Name: Rock 'n' Rye
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 15 ml Orange juice; 5 ml Lemon juice; 7.5 ml Maraschino syrup; 7.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1)

Rock 'n' Rye
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Photographed in an Urban Bar Fluet Double Old Fashioned 1910 44cl

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
¹⁄₂ oz	Orange juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₆ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Syrup from Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist and skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
EXPRESS orange zest twist over cocktail and discard.
Garnish with skewered cherry.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

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Review:

Great rye whiskey notes with hints of orange and cherry. Slightly sweet but all too easy to quaff.

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History:

Rock & Rye is a generic term for a style of traditional American liqueur made with a rye whiskey base infused with fruit and sugar, often bottled with pieces of fruit in the bottle. This was inspired by the flavour of one of these liqueurs: Jacquin's Rock & Rye, produced by Charles Jacquin et Cie Inc., "America's Oldest Cordial Producer" until circa 2009.

Classically, a "Rock & Rye Cocktail" is mixed with rock & rye liqueur as an ingredient. For example, Stanley M. Jones' 1977 Jones' Complete Barguide includes a Rock & Rye Cocktail, a Rock & Rye Cooler, and a Rock & Rye Toddy, all made with rock & rye liqueur as an ingredient.

ROCK & RYE COCKTAIL.
Cocktail Glass
Stir
1 oz rock & rye
1 oz white port
½ oz dry vermouth
Stanley M. Jones, Jones' Complete Barguide, 1977

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Nutrition:

One serving of Rock 'n' Rye contains 166 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
21.67% alc./vol. (21.67° proof)
18.4 grams of pure alcohol

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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 9 comments for Rock 'n' Rye.
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G. M. Genovese

25th October 2024 at 15:39

Made 4 iterations, starting with the above recipe (trashy casino cocktail - I love it, but not its diabetic stranglehold), then with the below suggestions, then my experimentations... My advice (small tweak): take the Luxardo syrup and cut it with Sangue Morlacco (or Cherry Heering) 2:1 former to the latter - sedative elation... This drink was made for Old Overholt 114, which I found sucked in every other recipe in which I tried it.

Sean Williamson

25th August 2024 at 01:32

Tried this and just couldn't get behind it. Used a 103 proof rye and felt the rye + fruit flavors didn't meld well.

Deb H

21st January 2024 at 22:51

Made as described, agree with Calvin that it's a great balance. Spirit-forward as you might expect from a rye cocktail, but the all the other elements shine through.

John Hinojos

2nd November 2023 at 03:11

Made this again but used Cherry Heering in place of the in place of the Luxardo cherry juice. Substituted Luxardo cherry juice for the sugar syrup. Wanted a dryer cocktail or halved the amount of syrup. It was outstanding. Wonderful flavours and perfect as a nightcap.

Chris Brislawn

18th September 2023 at 17:13

J. Hinojos had a good idea with the cherry liqueur, but instead of replacing the cherry syrup I kept the Luxardo syrup and replaced the sugar syrup with 1/2 oz cherry liqueur. Also upped the lemon juice to 1/4 oz to counter the sweetness a bit. Very nice complement to the rye flavors.

Calvin Grant

18th September 2022 at 01:46

Oh that was nice! Going in my favourites for such a unique cocktail. The rye really rocks. Perfect balance.

Miguel Perales

27th August 2022 at 00:12

Rye Whiskey does not hide in this one. As John stated, a very spirit forward drink. It had a slight orange/Luxardo syrup finish. Having started with Bourbons and Whiskeys before I delved into cocktails, I really appreciated this one.

John Hinojos

22nd March 2022 at 00:05

This was outstanding. Nice and spirit forward, and slightly sweet. Great mix of the rye, orange, and cherry flavours. Did use to California Rye which is at 110 proof, which just made it a tad better. Another hit cocktail from Simon.

John Hinojos

22nd March 2022 at 00:07

Next time, we may substitute Cherry Heering for the cherry juice.

Frank Bartholomew

26th February 2021 at 04:52

Thanks for providing a recipe for a single serving of this drink. Most others found are infused bottle concoctions containing these same ingredients plus optional spices. I tried this as written and enjoyed it thoroughly. Tried it again with two drops of cinnamon tincture for the spice. Also tasty.