Little King

Gin, apricot brandy, applejack and lemon juice. That got my attention. Created by a cartoonist, sounded even more interesting. I came across this in the Big Bartender's Book and was surprised it had not caught my eye before. 

Otto Soglow (December 23, 1900 -April 3, 1975)

From Ted Saucier's 1951 title Bottoms Up, and accredited to cartoonist Otto Soglow, this drink was named after a popular comic strip that Otto created for the New Yorker in 1931.

A 32 year old Otto is on the far left, celebrating the end of prohibition in 1933 with some of his fellow cartoonists.

An article in LIFE from 1951 suggested that Soglow and a number of other cartoonists (one is partially visible in the photo above at the right) were brought together to test the properties of waterproof ink; as after being drawn on, the models were doused in water. 

This is also the year Ted Saucier published the Little King recipe in his book Bottoms Up....coincidence? Most likely, but what a great one to document here!

Ted's recipe from 1951 was listed as:

Little King

Juice 1/4 Lemon

1/4 jigger Apricot Brandy

1/4 jigger Applejack

1/2 jigger Gin

Let's assume a 2 ounce jigger so we can get closer to a 3 ounce drink. The 1/4 lemon is trickier - after some experimenting I've found that 1/3 of an ounce makes for a nicely balanced drink.

Little King

1 ounce Plymouth gin

1/2 ounce Apry

1/2 ounce Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy

1/3 ounce fresh lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Delicate and dry, the drink is well balanced by the slightly sweet apricot and apple notes. With the lemon juice just right, it walks the line between sweet and sour well, trending on the dry side, but only a bit.

I've also noticed that this drink opens up very well, that is, when I've allowed it to sit that long - which hasn't been often!

Toothache

Here is one from "the lab" that I have spent the better part of the last few weeks trying to name, all the while while nursing a toothache. As I was getting ready to celebrate a trip to the dentist this afternoon, it struck me that "Toothache" was as good a name as any for this one! It's basically an "improved" version of the Neuva Jersey recipe I posted last December.

As for the taste, your eyelids may stay closed a beat longer than usual as you sip this one. Taking in the slightly sweet, smoked apple against the bright, almost medicinal aromas of the absinthe and wormwood bitters, it is easy to get lost in your senses.

This is an extremely enjoyable sipper, and one that has been well tested here in the lab I can assure you.

Toothache


1.5 ounces (45 ml) Laird's 100 proof bonded apple brandy
1.5 ounces (45 ml) Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
1 tsp Demerara Syrup*
2 "sprays" of absinthe
1 dash angostura bitters
1 dash Cocktail Kingdom Wormwood bitters (optional, but really nice)

*Demerara syrup= Mix 2 cups of demerara sugar with 1 cup of just boiled water in a sauce pan. Stir until mostly combined, adding gentle heat if necessary to get the mixture mostly saturated. Pour 1/2 ounce (15 ml) vodka into clean bottle, then pour the sugar/water mixture into the clean bottle, cap, and shake bottle until sugar is completely dissolved (it won't take long at that point).

As with the building of any Old Fashioned Cocktail, there is a certain ritual I have found that works best to create this drink:

Add 1 tsp of Demerara syrup to bottom of a double old fashioned glass. Then add 1-2 dashes of Angostura bitters.

Add ice cube, stir the sugar/bitter mix for a few seconds. Then add 1.5 ounces of apple brandy.

Stir again 4-5 times and then spray in a few squirts of absinthe from a small atomizer, enough to coat the interior of the glass.

Add more ice and the mezcal, stir again and add few dashes of Cocktail Kingdom's Wormwood bitters if you have them. Add lemon twist for garnish and you're ready for a toothache, or anything else that may come your way.

Full House Cocktail

An Old Waldorf Bar Days Recipe

FULL HOUSE

1 ounce (30 ml) Yellow Chartreuse

1 ounce (30 ml) Benedictine

1 ounce (30 ml) Laird's 7 1/2 year Apple Brandy

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir ingredients well with ice and strain into glass filled with crushed ice.

