The Apple Jack Rabbit Cocktail

1 Hooker of Applejack. (1 1/2 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy)
The Juice of 1 Lemon. (1 oz Lemon Juice)
The Juice of 1 Orange. (2 oz Fresh Orange Juice)
1 Hooker of Maple Syrup. (1 1/2 oz Maple Syrup)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

This is a somewhat odd recipe for a few reasons. First, it uses the archaic measure “hooker”. A hooker, as far as I can tell, refers more to a particular type of glass than anything else. It is a small glass which holds a single shot of alcohol. The sort of glass you’d get on the side with a boilermaker.

Second, this recipe has an ungodly amount of maple syrup in it. I really have no idea how it would be remotely drinkable as written above. Maybe maple syrup was different in the 1920s?

Third, it is really large for a drink from this time. No way over 5 oz of liquid is fitting into a cocktail glass. In the picture above, I’ve scaled it down and still had a hard time fitting it in the glass. I’d suggest a double old-fashioned glass.

After all that, though, if you cut back the maple syrup and juice, this is a pretty good cocktail, especially with fresh juice.

In his book, “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks,” David A. Embury suggests the following:

6 part Apple Jack (1 1/2 oz)
1 part Lemon Juice (1/4 oz)
1 part Orange Juice (1/4 oz)
1 part Maple Syrup (1/4 oz)

I’m sure that’s fine, but it’s getting a bit too far from the original ratios of the drink for me.

The ratio I used was:

1 1/2 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
1 oz Fresh Orange Juice
1/2 oz Maple Syrup

Pretty tasty, and I think cuts a nice mid-way path between the candy coated nightmare of the original and the rather austere Embury version.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.