Wild Irish Rose

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (11 ratings)
Ingredients:
45 ml Irish whiskey
15 ml Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
5 ml Grenadine/pomegranate syrup
5 ml Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)
50 ml Thomas Henry Soda Water
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Read about cocktail measures and measuring.

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Highball (max 10oz/300ml) glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist and skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
  3. SHAKE first 4 ingredients with ice.
  4. STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
  5. TOP with soda.

Strength & taste guide:


Review:

An Irish Whiskey Sour invigorated with a splash of soda and given a tint of rose by a touch of grenadine.

Variant:

Irish Rose

History:

A recipe for a Wild Irish Rose cocktail first appears Geo. R. Washburne and Stanley Bronner's 1911 book Beverages De Luxe, "As served at Auditorium Hotel, Chicago, Illinois and attributed to "Samuel Foote, Manager Liquor Department".

WILD IRISH ROSE
Use highball glass.
One-half lime muddled.
Small toddy.
Spoonful Grenadine Syrup.
Three-fourths jigger Irish Whisky.
Lump highball ice.
Fill up with seltzer.

Geo. R. Washburne and Stanley Bronner, Beverages De Luxe, 1911

Broadly the same recipe is repeated as:
- "The Irish Rose" in Kendall Banning's 1912 The Squire's Recipes
- "Wild Eyed Rose" in Hugo R. Ensslin's 1916-17 Recipes for Mixed Drink
- "Irish Rose" in Jacob A. Didier's 1917 The Reminder
- "Wild Irish Rose" in by Joseph P. and Charles A. Sasena's 1933 Fine Beverages and Recipes for Mixed Drinks
- "Wild Eyed Rose Cocktail in Patrick Gavin Duffy's 1934 The Official Mixers Manual

Wild Eyed Rose Cocktail
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Z/2 Pony Grenadine
1 Drink of Irish Whiskey
Serve with cube of Ice and fizz with Carbonated Water.
Use glass number 4.
[glass No. 4 is depicted as a stemmed highball.]

Patrick Gavin Duffy, The Official Mixers Manual, 1934

All the above recipes are based on Irish whiskey with lime juice, and grenadine served in a highball glass with carbonated water/seltzer. The exception to this is the Irish Rose in William T Boothby's 1934 The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them, which specifies lemon juice (rather than lime), shaken and served in a cocktail glass without the addition of soda.
[Thanks to research by Stephen Curtin, a fellow Discerning Drinker.]

Nutrition:

One serving of Wild Irish Rose contains 133 calories.

Alcohol content:

  • 0.9 standard drinks
  • 11.03% alc./vol. (22.06° proof)
  • 13.2 grams of pure alcohol
Difford's Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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