Hi, i'm new to the forum, and relatively new to the world of cocktails. I bought Dale DeGroff's Essential Cocktails the other day and I really like it. However, I found a couple of the recipies came out way too sweet for me, i.e.Jack Rose. I don't have the book in front of me, but if I recall correclty it calls for 3/4 oz simple syrup (1.5oz applejack, 3/4oz lemon juice, 1/4oz grenadine). My girlfriend loved this drink, but I had to reshake mine with more juice and applejack, I mean it was unbearably sweet. I also compared the recipe to Gary Regans Bartenders Bible and Colleen Grahams recipe: http://cocktails.about.com/od/cocktailrecipes/r/jack_rose.htm neither of which call for simple syrup. Several of Degroffs recipies call for a lot of simple syrup. One possibility that occured to me is that DeGroffs simple syrup is weaker than mine. He talks about his mixing ratio in the back of the book and it sounds like he dillutes his syrup to make the drink size larger. For convienience, I don't make my own, but buy Monin Pure Cane Sugar syrup. Should I be able to use this as any other simple syrup or is it too concentrated? Anyone have experience with either the Monin syrup or the DeGroff book?
