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Well, it is my understanding that, until someone came up with the pickled onion idea in the 40s or 50s, the defining difference between the Gibson and the Dry Martini was the lack of orange bitters in the Gibson. Mostly, I read this anecdote as taking the Savoy author(s) to task for altering the recipe and adding bitters to the Lone Tree "Cocktail". Whether you consider a mixed drink without bitters a cocktail or not. I mean, since Craddock and the Savoy editors stamp just about every drink in the Savoy Cocktail Book a "cocktail" whether it has bitters or not, it seems that fight had already been lost by the 1930s. Now if we can just get people to stop calling fruit flavored vodka drinks Martinis...

Lone Tree Cocktail 2 Dashes Orange Bitters. 1/3 Italian Vermouth. 1/3 French Vermouth. 1/3 Dry Gin. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. So, apparently, the authors of the Savoy Cocktail book came into a bit of hot water for publishing this version of the Lone Tree. In the second edition of the Savoy, they included the following at the back of the book: Anyway, while looking through various cocktail books, I found a version of the Lone Tree in a recently acquired version of Jacques Straub's "Drinks" from 1914. His version of the Lone Tree is about the same as above, 2/3 Gin & 1/3 Italian Vermouth, except that it calls for Tom Gin. So... 1 1/2 oz Tanqueray Malacca Gin. (Thanks again Mike and Jenny!) 3/4 oz Carpano Antica Vermouth. dash Depaz Cane Syrup. Stir well and strain into a cocktail glass. Lemon Peel A tasty and bitterless cocktail, who'd a thought? Welcome to the future!

If any of you read (or write) blogs which cover cocktails, you might know that Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Monday. This month's event is being hosted by Kevin over on his blog Save the Drinkers The theme is Local Flavor!. To quote Kevin from his explanation of the topic: If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail in this topic before Monday, August 11th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and email them to the organizer. This one is right up my alley! I hope you'll also participate. PS. First person to incorporate "XXX" content into their Mixology wins, uh, something. Kudos, at least.

They're available at retail in some states. Unfortunately, not California. Dunno about Texas. Kegworks has them for mail order.

Nah. I'm not sure exactly what the classification "Americano" denotes but Carpano Antica is nowhere near as bitter as Cocchi Americano, Vergano Americano, or any of the chinatos (chinati?) I've tried. Even Punt e Mes is significantly more bitter. At least to me. It just a nice, flavorful Sweet Vermouth.

I like Carpano a lot, but find it has an amusing tutti frutti character which often shows up when combined with just orange bitters or Amer Picon in a drink. Some drinks like a Martinez or Creole Cocktail are almost amusing to me in their fruit candy character if you just use the orange bitters. Usually this can be managed by also including a dash of angostura in the drink. Sometimes I also get something like Marshmallow from the Carpano in drinks. Don't know what that is about. Anyway, I like Dolin Sweet vermouth a lot, from the little exposure I've had to it. It doesn't seem to be quite as heavy in the caramelized sugar as the Carpano. Plus, it isn't quite as expensive. Sadly, hardly anybody carries it, even where it is available.

Or Caster Sugar, if there is some grocery store that carries gourmet sweeteners. But, yeah, as long as you use a dry sugar, any sugar can be made finer. That's why it is called "powdered sugar" in old bar books. Because you crushed or ground it to a powder, from a big block or keg. Of course, not to be confused with modern confectioners' sugar, which usually contains cornstach as a free flowing agent. Never use that for cocktails.

The cocktaildb got most of its recipes by scanning "Jones' Complete Bar Guide". I had thought Jones got most of his recipes by way of Duffy, but it looks like they went through the intermediate step of the 1948 Trader Vic Bartender's Guide, as a few recipes, like the Caprice and Atlas got added that weren't in Duffy. Sort of like a game of telephone, though, the further they get from the originals, the more likely they are to be distorted. For example, the Caprice in Trader Vic is: 1 oz gin; 1/2 teaspoon Dry Vermouth; 1/2 teaspoon benedictine; 2 dashes orange bitters. In Jones it is 1 1/2 oz gin; 1/2 oz Dry Vermouth; 1/2 oz Benedictine; 1 dash orange bitters.

London Buck Cocktail 1 Lump of Ice. 1 Glass Dry Gin. (2 oz No. 209 Gin) The Juice of 1/2 Lemon. 1 Split of Ginger Ale. (Fever Tree) Use long tumbler. As far as I can tell, the term "buck" refers to a drink made with spirits, Lemon, and, generally, ginger ale. The London Buck is not a mind blowing beverage, but it is perfectly tasty and refreshing.

