Are you brave enough to try Tom Hanks’ new cocktail? It's gone viral online but the ingredients may surprise you

Tom Hanks is convinced he’s created a great new cocktail, and it's gone viral on social media. But are we convinced?

Tom Hanks' new cocktail - a new favorite or a crime against champagne?
(Image credit: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)

Tom Hanks is such a beloved icon at this point that most of us would trust him with anything.

From heading out to the theaters to catch his latest movies to revisiting his many classics – including Castaway, Forrest Gump and Big – as a source of comfort, Tom is a national treasure.

However, his latest culinary creation might just stretch people’s faith in the Oscar winner to the limits.

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the permanently popular actor explained that, by chance, he had conjured up a questionable new cocktail. The only two ingredients? 

Diet Coke and Champagne.

Tom Hanks has decided that champagne should be mixed with diet coke. Do we forgive him for this?

(Image credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Yes. You read that correctly.

Tom Hanks, hero to many, decided to mix Champagne and Diet Coke for a concoction he calls… Diet Cokagne.

Ignoring how that sounds when said aloud, surely the two flavors don’t suit?

Well, Tom stands firm that his drink “was delicious.”

Explaining how the stroke of genius (or the disastrous creation) came to be, Tom explained that he isn’t much of a drinker. Instead, like so many of us, he instinctively grabs for a sparkling Diet Coke when after a little pick-me-up.

But over the festive period, when the champagne was flowing and being passed around, Tom decided to indulge, asking the server to add just a shot of bubbly to his already bubbly Diet Coke.

“Everybody said, ‘you are insane’,” the star of new movie A Man Called Otto recalled. “I said, ‘well, I may be insane, but I want to celebrate the season.’”

“So I had a sip of this, and Stephen, it was delicious.”

If you’re still unconvinced by Tom’s testimony, shockingly Stephen Colbert agreed to try the confusing potion.

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Bringing out all the ingredients (all two of them…) the host tried Tom’s tipple. And, perhaps in a surprise twist, he fully endorsed it.

The late night host described the drink as “strangely, strikingly, shamefully good.”

Turns out, he’s not alone. The drink has become wildly popular on TikTok and social media, and most of the results tend to agree that the drink is a hit.

One user wrote, “In Tom Hanks we trust. #Cokagne – not bad at all!”

Another agreed, saying that it “tasted like heaven.”

Elizabeth Banks, the celebrated actress and director, even got in on the action, as part of her advertising campaign for the upcoming (and bonkers) Cocaine Bear.

Well, cheers to Tom Hanks and his new drink du jour.

If you are brave enough to try the drink at home – which could either be a waste of Diet Coke or a waste of Champagne, depending on how you look at it – the serving suggestion on the show was three parts Diet Coke to one part Champagne.

Jack Slater
Freelance writer

Jack Slater is not the Last Action Hero, but that's what comes up first when you Google him. Preferring a much more sedentary life, Jack gets his thrills by covering news, entertainment, celebrity, film and culture for woman&home, and other digital publications.

Having written for various print and online publications—ranging from national syndicates to niche magazines—Jack has written about nearly everything there is to write about, covering LGBTQ+ news, celebrity features, TV and film scoops, reviewing the latest theatre shows lighting up London’s West End and the most pressing of SEO based stories.