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At the first sight of fresh spring rhubarb, I start craving this Rhubarb Cocktail. It’s gently spiked with rum, a little bit tart, a little bit sweet and herbaceous, and entirely refreshing.
As a rule, we’re red wine people. But it’s fun to have an occasional cocktail, usually of the gin variety in our house: a good martini with olives or a gin and tonic (with homemade tonic water). So I’m not sure why this drink caught my eye in a long ago issue of Bon Appétit magazine. Maybe it was that pretty sprig of rosemary poking out of the top. Whatever it was, I made it, and we’ve had it every year since when the scarlet stalks of rhubarb appear at the grocery store or farmer’s market.
Ingredients for this Rhubarb Cocktail
- Fresh Rhubarb: Look for the reddest stalks you can find.
- Fresh Rosemary: Dried rosemary is not a good substitute here.
- Lemons: Look for brightly colored, firm lemons that are heavy for their size.
- Sugar: Granulated white sugar, superfine if you have it.
- Water: Ideally filtered for making rosemary infused simple syrup.
- Rum: White rum for its mild (not spiced) flavor profile and clear color. Vodka or a London dry gin or Plymouth gin would also be excellent.
It’s not just the raw rhubarb with its floral notes and pleasantly sour flavor or the perky, earthy hint of rosemary that I love in this delicious cocktail. It’s also lively, not too sweet, and one recipe makes the perfect amount for a party. Fill a pitcher to share with friends. Serve it over ice or stir in cocktail shaker with ice to serve up in a martini glass.
Look for the reddest stalks of rhubarb you can find so you’ll end up with cocktails that are a pretty pink color instead of murky green ones (though they’d still be tasty). And make sure to start this recipe at least 4 hours or up to a day before you plan to serve.
More of My Favorite Cocktail Recipes
How to Make this Rhubarb Cocktail
Step 1: Dissolve 1/4 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and add rosemary leaves to steep for 5 minutes. Strain out rosemary and let syrup cool.
Step 2: Blend diced rhubarb, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 1/4 cups water, and 1/4 cup sugar to a into a coarse puree. Strain liquid into a medium bowl through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Cover and refrigerate rhubarb juice and rosemary syrup separately for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
Step 3: When you’re ready to make cocktails, mix rhubarb juice, rosemary simple syrup, remaining lemon juice, and rum in a pitcher. Stir to combine. Serve in glasses filled with ice. Garnish with shaved rhubarb ribbon and fresh rosemary sprig if desired.
Rhubarb Cocktail with Rosemary
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups water divided
- 1/2 cup sugar divided
- 1/2 cup fresh rosemary leaves
- 3 stalks fresh rhubarb diced, (1½ to 2 cups of diced rhubarb)
- 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice divided
- 1 1/2 cups white rum
- 8 sprigs fresh rosemary for garnish
Instructions
- Heat 1 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar to simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; add 1/2 cup rosemary leaves. Steep for 5 minutes then strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on rosemary. Discard rosemary and let syrup cool.
- Add diced rhubarb, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 1/4 cups water, and 1/4 cup sugar to a blender. Blend into a coarse puree. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl, using a spoon to coax liquid through mesh. (You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your sieve.) Squeeze pulp with your hands to release as much liquid as possible. Discard pulp.
- Cover and refrigerate rhubarb juice and rosemary syrup separately for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
- When you're ready to make cocktails, mix rhubarb juice, rosemary syrup, remaining lemon juice, and rum in a pitcher. Stir to combine.
- Serve Rhubarb Cocktails in glasses filled with ice. Or pour into an ice filled cocktail shaker and stir until very cold to serve up in martini glasses. Garnish with a fresh rosemary sprig and/or a fresh rhubarb ribbon threaded onto a cocktail pick.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How many cups of diced rhubarb is this? I have different varieties of rhubarb, but the stalk sizes are very different from each other.
Hi Steve! You should get 1½ to 2 cups of diced rhubarb from 3 stalks. (I’ve added this info. to the recipe card as well – thank you!)
Hello! Can you let us know the finished amounts of rhubarb syrup, rosemary syrup, and lemon juice that would make one cocktail? Alternatively the finished amounts of rhubarb syrup, rosemary syrup and lemon juice for a pitcher? I made the rhubarb syrup first and then decided I needed a cocktail to use it with so I’m not sure how much of each to use to get the desired taste! Thanks
Hi Anna! This recipe makes ~8 cocktails. If you’re serving it from a pitcher, stir all of the cocktail components together and pour into individual, ice-filled glasses. If you’re keeping the components separate, you’d want ~2 tablespoons EACH of the rosemary simple syrup and the rhubarb juice, ~2 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 1/2 ounces of white rum per cocktail (stirred together before pouring over ice or shaken with ice in a cocktail shaker and served ‘up’.) I hope that helps!
Fantastic! Lively and not too sweet, just as described. A pitcher of these will be part of our Mothers Day celebration from now on.
aww…I love to hear that, Krista! Thank you for coming back to let me know.
Marissa, this might just be the prettiest cocktail I’ve seen! That rhubarb “ribbon” is stunning! I just sent this to my friend who loves all things rhubarb. She’ll flip for it. 🙂 ~Valenitna
aww, thank you Valentina!
What an interesting cocktail! I’ve seen rhubarb used in all sorts of ways, but this is the first time I’ve seen a cocktail with it. I like it! Laura loves cocktails with an herby twist, so I feel like this is right up her alley. I also feel like gin could work here, although the flavor might overpower the other ingredients. Guess there’s one way to find out!
You’ve got to make this one for Laura, David! I think she’ll love it. And yes to the gin!
Ooo I’ve made once rhubarb lemonade, and it was so good. Certainly this fancy and elegant cocktail so much better that any lemonade! I love how you also Infused it with fresh rosemary.
Thanks so much, Ben!
I have made this cocktail and love it. I like to cook the rhubarb, sugar and water together creating a base syrup. I then freeze it in small containers. I do the same with the rosemary simple syrup. When you want a cocktail, just thaw slightly, blend or put it in a shaker with the rum and lemon juice and voila! Beautiful cocktail!
Glad you’re enjoying this recipe, Shelley!
Hi Marissa.Remember me from BFC?..I love love love the drink. Finally did the round up on my blog.. Thanks so much! Can’t wait to make it 🙂 although I might have to really look for rhubarb…any alternative??
Hi there, I’ve seen fresh cranberries suggested as a substitute. Thanks so much for including me in your cocktail roundup!
Wow, this looks amazing! Have you tried storing the syrup for a longer time, or does it pretty much need to consumed within 2 days? Seems to have enough sugar that it would preserve well.
Honestly, I’ve wondered the same thing. I see no reason why it wouldn’t last a bit longer – maybe a week?
What a gorgeous looking cocktail! Love the little sprig of rosemary and also a nice idea to use pink rhubarb if you’re doing a pink themed party too 🙂
I really hate that I don´t find rhubarb here, not even in the asian market that has every thing needed for every type of cuisine. Maybe next spring luck will be on my side.
I love daiquiris, even though the frozen version gave them a bad rep. Not for me! And I never used rosemary in one. Very interesting flavors Marissa! No wonder you love it.