Virgin Sunrise
Orange juice, lime and grenadine, sinking in the glass as you watch.
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 12 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 1680 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 1680 ml line. Orange juice - Freshly squeezed if you have the patience
- 180 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 180 ml line. Lime juice
- 240 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 240 ml line. Grenadine
- 12 slices Orange slice (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Pour the orange and lime over ice, then sink the grenadine down the side of the glass.
Method
Batch (12 drinks)Batch (12 drinks) - about 2.1 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- Fill a highball glass with ice and pour in the orange juice and lime juice.
- Tip the glass slightly and pour the grenadine slowly down the inside, so it slides under the juice.
- Put the glass down carefully and add a slice of orange.
- Do not stir it - the drink is meant to be watched as much as drunk.
Serve it
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
Virgin Sunrise
The Tequila Sunrise got its name from the way the grenadine sinks through the orange juice and sits at the bottom like a red sun coming up - a trick invented in the 1970s by a bartender whose own version was a good deal simpler than the one everybody knows now. Without the tequila, the trick survives completely intact, and the drink is more or less a glass of orange juice that changes flavour as you drink it.
Getting it right
Fresh orange juice is worth it here, because nothing else is in the glass to hide a tired carton behind. The grenadine is added last and never stirred: pour it slowly down the inside of the glass against the ice, and it will settle into a red band at the bottom which lifts as the drink goes down. The lime is a small thing that makes the orange taste more like itself.
Tasting notes
Sweet orange turning slowly to pomegranate, with the lime keeping it from being cloying at either end. It is the most photographic drink in this book, and it tastes better than the drink it is imitating usually does.