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The Brandy Bar + Cocktails

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Wed 3/1 – 4-9 $5 specials and Thurs 3/2 – 4-9 PM – Jack Rose Riffs specials

February 27, 2023 By Brenda Coates

Wed. 3/1 – 4-9:00 PM $5 special straight pours – Armagnac de Montal VS – fruity, ripe aromas of banana, nectarine, peach, and date emerges from the aggressive alcohol. Entry is sweet and smoky; flavor at mid-palate is sugary, laden with wood that wipes out fruit elements.  Or – Clear Creek Plum – Viewed as the gold standard for slivovitz in the world. This lively kosher spirit shimmers and has an aroma and taste of small yellow Mirabelle plum and unripe peach. This eau-de-vie is pure, transparent with ripe fruit, and ends with a slightly bitter orange taste. The length on the finish is solid and clean.

Thurs. 3/2 – 4-9:00 PM – Have you ever enjoyed our Jack Rose Cocktail? Considered by some bartenders to contain that perfect ratio of 8 parts base spirit (applejack), 2 parts sour (lemon or lime), and 1 part sweet (grenadine). This ratio is a great starting point for many drinks. The formula renders a slightly tart drink with a subtle sweetness. It’s easy to add a little more sweetness if needed. The drink was a celebrity appearing in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 classic “The Sun Also Rises” and a favorite drink of author John Steinbeck as well as appearing in Tennessee Williams’ 1951 play, “The Rose Tattoo.” The drink has a history as early as a 1905 in an article in the “National Police Gazette” that credits a New Jersey bartender named Frank J. May as its creator. Another story in a 1913 news article comments that sales of the drink were suffering due to the involvement of Bald Jack Rose in the Rosenthal murder case. The most likely explanation is that it is a simple portmanteau — it is made with applejack and is rose-colored from the grenadine.

The cocktail fell out of fashion. In June 2003, the Washington Post published an article that followed two writers’ quest to find a Jack Rose in any Washington, DC bar. They were unsuccessful in finding one where the bartender knew the drink. Finally, they bought a bottle of applejack for one of the few bartenders they encountered who knew how to make one. However, with the craft cocktail movement on the rise, the Jack Rose has regained some popularity.

Laird & Company, the oldest distillery in the US (making brandy when George Washington was President) and producer of the applejack that The Brandy Bar uses, is still in the Laird family. When properly made, the apple aromas that are subtle and subdued in the applejack spirit practically leap from mixing glass once mixed. Whether by accident or design, the acids, sugars, and tannins in grenadine and lemon (or lime) juice wake up the apple brandy by replacing what was lost from the apple during the distillation process, namely the mixture of sweet and tart. While we like to use lime rather than lemon, we leave it up to you. Lime a little sweeter and lemon a little tarter……

Brandy Bar Jack Rose – Laird’s applejack, lime juice, grenadine; Jacque Rose – Calvados, lime juice, grenadine; Jack Rose with lemon – Laird’s applejack, lemon juice, grenadine; Paris Jack Rose – Laird’s applejack, gin, sweet & dry vermouth, orange-lime-juice, grenadine; Irish Jack Rose – Irish whiskey, Calvados, lime, grenadine; Fruit/infused flight – 1/2 price

Filed Under: Happenings

Brenda Coates

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504 Seventh Avenue, East
Hendersonville, NC 28792
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