The Jack Rose – The Week That Could Have Been

As I’m sure is obvious, by the dearth (that’s right, pulling out the 50-cent words) of posts on the subject this week, neither Reese nor myself were particularly moved by the Jack Rose. Though yielding of a beverage that is quite nice to look at (pink being my favorite color, after all), none of the recipes we tried were particularly memorable. (This was most likely due to the complete impossibility of finding any variety of Applejack in our poor neck of the woods, but I digress.)

In the end, the highlight of this week’s tasting was the substitution of Calvados for Applejack, in accordance with Difford’s Guide to Cocktails. This substitution resulted in a drink both Reese and I found to be more complex and, indeed, more refined:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Calvados
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Grenadine
2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice
2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

As far as traditional recipes, however, Reese found the Esquire Drinks’ recipe to be quite enjoyable. Describing the resulting drink as “nicely balanced, with a crisp apple flavor”:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Applejack
1 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Grenadine

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice
2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

While I, on the other hand, preferred Embury’s recipe, finding the strong apple flavor to be quite appealing, and disagreeing with my associate’s assessment that “little apple flavor comes through” in the final cocktail:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Applejack
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Grenadine

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice
2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

In the end, however, after all of the bickering and nights spent crying myself to sleep, I feel that Reese and I can both agree on one thing; the recipe listed on Wikipedia, with a 3:2:2 ratio of Applejack, lemon, and grenadine, sucks. And, really, that’s what’s important.