Applejack
I’d never had domestic applejack, just French calvados, but Ted Haigh’s book is positively bullish on it, and a number of mixologists seem smitten with the Jack Rose, a Prohibition-era cocktail featuring the spirit. So seeing that I could pick up a bottle of Laird’s at Cirace’s for less than fifteen bucks, I couldn’t resist.
Consumed straight, I like calvados far better – it has more a mellow brandy taste rather than applejack’s 80 proof whiskey-like kick. But I’d heartily recommend applejack for cocktails: it’s spirit first and fruitiness second and holds up to strong ingredients.
Take the increasingly famous Jack Rose. A simple applejack sour (with lemon or lime), it’s offset with the sweetness and color of grenadine.
Jack Rose Cocktail
1 jigger domestic applejack
juice of 1/2 lime or lemon
2 dashes grenadineShake well and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime/lemon wedge.
At first blush it seems like a frou-frou drink, pink and sweet. But a couple sips into it, you’ll be struck by the complexity. At least I was. Cocktail aficionados insist on a good quality grenadine like Angostura or Fee Brothers brand, but I’ve combed most of the liquor stores in Boston and have yet to see anything other than Rose’s grenadine. Perhaps with the right stuff, the drink would be sublime; with Rose’s, though, it was sufficiently tasty.
Or, if you’re looking for something stronger and not-so-fruity, I flipped through the Trader Vic’s guide and found an Applejack Cocktail that’s equal parts applejack and Italian vermouth. Again using the very strongly flavored Punt e Mes, the result was too bitter and disharmonious for my tastes, so I doubled the proportion of applejack in the recipe. Much better.
Applejack Cocktail
1 jigger domestic applejack
1/2 jigger Italian vermouthShake and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.
Too outré? Applejack works well in a highball, with some ginger ale, ice and a lemon wedge. Not bad for cheap hooch.
Laird’s Applejack can be found Cirace and Sons Liquors, 173 North Street, North End and Beacon Hill Wine and Spirits, 63 Charles Street, among other stores.
Mmm… the Jack Rose…
As for your grenadine, I wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending Fee Brothers. It’s not bad, but it’s just a better chemical conglomeration.
If you make your own simple syrup, you can and should make your own grenadine. It’s 10x better than any store-bought that I’ve tasted. Note that you will have to use double or more than the recipe calls for since it doesn’t have chemical power.
Get yourself a 16oz bottle of POM or some other pomegranate juice that’s 100%. Pour it into a heavy-bottomed saucepan with 2c of sugar. Heat on medium, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Let cool to room temperature and add 1-2oz of vodka as a preservative.
Bottle, and keep it in your refrigerator. I’ve kept mine up to a couple of months without any negative effect. It’s also really good just with some club soda on ice. I dare you to try that with Rose’s.
Here’s a second vote for making your own grenadine. I will say that I make mine just *slightly* differently — I bring the POM to a slow boil first, and reduce it by half, then add 1 cup sugar and continue to heat/stir on medium until everything is dissolved. Then cool, add the oz or so of vodka (high proof), bittle, and refrigerate. This gives a slightly thicker, richer-colored, more powerfully-flavored grenadine.
Thanks for the recipes. Zarafa, yours sounds almost like pomegranate molasses, which I use in cooking. Will have to try both and see how they turn out.
Zarafa,
I also think I’ll give your version a try. It seems like 2oz using my method would be about equal to 1oz using yours. Thoughts?
Rick- Yes, I think you can use half as much using my method as yours, for the pomegranate flavor. However, keep in mind that the sweetness per volume should be about the same (not quite identical, since the pomegranate juice itself has some sugar in it) so although you’re getting a more-concentrated flavor, you’re *not* getting a more-concentrated sweetness.
Chris- This is similar to pomegranate molasses, but there are two important differences. First, you’re not actually heating this long enough or to a high enough temp to really cook the sugars, mostly because there’s still a high water volume, so the sucrose–>glucose transition doesn’t occur (there are probably other things going on w/ molasses creation — it’s been a very long time since I took organic chem!) and as a result you haven’t imparted the resulting richer taste. Second, this grenadine is slightly syrupy, but not anywhere close to as thick as pom molasses!
It is possible to find a grenadine other than Rose’s in the Boston area, but I will admit it is tough. And while they are better than Rose’s, they still aren’t that great. I once bought a bottle of a wonderful French grenadine locally, but I cannot remember the name of it now and can’t seem to find it any more. A friend even brought back a bottle from the Carribean, but it still wasn’t that great.
As mentioned, Fee Brothers is probably the best commercial grenadine I found lately. You can order stuff from the Fee Brothers web site. That’s one of the few places I am able to get orange bitters (they also make a peach and a mint bitters). Actually, you can’t order on the web site, but you can call the number and order that way. And, interestingly enough, they send your order with an invoice and you send back the payment!