“Drink of the summer? Sure, I’d love one. Wait, hold on. Before you go to the trouble — it’s what, exactly?!”
The Dirty Shirley may have the best name of any viral summer drink in recent memory, but that’s where the accolades end. It’s about as basic as cocktails get. Oh, and did I mention it’s too sweet? Well, it’s too sweet. Way too sweet.
What is a Dirty Shirley?
If you haven’t been briefed, the viral Dirty Shirley — a spiked Shirley Temple (Sprite, Grenadine and vodka or another booze with a Maraschino cherry) — is taking the socials by storm, much like the whipped lemonades and Aperol Spritzes of seasons past. But my goodness, why? This year’s drink is blisteringly sweet (a can of Sprite has 52 grams of sugar) and possesses very little nuance.
In short, it’s not good. But the base flavors aren’t bad; the recipe just needs a little refinement. OK, a lot of refinement.
@alexa99 “Surely there’s drink of the summer?” Yes there is, and don’t call me Shirley. #dirtyshirley#cocktail#drinkofthesummer#cocktails#vodka#alexa99#drinks#drink#cocktailtok♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim
In an effort to change the course of history — or at least this summer’s terrible drink trend — I donned my best mixology apron and scally cap to devise something just as simple to make and with similar flavors but more complexity and far less sugar.
The Diet Dirty Shirley
The first and most obvious edit to the original was to sub in Diet Sprite. I tried this, but I’m just not an aspartame person, so the “Diet Dirty Shirley” went straight into the dud bucket, as I predicted it might.
Soda water to the rescue?
Next, I tried half Sprite and half soda water with a splash of cherry syrup. This was less sweet, of course, and a bit better but still boring and not something I’d care to have more than a few sips of.
Finally, I called in the big guns in the form of two excellent alt soda brands that recently splashed into the market. Olipop and United Sodas of America make less sweet, gussied-up and mostly natural versions of classic sodas. While neither offers a lemon-lime flavor, Olipop makes a Lemon-Ginger tonic ($38 for a 12-pack) and United Sodas, a Cherry Pop ($35 for a 12-pack).
I’ve tasted both before and figured one or both might result in something better.
Dirty Shirley recipe spin No. 1
For the first Dirty Shirley, I called on the Olipop Lemon Ginger tonic which has just 30 calories (a can of Sprite has 140) and 2 grams of sugar, thanks to a cassava-based sweetener.
I filled a cocktail glass with crushed ice, added an ounce of vodka, and then filled the glass the rest of the way with lemon-ginger soda. Instead of grenadine, which is mostly corn syrup, I dropped in a teaspoon of juice from a jar of Filthy Italian Amerena-soaked cherries ($20 on Amazon) and gave it a stir.
A few tweaks and this summer’s viral drink gets a serious lift.
David Watsky/CNETThis was leaps and bounds better than the basic Dirty Shirley. There was citrus, cherry from the juice and a dazzling pop of ginger. I tried the same recipe with whiskey (also outstanding) and tequila (good, but not as good as the first two).
Dirty Shirley recipe spin No. 2
The second Dirty Shirley iteration uses United States of Soda’s Cherry Pop. Because the soda was already cherry-flavored, I needed to infuse the drink with lemon and lime.
As before, I filled a glass with ice, an ounce of vodka and the cherry soda. Next, I added the juice from one wedge of lime and one wedge of lemon. This drink turned out excellent as well and another stark improvement over the original. Without the ginger, this version tastes more like a classic Shirley Temple but less sweet and with no cloying artificial flavors.
While the Dirty Shirley may have captured the attention of thirsty social media scrollers and cocktail bloggers alike, I think we can certainly do better, and these recipes prove it.
Cheers!