London Cocktail 2 Dashes Orange Bitters. (1 dash Fee's, 1 dash Regan's Orange Bitters) 2 Dashes Syrup. (1/3 tsp. Depaz Cane Syrup) 2 Dashes Absinthe. (1/3 tsp. Absinthe Verte de Fougerolles) 1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4... Oh ok, really, it was 1 ounce Junipero Gin) Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass. I did look in a couple other vintage recipe books for this one, and every one gives the amount of Gin as the same 1/3. To be fair, 3/4 oz isn't an unusual amount of spirits for a Savoy Cocktail. It's just that 3/4 oz of spirits is usually is accompanied by vermouth or some other mixer. I mean this really is just about the Savoy Fourth Degree without the vermouths. I got out my tiniest glass and did my best to respect the recipe. Tasty, anyway. Cold Absinthey, orangey, slightly sweetened gin. I think I'll have another!

Yep! Absolutely. Thus your point below with leaving a collar above the drink for the scent to live on makes complete sense to me.

This might be obvious, but one point re: dash in cocktail vs. rinse is temperature of the aromatics. With a chilled dash of whatever in a cocktail, you're really limiting the amount of aroma you're getting from that ingredient. Where with a room temperature spritz or glass rinse, you are not chilling those aromatics to the same extent, so they can exist more as an out front aroma rather than an in the mouth aroma/taste.

I did some research on this a while ago and wrote it up for one internet site or another. I thought it was eGullet, but can't find it right now. From what I remember, the Bombay brand was created relatively recently from what they claim are historic gin recipes. I'm gonna say 1960s or 1970s, but am not sure about that. Bombay Sapphire gin was one of the first premium gin brands. It was launched by Bacardi in the late 1980s (1987, according to some internet sites I can find.)

Little Princess Cocktail 1/2 Italian Vermouth. (1 oz Carpano Antica) 1/2 Bacardi Rum. (1 oz Montecristo White Rum) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Similar to the Fair and Warmer or Fluffy Ruffles this is a Rum Manhattan. Or really, Rum Lone Tree. But we'll get to the details of that in a couple cocktails. This desperately needs something. A rum with more character, bitters, or a twist. As it is, it tastes like slightly juiced up Carpano Antica. Not a bad thing, but not exactly a cocktail either.

Little Devil Cocktail 1/6 Lemon Juice. (1/2 of 3/4 oz Lemon Juice) 1/6 Cointreau. (1/2 of 3/4 oz Cointreau) 1/3 Bacardi Rum. (3/4 oz Montecristo White Rum) 1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz North Shore No. 6) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. In Harry McElhone's "Barflies and Cocktails" he sez this recipe comes "from Fitz, Ciro’s Bar, London, my late apt pupil." A bit similar to the Blue Devil or Bacardi Special, it's not bad. Dry and mostly ginny. The Montecristo White seems to act mostly as an extender to the gin. I have to admit lately, at Cointreau kind of sweetness levels, I do kind of prefer giving a slight advantage to the liqueur lately rather than the lemon. Something like 3/4 oz of Cointreau and 1/2 oz of Lemon would be about right at my sweet spot at this point in my life for this cocktail.

Interesting. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the shelf life for many of these natural liqueurs is not quite forever, especially after they've been opened. I know someone who recently talked about what they felt like was a pretty dramatic change in the flavor of the Rothman & Winter Violet liqueur over a pretty brief period of time after opening. I don't know if they were imagining it or not, but I can imagine heat exacerbates any change like that.

What can I say, I'm a stickler. I think the combination of Jonge Genever and Irish Whiskey will be tasty. Didn't Wondrich suggest something similar as an Oude Genever substitute in "Imbibe"? A lot of 1930s cocktails with Irish Whiskey seem to include Absinthe as do Gin cocktails like the "Improved Holland Gin Cocktail", so that might be a place to start. Though, many of the Irish Whiskey cocktails include French Vermouth, which allegedly doesn't get along with Genever. I liked this one: John Wood Cocktail 2 Parts Irish whisky. 4 Parts Italian Vermouth 2 Parts Lemon Juice. 1 Part Kummel. 1 Dash Angostura bitters Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Maybe with Genever and a dash of syrup instead of Kummel?

Not sure if you intended to imply this or not, but being the stickler guy that I am, I will point out that I think Genevieve is a modern oude genenver style gin rather than a jonge genever. The reason I say this, is that the differentiation point between jonge genever and oude genever comes down to the amount of malt wine used. Jonge genevers have very little malt wine, being mostly neutral spirits. Oude genevers have a larger percentage of malt wine. Bols Corewyn, for example, is supposed to be made from a distillate of at least 51% malt wine. As far as I know, Genevieve is made on a distillate from 100% malted barley, wheat, and rye. There are no Neutral spirits in the mix at all. To me this makes it an Oude Genever style Gin rather than a Jonge Genever.

