We Ranked the Official KONOSUBA Cocktails

If there’s one thing many adults worldwide enjoy doing, it’s getting an alcoholic beverage with some friends. Be they beers, ales, spirits, wines, cocktails, among other beverages, adults have their drinks of choice. And one of the best places to enjoy your drink is your local pub or bar. In Japan, though, thousands of adults flock to the McDonald’s pub chain, The Hub, to enjoy a beverage or five. But in a strange twist, The Hub partnered with the anime KonoSuba – God’s blessing on this wonderful world!! to bring fans of the series cocktails based on the characters for a limited time. But are the drinks any good? Richard Eisenbeis and I, Ken Iikura-Gross, strolled over to our local Hub to try them out.

This article is for entertainment purposes. Anime News Network does not condone heavy alcohol consumption and we ask you to drink responsibly.

The Hub released six KONOSUBA cocktails in total with three being alcoholic and three non-alcoholic. It’s a nice mix for those who don’t enjoy alcohol and gives fans choices on the drinks based on the characters. For the alcoholic drinks, there is the Kazuma, Aqua, and Darkness. For non-alcoholic drinks, the Megumin, Yunyun, and Iris.

The Kazuma is a simple three-ingredient cocktail: peach liqueur, mikan (mandarin) juice, and tonic water garnished with mint and a lemon wedge(I misspoke in the video). While it’s not stated what the peach liqueur is, if you let the drink incorporate a bit you get the distinct flavor of Southern Comfort. This is an interesting choice of liqueur, as depending on your palette and how it’s mixed, Southern Comfort tastes great or the exact opposite.

Both Richard and I found the drink pleasant. We both got the distinct flavor of the mikan juice with a hint of lemon as an aftertaste. If you let it sit for the liqueur, juice, and tonic water to incorporate a bit, you get a little more of the peach flavor. But let it sit for too long after serving and the drink becomes a bit difficult to drink as the not-so-wonderful aspects of the liqueur take over.

Best to drink fresh and finish within about 20 minutes.

If the Kazuma is a simple drink, the Aqua is even simpler with two ingredients: lychee liqueur and tonic water with a wedge of lemon as a garnish. Like the Kazuma, the liqueur used in the Aqua isn’t specified. But with its blue hue, it’s likely Garuda Blue Lychee.

Richard noted the coloring of the cocktail is on point. The sweetness hits you first, but letting it sit in your mouth gets you a hint of lemon. However, like the Kazuma, letting the Aqua sit for too long after serving gets you a rather unpleasant flavor. This may be related to the sugar in the lychee liqueur interacting with the lemon.

Best to drink while fresh and finish within 20 minutes

Of the three KONOSUBA alcoholic cocktails, the Darkness is the most involved. The base has three ingredients: grapefruit juice, tonic water, and martini bitters with a grapefruit wedge for a garnish. However, the menu notes adding a special liqueur shot to the drink gives it a separate flavor profile. It’s not stated if the martini bitters are cocktail bitters like Angostura or the gin and vermouth liqueur known as Martini. But, considering this is an alcoholic drink, it’s likely the latter as cocktail bitters are more for extra flavoring rather than giving drinks its alcoholic content.

Richard and I agree the base cocktail is nothing more than grapefruit juice as there is no other flavor than grapefruit. Yes, you get the carbonation from the tonic water, but in the end, it’s a bland drink. However, if you’re a fan of grapefruit juice, adding some Martini liqueur and tonic water or even seltzer water will give you a simple homemade cocktail.

Good all-around cocktail if you enjoy the flavor of grapefruit.

Once you mix in the mystery shot into the Darkness cocktail, the drink takes on a different flavor profile. After adding the shot Richard and I noticed the Darkness went from the sour flavor of grapefruit to a tart flavor of raspberries. The grapefruit taste remains, but the little kick from the shot gives the drink a fruity flavor. I think with a bar spoon of simple syrup the drink would become so much more.

The shot itself is possibly some sort of raspberry liqueur. Chambord is likely the most well-known raspberry liqueur on the market, but I did mention the liqueur Jekyll & Hyde in the video. My memory was off with the flavor profile of the liqueur, though, as the Jekyll has a wild berry flavor and not raspberry. Even so, the cocktail is much better with the shot in it. However, you’ll want to watch out for the alcohol content as the shot will increase it.

