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Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you. The classic poem with thousands of variations certainly describes the color of all these rose cocktails. Whether its classic, American, English or French, most of the rose drinks are actually a faint red or pink depending on whether you modify the recipe to use more of the reddish ingredients or not.
Definitely a flowery feminine favorite, you may want to mix one of these drinks for her on Valentine’s Day to pair with chocolate. Just follow the guidelines and be sure to stock your home bar in advance to match the chocolates she will be unwrapping. The classic rose cocktail is probably the lightest, but all these dainty drink recipes are light to medium and will match well for a variety of occasions, including ladies night. Don’t forget the flower petals.
Rose Cocktail Drink Recipe:
- 2 oz dry vermouth
- 1 oz kirsch eau de vie (kirschwasser, German for cherry water)
- 1/2 oz raspberry or pomegranate syrup
- cherry for garnish
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.
American Rose Cocktail:
- 1 1/2 oz brandy
- 1/2 tsp licorice liqueur
- 1 tsp grenadine syrup
- 3-4 oz Champagne
- sliced peach
Shake first three ingredients (not the Champagne :) with ice and strain into a chilled wine glass or flute. Top the drink with Champagne and garnish with an optional peach slice.
French Rose Cocktail:
- 2 oz gin
- 3/4 oz dry vermouth
- 3/4 oz cherry brandy
- maraschino cherry
Stir ingredients with ice and fine strain drink into a chilled glass or flute. Garnish with the cherry.
English Rose Cocktail:
- 2 oz gin
- 1 oz dry vermouth
- 1 oz apricot brandy
- 3/8 oz lemon juice
- 1/4 oz grenadine
- maraschino cherry for garnish
Add all of the recipe ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled martini glass (rimmed with sugar, optional). Garnish drink with a maraschino cherry.
If you want a ‘rose’ drink that broadly appeals to both men and women, the Jack Rose is a timeless tipple that has the red flowers color along with a questionable past and potentially sordid history. BTW, did you notice that none of these cocktails actually use rose water in the drink recipe?
