Stomping Through the "Savoy" (2009–)

[eje]

New York Cocktail.

1 Lump Sugar. (1 Demerara sugar cube)

The Juice of 1/2 Lime or ¼ Lemon. (1/4 lemon squeezed into tin)

2 Dashes Grenadine. (1 tsp homemade)

1 Piece Orange Peel.

1 Glass Canadian Club Whisky. (2 oz Rittenhouse Bonded)

(Muddle sugar cube in lemon juice and grenadine. Squeeze orange peel over drink and drop in. Add Whiskey and…) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (If you feel inspired, add a cherry.)

Similar method and ingredients to the Mr. Manhattan Cocktail. Even though sources indicate this cocktail is from Hugo Ensslin, it makes me wonder if they might originally have come from the same source.

A perfectly delightful old fashioned preparation of a Whiskey sour.

[eje]

Nick’s Own Cocktail.

1 Dash Angostura Bitters.

1 Dash Absinthe. (Verte de Fougerolles)

1/2 Italian Vermouth. (1 oz Dolin Rouge)

1/2 Brandy. (1 oz Cognac Dudognon)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass Add cherry and squeeze lemon peel on top.

Robert Vermeire, in his “Cocktails: How to Mix them” tells us this is a, “Recipe by A. Nicholls, London, 1922.”

A very enjoyable cocktail, and the first cocktail I’ve found where Dolin Rouge is a clear winner as a sweet vermouth.

Also the one of the first uses of the Dudognon Cognac in the Savoy Stomp. There’s a bit of a story there.

I was called for my annual Jury Service last fall. Fortunately after about 2 days of dithering they released the lucky few unselected jurors and let us go home. It was about 3 in the afternoon and I was downtown. A beautiful and unusually hot San Francisco day. I thought to myself, “Self, I could use a Pimm’s Cup after all that!”

So I headed down to the source for the best Pimm’s Cups in the world, The Slanted Door. No, I’m not biased at all. Anyway, after availing myself of a Pimm’s Cup and maybe another drink or two, a gentleman came in to the bar with a couple bottles of wine, Armagnac, and Calvados for the bar manager to try. Luckily he sat right next to me.

Turned out, it was Charles Neal, of Charles Neal Selections, an importer of some wonderful French products. We got to talking. I mentioned my eternal Brandy dilemma asking, “Is there a good brandy at a reasonable price?” About all I could get out of him was, “You get what you pay for.”

Not willing to let it rest there, I brought up the Cognacs and Armagnacs of a relatively well known commercial firm, saying I didn’t think they were so bad. I won’t mention the name of the firm or his exact words, but the brand did incite some excited comments from Mr. Neal. Suffice it to say, he did not think much of the firm’s products and did not hesitate to express himself explicitly.

As the discussion and drinking continued, the bartender ordered us some food saying, “I’m not going to let either of you go home to your families, having drunk so much on an empty stomach.” The food was, as usual, quite tasty. If the spot prawns are still on the menu, order them!

As I was heading out, the bartender handed me a worn copy of Mr. Neal’s book, “Armagnac: The definitive Guide to France’s Premier Brandy,” perhaps, so I would be better prepared the next time we met. Mr. Neal and I exchanged good byes, parted in good spirits, and went home to make dinner for our families.

Reading Mr. Neal’s Book, I really started to understand more of his perspective. How so many of the small distillers and growers of Cognac and Armagnac have fallen out of fashion, out of style, or been squeezed out of business. Not to mention how important it is to support the people who make or import a product you can truly respect.

After my interrogation, I figured I at least owed it to Mr. Neal to try one of his Cognacs, especially since he struck me as someone whose point of view I could respect.

So here we are, making a cocktail with the Dudognon Cognac he imports. It certainly is not cheap, but neither is it much more expensive than most other decent Cognacs.

To get back to the Dolin Rouge, I find it is a lighter not so sweet vermouth, so it doesn’t do much to obscure the spirit in the cocktail. One of the distributors recently went so far as to say, “A Manhattan with Carpano Antica is a Vermouth Cocktail. A Manhattan with Dolin Sweet is a Whiskey Cocktail.” That sounds a bit too much like they had been drinking the Haus Alpenz “Kool-Aid”, but it is a fair point.

