Christmas

Pink Grapefruit Arak Cocktail

by:
May 31, 2011
4.8
4 Ratings
  • Serves A large grapefruit can easilly serve 4
Author Notes

This is more or less a ubiquitous summer drink here in Israel, by the sea and even inland, poolside. It is so popular in the capital that its often called the Jerusalem cocktail. It is made using simple local ingredients: pink grapefruit and arak. When the grapefruits are sweet enough people often make this without syrup, but I like it more with the undertone of a gentle chamomille simple syrup. Its really perfect on a breezy summer evening. —nogaga

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Ingredients
  • Chamomille Simple Syrup
  • 1 part sugar
  • 2 parts water
  • dried chamomille flowers or a bag of chamomille tea
  • Arak Grapefruit Concoction
  • Juice of one big juicy pink grapefruit
  • a good arak
  • a few sprigs of mint
  • seltzer
Directions
  1. Quickly simmer the syrup with the chamomille leaves, strain and leave to cool
  2. Juice the grapefruit.
  3. For every serving I blend: two muddled mint leaves, a twelfth chamomille syrup, a third arak, 4 parts fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, 2 parts (more or less) seltzer
  4. Garnish with a few mint leaves.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

5 Reviews

Pa$sword1984 January 4, 2022
Excellent recipe! I tried this with Arak Muaddi and it was absolutely amazing.
HungryinSeattle June 4, 2017
This looks great and I'd love to try, but I'm not familiar with mixology amounts (I.e., the proportions listed). For every cocktail, should I fill a glass one-third full of arak, add a splash of chamomile syrup, and then fill up the rest of the glass with seltzer and grapefruit in a 2:1 ratio?
BlueKaleRoad May 31, 2011
I am a big fan of arak and look forward to trying this. I wish I was in Jerusalem to drink it, though!
nogaga June 1, 2011
I hope you enjoy it, and come visit!
BlueKaleRoad June 2, 2011
Thanks, nogaga! It'll probably be a couple years until we're back in Israel. Til then I'll enjoy lovely Israeli drinks!