A full house indeed! This may have been named in honor of a winning hand, and as rich as it tastes, I would imagine it a welcome libation to order after a big win with hand of same name. With so many bold flavors fighting for space on your palate though the name is a bit of a double entendre, and it could have been an inside joke with the bartenders.

I like it...a lot actually. It's intense, and not a combination that you encounter often. It doesn't hurt that it's made with ingredients I love to use either. A good one when you are in the mood for something on the wild side.

Waxen Cocktail

From Jacques Straub's Drinks (1914), this is the "Waxen".

a.k.a.

WAXEN COCKTAIL


3/4 ounce (22 ml) Italian vermouth
3/4 ounce (22 ml) apple brandy
1/2 ounce (15 ml) yellow Chartreuse
3/4 ounce (22 ml) Tom gin


Stir and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.




It's hard for me to believe that this recipe has escaped further attention.

These are all popular ingredients in today's craft bars, and the ratios even look great on paper.

It's sweet and dry, sharp and smooth, spicy and mild. It's a drink of contradictions. Even the name is a contradiction, belying the stupendous drink with it's tepid name. Why I could wax eloquent for many an hour on it's many...wait, OK, now the name may make more sense...

I went with Carpano Antica for the vermouth, Laird's 100 proof "Bottled in Bond" Apple Brandy, and Hayman's Old Tom gin for my drink.

Mixed on their own they would be good, but the addition of yellow Chartreuse is a game-changer. It adds a "honeyed-herbal-complexity" to the already "sweet-and-spicily-herbaceous" Carpano Antica, that really makes this recipe a standout.

Enjoy!

The Flip

Mixology Monday January 17, 2011

This is my first MxMo so pardon the lengthy post, if you poke around my site you'll find several more long posts on drinks and their histories.

My original recipe, the "Mountain Flip", which is made with Stranahan's, Averna and Chartreuse yellow, is at the very bottom if you want to skip ahead.

Earlier this month I wrote about eggnog or "Egg Nogg" as it was sometimes written. Like eggnog, the "Flip" is more of a class of drinks, with many variations rather than being a singular recipe. The term "Flip" was first used in 1695, to describe a mixture of beer, rum and sugar, which was heated with a red-hot iron.

Both drinks are defined as being made from spirits, eggs, sugar and spice - the only difference being that eggnog adds milk or cream.

When researching the flip I came across an earlier version of the chart presented by "Dr. Rush" in 1813, which I had used in the eggnog post to illustrate it's status as a drink of ill repute.

The chart below was first published by Dr. John Coakley Lettsom in 1789, for the benefit of the "Philanthropic Society", and was seemingly the inspiration for Dr. Rush's chart.

I then found in "Gentleman's Magazine", reference that Lettsom's list here was "derived from (hints from) his friend, Dr. Rush"....so the men appear to have been acquainted and may have worked on this together.
Here's the earlier list published by Lettsom.

FLIP RECIPES THROUGH TIME

1792 - An earlier American recipe for the Flip, from a book titled "The American Geography" by Jedidiah Morse. While describing the amount of rum produced in New England the previous year, the Flip recipe was added as a footnote.

No less than 4783 hogsheads of New England rum were distilled and exported from this state last year, besides the home consumption, which was not inconsiderable *

* New England rum is distilled from molasses imported from the West Indies. It may be a question worthy of consideration, whether the molasses, which is annually distilled in New England, by being mixed with water, would not afford a drink cheaper, more palatable, and more nourishing, than that which is made from the rum distilled from it, and treble in quantity? If so, all the labour and expense of distillation might be spared, and converted to more useful, and perhaps to more lucrative manufacture or agricultural purposes. New England rum is by no means a wholesome liquor. Dr. Douglass has asserted, "That it has killed more Indians than their wars and sickness. It does not spare white people, especially when made into flip, which is rum mixed with small beer and Muscovado sugar." 

Further historical recipes included (among may others, this is by no means a complete list):

1801 - "American herbal; or, Materia medica" by Samuel Stearns:

This kind of liquor is made by putting a spoonful of brown sugar into about five or six jills (sic/gills) of malt beer, which is then warmed by putting a hot iron into it, called a logger-head ; afterwards, half a pint of rum or brandy is added, and the mixture well stirred with a spoon. Then a little nutmeg is grated on the top, which makes the flip fit for (y)ule.

