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Notable Cocktails - Jack Rose, Ward 8, Clover Club, Monkey Gland, Tequila Sunrise

The story of grenadine is a sad one. How did it go from a proud ingredient in some of the best classic cocktails, to a bright red doom on grocery store shelves? What is the flavor anyway, cherry? Red stuff? Close, but it’s actually a well known and trending fruit…pomegranate. 

The name “Grenadine” comes from the French word “grenade”, which is also where the word grenade comes from. The shape being much like an explosive you would throw at your enemies, the seeds being the shrapnel. Grenadine gained popularity in France in the late 1800’s, showing up in all the fancy French cocktail books. Pomegranates are typically found in the Middle East, so this would have been a very exotic fruit. Exotic enough to belong in another exotic concept, the cocktail.

We can surmise that the use of Grenadine in American cocktails was heavily influenced by Europe. Grenadine starts popping up heavily in American cocktail books in early 1900s, spiking during post prohibition. When prohibition hit, bartenders had a few choices. You either change your profession, tend a speakeasy, or move out of town. Exposing American bartenders to European ingredients and techniques was one of the accidental contributions to the cocktail scene.

American cocktail books began mentioning using “raspberry syrup or grenadine” in cocktails, until it replaced raspberry syrup entirely in drinks like the Clover Club. Eventually any cocktail that demanded a “berry-like” flavor used grenadine.

So why is it underused in modern cocktail applications? Most likely the perception of what grenadine turned into. The culprit is the ambiguously flavored, high fructose corn syrup sweetened, Tequila Sunrisin’ grenadine on grocery store shelves. A red beacon who’s glow signals a dark age of cocktails, or at the very most memories of drinking Shirley Temples. It is not without application however. If you try to make either of those drinks with a pomegranate grenadine, it just isn’t quite the same.

With the resurgence of cocktails, there are now numerous options for grenadine with pomegranate juice. Most liquor stores have a few options, even some grocery stores carry it. When you finally make that leap over to the new old grenadine, here are some recipes to help crack open that bottle.

Mexican Firing Squad
2 oz. Tequila
.75 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
.75 oz. Grenadine
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine ingredients in shaker tin and shake with ice for 10 seconds or until chilled. Strain into rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with Lime wheel.

Pan American Clipper
2 oz. Calvados or Apple Brandy
.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
.5 oz. Grenadine
3 Dashes Absinthe

Combine ingredients in shaker tin and shake with ice for 10 seconds or until chilled. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with strip of lime peel.

Trader Vic’s Planters Punch
2 oz. Plantation Original Dark Rum
.5 oz. Grenadine
.5 oz. Simple Syrup
.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

Combine ingredients in shaker tin and shake with ice for 10 seconds or until chilled. Strain into Collins glass filled with ice and top with soda water. Garnish with paper umbrella & lime wheel.