Next Song for the Jukebox

DLDGLG Original Cocktail: La Vie en Rose

Thursday Drink Night (TDN) is a weekly online cocktail gathering where each week a theme is chosen and enthusiasts assemble to challenge each other.

Here's where it gets interesting: the recipes created are posted on Twitter for the world to see. Among the Twitter account's nearly two thousand followers is Mutineer Magazine which reviews each recipe and publishes the best one. 

Now, as I understand it, the original mission of this virtual gathering was for cocktail enthusiasts to throw together potent potables with whatever ingredients they had on-hand. 

I suspect that over the years, for whatever reason, those guidelines have drifted significantly. I say this because each night that I've taken part I've felt a bit out of my league - and I'm a fairly seasoned bartender.

In any case, this past week's theme was gin. I had only an airplane bottle of Bluecoat American Dry Gin so I knew I had to get this drink right in one shot. The original recipe only had to be tweaked by two thirds of an ounce as you'll soon see.

La Vie en Rose
 
- 2 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
- 1 oz Laird's Applejack (or Calvados)
- 1/2 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- 2-3 drops rose water

Shake ingredients with ice. Double strain into a chilled couple glass. Garnish with a single rose petal (if you have one).

This sipper is floral and delicate. Grafted with the gin botanicals, one can tease out the Applejack after each quaff which then punctuates finally with a slight sweetness.

I think those folks who still scoff at gin would find this a nice re-introduction to it.

Did Philip Greene Just Uncover the Real Jack Rose?

Philip Greene of the Museum of the American Cocktail (MOTAC) makes the case for the real Jack Rose cocktail. According to Greene:

"The first recipe shown above is the commonly accepted, conventional recipe for the Jack Rose. However, submitted for your approval is a quite different recipe. In 1922, there was published in Paris a classic cocktail book titled Barflies and Cocktails, written by Harry MacElhone and Wynn Holcomb, with contributions from Harry Moss. MacElhone was the owner/bartender at Harry’s New York Bar, in Paris, and Holcomb was a noted caricaturist and society reporter for the Paris edition of the New York Herald. Arthur Moss’ job was apparently to scare up interesting recipes from the bar’s regulars [...]

Well, dear reader, here you have a recipe published around the same time (Barflies was published in 1922, my edition 1927) that Hemingway wrote and published The Sun Also Rises (1926).  Further, Hemingway happened to live in the same town (Paris) where the inimitable Mr. MacElhone tended bar, at a saloon that Hemingway was known to frequent.  So, does it not make sense that Hemingway, and Jake Barnes, might have been drinking this version of the Jack Rose?  Pardon me, I’m an attorney by training, I can’t help the leading questions.  But I happen to think that this is Jake Barnes’ Jack Rose."

Fascinating stuff.

Varying interpretations of this cocktail is nothing new to me. I've put together a tasty Jack Rose using Last Exit's house-made grenadine. It was absolutely delicious. 

America Eats Tavern features one that is truer to the conventional recipe and seems to use grenadine that is more widely available. But Greene has uncovered something very different. 

Jack Rose - Harry MacElhone’s 1920s Paris recipe:

- 1 1/2 oz Applejack or Calvados
- 3/4 oz dry gin
- 3/4 oz fresh orange juice
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon or lime juice
- 1/3 oz French vermouth
- 1/3 oz Italian vermouth
- 1/3 oz grenadine

Shake well with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with twist of lime or lemon peel.

After giving this version a try, I found that it expresses a little more complex citrus flavor compared to the more mainstream Jack Rose recipe. Some of the other notes that dance on the tongue come from the gin and vermouth. There's a lot to work with here.

Is it better than the Jack Rose cocktail I made with house-made grenadine? I'm not so sure. It is, however, quite delicious compared to the interpretation I experienced at America Eats Tavern. Others may disagree.

Either way, Greene tells an amazing story that had me reaching for my old copy of The Sun Also Rises from college. And just like in college, I was left asking myself again, "what is this cocktail called the Jack Rose?"


Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

"Last July [Tales of the Cocktail] declared a small, view-less bar in New York's West Village, with no guest list and a frankly disappointing lack of statuesque supermodels, the best cocktail bar in the world..."

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"Their ethos was simple: use the freshest, highest quality ingredients and provide the best service possible."