This quantity is enough for four men....Flip is also made with spruce beer, instead of malt, and then it is called callabogus.

1810 - "Critical pronouncing dictionary" by John Walker, the Flip is defined simply as a "drink made of beer and rum".

1822 - "The Cook's Oracle" by William Kitchiner, we are given this recipe for the flip, which would be reprinted, nearly word-for-word, in several publications over the next 20-30 years:

"Keep grated Ginger and Nutmeg with a little fine dried Lemon Peel rubbed together in a mortar. To make a quart of Flip: - Put the Ale on the fire to warm, - and beat up three or four Eggs with four ounces of moist Sugar, a teaspoonful of grated Nutmeg or Ginger, and a quartern of good old Rum, or Brandy. When the Ale is near to boil, put it into one pitcher, and the Rum and Eggs, &c. into another ; turn it from one pitcher to another till it is as smooth as Cream.

This recipe remains the standard until the 1850's when new variations start to appear in print. 

In 1855, Peterson's magazine published this recipe:

Egg Flip.—Beat up in a three-pint jug four newlaid eggs, omitting two of the whites; add six large lumps of sugar and rub these well into eggs; pour in boiling water about half a pint at a time; and when the jug is nearly full, add two tumblers of brandy and one of rum. 

1858 - Lewis Feuchtwanger in his book "Fermented Liquors" gives another hot Flip recipe:

Flip.—To 1/3 of a gallon of white beer (Berlin), add 1/4 of a pound of sugar, 1 drachm of fine cinnamon, a few cloves, a little ginger, 1 pint of Jamaica rum, and 4 eggs, the yellow of which is muddled. The beer, spices, yellow of the eggs, and rum are heated and well stirred together; they are then added to the first and drank hot.

1862 - Jerry Thomas's original 1862 collection of flip recipes, though extensive, did not include any "cold flip" recipes. Organized by Jerry into a chapter entitled "Flip, Negus and Shrub" he included recipes for "Rum Flip" (2 versions), Ale Flip, Egg Flip (2 versions), and a Brandy Flip.


In the 1882 reprint there appeared the addition of Cold flip recipes for Brandy, Rum, Gin, Whiskey and Port Wine.

I've included his hot and cold recipes for the "Rum Flip":

145.

—Which Dibdin has immortalized as the favorite beverage of sailors (although we believe they seldom indulge in it) —is made by adding a gill of rum to the beer, or substituting rum and water, when malt liquor cannot be procured. The essential in "flips" of all sorts is, to produce the smoothness by repeated pouring back and for ward between two vessels, and beating up the eggs well in the first instance; the sweetening and spices according to taste.

146. Rum Flip.

(Another method.)

Keep grated ginger and nutmeg with a little fine dried lemon peel, rubbed together in a mortar.

To make a quart of flip:—Put the ale on the fire to warm, and beat up three or four eggs with four ounces of moist sugar, a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg or ginger, and a gill of good old rum or brandy. When the ale is near to boil, put it into one pitcher, and the rum and eggs, &c., into another; turn it from one pitcher to another till it is as smooth as cream.

Cold Rum Flip. (From 1882 re-release)

(Use large bar-glass.)
Take 1 teaspoonful of powdered sugar, dissolved in
a little water.
1 wine-glass of Jamaica rum.
1 fresh egg.
2 or 3 lumps of ice.

Shake up thoroughly, strain in a medium glass, and
grate a little nutmeg on top.

1882 also saw the first release of Harry Johnson's "New and Improved (Illustrated) Bartender's Manual" which included a Brandy Flip, Claret Flip, Port Wine Flip and Sherry Flip. I guess he had a thing for wine-based flips. His Brandy Flip was described thus:

Brandy Flip
(Use a large bar glass.)
1 fresh egg;
3/4 tablespoonful of sugar;
3/4 glass of shaved ice
1 wine glass full of brandy(Martell);


Shake the above ingredients well in a shaker, strain into a flip or other fancy bar glass, and grate a little nutmeg on top, and serve.


