Brandy Cocktails: Applejack
Jack Rose Cocktail
Jack Rose Cocktail Ingredients
2 oz. Laird’s Applejack
0.75 oz. Fresh lime juice
0.75 oz. Grenadine
Garnish
Lime wheel
Jack Rose Cocktail Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add ice. Shake hard. Fine strain into a coupe or stemmed cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.
Jack Rose Cocktail Story
The Harvard first appears in George J. Kappeler’s 1895 publication Modern. At the core of the Jack Rose cocktail is applejack, an all-American apple brandy. The family-operated Laird’s distillery has been making applejack in New Jersey since the early 1700s, most likely combining the spirit with citrus or juices long before the invention of the Jack Rose, which came about in the early 1900s. The recipe closely resembling the modern version of the cocktail appears in William H. Boothby’s 1908 manual The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them. Though the drink did suffer in popularity in the 1910s when patrons unjustifiably associated it with the murderous mobster Bald Jack Rose, the innocent Jack Rose cocktail has withstood the test of time, along with the iconic American liquor it utilizes.