The Purple Rain recipe
for your table
Fill a highball glass to the brim with ice.
Pour the vodka and blue curaçao over the ice and top up with chilled lemon soda.
Pour the grenadine very slowly down the side of the glass. It sinks to the bottom and turns the lower part purple.
Garnish with a slice of lime. If you want the color even throughout, stir only at the end.
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Email the Purple Rain recipe to yourself so you have it handy when you’re ready to make it. You’ll also get a €5 discount code on orders over €50 for the glasses that go with it.
The story
Prince released Purple Rain in 1984, and a few years later a cocktail by that name was on menus around half the world. With any true classic, there’s always a bar that claims to have invented it. Not here, and there’s no recipe that’s considered the original, either. You’ll find versions with vodka, gin, berry liqueur, and blackberry syrup. They all start from the same place. Color first, flavor second. We don’t mean that as a criticism. This cocktail was made for the table where everyone takes a photo as soon as it’s set down, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The right glass
This cocktail is all about what you see, so the glass really matters here. Choose a tall, narrow highball glass between 33 and 47 cl that’s completely clear. In a narrow glass, deep purple transitions more sharply into light blue. A wide glass blurs the colors. Tinted glass is out, and faceted glass breaks up the gradient. We prefer a thin glass with a thick base. That way, you can see the colors clearly and it sits firmly on the table.
Onis Icon Highball Glass 47 cl (6 pieces)
Arcoroc Islande Highball Glass 33 cl (6 pieces)
Twelve highball glasses together € 51,90.
The right tools
For a Purple Rain, along with a glass you’ll need a long bar spoon, a jigger for precise measuring and long ice sticks. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; find them all in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glassware set (our pick 01) + 3 bar tools together € 79,80.
What do you need to make a Purple Rain?
For a Purple Rain, you need the right base. Popular bottles include Kleiner Feigling and Puschkin. Each drink page tells you the alcohol percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it works well in and which glass you need.
Variations & twists
Use cranberry juice instead of grenadine for a less sweet, more grown-up drink. Blackberry or elderberry liqueur gives you purple without any tricks. Swap the lemonade for prosecco and you have a festive spritz. And without vodka, it’s a mocktail kids will love. Want the same trick in blue? Check out the Blue Lagoon. Find even more ideas in all cocktail recipes.
Serving tip
Its color depends entirely on how much grenadine you use. Too much and it turns red. Too little and it stays blue. Start with 1.5 cl and add another half a centiliter if needed. Use clear lemon soda, not cloudy, because that makes the purple look dull. And pour the grenadine really slowly. The more gently you pour, the more sharply the layers stay separated.
Good to know
Which grenadine and lemonade?
Grenadine features in every Purple Rain cocktail recipe, but not all bottles are the same. Traditionally, grenadine is pomegranate syrup. Many supermarket bottles are mostly sugar syrup and coloring. If it actually contains pomegranate juice, it tastes richer and less one-dimensionally sweet. You’ll notice it right away here, because there isn’t much else in the glass to add flavor. What you mix it with also makes a difference. Lemon soda keeps it sweet. Bitter lemon adds a slight bitterness from the quinine that balances the sweetness.
Purple Rain cocktail for a crowd
At a party, you don’t want to make Purple Rain cocktails one at a time. Mixing everything in advance won’t work either. For each person, pour 4 cl of vodka and 2 cl of blue curaçao into a pitcher and chill it. Keep the lemonade and grenadine separate. When serving, fill each glass with ice, pour the blue mixture over it, and top up with 10 cl of chilled lemon soda. Only then pour 1.5 cl of grenadine down the inside of the glass. If you add the grenadine to the pitcher, everything turns uniformly purple and you lose the layered effect.
Frequently asked questions
Which glass do you use for a Purple Rain?
A tall, clear highball glass holding 33 to 47 cl. Browse our highball glasses.
How do you make it really purple?
Blue and red together make purple. The blue comes from the blue curaçao, the red from the grenadine. You can control the shade with the proportions. More grenadine makes it red-purple; less makes it blue-purple.
Can you make it without blue curaçao?
Yes. Blackberry liqueur, elderberry syrup, or blackcurrant liqueur will give you a natural purple color, without food coloring. It will taste richer and less citrusy, though.
Can you make a Purple Rain non-alcoholic?
Yes. Leave out the vodka and use blue syrup instead of blue curaçao. The color and effect stay exactly the same. It doesn’t get much easier to make a non-alcoholic cocktail.
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