1884 - "Modern Bartender's Guide" by B.O. Byron lists all chilled flip recipes including the Brandy, Gin, Glasgow, Port Wine, Sherry and Whiskey flips.

1895 - George Kappeler's  "Modern American Drinks" does away with the hot flip altogether and lists a dozen flip recipes, all iced:

Ale Flip.

Beat up one egg with half a tablespoonful fine sugar, then fill the glass with ale; mix well with the egg and sugar. Grate nutmeg on top and serve.

Brandy Flip.

A mixing-glass half-full fine ice, one tablespoonful fine sugar, one fresh egg, one jigger brandy; shake well, strain into thin glass. Grate nutmeg on top.

Egg Flip.

One fresh egg, one tablespoonful fine sugar, one jigger sherry in a mixing-glass half-full fine ice; shake well, strain into thin glass, grate nutmeg on top.

Gin Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Egg Flip, substituting Tom gin for sherry.

Glasgow Flip.

Beat up a fresh egg with one tablespoonful fine sugar and the juice of one lemon. Put this preparation in a long thin glass, add a lump of ice, fill up with a cold bottle of imported ginger ale; mix well. Serve.

Golden Flip.

One pony maraschino, one pony yellow chartreuse, half a tablespoonful fine sugar, one egg; shake well in a mixing-glass half-full fine ice, strain into a fancy bar-glass, grate a little nutmeg on top.

Jamaica Rum Flip.

Fill a mixing-glass half-full fine ice, add half a tablespoonful fine sugar, one egg, one jigger Jamaica rum; shake well, strain into a fancy barglass. Serve with a little grated nutmeg on top.

Port Wine Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Jamaica Rum Flip, substituting port wine for rum.

Rum Flip.

Prepare same as Sherry Flip, using the kind of rum desired by the customer in place of sherry.

Sherry Flip.

Break a fresh egg into a mixing-glass; add one tablespoonful fine sugar, fill the glass half-full of fine ice, add one and a half jigger of sherry; shake well, strain into a fancy bar-glass. Serve with a little grated nutmeg on top.

Whiskey Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Sherry Flip, substituting whiskey for sherry.

Yankee Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Sherry Flip, using one jigger apple brandy in place of sherry.

(I must say, a very tasty sounding list..)


1889 - Charles Henry Cook in "Curiosities of ale and beer", describes a hot flip recipe, which by then had become something of a relic.

Flip, once a popular drink, and not altogether without its patrons in the present day, is made in a variety of ways. The following receipt is a good one. Place in a saucepan one quart of strong ale together with lumps of sugar which have been well rubbed over the rind of a lemon, and a small piece of cinnamon. Take the mixture off the fire when boiling and add one glass of cold ale. Have ready in a jug the yolks of six or eight eggs well beaten up with powdered sugar and grated nutmeg. Pour the hot ale from the saucepan on to the eggs, stirring them while so doing. Have another jug at hand and pour the mixture as swiftly as possible from one vessel to the other until a white froth appears, when the flip is ready. One or two wine glasses of gin or rum are often added. This beverage made without spirits is sometimes called Egg-hot, and Sailor's Flipcontains no ale. A quart of Flip is styled in the Cook's Oracle a "Yard of Flannel."


(Side note: The term "Yard of Flannel" has been attributed to the appearance of the liquid when "tossed back and forth from one pitcher to another at arm's length.")

1891 - in William Schmidt's "The Flowing Bowl", the flip is given as a hot recipe, "punch style" of course:

One and a half quarts of beer are heated to boiling, with a stick of cinnamon, a small piece of ginger, two or three cloves, and some lemon-peel; meanwhile mix the yolks of four eggs with a large wineglassful of rum or arrack, two or three tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar, and a small spoonful of corn-starch; add this, while continually stirring, to the beer; pour it a few times from one vessel into another, strain through a sieve, and serve in cups.

So we reach the twentieth century and find that the flip has become an old drink, on it's way out of style, but still "not altogether without its patrons". No longer popularly prescribed to ward off a cold or other sickness, it was now more commonly served cold, and taken whenever the mood struck.