In this case, the Dolin Rouge does just provides just some small accent, allowing the Dudognon Cognac to be the star of the drink.

Which is a very good thing.

[slkinsey]

One of the distributors recently went so far as to say, “A Manhattan with Carpano Antica is a Vermouth Cocktail.  A Manhattan with Dolin Sweet is a Whiskey Cocktail.”  That sounds a bit too much like they had been drinking the Haus Alpenz “Kool-Aid”, but it is a fair point.

Of course it's also fair to point out that the Manhattan is supposed to be a vermouth cocktail.

[eje]

Of course it's also fair to point out that the Manhattan is supposed to be a vermouth cocktail.

←

Ha, yeah, I know, and I really enjoy the Thomas Manhattan, especially after dinner.

Strangely, we seem to sell at least a couple of the Savoy Version of that drink (Manhattan No. 1) every time we do Savoy night at Alembic. Last time someone ordered both no. 1 and no. 2 on the same order, I guess to do a taste off. So cool.

[eje]

Nicolaski Cocktail

2/3 Brandy. (1 1/2 oz Dudognon Cognac)

1 Slice Lemon with a little castor sugar spread over it.

Drink Brandy through the prepared lemon.

I have to admit the method here has puzzled me for a long time.

But during one of the opening parties for Heaven's Dog one of the waiters came up and asked me if I knew what a Nicol-something Cocktail was. He described it a bit and told me the customer said it was a traditional cocktail. I said, well yes, as a matter of fact I did know the cocktail, but I’d never made one, so I’d do my best. I dredged a lemon in sugar, put it on the plate with a shot of Armagnac and sent it out.

The server came back, the patron wanted instead, a slice of lemon, a pile of sugar, and a shot of brandy.

So there you go.

I’m still unclear on the exact method of imbibing the Nicolaski.

Do you take a sip of brandy and then suck on the lemon, like old school Vodka Lemon Drops? Put the sugar coated lemon in your mouth and then suck the brandy through it? Dredge the lemon in sugar, float it in the brandy and drink it through the lemon?

I tried all three and the first seemed the most sensible to me.

Edited April 25, 2009 by eje (log)

[slkinsey]

I wonder if this is somehow related to a traditional Russian way of drinking tea, in which the drinker places a sugar cube or bit of preserves in the front of his mouth and sips the tea through the sugar or preserves?

[eje]

Night Cap Cocktail

The Yolk of 1 Egg.

1/3 Anisette. (3/4 oz Gantous and Abou Rad Arak)

1/3 Curacao. (3/4 oz Cointreau)

1/3 Brandy. (3/4 oz Dudognon Cognac)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

I’ve written about “Arak” before in the blog post “Ar®a©k Disambiguation“. This "Arak" is the Anise flavored grape based spirit from Lebanon. Because there are various degrees of sweetness in Anisette and Anise flavored liqueurs and this drink is already 1/3 orange liqueur, I figured it would be fun to pretend it called for a dry style anise liqueur and use Arak instead of Anisette.

The Night Cap is also a fine example of me not being able to follow a recipe even though I try hard to read them and execute. I knew I was running low on Cointreau, so stopped to buy some on the way home.

Then I looked at the recipe. Checked for the Orange Curacao in the kitchen cupboard. Headed down to the basement to find the Arak. Came back upstairs and made the recipe with Cointreau. Why, I do not know. Sometimes my hands just don’t tell my brain what they are doing.

So, even though I didn’t really quite make the recipe accurately, ooops, this was quite tasty. Anise and orange are a proven great combination and the brandy brings some sort of other mediation to the party. Definitely an enjoyable cocktail, so I can’t see going back and doing it the “right” way.

[eje]

I wonder if this is somehow related to a traditional Russian way of drinking tea, in which the drinker places a sugar cube or bit of preserves in the front of his mouth and sips the tea through the sugar or preserves?

