Jack Rose
Although it’s still in the low 80’s here in Los Angeles, it is November which means the leaves are changing colors, Thanksgiving is right around the corner and every kind of apple is available at supermarkets and farmer’s markets everywhere. So, since it is actually fall, I decided I’d do an Autumn cocktail. Why is the Jack Rose and Autumn cocktail? Because it has Applejack in it which, as the name would suggest, comes from that awesome fall fruit, the apple.
Applejack is as old as the country itself and was the drink of choice for quite some time among our colonial ancestors. This spirit started where our country was born, in New England. Since grain was scarce, the settlers used the abundance of apples available to them to create ciders which they’d then ferment and turn into hard alcohols. They’d then take the process one step further and freeze the cider. The liquor distilled from those frozen ciders was Applejack. It was actually William Laird who first served Applejack at his inn in New Jersey in the late 1700’s, and the rest, as they say, is history. Although the spirit is no longer distilled in this manner, Laird is still the brand to buy and can be found in well stocked liquor stores around the country.
A lot of people assume the “Jack” in the Jack Rose was named after “Bald Jack” Rose, a WWI-era gangster who was implicated in the 1912 Becker-Rosenthal case. But it’s actually named after the jack in Applejack. The Rose part comes from the cocktail’s pink hue. The cocktail may also have been a favorite of Ernest Hemingway’s as it shows up not once, but twice in his novel, The Sun Also Rises. However the cocktail came to be, its base liquor is as old as the country in which it was created, thereby qualifying it as a true classic.
Jack Rose
Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 oz. Applejack
- 1/2 oz. lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Grenadine
Directions:
- Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Add ice. Shake vigorously for about a minute. Strain into a cocktail glass and serve.
It’s even remotely possible that Rose himself invented this drink; he was somewhat of a celebrity (whatever became of that Kaelin fellow, anyway?) and not averse to cashing in on his ill-gotten fame. But whoever it was, he was a clever bugger — the drink is based on applejack, and it’s rose-pink. Play on words. In any case, the Jack Rose is an effective testament to its namesake: It’s smooth and sweetish and deeply deceptive. Sipping it, you can’t tell it contains liquor of any kind, let alone applejack. Ironic, that. The one classic cocktail to use New Jersey’s indigenous firewater, and you can’t even taste it.