Delicious keto-friendly cocktails made with kombucha, all under 5g carbs per serving. So you can enjoy a little tipple now and then! This post is sponsored by KYLA Hard Kombucha.

I confess, I love a good cocktail now and again. There just seems like something so sophisticated and grown up about sipping a mixed drink while chatting with friends and nibbling at a charcuterie board.

Sadly, most of the cocktails I might want to imbibe when I am out are made with… say it with me now… sugar. And often lots of sugar. Simple syrup, agave, fruit juice, sweet and sour mix. All sorts of different forms of sugar.

I personally have never enjoyed sweet cocktails, even long before I went keto. I prefer them very tart and dry. So I steer clear of most cocktails at bars and stick with dry red wine. But at home, I enjoy playing bartender and mixing it up a little.

What is Hard Kombucha?

So it was a real treat to work with the folks at KYLA Hard Kombucha and come up with 4 low carb cocktails to showcase their different flavors. They are local to me, up the Columbia Gorge in Hood River. I discovered this tasty low sugar kombucha a few summers ago and was amazed to find it only had 2g of sugar (2g of total carbs too). It’s zippy and refreshing, and absolutely delicious on a hot summer’s day.

In case you’ve never heard of it, kombucha is a lightly bubbly beverage produced by fermenting tea and sugar with what those in the know refer to as a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). It’s a popular drink among the health minded, as it’s said to aid in digestion and promote healthy gut bacteria.

But most kombucha tends to have a fair bit of residual sugar and it’s not something I can indulge in. Hard kombucha is further fermented to increase the alcohol level, and in the case of KYLA, the yeast consumes much of the residual sugar content. Leaving me with something lightly alcoholic (4.5%), delicious, and keto friendly.

Hard kombucha makes a great keto mixer!

I knew KYLA was a delicious refreshing drink but it didn’t occur to me to put it in other cocktails until I saw one being demonstrated at my local store. They were using the Ginger Tangerine in place of ginger beer in a Moscow Mule and I thought it was brilliant. Ginger beer can have up to 35g of carbs per serving so I’ve been avoiding Moscow Mules like the plague.

KYLA has a number of cocktails on their site, but not all them are keto appropriate. So they asked me to come up with some fun ones to showcase just how great their product is as a mixer. And it really is, because it’s so refreshing and effervescent.

I had a ball researching and playing keto bartender. I created:

• Cranberry Kombucha Spritzers (with the Hibiscus Lime) – a fun perfect holiday keto cocktail.
• Grapefruit Gin Fizz (with the Grapefruit) – it seems light and refreshing, but don’t be fooled, it has a good kick to it!
• Gingerberry Slush (with the Berry Ginger) – the perfect sipper for a hot summer’s day.
• Dark and Stormy (with the Ginger Tangerine) – this is my personal favorite!

Why is the Keto Dark and Stormy my favourite? I’m really not sure except that I couldn’t stop sipping at it, even though it was only 2pm. I actually found I didn’t even need to sweeten it at all, although you could if you prefer a sweeter cocktail.

And how is a Dark and Stormy not absolutely perfect for today? It’s Halloween and it’s time to embrace your inner darkness!

So the next time you feel like making yourself a healthier, more keto cocktail, consider some KYLA Hard Kombucha in place of all those sugary mixers.

Check out all of my Keto Kombucha Cocktails on the KYLA Hard Kombucha website.