jake barnes

1 1/2 oz Laird's Applejack
3/4 oz Grenadine
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a pineapple wedge (optional, so here I garnished with a lemon twist instead).

Two Thursdays ago, I was rooting around the ShakeStir website's collection of recipes to uncover a gem. The one that caught me was the Jake Barnes by Natalie Jacob of Dutch Kills in New York. I briefly met Natalie two years ago during her tenure at PKNY -- well, not in Manhattan but in Boston where she worked a charity event called "Tiki for Their Troubles" as a benefit for the Boston Marathon victims. None of the drinks that night were her creations, so I was game to try one. In addition, I am always interested in Jack Rose variations such as the Jack's Word and David Embury's Applejack Rabbit, and this drink also had an Embury slant to it. Natalie explained, "Inspired by the Jack Rose... this cocktail combines citrussy and fruity flavors to make a sweet yet tart sultry number with a lot of depth... I also took inspiration from another one of my favorite cocktails found in David Embury's The Art of Mixing Drinks the 'Jack in the Box' aka 'Jersey City' cocktail which is an applejack sour with the addition of pineapple juice. Named after the character in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun also Rises in which Jake Barnes orders a Jack Rose cocktail at the bar of the Paris Crillon Hotel." With this recipe, Natalie also won the War of the Jack Roses competition a year and a half ago.
One of the great aspects of this drink is that most beginner home bartenders can assemble it, and if they need to go buy applejack and Angostura Bitters, those ingredients ought to be on their shelves anyways. Once made, the Jake Barnes presented lemon oils and a dark spice aromas from the bitters on the nose. A fruity sip offered a medley of lemon, pineapple, and pomegranate notes, and the swallow showcased the apple brandy flavor and bitters spice complexity. Indeed, the pineapple and bitters donate a lot of extra flavor and depth to the Jack Rose. Normally the Jack Rose does not contain any bitters, but the previous link has Boston's Jack Rose Society's preferred one that includes a dash or two of Peychaud's along with a brief history of that legendary recipe crunching team.