Meet the Pickleback — A delicious keto cocktail featuring bourbon and pickle juice, perfect for tailgating season! Just 4 ingredients needed for this sugar free drink under 3 net carbs!

Pickleback Cocktail

This Pickleback is a unique drink with a super interesting flavor! If you love whiskey and pickles, you will absolutely love this surprising cocktail. It’s going to be everyone’s favorite new tailgate drink this season!

Smoky bourbon, vinegary pickle juice, and tangy lime juice are all evened out with a homemade sugar-free simple syrup. It’s a well-balanced cocktail that is great to serve with a lot of bar food, grilled dishes, and meaty meals. It’s a great option for those who normally don’t like overly sweet or fruity drinks!

While I used dill pickle juice, you could easily use the juice from bread and butter pickles, spicy pickles, or whatever type you prefer. When you finish a jar of pickles, it’s easy to freeze the juice in ice cube trays, then you can thaw just enough for cocktails whenever you’d like! 

Because this isn’t a frozen drink and doesn’t include soda water, you can mix it up ahead of time, then serve on the rocks whenever you’re ready. Make a big jug of it and take for parties, camping, potlucks, tailgating, and more!

Keto Pickleback Ingredients

Here’s a quick overview of what you’ll need. Keep scrolling down to the printable recipe card for the exact measurements!

• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1 1/2 ounces pickle juice
• 3/4 ounce lime juice
• 1/2 ounce sugar free simple syrup (SO easy to make homemade with either allulose or liquid monk fruit sweetener)

How to make a Pickleback sugar free

This drink is very straightforward! Simply put the whiskey, pickle juice, lime juice, and sugar free simple syrup into a shaker with ice. Shake for about 30 seconds before straining over ice with a pickle garnish. 

Pickleback Cocktail Glassware

This drink is most often served in an old fashioned glass on the rocks. 

How to make sugar free simple syrup

Keto Simple Syrup is incredibly easy to make! I’ve had success using two different ways — One using liquid monk fruit sweetener and one using allulose sweetener! I did not have success making simple syrup by dissolving any erythritol-based products (like Swerve or monk fruit sweeteners that contain erythritol). The erythritol will begin to crystalize as it cools down, so it’s not great for mixed drinks.

Simple Syrup with Allulose:

Bring 1 1/4 cup of allulose and 1 cup of water to a boil and stir until allulose has dissolved. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge up to a month. This syrup has very little aftertaste and is thicker like normal simple syrup.

Simple Syrup with Liquid Monk Fruit:

Pour about 1 tablespoon of liquid monk fruit sweetener into 1 cup of water. Adjust a few drops at a time until you’ve reached your taste preference. This syrup is fairly inexpensive to make, you don’t have to bother heating up and cooling down the syrup before using it, and it makes the sweetness of your drinks to be easily adjustable.

How many carbs in whiskey?

There are zero carbs in bourbon. The danger of a whiskey cocktail usually resides in the mixers often tossed in the glass with it. However, if you can make sure to use sugar free simple syrup and choose low-carb additions, you can enjoy several bourbon cocktails without consuming too many carbs. This Keto Mint Julep has 0 net carbs (and only 0.1 total carbs)!

Why drink pickle juice on keto?

Often, people on the keto diet will recommend drinking pickle juice and eating pickles. It’s a great source of potassium and sodium, and those electrolytes are important to healthy body functions. The vinegar in pickle juice can also help curb sugar spikes, helping you stay in ketosis. The fermentation from the pickling process helps introduce more healthy bacteria into the gut, helping ease digestive issues, too!

Obviously, this keto cocktail is for fun, not for health. But it is nice to get in a little healthy boost whenever you can!

What to serve with a Pickleback drink

This is the ideal drink for juicy cookout food! For the ultimate keto tailgate, enjoy the briny drink with a Keto Bacon Cheeseburger, this Chicken Bacon Ranch Chaffle Sandwich, or these Keto Steak Wraps. Add some Smoked Queso and some Bacon Wrapped Green Beans, and you’re good to go! It’d be great with some brats or this Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner, too.

To host your own keto happy hour, enjoy bar food favorites like Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Mushrooms, Air Fryer Buffalo Wings, Ranch Zucchini Chips, and Bacon Cheddar Cauliflower Tots for the BEST low-carb snacks!

Can I make this drink ahead of time?

You could mix your bourbon, juices, and simple syrup ahead of time, just store them in the fridge without ice. Within a day or two, serve on the rocks!

More Keto Cocktails

• Blackberry Bourbon Smash – 2.5 net carbs
• Kiwi Cucumber Gin Cocktail – 6.1 net carbs
• Spicy Watermelon Keto Margarita – 3.4 net carbs
• Basil Whiskey Sour – 1.3 net carbs