Jack Rose Cocktail Recipe

Before you start

The Jack Rose is an apple brandy sour colored and sweetened with grenadine. When made with real pomegranate grenadine, it is tart, fruity and the color of a pale rose, with the baked-apple warmth of the spirit underneath. When made with artificial red syrup, it tastes like candy. The grenadine choice decides almost everything.

Applejack in the United States can mean a blend of apple brandy and neutral spirit, or a bottled-in-bond apple brandy at 50% ABV. The bonded style makes a fuller, more apple-forward drink and is the one most bartenders reach for. Lemon is the most common citrus today, though older recipes used lime; both work, so use whichever suits your grenadine.

Ingredients

• 60 ml (2 oz) applejack or apple brandy — bottled-in-bond (50% ABV) is fullest
• 22 ml (¾ oz) fresh lemon juice — or lime juice
• 15 ml (½ oz) grenadine — made from pomegranate juice and sugar
• 1 cup (about 150 g) ice cubes — for shaking
• 1 thin slice apple — optional garnish

Method

1. Chill a coupe. Check your grenadine: it should list pomegranate as the main ingredient and taste tart and fruity, not just sweet.
2. Add the applejack, lemon juice and grenadine to the shaker.
3. Fill with ice to about two-thirds and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
4. Double-strain into the chilled glass. The color should be a soft pink rather than bright red.
5. Float a thin apple slice on the surface, or serve it without garnish.

Tips for success

• Homemade grenadine takes 10 minutes: simmer equal parts pomegranate juice and sugar until dissolved, then cool. It is much brighter than commercial red syrups.
• If your apple brandy is 40% ABV, the drink will be lighter; you can bump it to 67 ml or trim the lemon slightly.
• French calvados makes an elegant, drier version with more orchard fruit and less heat.

Substitutions

Applejack

Calvados gives a refined, drier result. Pear brandy makes a delicate variation with a floral nose.

Grenadine

Raspberry syrup makes a fruitier pink drink that many find just as good. Avoid bright-red corn-syrup grenadines, which add sugar without fruit.

Lemon juice

Lime gives a sharper, greener tartness. Half lemon and half lime is a good middle ground.

Variations

Star-style Jack Rose

Add 1 dash of Peychaud's bitters for an anise note and a deeper color.

Royal Jack Rose

Shake as usual, strain into a flute and top with 30 ml dry sparkling wine.

Troubleshooting

It tastes like cough syrup

Artificial grenadine is the usual cause. Switch to a pomegranate-based syrup or make your own.

It is too tart

Homemade grenadine varies in sweetness. Add 5 ml more grenadine or 5 ml simple syrup.

The apple flavor is faint

Use a bonded apple brandy rather than a blended applejack, and make sure the pour is a full 60 ml.

Storage

Serve right after shaking. Store homemade grenadine refrigerated in a clean, sealed bottle and use it within about 2 to 3 weeks; discard it if it turns cloudy, fizzy or moldy.

Safety notes

Using a 50% ABV bonded apple brandy, this drink contains about 1.7 U.S. standard drinks (a standard drink is about 14 g of pure alcohol); a 40% bottling brings it closer to 1.4. Serve only to adults of legal drinking age, and do not drink and drive.