Dirty Roy Rogers
A cola-based mocktail made dirty with rum.
The Roy Rogers belongs to the era when soda fountains functioned as both pharmacy and theater, and a glass of cola could be dressed up to feel like an occasion.
Emerging in the 1940s and named for the singing cowboy who famously avoided alcohol, the drink was built as a companion to the Shirley Temple: same spirit of ceremony, different flavor profile. Where the Shirley Temple leaned bright and citrusy, the Roy Rogers went darker and steadier: cola over ice, a splash of grenadine for sweetness and color, and a maraschino cherry placed on top like a small, glossy reward. By the 1950s, it had settled comfortably into diner culture, a mocktail that let children, teetotalers, and anyone avoiding liquor hold something that looked like a real drink.
A Dirty Roy Rogers simply acknowledges what adulthood tends to do to nostalgia: it adds alcohol and keeps the ceremony. Whiskey or bourbon deepens the caramel notes already living inside the cola, while rum pulls the drink toward a softer, almost vanilla warmth. The structure doesn’t change much, cola, grenadine, cherry, but the mood does. It’s still fizzy, still sweet, still built like a soda fountain classic. It just arrives with a little more gravity.
Fruity, cola-y, rum-y.
The Recipe
Makes 1 drink.
Ingredients
2 oz dark or spiced rum
½–¾ oz grenadine (to taste)
4–5 oz cola, chilled
Ice
1–2 maraschino cherries
Directions
Build the base.
Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in the rum and grenadine. If you like a sweeter drink, add a small splash of cherry syrup from the jar.Add the cola.
Top with chilled cola and stir gently once or twice to combine without flattening the fizz.Garnish.
Drop in one or two maraschino cherries. Let them settle where they like.
Serve
Serve immediately while the drink is cold and lively. It should taste like a soda fountain classic that stayed out late.