This is an extremely interesting piece but it seems to me there are some big, big leaps in there.
So we have Clove-Pink syrup (flower’s called oeillet grenadin, in French, not grenadine) in the US and pomegranate grenadine in France and they somehow ended up being one and the same thing? I don’t know.
What is undeniable, though, is that bartenders probably never used real pomegranate syrup before the renaissance. Even in France, grenadine had ceased to be pomegranate syrup by the end of the 19th century. Indeed, one even finds ‘grenadine’ recipe made exclusively with citruses…
(The Monkey Gland is an European drink and wouldn’t have been made with soda fountain clove syrup anyway, but with French grenadine, i.e. red berries syrup.)
I was actually quite surprised by the Twitter discussion the other day as I thought it common knowledge. This was one of the first weird historical tidbits shared by @Fernando Castellon that caught my attention all those years ago.
This is of course not the only renaissance mistake. The “you can use Americano instead of Lillet of old” episode comes to mind. Or Meehan’s claim that sweet blanc vermouth is what would have been used in “nearly all early twentieth-century cocktails”. Thankfully, in both cases, said mistakes make for excellent drinks. The same goes for pomegranate syrup: I’m in @RobertSimonson camp here, I’m a big fan of the pomegranate Jack Rose. Authenticity be damned.