3 shots applejack
1 shot lime juice
2 tablespoons pomegranate syrup (otherwise known as grenadine)
Shake with ice then pour into two cocktail glasses.
Laird’s is the applejack I buy. I live in Oregon with state-run liquor stores, so if I can get it, you should be able to :). It’s VERY good neat.
I make my own pomegranate syrup. In the winter when pomegranates are in season, I juice them, then freeze the juice. To make the syrup, just add equal parts juice and sugar, and gently heat until the sugar is dissolved.
If you don’t have fresh pomegranates, buy Torani pomegranate syrup. Rose’s grenadine tastes like cough syrup; Fees Brothers isn’t much better, but it’s better. But the Torani syrup is best. And home made is so far and away superior you’ll never buy bottled grenadine again.
Are you using the standard 80-proof Laird’s applejack? If so, it’s actually not particularly good, as there’s a high proportion of neutral spirits in it. The bonded applejack is the stuff you really want; alternatively, Laird’s also sells a couple types of aged apple brandy which are good. I used to make Jack Roses with 7-year Laird’s brandy, and they turned out quite good.
Since you’re in Oregon, you might want to check out Clear Creek or some other local producer to see if you like their apple brandy.
I’ll say! Wouldn’t want to befoul that drink with nasty Jack’s.
Neutral spirits are from grain, and include vodka, or the more extreme Everclear. Little distinct taste except “alcohol.” I guess they cut the “pure from apples” part with cheaper stuff.
Applejack in the old days was a freeze-distillate from apple cider, but nowadays (and for quite a while- 200 years?) it’s been a sort of apple brandy distilled and aged in more of a whiskey-like fashion. All of Laird’s products are apple brandy of one age or another.
Essentially what they do for the “Applejack” branded product is take the actual applejack/apple brandy and dilute it with neutral alcohol (basically Everclear) and water so that the final product is 80 proof, but only about 30-35% actual apple brandy.
What this does is give you a product that has the same flavor, but in a considerably less intense way. It would be like taking straight Kool-Aid and mixing it 30/70 with water. It would still taste like Kool Aid but much diluted.
The other grades that Laird makes are straight apple brandy of various age levels, with the quality going up in age. The bonded one is somewhere in the middle of their range, I believe.
Bonded means that the brandy meets certain specs, and is aged in a bonded warehouse monitored by the government. (FWIW, Laird’s has and still uses the first bonded warehouse in the US). It’s a very rough quality indicator- you could make cruddy whiskey or applejack that’s bonded, but why bother?
Anyway, I have had (and made) Jack Rose cocktails. One thing that you really ought to do is to substitute real grenadine that tastes of pomegranates for that strange stuff you get at the grocery store. That stuff is just mostly sweet; the tang and flavor of the pomegranate stuff really perks up the cocktails that use it.
Never made a Jack Rose, but I’m a big fan of Laird’s. It’s a solid base for basic mixed drinks, and (in my experience) both flavor and effect (ie hangover risk) are superior than other inexpensive booze.
Until a couple years ago, a fifth of Laird’s was $10. Vastly superior to any other fifth I’ve bought at that price. Since it started getting a little trendy a few years back, it seems to run more like $15-20. At that price, it’s still a good pick but not quite head-and-shoulders above like before.