Jack Rose | The Forgotten Classic Cocktail with 3 Ingredients

The Jack Rose is a classic American cocktail made with applejack (apple brandy), fresh lemon juice, and grenadine. It’s tart, sweet, and ridiculously easy to make. Make one and you’ll find out why the Jack Rose cocktail was a favorite among the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogard, and John Steinbeck.

---

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

---

One day a while back, a friend called me to see if I wanted to raid her pantry before she moved out of state. Living in a military town means you have to say goodbye to a lot of friends but it also means raiding a lot of pantries. When I got there, she had already set aside a pile of things she figured I’d be interested in. In the heap was a nearly-full bottle of triple sec (score!) and a nearly-empty bottle of apple brandy.

I knew the triple sec would come in handy (hello Margaritas & Sidecars!) but I wasn’t quite sure what I’d use the apple brandy for. But seeing as I’m not one to pass up free booze, I snagged it.

It’s sat in my liquor cabinet for months now because aside from using it in place of regular brandy in a recipe, I was at a loss as to how to use it.

Then it hit me. Isn’t apple brandy the same thing as applejack? Or at least… similar? I’d had applejack in an awesome cocktail I’d ordered at a bar in Houston called Mongoose Vs Cobra. It was one of those cocktails that you think about for years. I remembered it having applejack. Ah, what was it called? Something about the Titanic??? Jack? Apple Jacks? The name was on the tip of my tongue. A quick Google search solved the mystery. A Jack Rose.

Ah, Jack Rose. I felt a little better about the Titanic connection. Turns out a Jack Rose is a classic American cocktail. And it’s made with applejack, as I remembered. But could I use my new (old) apple brandy instead?

According to an article by Chowhound and Lisa Laird Dunn, Vice President of Laird & Company (America’s oldest and biggest apple brandy company), the terms “apple brandy” and “applejack” can legally be used interchangeably in the United States.

The term “applejack” came from how the spirit was originally distilled centuries back. “Jacking” was a term used to describe the process of freeze distilling fermented cider. When the ice is removed, it causes a higher concentration of both alcohol and flavor. Few companies use freeze distillation today to produce applejack or apple brandy but you can read this article to see how to do it yourself at home.

With a good supply of apples and cold temperatures, you can see why applejack became a popular spirit for early Americans in the north. In fact, applejack was George Washington’s spirit of choice. Supposedly he is the only person outside of the Laird family to have ever been given their famous applejack recipe. But Washington’s not the only American president with an affinity for the American spirit. Abraham Lincoln sold applejack at his bar (yep, he’s the only president who was also a licensed bartender) and Franklin Roosevelt preferred to make his Manhattans with it. Don’t you wanna go out and buy a bottle now?

Once you go outside of the US, though, apple brandy terminology gets a little more technical. Calvados, a famous style of apple brandy, hails from Normandy. For an apple brandy to be considered Calvados, it has to be from the Calvados region of Normandy and must be aged. Applejack and American brandy don’t have to be aged.

The Chowhound article goes waaay more in-depth about the differences between American applejack/apple brandy and Calvados. It’s an interesting read but incase you don’t feel like spending 8 minutes reading about the differences, just know that if you’re in America, it’s pretty safe to assume that applejack = apple brandy.

Let me know if you make the Jack Rose in a comment, by posting it in the Girl & Tonic Facebook page, or tagging me on Instagram.

Ingredients for a Jack Rose Cocktail

• 1 1/2 to 2 oz apple brandy (also called applejack)
• 3/4 oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 oz grenadine (I prefer to use a high quality one with no artificial colors or ingredients)

How to Make a Jack Rose Cocktail

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. Sip and feel like a classy American.