A famous and sophisticated rose cocktail that we believe more people should be enjoying! Made with champagne, grapefruit, grand mariner and rose water, the moonwalk cocktail was the first drink astronauts were welcomed with after the first moon landing. How’s that for a warm welcome!
The history:
The first moon landing was a huge accomplishment for humanity, and to commemorate such an event restaurants all around the world created their own versions of cocktails to celebrate. One such restaurant that released this drink onto cafe scene was Joe Gilmores’ American Bar at The Savoy Hotel in London. This cocktail just happened to be the first drink the astronauts had when they arrived back on Earth. A letter of thanks was later sent from Neil Armstrong to Joe Gilmore.
The ingredients:
- 1 oz Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
- 1 oz grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/2 oz rose water or rose water syrup
- topped with champagne
Tools:
- A cocktail shaker
- Cocktail jigger
Expert tip:
For a sweeter cocktail, use rose water syrup in place of rose water.
How to make rose water syrup for this cocktail:
Ingredients in rose water syrup
- ½ cup water + ½ cup rosewater
- 1 cup sugar
- Optional: 2 dried organic pink rose buds or a few fresh flower petals from your organic flower garden.
Instructions:
- In a small saucepan over low heat – heat the water and sugar it comes to a simmer.
- Stir while syrup gently simmers gently for 10 minutes. Add flowers if using any for color.
- Remove from heat and let the liquid thicken and cool.
- Pour into jar with an airtight lid. Strain if you used flowers for natural coloring.
How to make the cocktail:
Add all ingredients except for the champagne to a cocktail shaker and shake well. Strain into a chilled glass. Top with champagne and serve.
Moonwalk cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 oz Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
- 1 oz grapefruit juice freshly squeezed
- 1/2 oz rose water or rose water syrup
- topped with champagne
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except for the champagne to a cocktail shaker and shake well. Strain into a chilled glass. Top with champagne and serve.
Notes
Sugar is used in cooking as a preservative— think jams and jellies, which are also called preserves. So simple syrups have a decent shelf life, when prepared and stored properly: made with very hot water and stored in a sterile container in the refrigerator. A 1:1 simple syrup like this one lasts only one month when refrigerated. How should I store the syrup?
The recommended way to store simple syrup is to use an airtight container that's been sterilized. The images in this post show the rose syrup in a simple corked bottle for the images, however I store all our syrups in airtight containers.