The flip then, was really a drink for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By the 1900's it had transformed from a way to ward off the winter cold into a full fledged cocktail, and then by the mid-to-late twentieth century, it had fallen back into obscurity.

1917 - In the last book written by a working bartender in NYC, Hugo R. Ensslin gives some of the best (and strangest..whiskey-peppermint?) advice on the building of a cold flip:

1936 - Frank Meier, of the "Ritz" bar in Paris included this page on Flips in his book "The Artistry of Mixing Drinks".

1948 - David A. Embury, in "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" gives these words on the flip:

FLIPS A Flip is any wine or liquor shaken up with sugar and a whole egg. The usual proportions are 1 teaspoonful sugar or sugar syrup, 1 whole egg, and 2 ounces liquor to each drink. Shake with cracked or finely crushed ice and strain into a small Sour or Delmonico glass (about 3 to 4 ounces). Decorate with a dash of nutmeg.


Which sums up the cold flip nicely. 


After all of this, I had to play around with the recipes. For this one though, I stuck with the cold flips. I've heard that Cocktail Kingdom will be producing Blue Blazer mugs before too long...so when those are in I'll play with hot flip recipes. Until then, here are a few cold flip variations that I enjoyed.

Rum Flip

1 ounce (30 ml) Angostura 1919 Rum
1 ounce (30 ml) Smith & Cross Rum
1 fresh laid egg
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon water
2 dashes Angostura bitters


(Alternatively you can shake ingredients without ice, then with - this is the old "pre-double shake" style of building an egg drink)


1) Combine bitters, water and powdered sugar at bottom of a shaker and stir until sugar has dissolved.

2) Add one whole (fresh as possible) egg and muddle or stir the yolk to break it up.

3) Fill tumbler 3/4 full with finely cracked or crushed ice.

4) Add the two ounces of rum. 

5) Shake hard for 60-90 seconds, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with fresh ground nutmeg.

The classic rum flip. The lack of milk or cream provides more room for the spice flavors from the nutmeg and bitters to come through. When combined with the egg's thick silky texture, and the deep flavors of the dark rums, I must say I'm "flipping" out over how good this is. It really is a well balanced drink, providing room for all the flavors to stand both together and alone, which is the hallmark of a great drink recipe.

Using the same method of construction, here are a few more variations:

Yankee Flip

2 ounces (60 ml) Laird's apple brandy.

1 fresh laid egg

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon water

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fresh grated nutmeg on top.

I went with Laird's 7 1/2 year apple brandy here. It's apple flavors came through nicely.

_______________________________________

Mountain Flip (the Lab)

1 ounce (30 ml) Stranahan's "Straight Rocky Mountain Whiskey"

1/2 ounce (15 ml) Averna Amaro

1/2 ounce (15 ml) Chartreuse Yellow

1 fresh laid egg

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon water

1 dash Scrappy's Orange bitters

1 dash Elixir Vegetal

Fresh Grated Nutmeg on top.

The Jack Rose

This is the sixth and final installment in my "Embury six" series.

THE JACK ROSE

Some of you will no doubt be familiar with this cocktail, others I will assume "don't know Jack".

Of Embury's six basic cocktails there are 1 gin, 2 whiskey, 1 rum, 1 brandy...and 1 applejack recipe. Applejack? Really? It seems out of place with the other base spirits...or does it?

Applejack and America

What is Applejack? Nothing less than America's original whiskey.

Applejack, or "Jersey Lightening" is basically really hard apple cider and was commonly made in colonial America. Early in New Jersey's history, applejack was used as currency to pay the workers building the state's roads.

"Jacking" is the term for freeze distillation. The colonists would leave barrels of hard cider (or even shallow bowls) out in the winter elements, and scrape the ice off the top as it formed. Eventually they were left with a concentrated alcohol.

The process also concentrates impurities (fusel alcohols) that are removed when "heat" distillation techniques are employed, making this a brutal and dangerous form of hooch.

When Scottish distiller William Laird settled in New Jersey in 1698, he applied his technical know-how to the local crop of his new home, apples!

