The Best Roulette-Inspired Cocktails: Colours, Numbers and the Game

The game that pops into mind when most people think about a casino is roulette, with crowds of people gathered around the wheel, hoping that Lady Luck is on their side. Roulette has a whole host of bet types available, from simply betting on black or red, to tackling a greater challenge of selecting which specific number the ball will land on.

Roulette can inspire an exciting night of gameplay, whether that’s at a land-based casino or online. On good casino sites that rank highly with gambling experts, you’ll often find over 50 different roulette tables, including live dealer versions and unique variations of the game. It’s one of the most recognisable casino classics - even people who’ve never stepped foot in a casino usually know how it works. Here’s a look at which roulette-inspired cocktails could fit the bill for an evening of gaming, having been inspired by the famous casino game.

Playing the Game

There are some direct roulette influences on cocktails, as highlighted by the names of the following couple of drinks.

The Roulette Cocktail

This version of the Roulette Cocktail dates all the way back to London, 1925, where it first appeared in The Buckstone Book of Cocktails. It’s got that vintage European charm, originally made with Calvados and Swedish Punch — a smooth but layered mix of apple, spice, and subtle smokiness. Served up in a chilled martini glass, it’s quietly complex and undeniably stylish — much like the game it’s named after.

● 1.5 oz Calvados or apple brandy

● 0.75 oz Light white rum

● 0.75 oz Swedish Punsch

● 0.5 oz Chilled water

Russian Roulette

The name of the game is in the title, but of course, Russian Roulette is associated with an entirely different kind of gambling. This is a potent drink, said to be invented after a bartender was challenged to make something unpredictable, and the risk of what they came up with is where the name comes from. A Russian Roulette cocktail has a mix of coffee liquor, sambuca and vodka; the bold and very complex concoction packs a punch.

●       0.5 oz Vodka

●       0.5 oz Coffee liqueur

●       1 oz Sambuca

Red or Black?

Inspiration for a cocktail can also come from the simple colours on the wheel. There is red, back and of course, the often ignored green zero (and double zero) slot. Here is a small selection of drinks that fit the bill by name or, indeed, colour.

Black Russian

A simple, classic cocktail with only two elements. While the drink didn’t originate in Russia, the name indicates that vodka is involved, and a coffee liqueur such as Kahlúa adds the complexity of sweets and bitters in a 2:1 ratio.

●       2 oz vodka

●       1 ounce Kahlua

Red Devil

This party cocktail has a lush red colour, and to match how bold it looks, it packs a punch of fruity power. Vodka is again the base, with peach schnapps, Southern Comfort, sloe gin, triple sec, orange juice and grenadine in the mix too. A Red Devil can be garnished with a cherry and an orange slice. The balance of the citrus and berry, along with the depth of the alcohol, made this a celebrity hit in the 1980s.

●       1 oz Vodka

●       1 oz Peach Schnapps

●       1 oz Southern Comfort

●       1 oz Sloe gin

●       1 oz Triple sec

●       2 oz Orange Juice

●       0.5 oz Grenadine

Midori Sour

The Midori Sour fits the bill nicely for the limited green found on a roulette wheel. This is made with Midori, a natural grain spirit from Japanese muskmelons and yubari, to which brandy and sugar are added. Additional food colouring gives it its distinctive green colour. The liquor stands alone as the alcohol base in the drink, which is topped with a citrus burst.

●       2 oz Midori

●       0.5 oz lime juice

●       0.5 oz lemon juice

●       2 oz club soda

The Numbers Game

It's not all about red and black at the casino table, of course, the numbers play a major part when it comes to betting options. The following are some casino-night cocktails to fit the roulette theme.

7 & 7

Lucky number 7 is favoured by a lot of roulette players, and this would be the perfect drink for them. It’s a very simple cocktail as it blends Seagram’s 7 Crown whiskey together with the popular soda 7UP. It’s a simple highball concoction, and because Seagram's has a vanilla finish, it ideally blends with the lemon and lime fizz of the soda.

●       1 1/2 oz Seagram’s 7 Crown whiskey

●       4 oz 7UP

20th century

Given that casinos started coming to attention in the early 20th century, this cocktail can be squeezed into the mix, along with 20 being on the roulette wheel. This is a gin-based cocktail that doesn’t quite look like it will work at first glance, as it mixes gin, wine, chocolate liqueur and lemon juice. Remarkably, however, the bold flavours complement each other, and if you swap out the crème de cacao for orange liquor, you have yourself a Corpse Reviver No. 2!

●       1 1/2 ounces gin

●       1/2 ounce Lillet blanc

●       1/2 ounce white crème de cacao

●       3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed