I found this recipe on liquor.com.
applejack, lemon juice, grenadine
My research tells me that this was a popular cocktail in the US in the 1920s and 30s. I read that and said to myself, wait a minute. Why was this popular during Prohibition?
Turns out, applejack is pretty easy to make yourself. While bathtub gin was popular at speakeasies in the cities during Prohibition, applejack was available at roadside inns in more rural areas. Apple cider was legal…so you just freeze apple cider (the back porch during winter works fine), remove the frozen water, and you’re left with apple concentrate. Let that ferment, and the resulting booze is about 65 proof. From National Geographic, “This process of freeze-distilling, which relies on the fact that alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water, was known as jacking—hence the cozy name applejack.”
This cocktail. Jack Rose is named after applejack and the color of the drink. (There are all kinds of stories about bartenders named Jack, I tend to believe the simplest answer is probably right.) Jack Rose was a favorite drink of John Steinbeck, my all-time favorite author.
I made my own grenadine for this drink. I figured since the drink is so simple that the grenadine should actually taste good (and I’m not super fond of corn syrup, artificial flavors, and Red#40). Grenadine is no harder to make than simple syrup, and worth it. It does play a big role in a Jack Rose, which is a snappy, lightly sweet drink. This is my second time using applejack in a cocktail, and I have to say that it blends really well with other ingredients. I’m not sure how to describe it…you mix applejack with other stuff, and it shares space on your tongue for other flavors. Steinbeck had good taste.