Apples had been cultivated in the colonies since the 1630's and were readily available. By employing traditional whiskey making techniques that he brought with him from Scotland, he produced America's first refined apple brandy. A heat distilled product that was aged in oak, just like any other whiskey, and which was America's first fine spirit.

In 1717, a "descendant" of William Laird built the Colts Neck Inn in Colts Neck, New Jersey.

William Laird's grandson Robert was a Revolutionary War soldier, and the Laird family supplied the troops with applejack. Sometime around 1760, George Washington wrote to the Laird family requesting their recipe for producing applejack, which the Laird family gladly supplied.

In 1780, operating out of the family center of operations at the "Colt's Neck Inn", Robert started "Laird & Co." and received United States Liquor license #1. The company still has records that date all the way back to this beginning!

Their first commercial records show that "cyder spirits" - applejack - was a standard item on the menu and sold at a price of four shillings, six pence per gallon. This represented about a half-day’s wages at the time! (For more on the Laird's unique history in America, here's an excellent article from the New York Times.)



James and Joseph Laird on left. Door to bonded warehouse indicating licence #1 on right.



Applejack Today

Although at one point there were more than 400 small, farm-based distilleries in New Jersey making applejack, Laird's is now the only one left from that group.

Current law requires that any "applejack" be aged in used bourbon barrels for a minimum of four years. The 80-proof bottle easily found on shelves in any liquor store is a product of the 1970's. At the time, it was created in response to America's growing taste for "lighter "spirits.

Laird's 80-proof applejack is made up of a blend of 35% straight apple brandy and 65% neutral grain spirits. It takes about 6 pounds of apples on average to make one bottle of this blend.

The un-blended styles, basically apple whiskeys, are still available.There is the Laird's 100-proof straight apple brandy, Laird's 80-proof Old Apple Brandy (Aged for a minimum of seven and a half years), and Laird's 88-proof 12 Year old apple brandy.

These are hard to find however. The easiest of the un-blended expressions to find is the 100-proof, straight apple brandy. Here the brandy that makes up only 35% of the 80-proof "applejack" is bottled at full strength. It takes around 20 pounds of apples to make a single bottle of this spirit!

Johnny Appleseed

One of the more interesting facts to come to light when researching America's love for applejack, regards one John Chapman, a.k.a. "Johnny Appleseed".

We were taught as school children that Johnny Appleseed wandered the country barefooted, wearing tin pots on his head and spreading apple seeds randomly. All bollocks with the exception of the bare feet, and then only in the summer to "save on leather".

He actually planted nurseries rather than orchards, going so far as to build fences around the nurseries to protect them from livestock. He would leave the nurseries in the care of a local, who would sell the trees on shares. John would return every year or two to tend to the nurseries.

Chapman's managers were asked to sell the trees on credit. He would accept corn meal, cash or used clothing in barter. While Chapman was hardly alone in this business pattern, he was unusual in that he remained a wanderer his entire life.

Here's the real kicker. It was the (hard) cider industry that drove this activity. By Chapman's time, the nation's thirst for cider and apple brandy was greater than what the supply of apples could provide! A fact conveniently omitted from the Appleseed legend.

Grenadine

Grenadine derives it's name from the French word grenade, meaning pomegranate. True grenadine syrup is made from the pomegranate's juice. Nearly every culture in the world has cultivated and revered the pomegranate as a symbol of fertility and abundance. (There's a great wiki on it here.)

By medieval times or even earlier, pomegranates have been processed into all sorts of syrups and tinctures.

It's first use in barcraft is often (and erroneously) accredited to a bartender by the name of "Jack Bender". Jack is said to have used grenadine for the first time when he introduced the original Sea Breeze cocktail in the 1920's.

Since bartending manuals were calling for grenadine in the Jack Rose (and other) recipes as early as 1910, we can assume that the credit should go elsewhere and that it was a fairly common ingredient by the 1920's

Today's ubiquitous "Rose's" grenadine, is compiled mainly of high fructose corn syrup. It is artificially flavored to taste more like raspberries than pomegranates.

For off the shelf choices, Stirrings makes a decent pomegranate grenadine, and Monin's Pomegranate syrup works well too (if not better).

