Our Favorite Red Bull Flavor Can Only Be Found In The Summer

Tasting Table ranked 13 of the most popular Red Bull flavors, and the limited Summer Edition came in first place. Here's why this exclusive sipper is the big door prize in our book. To be clear, the Summer Edition is a massive departure from the classic Red Bull flavor that fans know and expect to taste when they crack open a can. That familiar lingering sweet-tangy, fruity, herbal, licorice-esque taste gets a summery makeover with an all-new Curuba Elderflower outfit.

Elderflower totes a light, delicate floral flavor with heavy aromatics and a slight citrus back end (layered florals are predicted to be one of the top cocktail trends of 2024, BTW). It's comparable to honey-lychee, giving way to pear and tropical fruit flavor on the secondary taste — and that's just the beginning. In this energy drink flavor, elderflower meets curuba.

If you haven't tried it before, curuba (aka banana passionfruit) is a tangy fruit native to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The elongated, fuzzy yellow fruit resembles a small banana but smells like an orange, and the flavor comes from the seedy pulp inside. It's often scooped out and used to flavor desserts like ice cream, meringues, cakes, and fruit sauces. This unique fruit is pretty tough to get outside of South America, so Red Bull's Summer Edition provides a somewhat rare opportunity for foodies in America to taste curuba for themselves. Paired with elderflower, the result is a bold melon-kiwi-starfruit taste and refreshing quality.

The limited-edition flavor hit shelves nationwide on April 29, and per an official press release, Red Bull Curuba Elderflower will stick only around while supplies last. The company has yet to announce an exact date when the flavor will be pulled from shelves. Until then, we're enjoying the energy drink on its own and as a flavorful, caffeinated cocktail ingredient.

Skip the St Germaine and use Summer Edition Red Bull to make a caffeine-spiked Elderflower Margarita with tequila, lime, and ice. To protect Red Bull's delicate carbonation bubbles, you'll want to wet-shake the tequila and lime juice to chill, then strain into a chilled glass and top it with the Curuba Elderflower Red Bull to finish. Or you could use this melon-forward energy drink in place of soda water to make an elevated Japanese Midori Sour cocktail with Midori liqueur, vodka, lemon juice, and lime juice, stirred over ice in a Collins glass. 

Mix it with vodka, and you've got a "bomb" shot. Pro tip: Ordering bomb shots at the bar is chill, but ordering a tall "vodka red bull" is a red flag to bartenders. Although, unlike the sweet-sour flavor of a bomb shot made with classic Red Bull, the Summer Edition provides a dimensional floral-melon kick perfect for beach parties. You could also make a killer mocktail by mixing it with pineapple juice, fresh basil or mint, and overripe watermelon muddled in the bottom of a rocks glass.