Gold Coast bar creates cocktail named after cruise ship responsible for more than 20 coronavirus deaths

A popular Gold Coast bar has created a controversial cocktail named after the cruise ship responsible for more than 20 coronavirus deaths.

A POPULAR Gold Coast bar has created a cocktail named after a cruise ship responsible for more than 20 coronavirus deaths.

Burleigh Heads venue Rosella’s, an Australiana bar famous for its gourmet Australian cuisine and cheeky humour, is now serving a “Ruby Princess” cocktail, part of a new menu launched upon the bar’s reopening last week following the easing of restrictions on hospitality.

Rosella’s co-owner Jon Debeere said the establishment is known for “having fun” with the name and ingredients of drinks and this was no different.

The Ruby Princess cocktail from Rosella's.

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“We thought it was pretty topical and fit with the drink as it uses ruby grapefruit, is ruby in colour, and is a rum based cocktail, using Husk Pure Cane Agricole, so is maritime based with rum having a heavy correlation to the seas over hundreds of years,” Mr Debeere said.

Mr Deebere said the cocktail has been really well received by the community with no backlash at all.

Aussie restaurant and bar Rosellas opened in Burleigh Heads in January 2019. Owners Jon Debeere (front) and Jack Connor (back) in the new premises. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

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“Lots of people (have been) having a good laugh about it and wanting to order it,” he said.

“No criticism at all. I think it’s very Australian to have a laugh at ourselves and at society as a whole when our chips are down, so no complaints, all good vibes.”

Rosella’s opened in January last year and quickly became one of the Gold Coast’s most respected haunts for its unique Australian dishes and specialty cocktails.

The bar is famous for is fancy jaffles and handcrafted tipples, such as the vegemite and wattleseed butter jaffles, native finger lime and shaved macadamia oysters and Rosella’s cocktail of White Light vodka, Rosella jam and lilly pilly flower, served in a bird-shaped glass vessel.

A selection of Rosella’s drinks. Picture Glenn Hampson

The Ruby Princess cruise ship sparked controversy when it was allowed to dock in Sydney and disembark 2700 passengers on March 19, the source of a coronavirus cluster with now more than 600 confirmed cases and 21 deaths linked to the boat.

A criminal investigation into the cruise ship is ongoing.