Cocktail Wars Episode 5 Recipes: Every Brunch Drink

Cocktail Wars episode 5 recipes all come from the brunch episode, which means every drink here is built for a late morning table rather than a last call. The format has not changed: three mixologists, three escalating challenges, one goes home after the skills round, and the last drink standing takes the episode. Joey Fatone and Lance Bass host, and master mixologist Melissa Brooke keeps the scoring honest. The official page files this one under brunch with friends, a theme it frames as connection and community in a glass. Below is the full Cocktail Wars episode 5 rundown plus all eight cocktails, each with a one-tap link to save it to your Velvet Shelf account.

Every spec below comes straight from the official episode 5 recipe page at cocktailwars.com, so the measurements are exactly what the competitors poured, brand names included. Where that page does not name a glass, we have left the glassware line off rather than guess at it. Save any of these and the recipe lands in your bar with cocktailwars.com credited as the source.

Who competed on Cocktail Wars episode 5?

Three mixologists poured through the brunch episode: Genesis Cruz, Darian Everding and Dylan Stone. Genesis took both of the first two rounds, which is usually the kind of run that settles an episode before the final even starts. It did not settle this one. Dylan went home after the egg challenge, and the last round came down to Genesis against Darian.

The official recipe page lists the competitors, the challenge names and the winner of each round. It does not print contestant bios and it does not name the guest judge for this episode, and no press recap had gone up by the time this post published. So we are not going to invent a judging table. What follows is the drinks, the results, and what the specs themselves tell you about how each competitor was thinking.

Challenge 1: A first impression brunch cocktail

All three competitors built on Tequila Herradura Silver for the first impression round, and the interesting part on paper is how far apart three people landed on the same one-word brief. Genesis went savory and low on sugar, infusing the blanco with coffee and stretching it long with coconut water and tonic. Dylan went straight at the brunch margarita. Darian reached for guava, grapefruit and a Sichuan peppercorn rim. Genesis took the round.

Tequila Spritz (Genesis Cruz)

The round winner, and the rare competition drink with no citrus and no syrup anywhere in it. Coffee infusion carries the bitterness, coconut water does the softening, and the quarter ounce of reposado is there for oak rather than volume.

Garnish: Orange peel

Ingredients

• 2 oz Coffee-infused Tequila Herradura Silver
• .25 oz Tequila Herradura Reposado
• 2.5 oz Vita Coco Coconut Water
• To top Q Mixers Tonic Water
• 1 Orange peel

Method

Combine the tequilas and coconut water in a shaker, strain, and pour into the glass. Top with tonic water and garnish with the orange peel.

Save Tequila Spritz to your Velvet Shelf account

Spicy Mango Mamarita (Dylan Stone)

A margarita widened out with mango and a spicy agave sweetener. Two ounces of sweetener against half an ounce of lime is a dessert ratio, so if you build this at home taste it before you strain and be ready to push the lime up.

Garnish: Dried lemon wheel

Ingredients

• 2 oz Tequila Herradura Silver
• 1 oz Cointreau Orange Liqueur
• 1 oz Monin Spicy Agave Sweetener
• 1/2 oz Lime juice
• 1 oz Mango purée syrup
• As needed Salt for the rim
• 1 Dried lemon wheel

Method

Salt the rim. Add the ingredients to a shaker and shake vigorously. Strain over ice and garnish with the dried lemon wheel.

Save Spicy Mango Mamarita to your Velvet Shelf account

Good Morning Sunshine (Darian Everding)

Sichuan peppercorn in the rim and loose in the tin, so the tingle arrives twice. One quirk to know before you build it: the ingredient list calls for Q Mixers Club Soda while the written method says to top with sparkling mineral water. Either will work.

Garnish: Pink Himalayan salt and Sichuan peppercorn rim

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Tequila Herradura Silver
• .25 oz Grapefruit juice
• 1.5 oz Guava nectar
• .25 oz Monin Agave
• As needed Sichuan peppercorns
• To top Q Mixers Club Soda
• As needed Pink Himalayan salt and Sichuan peppercorn rim
• 2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters

Method

Crush the salt and peppercorn for the rim using thick agave syrup. Drop peppercorns into the shaker, combine the ingredients and shake. Strain into the rimmed glass and top with sparkling mineral water.

Save Good Morning Sunshine to your Velvet Shelf account

Challenge 2: The egg-cellent skills round

The skills challenge put an egg in every glass. Genesis and Dylan each worked a single white or yolk the classic way, while Darian ran a yolk and aquafaba powder together, which is a belt-and-braces approach to foam that almost nobody bothers with at home. Genesis won a second straight round with a maple and blackberry sour that drinks like a short stack. Dylan was eliminated at the end of the round.

