Soon I’ll be having a party where I serve “Polynesian” cocktails (yes, completely inauthentic - but fun). This isn’t easy in Indonesia, where the variety of liquor is rather limited.
Anyway, early in the planning stages I asked a friend traveling to the US to bring me a bottle of Rose’s Lime Juice, thinking I would need it for mixed drinks. Now, I’m actually not so sure.
Here’s what else I have:
Light and dark rum
Gin
Vodka (plain, citron, lemon grass, and mandarin)
Tequila
Whisky
Cointreau
Triple Sec
Vermouth
Apricot Brandy
Most fruit juices - orange, lemon, pineapple, cranberry, passion fruit
Orgeat (well, I don’t have it, but it seems I can make it myself)
Grenadine
I’m planning to offer mai tais (of course) and a few other drinks I’ve found recipes for. Several call for lime juice - but I assume that’s fresh lime, not Rose’s, which is a sweeter, thicker concoction.
Anyway, I’d like to use the Rose’s to advantage, after my friend made the effort to bring it back for me. Any ideas?
My favorite use for Rose’s Lime Juice is for cooking.
I dice yellow, green, and red bell peppers then put them in a gallon size zip-lock bag. I add enough Rose’s to cover and place the bag in the refrigerator overnight.
I drain excess Rose’s and use the peppers to make quesadillas with cheese, cilantro, and whatever meat I have handy.
I’m thinking of renaming it the “Nasty Woman” and serving it in honor of our 45th President, if all goes well. (The party is 26 November, so the dust will have settled by then.)
For me, Rose’s is synonymous with gimlets (with gin, none of this vodka stuff!) Here you go for a recipe, but it’s pretty simple. 2 oz gin, and between half and three quarters ounce of Rose’s. It’s the only reason I keep Rose’s around. Sometimes I’ll cut the Rose’s with fresh lime juice, too, but for me the Rose’s is part of the signature flavor of a gimlet.
Yeah, the gimlet is the only cocktail I’d make with Rose’s. But I’d sooner make one with fresh lime and a little sugar.
A gimlet is the gin version of a daiquiri, a margarita, a whiskey sour…a strong punch, basically, with “the sweet, the sour, the strong,” but no “weak”…and I use fresh juice in all those, too.
For a tiki drink, I’d use all the fresh juices I could easily squeeze: orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime. And only resort to the cans and bottles for things like coconut, pineapple, and passion fruit.
Oh, the gimlet is NOT a silly drink. (It’s the central symbol of Raymond Chandler’s novel THE LONG GOODBYE.)
It’s a serious drink. If you serve gimlets at your party it will be a short party, because your guests will be under the table after gimlet #3. It hits like a martini. Be warned!
I use Roses in my Singapore Sling, which would definitely fit your theme. Most of the other components are in your inventory. Ideally you really need something cherry, like cherry brandy, but a pinch you could just use grenadine.
I use Rose’s Lime Cordial for making margaritas, but I believe it’s different from lime juice, being much sweeter. In the UK, Rose’s LimeJelly is somewhat popular.
If you want to offer a non-alcoholic alternative, Lemon Lime Bitters is a popular soft drink in Australia that is complex enough to fit in well at a cocktail gathering.
Save the Rose’s Lime Juice for beer. Add a shot of it to a standard serving and it helps to smooth out the bitterness some drinkers object to. I miss being able to order(many places do not stock it) a lager and lime here in the US, it was available in every pub and drinking establishment in England when I was stationed there BITD.