The Perfect Cocktail Menu For Your Perfect Couple Watch Party

Netflix and kill, anyone? If you're anything like us, then you spent most of the weekend watching Netflix's new, highly bingeable murder mystery series, "The Perfect Couple." Starring Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Eve Hewson, and Dakota Fanning, among other notables, this six-episode mini-series follows the Winbury family, a wealthy Nantucket-based clan, during what should be their son and brother's picture-perfect wedding. But, everything goes awry the morning after the rehearsal dinner. 

Okay, no spoilers, we promise that's all we'll reveal about the plot. Aside from Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber's chemistry as husband and wife, the main star of the show has been the Blackberry Mojito. Introduced in the pilot episode titled "Happy Wedding Eve," it's the signature welcome drink for guests, courtesy of matriarch Greer Garrison Winbury (aka Nicole Kidman's character). Since the show's premiere on September 5, 2024, internet searches for "Blackberry Mojitos" are up a whopping 600%. It's clear that fans are thirsting for more cocktail pairings to fit the show's seaside, luxurious vibe — and we're here to bring them.

Mojitos are a refreshingly crisp drink that you can typically find on casino floors and served up sandside at beach resorts. While there are endless ways to put a little twist on the classic mojito recipe, adding blackberries is a particularly genius move. The tart berries play perfectly off the sweetness of the sugar, and the added deep purple swirl gives the drink a nice pop of color. Making a blackberry mojito is just about as easy as making a traditional version, you only need one five-second adjustment: add fruit into the pre-spirit mixture. It's a great pre-dinner drink and would pair wonderfully with a grazing table or charcuterie board.

Ingredients

• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 10 mint leaves
• 4-5 blackberries
• 1 ½ ounces white rum
• 1 ounce lime juice (from about 1 lime)
• 4 ounces club soda

Directions

1. Make the mint simple syrup by heating the water and sugar together in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar fully dissolves, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Remove the mix from heat and add 5 mint leaves. Allow the mint to steep and the syrup to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Muddle the remaining 5 mint leaves and your mint simple syrup in a highball glass.
3. Add the blackberries and continue to use the muddler to incorporate the fruit into the mix.
4. Pour in the rum and lime juice and stir.
5. Add ice, then top with club soda, and an optional garnish. We suggest a couple of beautiful, plump blackberries stabbed through the middle with a toothpick.

A Cape Codder (or a Cape Cod) might sound like a fancy-pants cocktail you'd see a member of the Winbury family clutching while admonishing a housekeeper, but in reality, it's just another name for a vodka cranberry. This classic cocktail, dating back to the 1940s, is allegedly named after the Cape Cod Resort, and is the quintessential Massachusetts drink (especially considering that cranberries were first cultivated on Cape Cod in 1816). This makes the drink a perfect companion for "The Perfect Couple," which takes place in Nantucket. It's a great yacht drink, too, meaning it's delightful on a hot day, easy to make on a rocky boat, and bougie as all get out. We also recommend whipping up some cranberry Brie bites as a delightful appetizer that will keep your guests satiated, while still leaving enough room for dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ ounces vodka
• 4 ounces cranberry juice
• Lime slice or wedge, for garnish

Directions

1. Pour the vodka and cranberry juice into a glass over ice
2. Stir and enjoy. (Optional: garnish with a lime slice or wedge.)

Continuing on the theme of classic cocktails dressing up as regional drinks, we have the Nantucket Mule, named for the island in which the show takes place. This take on the classic Mule might not be as recognizable as its counterparts, such as the Mexican Mule or Kentucky Mule, but the cocktail brings the same amount of refreshing spice. 

Each Mule variation has its own twist, and this one is no different. Unlike the Moscow Mule, which only features vodka, mint, lime, and ginger beer, the Nantucket Mule contains an added ingredient — you guessed it! — cranberries. To make a Nantucket Mule, all you need to do is start out with the standard Moscow Mule recipe and simply add some cranberry juice, sauce, or jam. If you're feeling ambitious, try making your own cranberry compote to add to the drink. You can use Bryan Voltaggio's cranberry-Riesling compote recipe, just skip the Riesling for this one or your drink will be beyond boozy. 

The Nantucket Mule is the perfect drink to pair with seafood. The spice from the ginger beer and tartness from the cranberries will cut through any salty, briny flavors. We recommend giving oysters Rockefeller a try with this drink. The Winbury fam would definitely approve, just keep everyone away from the kitchen and all its sharp tools — if you catch our drift.

Ingredients

• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 5 mint leaves
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 1 lime
• 1 ounce vodka
• 6 ounces ginger beer
• 1 ½ tablespoons of cranberry juice, sauce, or jam

Directions

1. Make the mint simple syrup by heating the water and sugar together in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar fully dissolves, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Remove the mix from heat and add the mint leaves. Allow the mint to steep and the syrup to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Fill a Moscow mule copper mug with crushed ice (about 1 cup).
3. Cut the lime in half, then juice one half into the mug.
4. Add 1 teaspoon of the cooled mint simple syrup, the vodka, the ginger beer, and your desired cranberry ingredient into the mug and stir. (Optional: Garnish with mint sprigs and/or a lime slice.)

