The Jack Rose cocktail was first mentioned in The National Police Gazette in 1905. According to the source “Frank J. May, better known as Jack Rose, is the inventor of a very popular cocktail by that name, which has made him famous as a mixologist”.

Didn’t take long to be seen in cocktail books. The first was Jacob A. Grohusko’s 1908 Jacks Manual where he calls for cider brandy, lime juice, orange juice, lemon juice, raspberry syrup, sugar syrup, and filled up with fizzy water. The recipe was kept the same on his next editions of 1910 and 1916.

However, the cocktail changed in Jacques Straub’s 1914 Drinks Manual where was reduced to just three ingredients, which brings us closer to the modern-day recipe. The ingredients are Apple Jack, lime and grenadine.

Jack Rose recipe has been confirmed in historical books such as Albert S. Crockett’s 1935 Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar where tells another possible connection to the name, “so-called because if its pink colour, the exact shade of Jacqueminot rose when properly concocted.”

The recipe can also be found in David A. Embury’s 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.