←

Interesting idea, Sam, especially considering the name. Tell me more.

[slkinsey]

Russian tea has a particular tradition (that I've largely picked up from reading Dostoyevski) . An extra-strong tea is brewed and then diluted with hot water from a samovar for service. It is quite common to float a slice of lemon on top of the tea. And it was quite traditional to hold a sugar cube (not compressed granulated sugar, but a broken-off lump of loaf sugar) between the teeth or a bit of preserves in the front of the mouth, thus sipping the tea through the sugar or preserves.

Some info here: http://teatips.ru/eng/?action=ShowArticle&id=301

[Wild Bill Turkey]

I have to try the Night cap. I know you said the Cointreau was an "accident", but since the word here seems to be that Grand Marnier upgrades curaçao as Cointreau upgrades triple sec, do you think you would have used Grand Marnier had your hands not taken over? Brandy based liqueur in a brandy drink?

[eje]

Nine-Pick Cocktail.

2/3 Absinthe. (1 1/2 oz Sirene Absinthe Verte)

1/3 Gin. (3/4 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin)

1 Dash Angostura Bitters.

1 Dash Orange Bitters. (Angostura)

1 Dash Syrup.

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

This name doesn’t really make sense until you scan the next page…

Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up Cocktail

2/3 Pernod Absinthe.

1/3 Gin.

1 Dash Angostura Bitters.

1 Dash Orange Bitters.

1 Dash Gomme Syrup.

Shake well, strain into medium size wine-glass, and fill balance with soda water.

So the “Nine-Pick” is a shortened version of the “Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up”! I can just imagine some business man saying, “You know I’d like that Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up, but I don’t have time for a long drink. Can you leave out the soda?” Then some smart aleck bartender handing him the cocktail and telling him that without the soda, it’s only a “Nine-Pick”.

With a generous dash of syrup and a nice long, vigorous shake, this is actually not bad. Well, if you like Absinthe, obviously. I chose to use the Hayman’s because it was handy and seemed like it would be interesting, especially since the other 2/3 of the drink was already high test. Turned out to be a good choice with the citrus flavors of the Sirene and Hayman’s complementing each other nicely.

I am kind of cheating here using actual Absinthe. By 1920 Absinthe was banned in most countries, so it is far more likely that this cocktail would be made with Pernod’s newly available Wormwood free product*.

*From this Coctkailtimes article: Absinthe was banned in 1910 in the Switzerland, 1912 in the US, and 1914 in France. In 1920, France again allowed the production of anise flavored drinks. Pernod’s new Wormwood free formulation was one of the first out of the gate.

Edited April 29, 2009 by eje (log)

[Wild Bill Turkey]

That would also explain why it feels balanced with a generous pour of syrup and sweetened gin. The Pernod pastis is syrup-sweet in comparison to absinthe.

[eje]

Nineteen Cocktail.

1 Dash Absinthe. (Verte de Fougerolles)

1/6 Dry Gin. (1/2 oz North Shore Distiller’s No. 11)

1/6 Kirsch. (1/2 oz Clear Creek Kirsch)

2/3 French Vermouth. (2 oz Noilly Original Dry*)

4 Dashes Syrup. (1 tsp. Rich Simple Syrup)

Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass. (Lemon Peel.)

Noilly Prat recently redesigned the bottles for their Sweet and Dry Vermouths. Along with the redesign of the bottles, they discontinued a formula of their Dry Vermouth which they had only been selling in America, standardizing on the “Original French Dry” which has been sold in the rest of the world for all this time.

To explain, some time in the 1960s, as Martinis were getting drier and drier, Noilly Prat launched a new forumula of their Dry Vermouth exclusively for the US.

This is the text of an ad from 1964, turned up by Mr. David Wondrich:

VERY VERY PALE

    So pale that new Noilly Prat French Vermouth is virtually invisible in your gin or vodka. Extra pale and extra dry for today’s correct Martini. DON’T STIR WITHOUT NOILLY PRAT.