Good all-around cocktail if you enjoy a tart and sour flavor combination.

The Megumin is a simple non-alcoholic drink with three ingredients: rose syrup, cranberry drink, and cola with an orange wedge, chopped strawberries, and blueberries as a garnish. While the type of cola isn’t specified, it’s likely Coca-Cola. However, if you make this at home, you can use your cola of choice.

For full discretion, I tried the Megumin about a week before this taste testing. When I first had it, it was very much cola-flavored. I couldn’t taste the cranberry or the rose syrup. But I had a few drinks at the time, so there’s a possibility my tastebuds weren’t picking up the intricacies of the mocktail.

Tasting it a second time, I get a good mixture of the cola and cranberry. Unfortunately for me, those two flavors drown out the rose syrup. Richard on the other hand enjoyed the mocktail. As he said in the video he enjoys adding all sorts of syrups to his Coca-Cola, so this drink was right up his alley.

However, the one thing this drink is missing is a bit of bite. Considering Megumin is a fire mage, you’d think the rose syrup would be cinnamon or some other spice syrup. Or even adding a little pepper as a garnish or siracha in the drink to give it that little bit of bite could have brought the drink much closer to Megumin’s theme.

Wonderful fruity mocktail but needs a little bit of spice. If you want to make it alcoholic, I suggest maybe .25 oz (about 7 ml) of spiced rum or potentially Fireball spiced whiskey.

Much like the Megumin, the Yunyun is another simple non-alcoholic drink with three ingredients: Sakura syrup, cranberry drink, and milk with chopped strawberries and blueberries as a garnish. The milk is floated above the cranberry drink giving the Yunyun a nice gradation. This makes it the best-looking drink of the six offered at The Hub.

As a drink, the Yunyun is very unoffensive. Depending on where you begin drinking the mocktail you’ll get different flavor profiles. Richard and I started with the straw and got a heavy note of cranberry, but when I took a sip from the washing line it was nothing but milk. So, incorporating the drink is key to getting a rich flavor profile from it. Unfortunately, the Sakura syrup does not come out very well. So, if you’re a fan of the Sakura flavor, upping the syrup content a bit is suggested.

A fine afternoon or dessert drink. If you want to make it alcoholic, .5 oz (about 15 ml) of sweet vermouth or bold and sweet red wine should keep the general flavor profile.

The final drink on the menu is the Iris. The non-alcoholic drink is likely the most involved to make as the ingredients are pineapple juice, milk, and whipped cream and garnished with mint. While it’s not specified if whipped cream is also added to the body of the mocktail, it is used as a garnish as well.

The Iris is a deceptive mocktail to say the least. As I noted in the video, I was worried the pineapple juice would overpower the entire drink as the fruit tends to have a strong flavor. However, to both Richard and my surprise, the Iris is delicious. The pineapple juice and milk mix well giving it a creamy texture, almost like melted ice cream. I wonder, as I stated above if whipped cream was added to the body of the drink because milk alone generally doesn’t give you that texture.

One thing to be sure of though, is don’t let the ice in the drink melt too much. It upsets the balance and removes all the sweetness from the pineapple juice and the texture the milk gives the drink.

A fantastic dessert drink. If you make it at home, forgo ice and use a chilled glass. If you wish to make it alcoholic .25 oz (about 7 ml)of a cream liqueur like Baileys Irish Cream liqueur, Godiva White Chocolate liqueur, or potentially Voyant Chai Cream Liqueur should keep the creamy texture.

Having tried all the KONOSUBA collaboration drinks by The Hub, Richard and I decided to rank them from our favorite to least favorite. What came as a surprise to both of us is we found the non-alcoholic drinks to our liking more than the alcoholic drinks.

Richard’s Ranking

Ken’s Ranking

The drinks are interesting as a collaboration between KONOSUBA and The Hub. Unfortunately, the collaboration ended on May 26. So, while the drinks are no longer available at the pub chain, it is possible to recreate them in your own home.