and we’ve added some sweet, sour, bitter and fresh flavors to round out this fun cocktail that you can drink while dancing around in your pyjamas.

Ingredients

2oz bourbon
1 tbsp mint leaves
1 lemon half
1 tsp simple syrup
Dash of orange bitters
Mint to garnish

Recipe

Muddle mint leaves, lemon and simple syrup together and add to glass.
Add bourbon and bitters.
Fill glass half full with crushed ice and stir. Then fill to the top with crushed ice.
Garnish with mint leaves

9. ‘Stay Stay Stay’

Let’s face it, “Stay Stay Stay” is way too sweet to pair with alcohol. Instead, we’ve chosen a mocktail to represent this song that the liner notes tell us is about “daydreaming about real love.”

Ingredients

1/2 cup raspberry syrup
0.5oz lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Club soda
Raspberries to garnish

Recipe

Add syrup, lemon juice, and vanilla to a glass and stir.
Add ice and raspberries.
Top with club soda.

10. ‘The Last Time’

Of all the songs on Taylor Swift’s Red, “The Last Time,” is one of the heaviest. There’s a desperation and a longing to it that comes across both in the lyrics and in the performances of Swift and Gary Lightbody.

To represent the weight of this song and the fact that Gary Lightbody is from the UK, we’ve chosen an English porter beer paired with hard apple cider to represent Taylor Swift’s home state of Pennsylvania. It’s a twist on a black and tan, which goes great with the dueling voices and desires on this track.

Can or bottle of a porter beer
Can or bottle of hard apple cider

Recipe

Fill glass half full with cider.
Using a bar spoon, slowly pour the porter on top of the cider so the layers don’t mix.

11. ‘Holy Ground’

Taylor Swift’s Red has quite a few amazing upbeat tracks, but none of them move quite like “Holy Ground.” This deeply nostalgic song needs a cocktail that looks great, but more importantly, a cocktail that you can drink on the dancefloor.

We’ve added prosecco for the celebratory nature of this song, blueberries to add color and a cool “dancing” garnish, and thyme for taste and the nostalgia factor. It’s a drink for looking back on something fondly.

Ingredients

1.5oz gin
3oz prosecco
1oz lemon juice
0.5oz blueberry and thyme simple syrup
4 blueberries to garnish
Thyme to garnish

Recipe

To make the simple syrup, add a half cup of blueberries, a half cup of sugar, and a half cup of water to a pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add two sprigs of thyme to the pot and simmer for 5 more minutes. Remove the thyme and cool simple syrup completely.
Shake gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup with ice to chill. Remove ice and pour into glass.
Top with prosecco. Add blueberries and thyme to garnish.

12. ‘Sad Beautiful Tragic’

“Sad Beautiful Tragic” is sad, just like the title would lead us to believe. We decided to play right into that and base this cocktail on a dark and stormy. And don’t worry, we’ve added ice cream because we know you’re going to need it with all these feelings!

Ingredients

2oz dark rum
3oz ginger beer
0.5oz lime juice
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
Cherry to garnish

Recipe

Shake rum and lime juice together.
Scoop ice cream into glass.
Add ginger beer to rum and lime juice, and pour mixture over ice cream.
Garnish with cherry.

13. ‘The Lucky One’

“The Lucky One” is rumored to be about Joni Mitchell, so this cocktail is a tribute to Mitchell’s song “A Case of You.” The song features the lyric “you taste so bitter and so sweet,” so we’ve chosen the “bittersweet symphony” classic cocktail to represent “The Lucky One.”

2oz gin
0.5oz Campari
0.5oz raspberry liqueur
1 tsp simple syrup
5oz club soda
3 blackberries

Recipe

Shake gin, Campari, liqueur and simple syrup with ice. Remove ice and pour into tall glass.
Top with club soda.
Add two blackberries to the glass and one to the rim to garnish, running the blackberry around the rim of the glass.

14. ‘Everything Has Changed’

“Everything has changed” is about wanting to know someone better, and what better way is there to get to know someone than over a cozy cup of coffee. Boozy coffee, that is! To pay tribute to Ed Sheeran, who lent his vocals and writing abilities to this song, this cocktail is an “English coffee” with some added “ginger” snaps!

5oz coffee
0.25oz coffee liqueur
0.25oz triple sec
0.5oz gin
Whipped cream
Ginger snaps to garnish

Recipe

Pour coffee, gin, liqueur, and triple sec into mug.
Top with whipped cream and ginger snaps.

15. ‘Starlight’

“Starlight” on Taylor Swift’s Red album is “for Ethel,” per the liner notes. Ethel Kennedy, to be more specific. To honor Ethel, we’ve taken a cocktail called the Rose Kennedy and given it a Rhode Island twist, since Taylor Swift’s love affair with Rhode Island began with her relationship with Connor Kennedy.

The state fruit of Rhode Island is the greening apple, so we’ve used apple juice in the cocktail and a green apple in the shape of a star for garnish. This is also a great cocktail for “dancing like you’re made of starlight.”

1.5oz vodka
3oz tonic
0.5oz apple juice
Green apple to garnish

Recipe

Pour vodka, tonic, and apple juice over ice.
Cut green apple into a star shape to garnish.

16. ‘Begin Again’

After all that “red” love that this album described, “Begin Again” is a fresh start, and the perfect ending for the Taylor Swift Red album. To us, the song feels like the morning after the storm. It’s fresh and sweet, which is why we’ve chosen a mimosa as the base for this cocktail.

While the tartness of the usual orange juice didn’t feel right for this song, strawberry and mint flavors created the perfect combination for “Begin Again.” Best consumed while wearing heels!