Roy Rogers

Same grenadine, different fizz. A Shirley Temple uses ginger ale or lemon-lime soda, so it stays pale pink and gingery. Swap in cola and the drink turns dark and picks up vanilla and caramel, with the grenadine reading more like cherry cola than like fruit.

Past about 20 ml of grenadine in a tall glass it stops tasting of cola and starts tasting of syrup. Cola is already sweet, so the grenadine is there for pomegranate tartness and color, not for sugar. Start at 10 ml if you are serving it to an adult.

More depends on it than you would think, because it is most of the glass. Cane sugar colas taste cleaner against grenadine than the corn syrup kind, and a spicier, drier cola keeps the drink from turning into candy. Diet works, though its edge fights the pomegranate.

For this one, the neon kind. Luxardo cherries are darker and more bitter, and they sink into the cola without registering. A bright red cocktail cherry is part of what the drink is for, particularly if a child is drinking it. Keep the good jar for whiskey drinks.

A classic Roy Rogers calls for 15 ml (0.5 oz) Grenadine, 150 ml (5 oz) Cola. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

Nothing — the Roy Rogers is completely alcohol-free, which makes it a great mocktail for drivers, kids and anyone skipping alcohol.

A Roy Rogers is built directly in the glass over ice — no shaker required. Add the ingredients in order and give it a brief, gentle stir.