The Rose Recipe

By
Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
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Updated March 25, 2025

Let's get this weekend started right. Here's a cocktail from Paul Clarke to kick things off. Need more than one? That kinda week, eh? Here you go. Cheers!

This cocktail has a name, appearance and elegant flavor well suited for Valentine's Day. Unlike its floral namesake, however, this Rose is best enjoyed in quantities of fewer than a dozen.

Rescued from a vintage bar menu by cocktail historian David Wondrich, the Rose enjoyed a brief flash of popularity at the Chatham Hotel in Paris in the 1920s. Good luck finding it since then, which is a shame; soft, floral, lightly sweet and with a titillating aroma from the cherry eau de vie, the Rose is an exercise in delicate decadence, a drink that, like the Widow's Kiss, can put the imbiber in a mindset from a completely different era.

Recipe Details

The Rose Recipe

Prep 5 mins
Total 5 mins
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Ingredients

  • 2 ounces dry vermouth

  • 1 ounce kirsch (an unaged, unsweetened cherry brandy)

  • 1 teaspoon raspberry syrup or Chambord

Directions

  1. Pour ingredients into a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir briskly for 30 seconds and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry or – go for broke – an unsprayed rose petal.

  2. As with any cocktail, quality counts; be sure you use a freshly opened bottle of decent vermouth (Noilly Prat works well, and is only marginally more expensive than lesser brands), and a good bottle of kirsch: Trimbach and Clear Creek are both excellent options.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
171 Calories
0g Fat
11g Carbs
0g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 171
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 6mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 11g 4%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 0mg 2%
Calcium 5mg 0%
Iron 0mg 1%
Potassium 57mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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