The Jack Rose
The Jack Rose is essentially a really simple sour recipe, but the apple brandy and grenadine give this cocktail a lovely warmth and fruitiness. If you use good grenadine – which you really should, otherwise it will just taste indistinctly pink – then it will have a little tartness itself, so I tend to go equal parts of that and lime juice to stop it being too sour.
There are some recipes which call for lemon, and some which split the citrus between both, and some which call for raspberry syrup instead – which I think stems from the dark age of cocktails where fluorescent pink syrups were used pretty interchangeably. My personal preference is to pair pomegranate with lime, and switch to lemon if you’re using raspberry as I just find those flavours more harmonious but honestly, it’s a pretty delicious drink either way as long as there’s plenty of Applejack in there!
Ingredients
60ml (2oz) Applejack
25ml (3/4oz) grenadine
25ml (3/4oz) lime juice
No garnish required
Equipment
A jigger
Shaker tins
A hawthorn strainer
A fine strainer
A coupe glass
Method
This drink is generally served ‘naked’ i.e. with no garnish and I think the lovely blush colour is garnish enough especially if you have pretty glassware, but of course a lemon twist or apple fan wouldn’t go amiss!
Add all of your ingredients to your shaker tins, fill with ice and shake as hard as you can.
Double strain into your chilled coupe glass and enjoy!
Suggested Ingredients
Laird’s Applejack has been around by far the longest and is a great product, but feel free to substitute a local craft apple brandy or try a Calvados for a more savoury take.
I recommend using good quality grenadine as you want a proper juicy pomegranate flavour, and that little bit of tartness too. There are plenty of good ones but you can also easily make your own.
Homemade grenadine: Add equal parts of sugar and pomegranate juice to a pan and stir until sugar is dissolved.
Leave to simmer for around 10-15 minutes, or until it is a thin syrup consistency (it will thicken as it cools).
Adding orange flower water (sparingly), pomegranate molasses or a few strips of citrus peel to the pot as it simmers will brighten the syrup but are not absolutely necessary.
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