If you want to make the fresh stuff, you can easily make your own grenadine with a pomegranate juice like POM's, but it's likely to result in a dark product that will turn your cocktails brown.

I used POM juice the last time I made grenadine at home and it was not terrible aside from the muddy appearance it gave my cocktails. I decided to pick up some fresh pomegranates and make it with fresh juice this time, and what a difference! Fresh pomegranate juice is definitely the way to go.

FRESH GRENADINE

Ingredients

1 cup fresh pomegranate juice
1 cup unbleached sugar
1/2 oz Tanqueray 10 (or other high proof, quality gin)
1/4 oz Monin's Raspberry syrup
1/4 oz DeKuyper Bessen Genever (you could use Plymouth sloe gin)
1 barspoon orange flower water

Instructions

1) Juice the pomegranates. You will need a sturdy juicer with a cone and seed catcher.

2) Strain the juice.

3) Add the sugar, heat over low heat stirring until sugar has dissolved. Let Cool.

4) Stir in the remaining ingredients and bottle.

Pomegranate molasses is a common ingredient that I did not have so I used the sloe gin-like "bessen genever" I picked up in Germany this fall. The gin is only used as a preservative so you can substitute vodka if you like.

What a color!

The Jack Rose's History

This was a post about a cocktail right? The Jack Rose's history is also a bit tricky, with varying legends associated with it's origin.

Jacob "Bald Jack" Rosenweig (1875-Oct 4, 1947)

The most colorful and popular story claims that a gambler and New York City underworld figure, Jacob Rosenweig, had this drink named after him or created it himself.

Jacob had several alias' including "Bald Jack Rose", "Baldy Jack Rose" and "Billiard Ball Jack". He operated a gambling resort on the east side of Manhattan known as 'The Rosebud", which was a popular underworld hangout.

The story goes that a drink containing "one jigger of applejack, juice of half a lemon, half an ounce of grenadine, shaken with ice, and strained", was named in his honor.

In 1912, the same year that Bald Jack was a star witness in the controversial "Becker-Rosenthal" case, an article appeared claiming that his infamy had put such a dent in the drink's popularity that some bartenders started calling the drink the "Royal Smile" instead.

The drinks roots in print actually go back to an article from 1905, in the April 22nd edition of the "National Police Gazette", which read:

"Frank J. May,  better known as Jack Rose, is the inventor of a very popular cocktail by that name, which has made him famous as a mixologist.  He is at present looking after the managerial affairs of Gene Sullivan's Cafe, at 187 Pavonia avenue, Jersey City, N. J., one of the most popular resorts in that city."

We're not quite done with the story yet though. Most historians agree that the drink was likely to predate any of these references. 

As we've seen, Applejack has long been the state drink of New Jersey and the early colonies in general. It's far more likely that someone sweetened their Jersey or Applejack Sour with some grenadine, noted it's rosy appearance, and named the drink accordingly.

Early Jack Rose Recipes

The first time we see the Jack Rose recipe in a cocktail book, is in the 1908 publication of "Jack's Manual" by J. A. Grohusko. The then appears in several books over the next decade, as the recipe evolved.

1908 - J.A. Grohusko from "Jack's Manual"

1 teaspoonful sugar

10 dashes Raspberry syrup

10 dashed lemon juice

5 dashes orange juice

Juice 1/2 lime

75% cider brandy.

Fill glass with cracked ice, shake and strain, fill with fizz water and serve.

Appearing in a new appendix added in the 1910 edition and accredited to R.H. Townes of 62 William St., New York. 

1910 - William H. Boothby from "The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them"

"The juice of one lemon, one part grenadine syrup, and two pats Apple Jack. Shake well with cracked ice, and strain into a cocktail glass."

David Wondrich in his book "Imbibe", credits Jacques Straub's 1914 recipe as the first to resemble today's drink.

1914 - Jacques Straub - Drinks

1 jigger applejack

1/2 lime.

1/4 jigger grenadine syrup. Shake Well.

