drcocktail

Ok Penwu, this dates from the 1920s or earlier because in the 30s they'd begun using other methods of closure. Traditional genever bottles like this were much the same from the mid-19th century (and before if you except the label) to, as I say, the 1930s. If the bottle has a pontil scar (look it up) on the bottom, that would put it in the 19th century. If it has a mold seam up the side (usually hidden in one of the corners on genever bottles) it is surely 20th century. FWIW, I envy you this lovely acquisition! Hope this helps! --Doc

Notice that Chris noted of the 1/2 oz Angostura: not an error. This is a cocktail that would lose any recipe-judging competition (assuming the rules stipulate the judging must be of the written recipe alone.) Add to that the rare genever, the egg, the gum syrup AND water...it just sounds busy, picky, weird, awful, and just plain wrong. Credit J.P. Morgan (who IS credited for this drink) for more than financial prowess and Chas. Baker, Jr. for having the guts and insight to originally publish it. I think, 65 years later, I was indeed the guy who revived it, in the sadly out of print Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. ***WARNING***SELF-SERVING PLUG ALERT***WARNING I'm pleased to make eGullet the first discussion forum to report....Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails, the Deluxe, Revised edition will be released this year. It has more info, images, and stories on a lot of the rarified cocktails from the first edition (including the Alamagoozlum) but wait, there's more! There are 25% MORE new (meaning old) recipes of great flavor and obscurity to revel in plus more cocktail history and a section of Internet cocktail pioneers where eGullet plays a definite part! The book is bigger, more than double the page count, will open flat, hardback, and bee-yoo-ti-ful. The "where to acquire" section of arcane ingredients has been entirely updated. Release date: July 1st 2009. With any luck, it'll be on sale at Tales of the Cocktail. ***END***SELF SERVING PLUG ALERT***END*** We now return you to your regular programming. --Doc.

I sent Eric Seed samples of the Swedish Punsch brands I own quite some time ago: Cederlund's (once the most famous in America - pretty anemic stuff), Carlshamn's (very nice, stronger - available after Cederlund's retraction from the market in the States), and Grønstedt's Blau (in my view, the best Swedish Punsch out there; smokey & rich.) Wouldn't you know - the Grønstedt's broke. I will say the Facile Punsch E.S. sent me a sample of was maybe even better than Carlshamn's to my tastes. So I know that Eric knows what good Swedish Punsch tastes like, but for a while (and as observed via DW in this thread) I was having difficulty making clear the difference to him between what HE thought Swedish Punsch was supposed to be (the Arrack Punch beverage) and the honest-to-god liqueur that we are discussing. I think he gets it now. For instance, I'm very disinclined to believe there is lemon juice in the liqueur. If there was, well....let me put it this way: I have a full 1930s bottle of Cederlund's and it still has total clarity. You can see through it. Note what happens to cordials and alcoholized syrups that DO have juice in them...think about that 20 year old bottle of Rose's Lime you have stashed away....clear still? Not so much. I AM cheered to see someone cite tea an ingredient. I admit I didn't realise it, but as soon as I read it I KNEW it was right. The Van Oosten Batavia Arrack is, of the 3 brands I have messed with, the best I have EVER tasted. It will make a superb base for Swedish Punsch. I firmly believe Eric will toil away until he gets it right. He's been a hero to us all already! --Doc.

No way. A well-envisioned whole egg or egg yolk cold cocktail will be a lovely thing, and it ought to be the emulsification that makes it so. The viscosity changes, the sense of "richness" is enhanced, the "warmth" or "comfort" character of the drink is extended. Depending on the other ingredients, in a way magnified over egg white. If you are (more than a little) TASTING egg yolk, that was not a very well envisioned cocktail from the git go. Try a Coffee Cocktail. There egg yolk is used to good effect, IMHO. Part of the trick is to forget what you just put in the shaker. Americans tend to shrink from egg. The first step to dominating this fear is egg white. The second is egg yolk. Eventually you have an egg. Not too long ago I had an Absinthe Suisesse down in New Orleans. I ordered it, the bartender paused for a pregnant moment and then set about her duties. She served me the drink with the whole egg instead of just the egg white. It was STILL utterly delightful (and palatable). --Doc.

Northerner changed their rules and won't even entertain a discussion regarding it. When I wrote Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails they WERE shipping. Now, there is no one doing so. I'm working on it. Stay tuned. --Doc.

Yeah, it's a Swedish Punsch made by Henrik Facile in Stockholm, Sweden. ← I'm told he no longer makes it. Any truth to this? And definitely not distributed in the States, right? Thanks! --Doc.

Interesting conjecture. I don't believe the term "pastis" was even in the public parlance in 1930. --Doc.

Troublemaker! What I would propose is that you saw a typo. Duffy's Manual also repeated that recipe, and I know there wasn't anything called "absinthe bitters" in the States. Moreover, Duffy was largely a reprint of Savoy. Subsequent guides publishing the recipe saw Angostura indicated instead. If there WERE such a thing as absinthe bitters, my mind springs to a substance like Chartreuse Elixir Vegetal....a concentrate. Every other ref I've seen to absinthe bitters (or bitter absinthe) by proportions seemed to infer absinthe - just as similar phrasing did for Campari. And as deep into bitters as I am, it would frankly amaze me never to have heard even a whisper of such a thing. One other thought, though: the Waldorf guides mention "Manhattan Bitters" and we take that to mean generic aromatic bitters, suited to a Manhattan. In Jerry Thomas we saw "Bogart's Bitters" a mistranscription of Bokers. Such phantoms gather over time, but neither of those two, so-named, have ever been documented either. Then again, maybe Mr. Craddock was making his own private bitters! Oh, and a final observation: with the legality of absinthe a changing and moving target arount the world these days, we note the term "absinthe bitters" as currently referring to labeling standards for real absinthe being sold in France where it is required that they be labeled as bitters or amer. --Doc.