Well, as you can see from the picture of the drink above, Noilly Dry is invisible no longer! Most Martinis with more than a splash of vermouth, will now take on a distinct amber hue from the darker color of the Noilly Dry Vermouth.

The difference in the two versions that were sold was primarily a larger percentage of aged wine in the “Original French Dry”.

As far as taste goes, doing a side by side of the two Noilly, there is a stronger sherry like character in the “new” formula and slightly more pronounced herbal/floral flavor.

A lot of people have gotten up in arms about this, Feeling Noilly has ruined their Martinis forever.

From my perspective, however, we’re probably getting something closer to what Noilly Prat Vermouth would have tasted like in the early part of the 20th Century. In addition we’re getting extra vermouth flavor.

How could that be a bad thing?

For example, I tried making this cocktail with the lighter American Noilly and again with Dolin Dry. I found that I preferred the Original French Dry in this cocktail to either of the other two Dry Vermouths.

While there are other cocktails where I prefer the Dolin Dry, Dry Martinis for example, in more complex or vermouth forward cocktails, the Noilly Prat can bring a bit more interest to the drink.

In regards, the Nineteen Cocktail, it is a light cocktail along the lines of the Chrysanthemum. A good before dinner drink which might even complement an appetizer without getting you totally blitzed on an empty stomach. Or a nice civilized drink to get you back on an even keel after a few more potent potables.

*Noilly Original Dry was received from a marketing firm promoting its launch.

Edited May 1, 2009 by eje (log)

[eje]

Nineteen-Twenty Cocktail

1 Teaspoonful Groseille Syrup. (1 teaspoon Brizard Creme de Cassis)

1/6 Pernod Kirsch. (1/2 oz Clear Creek Kirsch)

1/6 Crystal Gin. (1/2 oz North Shore Distiller’s No. 11)

2/3 French Vermouth. (2 oz Noilly Original Dry Vermouth)

1 Dash Absinthe. (Verte de Fougerolles)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (Luxardo Cherry.)

Obviously very similar to the preceding “Nineteen Cocktail”. The only real difference being using the Groseille (aka Red Currant) Syrup as a sweetener instead of plain syrup. I’m substituting the Brizard Cassis for the Groseille. If you didn’t have that around, Grenadine would likely be your next best choice.

I enjoyed both of these light, low alcohol cocktails, but to be honest I kind of preferred the cleaner flavor of the Nineteen to the the Nineteen-Twenty.

[thirtyoneknots]

Nineteen-Twenty Cocktail

1 Teaspoonful Groseille Syrup. (1 teaspoon Brizard Creme de Cassis)

1/6 Pernod Kirsch. (1/2 oz Clear Creek Kirsch)

1/6 Crystal Gin. (1/2 oz North Shore Distiller’s No. 11)

2/3 French Vermouth. (2 oz Noilly Original Dry Vermouth)

1 Dash Absinthe. (Verte de Fougerolles)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (Luxardo Cherry.)

Obviously very similar to the preceding “Nineteen Cocktail”. The only real difference being using the Groseille (aka Red Currant) Syrup as a sweetener instead of plain syrup. I’m substituting the Brizard Cassis for the Groseille. If you didn’t have that around, Grenadine would likely be your next best choice.

I enjoyed both of these light, low alcohol cocktails, but to be honest I kind of preferred the cleaner flavor of the Nineteen to the the Nineteen-Twenty.

←

Having made some redcurrant syrup from a Perfect Puree sample, I would say that grenadine is probably a closer approximation than Creme de Cassis. Shame that Redcurrant isn't a more popular/common flavor in the States, it really has a unique flavor dimension than grenadine or raspberry syrup.

[eje]

Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up Cocktail

2/3 Pernod Absinthe. (1 1/2 oz Henri Bardouin Pastis)

1/3 Gin. (3/4 oz Beefeater’s Gin)

1 Dash Angostura Bitters.

1 Dash Orange Bitters. (1 dash Angostura Orange Bitters)

1 Dash Gomme Syrup. (1/3 tsp. Rich Simple Syrup)

Shake well, strain into medium size wine-glass, and fill balance with soda water.

