Name: Irish Rose
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Irish whiskey; 15 ml Lemon juice; 7.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 7.5 ml Grenadine syrup; 15 ml Soda (club soda) water

Irish Rose
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
2 oz	Irish whiskey
¹⁄₂ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Grenadine Syrup
¹⁄₂ oz	Thomas Henry Soda Water optional

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist and Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
SHAKE first 4 ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
TOP with soda.
EXPRESS lemon zest twist over cocktail and use as a garnish with skewered cherry.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

The gentle bite of Irish whiskey soured with lemon and sweetened with pomegranate syrup. The splash of soda which crowns this drink serves to lighten and add a touch of sparkle.

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AKA: Wild Eyed Rose, Wild 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.

IRISH ROSE
Whisky....... 3/5 jigger
Lemon........ 1/5 jigger
Grenadine... 2 spoons
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve.
William T Boothby, The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them, 1934

I was first introduced to this cocktail as a Wild Irish Rose by Dale DeGroff served straight up (as per the recipe above) as a riff on the Jack Rose. I have subsequently changed the name of this cocktail to a mere Irish Rose as I now consider the highball version with lime juice to be the authentic Wild Irish Rose.
[Thanks to research by Stephen Curtin, a fellow Discerning Drinker.]

Nutrition:

One serving of Irish Rose contains 183 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
16.81% alc./vol. (16.81° proof)
17.6 grams of pure alcohol

More Saint Patrick's Day cocktails

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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Showing 6 comments for Irish Rose.
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Stephen Curtin

17th August 2024 at 22:11

So with this info in mind, may I suggest adding "AKA: Irish Rose, Wild Eyed Rose" and "Variant: Serve with ice in a highball glass".

Simon Difford

18th August 2024 at 18:11

Many thanks for all Stephen. I have added info above and will create a new page for the Wild Irish Rose highball serve.

Stephen Curtin

17th August 2024 at 21:55

It seems to be one of those kinds of drinks which goes under a couple of names (Irish rose, wild Irish rose, and wild eyed rose) and was sometimes served up in a cocktail glass and other times over ice in a highball glass. I'll add a few of the recipes I found in the replies below.

Stephen Curtin

17th August 2024 at 22:01

"The Official Mixers Manual" by Patrick Gavin Duffy (1934). "WILD EYED ROSE COCKTAIL - Juice of 1/2 Lime. 1/2 Pony Grenadine. 1 Drink of Irish Whiskey. Serve with cube of Ice and fizz with Carbonated Water. Use glass number 4."

Stephen Curtin

17th August 2024 at 22:00

"The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them" by Wm T Boothby (1934). "IRISH ROSE - Irish Whiskey 3/5 Jigger; lemon 1/5 Jigger; grenadine 2 spoons; shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve"

Stephen Curtin

17th August 2024 at 21:54

So I did a little digging into the history of this drink and as far as I can tell, the Wild Irish Rose, first appeared in print in George R. Washburne's "Beverages de luxe" from 1911. "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".

John Hinojos

3rd August 2023 at 00:32

What a delightful cocktail. The Irish Whiskey, lemon, and grenadine work well together. It has a hint of punch, but not sweet. We used homemade grenadine, but we have two pomegranate trees so the juice was nice and red. The colour of the cocktail was similar.

Michael Cronin

2nd August 2022 at 19:30

Very enjoyable. My cocktail’s color was not even close to the pic. More an apple cider color from the whiskey.

Simon Difford

3rd August 2022 at 07:26

Colour is all about your choice of grenadine. Homemade hardly contributes any colour while some brands are very red.

G. M. Genovese

23rd March 2021 at 22:02

Surprised at how much I liked this. Used homemade grenadine. Left out the soda water at first, but the flavors begged for a splash. Struck me as an excellent punch.

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