Well, I am not inclined to necessarily suppose Secrestat Bitters had any predominant anis component. No other gentianes do. Which is not to say that Peychaud (and yes, Angostura too) mightn't use gentian as theiir primary bitter agent, it is just to say that, as with quinquinas, the gentiane style has great similarities between brands. I say "as with quinquinas" so let me illustrate that parallel: Dubonnet, Byrrh, St. Raphael...see? All their own products and formulae, but all within a rather tight spectrum. So it is with gentianes, which, like Suze, tend to be more typified with a definite detectable gentian FLAVOR as well as bitterness. On the other hand, lots of products use gentian that are NOT gentianes, and you mentioned some. Angostura and Regan's #6 immediately spring to MY mind. Now as to whether simply diluting aromatic bitters would turn them into aperitif bitters, well....kudos, man. That is a bonafide SUPERB question - and I'd say the answer is...yes. Not necessarily a good aperitif bitters, and certainly not one that would fit well into established categories (quniquina, gentiane, absinthe/pastis/aperitif anis). But THAT fact does not pishposh your idea either. Amer Picon, Campari, Fernet Branca, Unicum, Boker's, Hostetters all fell outside of strict categories. The jury is still out on Khoosh. Someday I may extract some of my Secrestat just to put the flavor question to rest, and when I do, I'll be sure to let the results be known here on eGullet! And eje, "absinthe bitters" were just absinthe just as "Campari Bitters" or "Bitter Campari" were just Campari. Just another way they were expressed among bartenders and devotees that found its way, occasionally and piecemeal, into barguides of previous eras. --Doc.

Hi all, at Erik's request I'm poking my head in here; something I don't do nearly often enough! I have a full Secrestat Bitters. It WAS an aperitif bitters. I have not sampled it, but it likely conforms to the general characteristics of French Amers. In fact it was a special subcategory of aperitif bitters known (as thirtyoneknots' poster link clearly shows) as Gentiane(s). This means the bitter constituent in it was gentian, while the bittering agent in absinthe was wormwood and the bitter component in all quinquinas (Dubonnet, Byrrh, Cap Corse, St. Raphael) was quinine. Of course, Secrestat, like Angostura (but not like Peychaud) was the name of a company, not just a product, and Secrestat made an absinthe (and later an absinthe substitute - pictured here.) as well as the once-famous Tonicola, but neither were the iconic bitters. They also made a whole range of liqueurs not unlike Bardinet or Cointreau back in the day. It bears noting that absinthe itself was an aperitif bitters, but Secrestat was more akin to Amer Picon and even to Suze than to absinthe. That the Secrestat COMPANY once made an absinthe and later an absinthe substitute explains the absinthe spoon neatly, but the fact that the Robys poster is unquestionably showing Secrestat Bitters being poured over the slotted spoon crowned with a sugar cube suggests that they were making a contention that the old absinthe technique suited gentianes as well. This was not a commonly held belief. Gentianes are rather uncommon outside of France, but here is one brand and here is another. Hugs and toasts to all, --Doc.

I'd say, deftly donning my Sherlock Holmes chapeau, the answer is elementary - we have all the evidence we need before us: 3 parts Charbray orange vodka, 1 part fresh lime juice, 1 part Belle de Brillet Pear Liqueur....and a big honking slice of avocado, yumm! Always glad to be of service, --Doc.

Hail all, after so long a sojourn! I just happened on this thread, and as serendipity and fortuitous timing would have it, I just posted a rather exhaustive article on this very subject! Stop by, won't you? Cheers and hugs to all my pals! --Doc.

Sam, Nursie might agree with you. As for me, I hate peering at the glass (or worse, metal) all-in-one pourer. When I have a number of guests over, I am so much faster with my 3 (6) jiggers sizes and I can see the measurement I need immediately by the (comparitive) size of the jigger. I suffer every time I have to use an an-in-one. That said, Nursie makes me great Martinis with her chosen all-in-one glass measurer: (That's 1/2 a rabbit of dry vermouth and a full jackass of gin!) --Doc.

As a matter of fact, I just created a bar set for Nurse Cocktail's niece's wedding gift (got that?) I put it all together from scratch and composed a instruction/explanation document for it which I am providing a link to right here: Doc's cocktail set (redacting only their names.) Most of it is self explanatory, but the juicer is one of those tall steel ratcheted machines with an pull arm like on a one-armed bandit. The shaker is lovely and, with rubber gaskets all around, particularly simple to use. This to me, was a sane cocktail kit. As I say in the text, you still need glasses, plates, linens (and booze) but this is otherwise all I need when I make drinks. --Doc.

I love this thread, not only because I adore aquavit, (be it the aged Linie or the bracing-but-succulent Aalborg) but because you all have come up with a set of recipes that, to a one sound delicious. I want to try them all. 2 or 3 years ago I came up with this one: Le Corbusier 3 oz aquavit 1/4 oz (2 tsp) crème de cassis 1/4 oz orange juice Combine ingredients in iced cocktail shaker, Shake & strain into cocktail glass Add a thin float of soda water Garnish with orange peel --Doc.