Linstead Cocktail (6 People) 3 Glasses Whisky. (1 1/2 oz Sazerac Straight Rye) 3 Glasses Sweetened Pineapple Juice. (1 1/2 oz Knudsen Pineapple Juice) Finish off before shaking with a dash of Absinthe Bitters. (dash Gin and Wormwood) Shake and serve, squeezing a little lemon peel on top of each glass. Since finding a recipe for "Wormwood Bitters" in Eddie Clarke's "Shaking in the Sixties", I have gone so far as to purchase two wormwood plants, grow them in my community garden plot, and infuse a small amount of gin with a few sprigs from the plants. The resulting substance is indeed very bitter, but not entirely unpleasant. I didn't have a lot of hope that the Linstead Cocktail would be all that tasty. I mean, Whiskey, Pineapple, and bitters, how could that even be good? But, somehow it actually is. Oddly found myself savoring and puzzling over the flavors in the cocktail. Far more interesting than those three ingredients have any real right to be. If you don't have your own wormwood plants or don't want to go to the trouble of infusing gin, you could probably substitute "Gorki List" if you've got it around.

Ah, sorry. As always the literalist. Air popped grasshoppers! Very nice, Mr. F. Deko. I applaud your work to champion Sustainable Food Sources (link to recent NY Times article on Entomophagy).

Over in the The original Suffering Bastard on Tiki Central mbanu claims to have discovered an 1959 article in the New York Times which interviews the drink's creator, Joe Scialom. For the life of me I can't find it in the Times Archive, but here's the quote he found: ThinkingBartender, not to be outdone, found the following from an undisclosed source he sez was published in 1972: ThinkingBartender also gives a recipe for it that calls for one ounce of gin and "Two ounces brandy or bourbon". Seems like the Bourbon snuck in a bit later.

Charlie Lindbergh Cocktail 2 Dashes Orange Juice. (2/3 tsp Orange Juice) 2 Dashes Pricota. (2/3 tsp Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot liqueur) 1/2 Kina Lillet. (1 oz Cocchi Americano) 1/2 Plymouth Gin. (1 oz Plymouth Gin) Shake (stir?) well and serve in cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top. I can only assume this is named after Charles Lindbergh, the aviator who flew the first successful non-stop flight between New York and Paris in May of 1927. The cocktail itself seemed a bit, uh, "girly". Nice enough, and all, but more of the sort of drink you'd buy for that cute girl you are trying to impress, than the sort of thing you'd have as a brace up after crossing the Atlantic. If you want to play along and don't have Cocchi Americano, I'd again suggest 1 oz dry vermouth, dash angosutura, dash maraschino liqueur, and an orange twist squeezed into the tin. It's pretty close and might even be better in this particular case.

Hmm? In the San Francisco area Plymouth Sloe gin is retailing for around $35 per 750ml. About the same as Cointreau. And this is at pretty upscale stores. $25-ish for 750ml of Plymouth Gin, even at warehouse liquor stores.

Lily Cocktail 1 Dash Lemon Juice. (ok, a little much, at one teaspoon) 1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Beefeater's Gin) 1/3 Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Cocchi Aperitivo Americano) 1/3 Crème de Noyau. (3/4 oz Luxardo Amaretto di Saschira) Shake (stir?) well and strain into cocktail glass. I still have a dream that I will one day run across Noyau de Poissy, but until then I'm using the Luxardo Amaretto where Crème de Noyau is called for. No great news on the Cocchi Americano front. I got a note from a Corti Bros representative confirming the label rumor I had heard before. He said the producer wants to bring it back into the states again, and is working on re-doing the label. However, they have no idea how long it will take to get the new label past the TTB and new stock into the states. The Lily is on the sweet side, but I'm surprised to admit I found it a fascinating beverage. The Americano and the Amaretto are a really interesting flavor combination.

Liberty Cocktail 1 Dash Syrup. (1/3 tsp. Depaz Cane Syrup) 1/3 Bacardi Rum. (3/4 oz Montecristo White Rum) 2/3 Apple Jack. (1 1/2 oz Germain-Robin Apple Brandy) Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass. (Rosemary Sprig Garnish.) OK, Montecristo isn't really a Cuban style white rum. So sue me. If I ever find the El Dorado White, I'll use that instead. Until then, it's the Montecristo. I guess this is really a sling. Spirits and sugar. Pretty nice, as these sorts of things go. The rosemary was pure embellishment on my part. I like rosemary and apples. I had some rosemary out for dinner. Needed something for the camera to focus on. Actually it turned out to be a decent scent accent for the cocktail.