Does Grenadine Have Alcohol? And the Rest of the Mixer Shelf
No. Grenadine has no alcohol in it. It is a sweet red syrup made from pomegranate, and you can hand a Shirley Temple to a six-year-old without a second thought. The bottle we sell is 0 percent alcohol, and so is every other grenadine on the market.
That is the whole answer, and it is the question people ask most. But it comes up because grenadine sits on a liquor store shelf next to the bottles that do have alcohol in them, and once you are standing there it is worth knowing what the rest of that shelf is for.
What grenadine actually is
Grenadine is pomegranate juice and sugar. The name is from grenade, French for pomegranate. That is it - no spirit, no fermentation, nothing that needs an ID at the register.
The catch is that a lot of what gets sold as grenadine has never met a pomegranate. The cheap stuff is corn syrup, citric acid and red dye, and it tastes like a red freeze pop. The Finest Call Premium Grenadine we carry is made with real pomegranate juice, which is why it has actual tartness behind the sweetness instead of being flatly sugary. It is $7.99 for a full litre and it is OU certified.
That tartness is the difference between a Tequila Sunrise that tastes like a drink and one that tastes like syrup. It is also what makes it work in a whiskey sour.
The rest of the mixer shelf
Six bottles, all of them non-alcoholic, all under nine dollars. This is the cheapest part of the store and the part that changes your drinks the most.
- Master of Mixes Simple Syrup - $6.99. Cane sugar and filtered water, nothing else, in a squeeze bottle. Sugar does not dissolve in a cold drink - that is the entire reason simple syrup exists. If your homemade whiskey sours or mojitos have ever tasted thin with a grainy layer at the bottom, this is the fix.
- Finest Call Premium Lime Juice - $7.99. The workhorse. Margaritas, daiquiris, gimlets, anything sour.
- Finest Call Bloody Mary Mix - $8.99. Tomato, spice and seasoning already balanced, so brunch takes one pour instead of ten ingredients.
- Master of Mixes Mojito Mixer - $7.99. Lime and mint done for you. Add rum and soda.
- Finest Call Strawberry Puree - $7.99. Real fruit puree, thick enough to hold up in a frozen daiquiri.
Why any of this is on a kosher wine site
Because mixers are the thing people forget, and then discover on a Friday afternoon that the bottle in the pantry has nothing on the label. Grenadine, lime juice and simple syrup are processed products with a lot going on in the ingredient list, and "it's just juice" is not a hechsher.
The Finest Call Grenadine carries OU certification, which is the one that matters most - the kids' drinks at a simcha are usually grenadine and soda, and that is exactly where an unmarked bottle causes a problem. For the rest of the shelf, check the symbol on the bottle you are holding, the same as you would with anything else in the pantry.
Four drinks these six bottles make
- Shirley Temple. Lemon-lime soda, a splash of grenadine, a cherry. No alcohol anywhere.
- Tequila Sunrise. Tequila, orange juice, grenadine poured last down the side so it sinks.
- Whiskey Sour. Whiskey, lemon, simple syrup. Grenadine turns it into a Ward Eight.
- Margarita. Tequila, lime juice, orange liqueur. Simple syrup to taste.
The bottom line
Grenadine is alcohol-free, it is safe for children, and the only thing worth being picky about is whether there is real pomegranate in it. The whole shelf is in Mixers, and whatever you are pouring them into is on the vodka and tequila shelves.
