Cola sweetened with a pour of grenadine and crowned with a maraschino cherry, it drinks like a deepened cherry cola — fizzy, sweet and faintly fruity, served long and cold over ice. Think of it as the Shirley Temple's darker counterpart, with cola's caramel and spice in place of a lighter soda and the grenadine lending a ruby blush and a soft cherry-berry sweetness to every sip.
Garnish: Maraschino Cherry
Built · Highball · On the Rocks
build
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes.
add
Pour in 1 oz grenadine.
top
Top with 8 oz chilled cola.
stir
Stir gently to combine so the grenadine doesn't settle at the bottom.
garnish
Garnish with a maraschino cherry.
The drink borrows its name from Roy Rogers, the teetotaling singing-cowboy star, who was its namesake rather than its maker. It turned up at American soda fountains in the 1940s, and no bartender, fountain or house has ever been credited with pouring the first one. The simple trio of cola, grenadine and a cherry spread on its own, becoming a standby for children and for anyone keeping a dry night, and it is still built the same way nearly everywhere it is served.