How to Make Sangria in Your School's Colors

It's the end of tailgate season, and the beginning of the end of sangria season. You know what that means—way too many drinks in an obscenely little amount of time. Shotgunning a beer, chugging yucca, and getting iced at tailgates are not for the faint of heart. Maybe your go-to drink at a tailgate is sangria. I wouldn't blame you. I'm a small, Asian girl and sangria is the bomb for someone with my tolerance. I'd drink sangria year-round if it wasn't for hot toddies.

But as a millennial who has a food account on Instagram (OK, and I'm writing about food─did you expect anything else?), I want a sangria that will scream my school's name. I want a sangria that will bleed maroon and orange. Am I asking too much? No, it's easy AF for Spoon at Virginia Tech to make a Hokie-themed sangria. Just throw some red wine in with oranges and stuff, right?

Well, what if I went to another university tailgate? Like UC Berkeley? Or─God forbid─University of Virginia? How am I supposed to make a blue sangria? Blueberry wine? No. To quote Ron Swanson: "I don't drink alcohol from that portion of the color spectrum."

So, what exactly is sangria? In layman's terms, I'd call it the wine version of punch. But there's actually a law of what sangria is according to the EU. It's silly and over-complicated, and you can't add vodka, but the gist is that it's a carbonated drink made from wine and juice with fruit in it. So I'm right, the wine version of punch.

Now, I'm just gonna Roy G. Biv this. Without the indigo, because that's just blue. Though I suppose there are several colors I should include outside this spectrum, like black and white. That's it. Y'all who have other school colors can figure something out. I mean, who wants brown sangria? Thanks, but no thanks. No one wants to drink brown sangria #IAmNotWrong.

Red Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 2 cups ginger ale/sprite/seltzer
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup triple sec

• Step 1

  Mix liquids together. Add fruit.

  

Red sangria is actually the traditional color of sangria. It's easy-peasy for college students who have maroon or red university colors. I'd recommend using Spoon's handy traditional sangria recipe or the one above.

As for fruit? You've got plenty of options: strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, etc. Just make sure you freeze them before you put them in the sangria as you don't want to dilute it.

Orange Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 2 cups ginger ale
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1/2 cup triple sec

• Step 1

  Mix together ingredients. Add fruit.

  

Alright, hold on tight because this sangria doesn't look like sangria. It looks like orange juice. But that's the point anyway, so do you really care? The fruit you can use is kind of obvious (oranges, duh). But, other options include apricots, cantaloupe, and nectarines.

Yellow Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup creme de banana
• 2 cups seltzer

• Step 1

  Mix together ingredients. Add fruit.

  

Alright, not gonna lie: yellow is weird as hell to come up with a tasty combo if you want your sangria to be violently yellow. Want something a little less vibrant? Make white sangria. Fruit-wise, you can add lemons, peaches, or pineapple to your sangria to get the yellow for your school colors.

Green Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 1 cup sour green apple schnapps
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 cups lemon-lime soda
• Few drops green food coloring optional

• Step 1

  Mix together ingredients. Add fruit.

  

Green is possibly one of the most unnatural sangria colors. Yet, weirdly enough a super common one when Googled. I'm guessing St. Patrick's Day is a factor. I didn't want to go citrus, but there's a popular green sangria with more citrus flavors.

For fruit, just pick up some green apples, limes, melon, green grapes, or kiwis. I wouldn't recommend the last one for this green sangria recipe because the flavor profiles don't match, but it's your call.

Blue Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 3/4 cup blue curacao
• 1/2 cup simple syrup
• 2 cups lemon-lime soda

• Step 1

  Mix together ingredients. Add fruit.

  

Alright, blue is officially the most unnatural sangria color. I'm seriously not going to use blueberry wine for this. That'd be way too easy. Plus, where am I going to get blueberry wine? I don't like blueberries nearly enough to try to find it.

Alternatively, you could use some blueberry liqueur in the place of the blue curacao. And if you don't want to buy simple syrup, learn how to make it. Your fruit list is small: blueberries and possibly blackberries.

Purple Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 2/3 cup simple syrup
• 1 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/2 cup blackberry brandy
• 1/2 cup blue curacao

• Step 1

  Mix ingredients together. Add fruit.

  

Purple is at least a fun color right? OK, I may be biased as my favorite color is purple. There are like three ways you can go about this, so I chose my favorite. But if you want other options just google purple sangria. Or make a sangria slushy.

If you're not fond of pomegranate, I'd suggest using açaí juice─I'm fond of Sambazon. Other potential juices include blueberry and blackberry. Though not totally sure on the latter. As for fruit? Pick up some Concord/purple grapes, plums, or purple figs. God, it's hard to find cool colored fruits.

Black Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dark red wine
• 2 cups sparkling water
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1 cup blackberry juice

• Step 1

  Mix ingredients together. Add fruit.

  

Alright, I'm not fond of this section. Who wants to drink black sangria? Nope, nope, nope. Not me. But, some people have the unfortunate mess of needing a black sangria for their school colors. Since this sangria needs to be black, I would suggest something like Apothic Dark for your wine choice. If you can't do dry sangria, I would suggest using something sweet instead of sparkling water.

Fruit choice is obvious here: blackberries. But for more exotic fruits I'd suggest elderberries, black currants, or black grapes. Good luck.

White Sangria

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:0
• Total Time:15 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 1/3 cup apple liqueur
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups ginger ale

• Step 1

  Mix together ingredients. Add fruit.

  

The other super easy sangria recipe to make. White and red sangria are the typical sangria colors, so here's a quick and easy mix to whip up. I'm partial to 99 Apples schnapps.

Your fruit options now include apples, pears, white peaches, and lychees (ya know, if you wanna be exotic). White is such a boring color for food.

Now go off and make your school-spirited sangria. I expect us millennials to Instagram our fancy, spirited drinks for the world to see. And for you to make your tailgate just a little bit more festive.