MxMo XXXI: 19th Century Cocktails

[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 my fine friends Joe and Dinah at their blog Bibulo.us. The theme is 19th Century Cocktails.

I guess that is pretty self explanatory, they're looking for cocktails which predate 1900. So dust off your copy of David Wondrich's Imbibe! or pull out that copy of Jerry Thomas, William Boothby, or Harry Johnson, and mix us up something interesting.

If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail in this topic before Monday, September 15th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and email them to the organizers.

[eje]

Oddly, at least for the whole MxMo thing, Mondays are usually alcohol free days for me.

And this last week I failed to plan ahead. Plus, between book club gatherings and other celebrations, it really seemed like a good idea to skip the booze today.

So, allegedly, The Horse's Neck of the late 1800s was simply Ginger Ale or Beer with a lengthy lemon twist.

Cut long thick lemon peel from lemon as from an apple and add to glass. Fill glass with ice. Serve with a bottle of ginger ale.

I used the Fever tree. I wouldn't blame you if you dashed in some bitters or even some lemon juice, while you were at it. Or even some gin, if it was Saturday afternoon.

I went with the classic.

Edited September 16, 2008 by eje (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

So I missed out on this, but I thought I'd put one in late anyway. I do have a good excuse for being late: I was attacked by a loose pit bull in my girlfriend's neighborhood last Sunday and was later in the week hospitalised to treat the resulting infection. Everything appears to be ok for now aside from the nasty gash in my leg that will eventually leave a cool looking scar. Due to the pain meds I'm on the cocktailing of late has been minimal, but I thought I'd share the following potion I'd been enjoying lately, renowned for it's "Hair of the Dog" (hah) properties to the sporting crowd of the 19th century:

Absinthe Frappe (my way, adapted from Imbibe!):

1.5 oz Lucid Absinthe

.75 oz 1:1 simple syrup

.75 oz water

Shake very well with a glassful of crushed ice and pour it all back in, adding more crushed ice to fill. I like to use a 12 oz footed beer glass for this. These are the ratios I use for Lucid, if you have a more or less potent absinthe, adjust the booze, sugar, and water amounts accordingly. A highly refreshing way to enjoy absinthe if ever there was one.

-Andy