Wet Bar Wednesday – Irish Jack Rose

The Jack Rose is a drink that was popular in the US in the early 20th century, based on a liquor that is less fashionable these days called applejack.  I’m going to have to find a bottle of this stuff since I enjoy hard apple cider.  Hard apple cider is distilled (traditionally by freezing it and removing the ice) to increase the alcohol content to around 30-40% (instead of the 10-12% typical of a hard cider).  Applejack is similar to a French brandy made from apples called Calvados.

The drink has fallen out of fashion despite being a favorite of 20th century figures such as John Steinbeck.  The Irish Jack Rose is the same basic drink, but with Irish whiskey added to the mix.  I used Calvados instead of applejack.  The recipe I used has a rather large amount of Irish whiskey in the mix, so you can adjust that to suit your tastes.

• 1.5 parts Irish whiskey
• .5 parts Calvados or applejack
• .5 parts grenadine
• .5 parts lime juice (some recipes call for lemon)

Mix the ingredients with ice, then strain the ice out to serve the drink straight up.  This way the drink is cold but doesn’t get excessively diluted with melting ice.  I served mine with ice because I am a barbarian.  Enjoy!