The Jack Rose is a bootlegger cocktail from New Jersey, early 1900s. Built on applejack, served in a coupe, around 24% ABV. Hemingway drank a Jack Rose in The Sun Also Rises (1926). The grenadine has to be real, made from pomegranate, not the sugar-and-red-dye stuff. With cheap grenadine the drink fails.
What goes in a Jack Rose?
- ·2 oz applejack
- ·3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- ·1/2 oz grenadine (real, made from pomegranate)
- ·Lemon twist
How do you make a Jack Rose?
- Add applejack, lemon juice, and grenadine to a shaker with ice.
- Shake hard until very cold.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
- Express a lemon twist.
What should you know before making a Jack Rose?
- Use Laird's Bonded applejack, not Laird's blended. The bonded is 100 proof and made from apples; the blended is mostly grain neutral spirit.
- Make grenadine from pomegranate juice and sugar (1:1, simmered briefly). It tastes nothing like the bottle.
- Lemon twist, not orange. The Jack Rose is a tart cocktail, and orange softens it past the point.
Where did the Jack Rose come from?
Hemingway drank a Jack Rose in The Sun Also Rises (1926). The grenadine has to be real, made from pomegranate, not the sugar-and-red-dye stuff. With cheap grenadine the drink fails. The drink is named either for jockey Jack Rose, or for the rose color of the cocktail; both origin stories were in print by 1908.
According to folk recipe popularized by Jersey hotel bars; printed in Jacques Straub, Drinks (1914).
What cocktails are similar to a Jack Rose?
Common questions.
What is a Jack Rose cocktail?
An applejack sour with grenadine. Two ounces of applejack, three-quarters of an ounce of fresh lemon juice, half an ounce of real pomegranate grenadine, shaken and strained into a coupe.
What is applejack?
American apple brandy. Laird's of New Jersey has been producing applejack continuously since 1780, making it the oldest licensed distiller in the United States.
Why does my Jack Rose taste off?
The grenadine. Commercial bottled grenadine is corn syrup with red dye. Make it from pomegranate juice or buy a real version (Small Hand Foods, Liber & Co).
What did Hemingway order in The Sun Also Rises?
"I drank a Jack Rose with George the barman". Jake Barnes' line in chapter 4 of the novel. The drink was iconic in 1920s American expat bars in Paris.