Rose Cardamom Cocktail

The ultimate festive combo, rose and cardamom come together to make this incredible rose cardamom cocktail to celebrate the season’s warmth and love. 

This is the ultimate Diwali cocktail. You won’t even know if you are taking a bite off a sweet or a sip of a cocktail. It is that delicious.

Rose and cardamom is the uber combination in terms of sweet, spice and floral flavors. They just go well together so very much. Add some pistachios, saffron, or white chocolate and it is the most exotic flavor combo ever made.

Love rose and cardamom like me? Then these recipes might be of interest

• Rose White Chocolate Barks with cardamom and almonds
• Cardamom Rose Milk

This rose cardamom cocktail can also be called the gulab jamun cocktail. The simple syrup used to sweeten this cocktail is essentially the simple syrup used to soak gulab jamuns in.

Here is why we love this rose cardamom cocktail

• It is festive and is the perfect cocktail to serve at Diwali parties or holi parties down the line.
• It is sweet and delicious yet refreshing
• This cocktail is made with all fresh ingredients to highlight all the different flavors and fragrances

Peychauds, the maker of Peychaud's bitters came up with a rose cardamom cocktail for the first time. I got to know of this while I was looking up what kinds of rose cardamom cocktails were out there before I wrote this post. Most recipes use Peychaud’s bitters in the rose cardamom cocktail, but I prefer to use the cardamom bitter instead.

Ingredients for this cocktail

1. Gin - the floral and spice aromatics in gin works perfectly well in this cocktail. I almost used Old Monk to keep that Indian touch going, but I felt the vanilla might conflict with the rose and cardamom. Any gin works, but Hendrick’s or Bombay Sapphire is my go-to.
2. Homemade Cardamom Rose simple syrup with saffron - this is essentially the same simple syrup used in gulab jamuns. If you are making some anyway for gulab jamuns, then just make some extra for this cocktail.
3. Cardamom bitters - Scrappy’s cardamom bitters have always been in my liquor cabinet as it is cardamom something. This was the perfect cocktail to use it in.
4. Rose cordial syrup - I use Portland Syrup brand. This is to get that extra rose flavor going in the cocktail. It can be used in place of the simple syrup, but I find this to be not that sweet and love using in addition to a homemade simple syrup.
5. Rose lemonade - We always have Fentimans rose lemonade in our beverage cooler, so I used it. You can use any plain club soda / seltzer for this recipe but you may need to add juice from half a lime as well to balance out the flavors.

How to make homemade cardamom rose simple syrup?

This simple syrup is made with equal parts granulated sugar and water that is brought to a low boil. To this sugar and water mixture, add some food grade edible rose petals or dried rose (do not use potpourri!!), ground cardamom and saffron. It is then simmered for a few minutes to let all the flavor infuse. Strain and let it cool down to room temperature. Store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator for upto 3-4 weeks.

To make the rose cardamom cocktail

• Fill a cocktail shaker or pitcher with crushed ice.
• Add the gin and simple syrup.
• Splash a few dashes of the bitters.
• Use a bar spoon and add the rose syrup with it and use it to stir the mixture well.
• Use a strainer or close the cocktail shaker with the strainer lid, pour out the cocktail onto a glass filled with crushed ice. 
• Decorate with some dried rose petals.

More cocktails to enjoy

• Fig and Ginger Gin Cocktail
• Mango Margaritas with Ginger and Mint
• Strawberry Rhubarb Sparkling Cocktail

📖 Recipe