cascode
Monin Grenadine Syrup
Other Liqueurs — France
Reviewed
November 2, 2020 (edited August 11, 2022)
Appearance: Lurid dark purple/red.
Aroma: Synthetic berry-flavoured cordial.
Flavour and Texture: Intensely sweet generic berry flavours with a tart kick from citric acid. The texture is thick and syrupy.
I don't really want to beat-up Monin specifically. This review could just as easily have been for any other commercial grenadine syrup. They are all pretty much equivalent and far removed from the genuine article.
Even the best brands are concocted from flavourings and colour rather than pomegranate juice or concentrate and they all contain preservative, have a generic artificial "berry" flavour and often an aroma of vanilla, which is completely wrong. The bottom-shelf products can be truly wretched and have a synthetic appearance, smell and flavour.
Real grenadine is very easy to make yourself, will cost you less than the commercial stuff and tastes infinitely better.
Put 250ml of pomegranate juice into a saucepan with 250g of white sugar and 30ml of pomegranate molasses. Heat, stirring all the time, until the sugar is dissolved (don't let it boil). That's it. Let it cool, bottle it (the recipe makes just under 500 ml) and keep it in the fridge. It will last a couple of weeks. That's my recipe. Google it or search Youtube and you'll find dozens more.
Once you taste the difference real grenadine makes to your cocktails and mixed drinks you will never turn back. There are many syrups, extracts, infusions, macerations, tinctures and liqueurs you can easily make at home, and it's very satisfying to transform a good cocktail recipe into a great one by using ingredients you have made yourself.
Oh - and as for Molin grenadine syrup, it's one of the better ones so it's ...
"Inferior" : 65/100 (1.5 stars)
16.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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Ahaha! Sorry @cascode I lost track of which thread I was on and thought you were talking about Limoncello :P I was like "this seems like a really strange way to go about it". For grenadine, this makes a lot more sense!
@ContemplativeFox What vodka? Grenadine is a non-alcohol sugar syrup. The 1 litre is pomegranate juice. I think you are confusing the limoncello recipe with this one.
Are you saying that you reduce the vodka down to one third @cascode ? Doesn't that evaporate most of the alcohol?
BTW - there are some recipe variations. The one I quoted is quick, easy and works fine. You can optionally add a half-teaspoon of orange blossom water or rose water once it has cooled, and some people add just a drop of vanilla extract. However there is a more "authentic" recipe where you simmer 1 litre of juice and 250 g of sugar together until the liquid is reduced to about 1/3 the original quantity. Add 30ml of lemon juice and you're done. This takes *way* longer and whether it is better is debatable - I can't tell the difference between it and my version except in a direct A-B taste test.
@ContemplativeFox I used to think commercial grenadine was the real stuff and home-made versions just amateur attempts to copy it. However after chatting with a barman who made his own and doing some research I was floored to discover that the truth is exactly the opposite. The single downside of the "real deal" is short shelf-life.
Thank you for the real grenadine recipe! TBH I'd never bothered to look up what grenadine actually is before, but I'm glad to know now.