Summer’s End Cocktail – Rum Sunset Cocktail

Who doesn’t love a beautiful sunset?! Those gorgeous colors are a result of a phenomenon called scattering. That’s when molecules and small particles in the atmosphere change the direction of the sun’s light rays, causing them to scatter. When the sun is low on the horizon, (sunrise & sunset) the light passes through more air than when the sun is higher in the sky during the day. More atmosphere means more molecules that scatter violet and blue light away from our eyes and allows the yellow, orange, and red colors to continue on and be more visible to us. The sun appears red when it’s on the horizon because red has the longest wavelength of any visible light, and its extremely long path through the atmosphere blocks all other colors from our sight.

This cocktail has the colors of the sunset in it, hence its name. The gradual blending of one color hue to another is called ombré, from the French word for “shaded”.  It takes a bit of practice to keep the ombré effect apparent in the cocktail. Whether the shading in the glass is evident or not, we enjoy the beautiful sunset colors both in our drink and the sky on the evenings we sip this!

Rum Sunset Cocktail

Rum Sunset Cocktail (adapted delish.com)  Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 10 ounces orange juice
  • 4 ounces light rum
  • 2 tablespoons grenadine
  • lime slices, for garnish

Directions:

Combine the orange juice and the rum. Set aside 5 ounces of the mixture.

Pour the rest of the orange juice mixture into 2 tall glasses. Set them aside.

Mix the reserved orange juice and rum with the grenadine.

Add the grenadine to to reserved orange juice-rum mixture.

Slowly add it back into the orange juice & rum

Slowly pour the grenadine mixture into each glass so it settles on the bottom, creating an ombré effect.

Notice the ombré effect!

Add ice to the glasses. Garnish with lime slices, if desired.

Add some ice to the glass

Enjoy the long weekend!  ~Linda

Rum Sunset Cocktail (adapted delish.com)  Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 10 ounces orange juice
  • 4 ounces light rum
  • 2 tablespoons grenadine
  • lime slices, for garnish

Directions:

Combine the orange juice and the rum. Set aside 5 ounces of the mixture.

Pour the rest of the orange juice mixture into 2 tall glasses. Set them aside.

Mix the reserved orange juice and rum with the grenadine.

Slowly pour the grenadine mixture into each glass so it settles on the bottom, creating an ombré effect. Add ice to the glasses.

Garnish with lime slices, if desired.