Ghosts of Cocktails Past

(T) The Jack Rose is the classic cocktail that never got invited to the oldies reunion. While other sours, such as the daiquiri, the Daisy, the Sidecar and select others, are revered and reinterpreted in their dotage, this mainstay of the 1920s and ’30s has fallen so far out of circulation that few still know its name. More’s the pity, for when properly made it is one of the canon’s stronger pillars, and a perfect sip when the post-equinox winds set in.
The drink is simply a sour made from apple brandy — or applejack, as it was known from Colonial times through Prohibition — with grenadine syrup as the sweetener. Its name is attributed to any number of colorful characters, including a famous gangster stool pigeon, but it most likely comes from the shortening of applejack and the dusty rose color the drink attains from the grenadine and citrus. Continued

Image: Library of Congress