The Roy Rogers cocktail is an adult version of the popular Roy Rogers Mocktail. It is made with cola, grenadine, and dark rum. It’s a slightly sweeter twist on the standard rum and coke. Garnish with maraschino cherries or a lime wedge and serve it with lots of ice.
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What is a Roy Rogers Drink?
This adult version of the popular Roy Rogers Mocktail is made with cola, grenadine, and dark rum. It’s a slight twist on the standard rum and coke, with a sweet flavor.
The classic Roy Rogers drink is a non-alcoholic beverage, or mocktail, made with simple ingredients; cola, grenadine, and maraschino cherries. It gets its name after the famous actor of the same name.
The fun drink is often seen on menus along with the popular Shirley Temple drink, which is made with lemon-lime soda or ginger ale instead of cola.
On a menu the Roy Rogers is sometimes referred to as a cherry coke, though the fruit flavor in this beverage actually comes from grenadine, made from pomegranates.
A Roy Rogers cocktail is made exactly like the childhood version but adds a splash of rum, whisky, or bourbon. Like the non-alcoholic version, you can garnish with a maraschino cherry, lime wedge or slice of lemon.
While the beverage is usually made with standard Coca-Cola, you can play with different flavours with sodas such as root beer, cherry cola, or Dr. Pepper.
You can make this drink as strong or weak as you like simply by changing the ratio of alcohol to soda.
To keep it kid-friendly, skip the alcohol.
Printable Recipe
Roy Rogers Cocktail
Ingredients
- 2 oz grenadine
- 4 oz dark rum
- 12-18 oz cola
- cocktail cherries optional
- lime wedges optional
Instructions
- Fill two glasses with ice.
- Add 1 ounce of grenadine to each glass, along with 2 ounces of dark rum.
- Top each glass with cola.
- Garnish as desired with lime wedges or cocktail cherries.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Do you need some clarification of the ingredients or help with substitutions? Continue scrolling to read more.
Ingredients in a Roy Rogers Cocktail
A Roy Rogers cocktail only needs three ingredients:
Cola – This drink can be made with your favorite cola, usually regular Coca-Cola or Pepsi. If you need to keep the sugar in the drink lower, you can use diet cola if you like. You will want 12-18 ounces of of cola per drink.
Grenadine – Grendaine is a sweet fruit syrup made with pomegranates. You should be able to find this in most grocery stores near the other mixes, like bitters and lime cordial. You will want about an ounce of grenadine per cocktail but you can use as much as you like.
Dark Rum – We prefer this drink with dark rum, but you can make it with spiced rum, whiskey, or bourbon, depending on your preference. Because the drink is heavily mixed with cola and syrup you don’t need to use a top-shelf product, but do make sure to use something you enjoy the flavor of.
Ice cubes – You will want lots of ice as this drink is best-served cold. You can use crushed or cubed, depending on your preference.
Roy Rogers Variations
Are you missing some ingredients or looking for a slightly different flavor? There are a few things you can do.
Do you want a drink that is less sweet, but still has that pomegranate flavor? Try using pomegranate juice instead of grenadine syrup and add a squirt of lime.
Are you looking for a drink with less sugar?
You can use diet soda instead.
Do you want to change the type or soda?
Instead of standard cola, you can use cherry cola, root beer, or Dr.Pepper.
More Cocktail Recipes
Looking for more delicious and refreshing cocktails? Give these a try:
