Monthly Mixer: Grenadine

The Monthly Mixer is a new column by M. Quinn Sweeney who writes about crafting cocktails at LibationLab.com.

That never-expiring bottle on your shelf isn’t really grenadine. That bastard stepchild of the classic cocktail mixer, which comes in a color not found in nature and is comprised almost entirely of sugar, may be ubiquitous but it’s not authentic.

Thanks to the public demand for antioxidants and the year-round growing season in California’s Central Valley, 100% pomegranate juice is now available at every grocery store in that double-bubble bottle, so we can all make our own grenadine the traditional way, by simmering real juice with sugar.

Ingredients

• 1 16-ounce bottle of Pom (pomegranate juice)
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 ounce of vodka

Instructions

Simmer the juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 2 cups, remove from heat, and stir in the vodka (adding a little alcohol extends the shelf life exponentially without much alteration to the flavor).

Let it cool before pouring back into the original bottle. It will keep in the refrigerator for a month or more.

Uses: Grenadine can be added to ginger ale for a Shirley Temple, cola for a Roy Rogers, or used as an alternative to sugar or other sweeteners in any number of cocktails, as well as in the classic grenadine cocktails linked below.

• Tequila Sunrise
• Planter’s Punch
• American Beauty