We’ve discussed “Absinthe” quite a bit previously, most recently on the Nine Pick and Monkey Gland Cocktails.

The question here is, “What would this cocktail have been made with? True Absinthe or a Wormwood free substitute like Pernod or Ricard?”

As we noted before, Absinthe was banned in most countries between 1910 and 1915. Therefore, in pretty much any cocktail recipe calling for “Absinthe” and dating from 1920 through to 2006, the author really means Pernod or Ricard.

Fortunately, in the case of this cocktail it is an easy call. The name suggests it is from 1920 and it uses the term “Pernod Absinthe” in the recipe. 1920 was the year France once again allowed anise flavored liqueurs to be manufactured and sold. Pernod et fils was one of the first out of the gate with a wormwood-free reformulation of its Absinthe.

So, yeah, this recipe should be made with a Wormwood-free anise flavored liqueur.

I’m using Henri Bardouin Pastis, which is one of my favorite Wormwood-free Anise flavored beverages. It’s a bit less sweet and more complex than Pernod, Herbsaint, or Ricard. The only downside to using Bardouin Pastis in cocktails is that some of the flavoring oils have a tendency to drop out of solution when it is shaken with ice and chilled rapidly. It’s still tasty, but the oils float to the top and form an ugly white film.

The big difference between Absinthe and most of the Wormwood-free substitutes, aside from the lack of Artemesia absinthium in the botanicals, is the presence of sugar in the product.

When making an Absinthe drip, most people add at least some sugar. When Pernod et fils developed their new products post-ban, it seems like they made a conscious decision to make the Absinthe ritual simpler. They added sugar to the products in the bottle. So instead of the whole dripping water over sugar into the Absinthe, all you had to do was add water.

You can make this cocktail with Absinthe or with a Wormwood-free substitute. Simply take into consideration the lack of sugar in the Absinthe and go a bit heavier on the Sugar Syrup.

For some reason, maybe it’s the large portion of Absinthe, someone inevitably orders one of these every time we do Savoy Cocktail Book night at Alembic Bar. It’s hard to mind too much, as the soda sort of mitigates the large portion of spirits. Anyway, if you like Absinthe, it’s actually quite a pleasant drink to sip on a hot day.

[eje]

Nose-Dive Cocktail

Take one hooker of Gin (Beefeater’s), place in it an olive (Picholine Olive), then deposit the glass carefully in the bottom of an ordinary tumbler. Fill the said tumbler with Water, Ginger Ale, or What Have You (Fever Tree Bitter Lemon), until almost to the top of the small glass, then down the whole thing quickly. That is, everything but the small glass.

Note: This Cocktail is very among pilots on American Flying Fields.

Judge Junior tells us the cocktail was, “Contributed by “Billy” from Wheeler field, Hawaii. This is the aviator’s favorite—let’s go.”

A “hooker”, as far as I can tell, refers more to a type of glass than an actual measure. My guess is it is probably the type of small shot glass that is so common in antique and second hand stores. In any case, it has to fit inside an “ordinary tumbler”.

Every once in a while you hear some joker banging on about “The Golden Age of Cocktails” or some such. Some mythic time when everyone drank civilly and comported themselves with dignity for the entire course of the evening.

The fact of the matter is, drinking, for various reasons, is sometimes about getting drunk, whether it is Vodka and Red Bull in 2009, a tequila slammer in 1990, or a Nose Dive Cocktail in 1930.

Really enjoying this Fever Tree Bitter Lemon, by the way. Gin and Bitter Lemon is a great combo.

Edited May 7, 2009 by eje (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Judge Junior tells us the cocktail was, “Contributed by “Billy” from Wheeler field, Hawaii. This is the aviator’s favorite—let’s go.”

←

Wikipedia tells us that no less an aviator than Billy Mitchell was stationed in Hawaii around 1924-25. I wonder if there is a connection.

While (sort of) on the subject of Judge Jr., does anyone know anything about who this guy was and how he came by so many sketchy drink recipes?