The Embury Jack Rose

David's reasoning for apple brandy's lack of favor with the public was it's lack of proper aging. He ventured to say that "if some enterprising distiller would put out an apple brandy made with the same loving care as cognac and aged in wood for ten, twenty, or even forty years, it would soon rival grape brandies in popularity, especially for use in mixed drinks". If only someone had listened to him, when the book was first published in 1948.

His take was that this was basically a sidecar with apple brandy used in place of the grape brandy and grenadine (primarily for color) used in place of the Cointreau. He claimed that the drink was "...nothing but a Pink Apple Car." and calmed we should make it like that, prescribing:

JACK ROSE DE LUXE

1 part Grenadine

2 parts Lemon Juice

8 parts Apple Brandy

Shake vigorously with plenty of cracked or crushed ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.A twist of lemon may be used and the peel dropped into the glass if desired. Otherwise no decoration.

He went on to suggest frosting the glass by putting some grenadine in a saucer, dipping the glass in the grenadine, spinning the glass to remove excess drops and dipping the glass into powdered sugar.

The Modern Jack Rose

When researching my post on the sidecar I found it interesting that the members of the Museum Of The American Cocktail (MOTAC) could not agree on a sidecar recipe. Upon digging further into the sidecar, I realized why this made sense. 

The sages of the day 100 years ago did not seem to agree on the Jack Rose, which made me wonder about the MOTAC crew. It turns out they all have their own takes on this cocktail as well.

Dale DeGroff, Essential Cocktails (MOATC President)

1 1/2 oz applejack
3/4 oz simple syrup
3/4 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/4 oz grenadine
Apple Slice, for garnish
Maraschino cherry, for garnish

Combine applejack, syrup, lemon juice, and grenadine in a mixing glass with ice and shake well. Strain into a small cocktail glass and garnish with the apple slice and cherry.

Ted Haigh, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (MOATC Curator)

1 1/2 ounces applejack

Juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon - about 1 ounce)
2 or more dashes of real pomegranate grenadine

Shake well in an iced cocktail shaker, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lime (or lemon) wedge.

Robert Hess, Essential Bartender's Guide (MOATC Secretary)

2 1/2 ounces (75ml) applejack

3/4 ounce (22ml) lemon juice
1/2 ounce (15ml) grenadine

Shake well with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

...and from the board of advisers

David Wondrich, Esquire Drinks

2 ounces applejack
1 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce grenadine

Shake the applejack and other ingredients well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Gary Reagan, Joy of Mixology

2 1/2 ounces applejack
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
grenadine to taste
1 lemon twist, for garnish

SHAKE AND STRAIN into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish.

THE JACK ROSE

I must admit to a bit of luck on the lemon version below. The first time out, it was just right. Granted, I'd just transcribed several of the major recipes throughout history, but there it was. A nice rosy aroma from the orange flower water in the fresh grenadine. The beautiful pink blush. The sour apple bite. The warming lemon. It was spot on.

The lime version took a bit of experimenting though. The first time out I tried a 1/2 oz grenadine to 1/2 oz lime juice and it was too sweet. I pulled back to 1/4 oz grenadine and 3/4 oz lime, as I'd done with the lemon juice, and it was too tart.

Splitting the difference at 1/3 oz grenadine and 2/3 oz lime juice and I was back in the pleasure zone with all the wonderful qualities that appeared in the lemon drink reemerging without loosing the bite of the lime. (Be careful though, even sharing the experiments with my wife, we found that the potent 100-proof applejack can really sneak up on you quickly!)

This was my own tasting with a homemade grenadine. I'm posting these recipes as reference only. As you've seen above and throughout this series, it's always best to consider your ingredients, and adjust to your own tastes accordingly.

The Jack Rose with Lemon Juice

Ingredients

2 ounces Laird's 100-proof bonded apple brandy

3/4 ounce Fresh Lemon Juice

1/4 ounce fresh grenadine

Instructions

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. No Garnish

The Jack Rose with Lime Juice

Ingredients

2 ounces Laird's 100-proof bonded apple brandy

2/3 ounce Fresh Lime Juice

1/3 ounce fresh grenadine

Instructions

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. No Garnish

What are you waiting for? Isn't it time for a Jack Rose?