Pancakes in Bed (Genesis Cruz)

The round winner and the clearest theme answer of the night: maple syrup as the sweetener, black walnut bitters for the nutty edge, and berries on top where they would sit on the plate. The quarter ounce of aged rum is a seasoning, not a base.

Garnish: Chambord float and chocolate shavings

Ingredients

• 1.75 oz Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack
• 1 oz Jack Daniel's Tennessee Blackberry Liqueur
• .25 oz Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum
• .75 oz Lemon juice
• .5 oz Maple syrup
• 1 dash Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters
• 1 Egg white
• As needed Chambord, to float
• As needed Chocolate shavings

Method

Combine the ingredients in a shaker, strain over the glass, then add the Chambord float and chocolate shavings.

Save Pancakes in Bed to your Velvet Shelf account

Dessert Vibes 1.0 (Darian Everding)

The most technical build of the episode and the longest shake by a distance. Cocoa nibs and hibiscus go into the tin with the ice rather than into a syrup beforehand, so the shake is doing double duty as a very fast infusion. Oloroso and molasses bitters keep it from tipping into candy.

Glass: Chilled cocktail glass
Garnish: Dried hibiscus flowers

Ingredients

• 2 oz Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack
• .5 oz Gonzalez Byass Alfonso Oloroso Sherry
• .25 oz Jade Liqueur Absinthe
• .5 oz Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Aquafaba powder
• .5 oz Monin Black Sugar Syrup
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Molasses Bitters
• As needed Pink Himalayan salt
• As needed Cocoa nibs
• As needed Dried hibiscus flowers
• 1 small Egg yolk

Method

Combine the yolk, whiskey, sherry, syrup, lemon juice, absinthe, bitters, salt and aquafaba powder in a shaker. Froth for 1 to 2 minutes or dry shake for 2 to 3 minutes. Add ice, cocoa nibs and hibiscus, then shake vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Fine strain into a chilled glass and garnish with dried hibiscus.

Save Dessert Vibes 1.0 to your Velvet Shelf account

Grandma's Tennessee Egg Special (Dylan Stone)

Dylan's last drink of the episode, and a bolder idea than it first reads: the yolk is never shaken in, it is floated whole in the middle of the foam so the drinker breaks it themselves. A clean whiskey sour underneath, one to one on lemon and simple.

Garnish: Fennel flowers, Kinome leaf and flower pollen

Ingredients

• 2 oz Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack
• 1 oz Lemon juice
• 1 oz Simple syrup
• As needed Fee Brothers Fee Foam
• 1 small Egg yolk
• As needed Fennel flowers and Kinome leaf

Method

Shake and strain the whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup and Fee Foam. Pour a small egg yolk into the middle and garnish with the edible sprig and flower pollen.

Save Grandma's Tennessee Egg Special to your Velvet Shelf account

Final challenge: Batched brunch for the table

The creative round asked for a batched brunch drink, the kind you would actually build for six people rather than one judge. Both finalists reached for Fords Gin and then split hard. Darian assembled a ten-part punch around orange, guava and a lavender and cardamom back note. Genesis went the other way, tightening down to a short gin sour spiked with malt whisky and habanero bitters. Darian won the episode.

Brunch Punch (Darian Everding)

The episode winner. Eleven components, but the structure is simple once you see it: gin and juice as the body, PAMA and lavender for color and perfume, cardamom bitters and a single drop of almond extract holding the back end. Note that the written method skips the orange juice when it lists what goes in the tin, so add it with the other juices.

Garnish: Lemon peel and a Rainier cherry on a skewer

Ingredients

• 2 oz Fords Gin
• 2 oz Orange juice
• .25 oz Grapefruit juice
• 2 oz Yerba Madre Revel Berry
• .25 oz Heaven Hill PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur
• .25 oz Monin Lavender Syrup
• 1 oz Guava nectar
• 1 drop Almond extract
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters
• As needed Lemon peels
• As needed Rainier cherries

Method

Add the cherries and lemon peel to a shaker and gently muddle. Add the gin, PAMA, grapefruit juice, guava nectar, lavender syrup and almond, then add ice and shake lightly. Strain into a glass with ice, top with Yerba Madre, stir, and garnish with the lemon peel and cherry on a skewer.

Save Brunch Punch to your Velvet Shelf account

Nothing Nice (Genesis Cruz)

The runner-up, and the same trick Genesis opened the episode with: a quarter ounce of a second spirit used purely as seasoning, here Nikka Coffey Malt for a cereal note under the gin. Habanero bitters and prickly pear keep it from reading as a lemonade.

