MxMo XXII

[eje]

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 Mondays.

This month's event is being hosted by Jeffrey over on his blog Jeffrey Morgenthaler. The theme is "Repeal Day!"

Jeffrey explains the criteria:

I have been given the honor of hosting next month’s Mixology Monday here, and since it is in such close company with December 5th, which is Repeal Day, I’ve decided to try to combine the two and have a little fun with it.

So, for this round of MxMo, you’re going to need to write about a pre-Prohibition-era cocktail, tell a Repeal Day story, create an original drink inspired by Prohibition, etc.

If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail in this topic before Monday, December 3rd at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and email them to the organizer.

Post those prescriptions and I'll get them to the apothecary before the 3rd!

[lancastermike]

Erik,

Here is a link to an old topic about this subject

Repeal

Edited November 26, 2007 by lancastermike (log)

[eje]

Also check out Jeffrey's repeal day website:

Repeal Day is December Fifth

There are no outfits to buy, costumes to rent, rivers to dye green. Simply celebrate the day by stopping by your local bar, tavern, saloon, winery, distillery, or brewhouse and having a drink. Pick up a six-pack on your way home from work. Split a bottle of wine with a loved one. Buy a shot for a stranger. Just do it because you can.

[eje]

Of the many interesting cocktails in Wondrich's "Imbibe!", the "Buck and Breck" caught my eye. Primarily because Wondrich notes it was one of the few cocktails Jerry Thomas claimed to have invented, but also because he notes it was a West Coast cocktail, perhaps served at the legendary Bank Exchange Bar here in San Francisco.

Apparently, named after James Buchanan, (who Wondrich notes, "until very recent times...was a candidate for worst president in American history,") and his running mate John C. Breckenridge in the 1856 presidential election, it also is interesting in that it inverts the usual sugar rim, by coating the inside of the glass.

Buck and Breck.

Fill a small bar-glass with water and throw it out again, then fill the glass with bar sugar and throw that out, leaving the glass apparently frosted inside.  Pour in a jigger (1 1/2 oz) of Cognac (and a dash of Absinthe and two of Angostura Bitters) and fill the glass with cold champagne.  Then smile.

Source:  Cocktail Boothby's "American Bartender, 1900"

Well, the glass is a bit on the large size. Probably something like a double old-fashioned would be what is called for. Even with chilled champagne this is a bit warm. I'd say it might not be a horrible idea to give the brandy, bitters and absinthe a quick spin with some ice in a mixing tin.

A couple years ago, one of our local breweries had these amusing bar coasters made up with replicas of a prohibition era, "Prescription Form For Medicinal Liquor."

"Doctor, Doctor give me the news, I've got a bad case of..."

Edited December 2, 2007 by eje (log)

[JAZ]

My drink of choice was from Prohibition: the Scofflaw, which I first read about in Harrington's Cocktail and then in Dr. Cocktail's Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. Although the two books agree on the origins of the cocktail (Harry's New York Bar in Paris; 1924), the recipes diverge slightly. I went with a combination of the two:

1.5 oz. rye (Rittenhouse bonded)

1 oz. dry vermouth (Niolly Prat)

1/2 oz. lemon juice

1/4 oz. grenadine (homemade)

It's a very good drink -- a more interesting, fruitier version of a whiskey sour -- if not terribly complex. I'll be making it again.

[thirtyoneknots]

Not terribly original I know, but tonight I had a friend in town who I hadn't seen in many months, so we combined our fellowship in with our Repeal Day observance: first, Sidecars, then some nice Rye Manhattans, then a lovely bottle of Australian Shiraz (2004 D'Arenberg The Love Grass, if you care) to go with some ribeyes and lamb chops off the grill, followed up by a little jot over to one of our favorite spots out in town here for a pint where we played a trivia game with a nice guy named Zack who it just so happens is on the cusp of graduating (this very month), so I decided to introduce him to the joys of Red Breast, which was the whiskey present that I liked most. All in all a wonderful celebration of our Right to Imbibe.

-Andy

[eje]

The very busy Jeffrey Morgenthaler got half the roundup written up before he had to jet off to New York to promote repeal day for Dewars:

Mixology Monday: Prohibition

Jimmy Patrick finished off the job of summarizing the MxMo posts here on his blog:

Mixology Monday: Wrap-up part II