When you need a stiff drink, like when you're Greer Winbury and you're up for hours worried as your son Will makes an escape in his sailboat during a storm, there's always the trust Dark and Stormy cocktail. Like the blackberry mojito, interest in this classic drink has skyrocketed since "Perfect Couple" landed on Netflix, up 160% in the past week. 

It's a rum-based take on a Moscow Mule with more sweetness to balance out the tang. And, in fact, there's a sailor part of its history too (as legend goes, it was named by a seafarer who thought the mix looked like impending weather). It goes great with all those leftovers from the non-wedding in the fridge, too.

Ingredients

• ½ large lime, quartered
• 8 ounces ginger beer
• 6 dashes of Angostura bitters
• 3 ounces dark rum

Directions

1. Fill 2 tall tumblers with ice, and then squeeze 1 lime wedge into each glass.
2. Divide the ginger beer between the glasses, then shake a few dashes of Angostura bitters into each tumbler.
3. Pour the rum over ginger beer, letting it create a layered effect, then add the other lime segments as a garnish to each glass. Serve immediately.

It's nearly impossible to attend a wedding weekend without spending a considerable amount of time sitting through some dreadful speeches. That's why speeches are always accompanied by Champagne, to make them easier to bear. Just kidding (sort of). You don't need to spend much time with the Winbury family to know that they like to take everything up a notch for more poshness. So, when it comes to having Champagne as your  "Perfect Couple" watch party pièce de résistance, pouring it straight from the bottle into a flute simply won't do. Instead, try a Champagne-based cocktails like the French 75.

Champagne and seafood go together like, well, money and murder. To keep your "Perfect Couple" night on theme, we recommend whipping up some buttery New England-style lobster rolls to serve as the entrée. Don't be intimidated if you have no experience cooking lobster, this is basically like a fancy, toasted sandwich (and you can even buy pre-cooked lobster meat). This recipe only takes 15 minutes, so you can spend the majority of your time parked in front of the TV with your friends, trying to figure out who killed who.

Ingredients

• ½ ounce lemon juice
• ½ ounce simple syrup
• 1 ounce gin or Cognac
• 4 ounces Champagne or sparkling wine
• 1 lemon twist, for garnish

Directions

1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour lemon juice, simple syrup, and gin over ice and shake until well chilled, about 15 seconds.
2. Strain into a Champagne flute. Top with Champagne or sparkling wine.
3. Garnish with lemon twist to serve.

If you're like the Winburys and need to plan drinks for a crowd, preparing a pitcher of mimosas is a great way to go. Easy but elegant, they are perfect for the post-wedding brunch (if you make it to that point). You can also adapt this recipe to Bellinis — just swap out the OJ for peach puree. Or, play with other fruit juices like pineapple juice, for a unique twist.

Whether you're binging the "Perfect Couple" show or reading the book on which the series is based, it's always fun to get lost in a good story. By pairing your entertainment with this classic champagne cocktail, you'll be able to enhance your experience to a 3D level. Maybe pick up a bouquet or two of hydrangeas and throw on your best vintage gown to really get into the Winbury spirit.

Ingredients

• 1 bottle sparkling wine
• 2 cups orange juice
• ¼ cup orange liqueur

Directions

1. Pour sparkling wine in a pitcher.
2. Add orange juice and orange liqueur. Stir well.
3. Pour into glasses or flutes. (Optional: Garnish with an orange wedge if desired.)

Non-alcoholic drinks are having a moment. Aside from their increasing popularity, we thought something like a Plum and Ginger Cordial Mocktail would've been the perfect offering at the Winbury house considering that Abby Winbury is pregnant, and there might be other non-drinkers on the guest list as well. Nicole Kidman, for one, doesn't drink, although it does seem like her character, Greer, likes to partake in a cocktail or two. 

A Plum and Ginger Cordial Mocktail is made in the same way you would prepare the recipe's cordial — with tea, orange juice, ginger, plums, and sparkling water — but to make it zero alcohol by volume, you can omit the gin. (Pssst ... the Nantucket Mule also makes for a great mocktail, just skip the vodka and you're good to go.)

Ingredients

• 4 plums, quartered, pits removed, plus more for garnish
• 1-inch knob fresh ginger, peeled
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups water, divided
• 2 white tea bags
• 1 cup sparkling water

Directions

1. Add plums, ginger, orange juice, sugar, and 1 cup water to a saucepan.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until plums are broken down, about 10 minutes.
3. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
4. In the meantime, boil the remaining 1 cup water.
5. Remove from the heat and steep the white tea bags until infused, about 5 minutes.
6. To build the cocktail, fill glasses with ice.
7. Add 1 ounce brewed white tea to each glass.
8. Add 2 ounces plum-ginger cordial to each glass.
9. Top each glass with 4 ounces sparkling water and stir.
10. Garnish with sliced plums before serving.