Garnish: Mint and lemon peel

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Fords Gin
• .25 oz Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky
• .5 oz Limoncino Dell'Isola
• .5 oz Liquid Alchemist Prickly Pear Cocktail Syrup
• .75 oz Lemon juice
• 1 dash Fee Brothers Habanero Bitters
• To top Yerba Madre Enlighten Mint

Method

Combine everything except the Yerba Madre Enlighten Mint in a shaker and shake. Strain into the glass, top with the Yerba Madre and garnish with mint and a lemon peel.

Save Nothing Nice to your Velvet Shelf account

How the episode played out

Genesis Cruz went into the final round two for two. The Tequila Spritz took the first impression challenge on restraint, a drink with no citrus and no added sugar at a table full of guava and mango, and Pancakes in Bed took the skills round by answering the brunch brief and the egg brief in the same glass. On the numbers that should have been the episode.

What turned it was the brief. The final asked for something batched, and a batched drink has to survive being made ten at a time and sitting in a punch bowl. Genesis answered with a tight, seasoned sour, the sort of build that rewards being made one at a time and to order. Darian answered with an actual punch: fruit body, a bitters and lavender spine, muddled cherries in the base and a topper added at the end. Darian Everding won Cocktail Wars episode 5 with the Brunch Punch.

Dylan Stone was eliminated after the egg round. That is worth a second look, because Grandma's Tennessee Egg Special had the most confident idea in the challenge, floating an unbroken yolk in the middle of the foam instead of shaking it in. Sitting next to a maple and blackberry sour that tasted like the theme, and a yolk-and-aquafaba build that took four minutes of shaking, a clean one-to-one whiskey sour was the simplest drink on the bar.

Three techniques worth stealing from episode 5

Infuse a blanco with coffee and skip the sugar. Genesis built the winning first round drink on coffee-infused Herradura Silver, then lengthened it with coconut water and tonic. Coffee brings bitterness and body without a syrup, which is why the finished drink is dry enough to hold up at eleven in the morning. Cold brew a few tablespoons of coarse grounds in the tequila for four to six hours, then strain through a coffee filter.

Shake your aromatics with the ice. Darian dropped cocoa nibs and dried hibiscus straight into the tin with the ice rather than pre-making a syrup, then shook for a full one to two minutes. Hard shaking against solid aromatics extracts fast, and fine straining afterwards catches the debris. It turns a twenty-minute infusion into part of a step you were doing anyway.

Float the yolk instead of shaking it. Dylan's whiskey sour used Fee Foam for the texture, then set a small yolk whole in the center of the foam. The drinker breaks it and stirs it through, so the richness arrives halfway down rather than all at once. It also removes the biggest risk with a yolk drink, which is over-shaking it into something flat and eggy.

Save the whole episode to your shelf

Every recipe above has its own save link, the same kind we drop in the comments on Instagram. Tap it, sign in, and the cocktail lands in your favorites with the ingredients checked against your bar. Missing the prickly pear syrup or the Kinome leaf? The Barkeep will tell you what to swap. Cocktail Wars airs Tuesdays at 10 on E!, and we do this every week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won Cocktail Wars episode 5?

Darian Everding won Cocktail Wars episode 5 with the Brunch Punch, a batched gin drink built on Fords Gin, orange and grapefruit juice, guava nectar, PAMA pomegranate liqueur, lavender syrup and cardamom bitters. Genesis Cruz was the runner-up after winning both earlier rounds, and Dylan Stone was eliminated following the egg skills challenge.

What cocktails were made on Cocktail Wars episode 5?

Eight cocktails were made across three challenges. Round one brought the Tequila Spritz, Spicy Mango Mamarita and Good Morning Sunshine. The egg skills round produced Pancakes in Bed, Dessert Vibes 1.0 and Grandma's Tennessee Egg Special. The batched brunch final was Brunch Punch against Nothing Nice.

How do you use an egg yolk in a cocktail?

A yolk adds richness and a custard-like weight that egg white cannot. Dry shake it with the spirit and sweetener first, for two to three minutes, before adding ice, or float a small yolk whole on top of a foamed drink and let the drinker stir it through. Always use fresh, well-chilled eggs.

How do you make coffee-infused tequila?

Combine roughly two tablespoons of coarsely ground coffee with eight ounces of blanco tequila in a sealed jar and leave it at room temperature for four to six hours, tasting as you go. Strain through a coffee filter or fine mesh. Genesis Cruz used coffee-infused Tequila Herradura Silver as the base of the Tequila Spritz on Cocktail Wars episode 5.