In Michigan in this time of dramatic transition, you need a cocktail that reflects the bittersweet imposition of change. Something that can toe the line — being one-part summer, one-part fall — and ease you from season to season.
"The Jack Rose is the classic transition cocktail," says David Turkel, bar manager at The Viceroy, West Michigan's only 1920s-style speakeasy.
Declared one of the six basic cocktails in David Embury's still-revered 1948 parlor guidebook, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, the Jack Rose shakes together two ounces of applejack with one ounce of fresh lime juice and one-half ounce of grenadine; then the mixture is strained and served in a chilled cocktail glass over cracked ice. The fruit notes celebrate the end of summer while masking a deceptively heavy punch of alcohol — to buttress your soul for the approaching Siberian months.
"The trouble is getting the bonded applejack the true recipe calls for, which you can't get in Michigan," Turkel said.
America's oldest native distilled spirit, bonded applejack blends 35 percent apple brandy with 65 percent grain neutral spirits. Only one distiller in the nation makes it — Laird & Company, out of Monmouth County, N.J. — and the distiller started making it before there was even a nation to speak of. The trouble is, Michigan laws require registry for out-of-state alcohol distributors to sell in Michigan, and Laird, like many distiller-distributors, doesn't bother.
In lieu of the unavailable applejack, Turkel substitutes a mixture of Calvados — a French apple brandy — with Starka, a Lithuanian vodka infused with apple leaves and linden flowers.
The Jack Rose has a seedy history. The cocktail's namesake was a bald scoundrel of a man who got away with murder, literally. After arranging the murder of Herman Rosenthal, Jack Rose performed as the star witness in the trial, perjuring to save his neck and send an innocent man to the chair.
If making up for outlawed ingredients isn't your cup of tea, then Jessica Sanders, bartendress at Holland's CityVū Bistro, has a more attainable cocktail for you.
"We call it the Teacher's Pet because it contains a hint of apple, and in September everyone knows school's back in session," Sanders said.
The Teacher's Pet pours a special version of Absolut vodka over ice, then adds a splash of ginger ale and cranberry juice. The special version of Absolut is called Absolut Brooklyn and is flavored with ginger and red apple.
For another back-to-school-minded cocktail, Antonio Ortiz, bar tender at The Union in Kalamazoo, recommends his Chocolate-Covered Cherry.
"It's the perfect first-date drink, for taking out that girl you like but don't necessarily know what she likes," Ortiz says. "It's foolproof."
Ortiz creates this decadent cocktail by infusing vodka with strawberries and cream, then mixing the infusion with amaretto and dark creme de cacao. He then shakes it like a martini and tops it with a little whipped cream.
"It tastes exactly like it sounds," Ortiz said.
