Rose's lime juice

Rose's Lime Juice (known as Rose's Lime Cordial in the UK), is a type of "sour mix" which is often found behind lesser bars to use in place of lime juice in cocktails.

  • In the US, it is owned by the Keurig company (product link)
  • In the UK it is owned by the Coca-Cola company (product link)

The following recipes on this site use Rose's lime juice:

Gimlet
gin, Rose's lime juice,

Rose's lime juice/cordial was developed in 1865 and patented in 1867 by Lauchlan Rose, it was specifically developed as a way to preserve lime juice without alcohol. Limes were seen as a preventative for scurvy, it was believed that the high acid content of limes, made them one of the best fruits for this. In actuality, it wasn't just acid that was the cure for scurvy, but ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), of which lemons have more than limes, and oranges have more than lemons.

Rose's lime juice is essentially a "sour mix", in that it is a specialized mixture of lime juice and sweeteners. It's processing methodology gives it a fairly distinctive flavor. In the days before the craft cocktail movement, it was very common to see bartenders use Rose's lime juice as a 1-to-1 replacement for fresh lime juice, which is decidedly wrong. In fact, it shouldn't even be used as a replacement for "lime" sour mix.

For me, there is only a single cocktail which should use Rose's Lime Juice, and that is the Gimlet. This is because the Gimlet has been made SO long with Rose's (still trying to figure out if it was "originally" made with Rose's), that when a customer orders a Gimlet, the flavor profile they have in mind, is one with Rose's. If a Gimlet is made with fresh lime juice and simple syrup instead, it should be considered a "Gin Sour".