Who doesn’t love a refreshing skinny summer cocktail? I know the season is officially coming to an end, but it sure didn’t feel like it when we were sweating it out at the US Open on Sunday. We have been in New York all week, and made a quick visit to the US Open. Being the cocktailer that I am, I just had to try their signature cocktail, the Honey Deuce by Grey Goose.

My first visit to the US Open!

What is the Honey Deuce?

When you first look at it, you love it. It has everything a signature cocktail needs. It’s pink. It’s huge. It has the best garnish. And you get to keep the glass I just googled it, because other than the sweetness, the flavors aren’t particularly defined.  According to the Queens Brownstoner, I now know it’s lemonade, vodka, and black raspberry liqueur.

It’s a little on the sweet side for me, maybe I’ve been having too many GreenTinis these days, but it was a little more sugar than I prefer. By far, the best part is the garnish of 3 skewered honeydew mellon balls, inspired by tennis balls. So cute and clever! And overall, refreshing and a great cocktail to do a Skinny makeover on for sure!

How I made it it Skinny:

I would imagine the original 8 oz cocktail is around 260 calories. Not too terrible, but I think we can knock out 50% of those pretty easily and still deliver a refreshing, pleasing and delicious summer cocktail.  It’s the black raspberry liqueur that really sticks it to you with 103 calories per ounce for under 17% alcohol. And the lemonade doesn’t help either with 91 empty sugar calories.

So a few skinny switch-aroos later, and here you have an updated Skinny version of this signature summer cocktail!

Skinny Honey Deuce

• 2 oz Vodka
• 1/2 oz Black Raspberry Sugar Free* Syrup
• 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
• 5 oz Soda Water
• 3 Skewered Honeydew Melon Balls

Directions: Add vodka, sugar free* syrup and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Fill a pint glass with ice, and strain shaker contents. Top off with soda water and garnish with melon balls.

Calories: 143 for 8 oz cocktail…not too bad, right?

What if you don’t have or want the Sugar Free* Syrup?

If you don’t want to use  the black raspberry syrup, try making a puree in the food processor or blender with 1/4 cup black berries, the 1/2 oz of lemon juice and use a sweetener of your choice (stevia, honey, nutra-sweet, agave, sugar, etc) to get it to your preferred level of sweetness. You need it to offset the lemon, so feel free to amp up the sweetener here because it will be diluted by 7 oz of vodka and soda water. The calories will vary depending on your sweetener, but you’d be hard pressed to exceed the original calorie content!

Cheers and enjoy!

I know those are cantaloupe balls and not honeydew. Sorry, was the best I could find at my mini-market this morning

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