Depth Bomb – Recipe below from David Embury’s ‘The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks’

Applejack can, of course, be combined with other spirituous liquors, as has already been seen. One such cocktail is the Depth Bomb, in which it is combined with cognac. Whoever named this drink apparently thought it was peculiarly potent, but don’t let the name deceive you. It would be exactly as potent—no more and no less—if it were made with either liquor alone. 

DEPTH BOMB 

1 part Grenadine 

2 parts Lemon Juice 

4 parts Cognac 

4 parts Apple Brandy 

Shake with cracked ice. 

I have already pointed out that the principal reason why apple brandy does not enjoy greater popularity is the fact that it is practically impossible to find any on the market that has been sufficiently aged to develop that mild, bland, delicious taste which characterizes all well matured liquors. If you are fortunate enough to possess any well-made applejack that has been aged in the wood for even five or six years, but still better eight or ten, you will be reasonably safe to substitute this for cognac in practically any recipe calling for brandy. The flavour of the drink will be different, but it will be equally delightful. You can also use it as a substitute in most whisky drinks.

Tonight I met up with a friend in the drinks business, from the supply side. It’s strangely exciting at present with companies going bust at a rate of knots, and the reasons behind it reminded me of the advantages of growing at a steady speed, instead of rushing things and finding yourself over-exposed when something goes wrong.

The whole industry is in a bit of flux at present, not only are distributors suffering, but so are traders with Brexit induced anxiety crippling the labour market, exchange rates pushing up produce costs, an enormous rates hike and minimum wage creeping up, it’s not a glamourous time.

Dinner however was great, I got to meet a 70 year old fixture of Charlotte street who was very entertaining and knowledgeable on all things west end, and who for better or worse, had a never ending supply of Zivania (Cypriot Raki).

It was a long way from a cocktail bar (the food was excellent) so I had to wait until stumbling in late to fix my daily drink, a process which combines matching my poorly kept home bar with recipes in Embury through the blur of zivania until I found a winner, and tonight it was a Depth Bomb. I would like to agree with Embury, it’s a standard drink, I don’t think it’s any more or less scary than any other drink, and after copious zivania it tasted delicious, the grenadine pairs very nicely with the applejack and cognac, although I did increase the proportion a little.

There are a lot of depth bomb cocktails online and although this recipe has made it into the Savoy guide and Mr Boston as well, it’s hard to find outside of those tomes. Most of the other versions involve dropping a shot of something nasty into a pint, something I’m sure we’ll all tried at some stage (and regretted).