[eje]

Odd McIntyre Cocktail.

1/4 Glass Lemon Juice. (3/4 oz Lemon Juice)

1/4 Glass Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Underhill Kina Clone)

1/4 Glass Cointreau. (3/4 oz Cognac)

1/4 Glass Brandy. (3/4 oz Dudongon Cognac)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Third time we’ve made this exact cocktail. Previously we’ve known it as the “Frank Sullivan” and “Hoop La!“. It still is a Corpse Reviver No. 2, with Brandy instead of Gin, and no Absinthe.

It is also still an enjoyable, if not amazing, cocktail.

To quote from the Wikipedia:

Oscar Odd McIntyre (February 18, 1884, Plattsburg, Missouri - February 14, 1938, New York City, New York) was a famed New York newspaper columnist of the 1920s and 1930s. The Washington Post once described his column as “the letter from New York read by millions because it never lost the human, homefolk flavor of a letter from a friend.”

For a quarter of a century, his daily column, “New York Day by Day,” was published in more than 500 newspapers.

As regards cocktails, Mr. McIntyre was one of the founding members, along with Harry McElhone, of the I.B.F. or International Bar Flies, an organization reputedly started as a press stunt at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris some time around Christmas of 1924. See the Mud Puddle books edition of Harry and Wynn’s “Barflies and Cocktails” for more information regarding that institution.

Edited May 9, 2009 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

1/4 Glass Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Underhill Kina Clone)

interesting clone recipe. why was the wine heated in the beginning if the sugar could just be stirred in?

i think those orange products are about blending different types of peels to create a particular shade of orange-orientated fruit. green, sweet, & seville. finding something seductive can probably be made easier by tracking down an interesting moscat style wine rather than mastering the orange. producers probably have to change their tricks and rely more on the peels when they scale up immensely. they use ingenuity to make flavors found only in rare dessert wines affordable. for us its probably just cheaper to slightly augment the rare dessert wine.

great wine picks to consider in a blend would be capanna's moscadello de montalcino which is epic moscat with far more orangey fruit character than the typical melon.

another cool dessert wine that made me think of such a project is donnafugata's passito di panteleria. a small amount in the blend would be killer.

[eje]

1/4 Glass Lemon Juice. (3/4 oz Lemon Juice)

1/4 Glass Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Underhill Kina Clone)

1/4 Glass Cointreau. (3/4 oz Cognac)

1/4 Glass Brandy. (3/4 oz Dudongon Cognac)

Oops, that should be:

1/4 Glass Lemon Juice. (3/4 oz Lemon Juice)

1/4 Glass Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Underhill Kina Clone)

1/4 Glass Cointreau. (3/4 oz Cointreau)

1/4 Glass Brandy. (3/4 oz Dudongon Cognac)

[eje]

interesting clone recipe.  why was the wine heated in the beginning if the sugar could just be stirred in?

[...]

←

Along with dissolving the sugar, I wanted to get better expression of the spices. Many of these, I have found, especially cinnamon, do not express themselves particularly well through simple infusion.

To be honest, I don't really find I have as much of a feel for aromatizing wine, as I do for liqueur and syrup making. I feel like I'm still making crayon drawings or caricatures of the commercial products.

I'm kind of getting to the point where I almost don't see much benefit of even trying to do it, as the commercial products are so much superior.

[thirtyoneknots]

1/4 Glass Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Underhill Kina Clone)

interesting clone recipe. why was the wine heated in the beginning if the sugar could just be stirred in?

i think those orange products are about blending different types of peels to create a particular shade of orange-orientated fruit. green, sweet, & seville. finding something seductive can probably be made easier by tracking down an interesting moscat style wine rather than mastering the orange. producers probably have to change their tricks and rely more on the peels when they scale up immensely. they use ingenuity to make flavors found only in rare dessert wines affordable. for us its probably just cheaper to slightly augment the rare dessert wine.

great wine picks to consider in a blend would be capanna's moscadello de montalcino which is epic moscat with far more orangey fruit character than the typical melon.

another cool dessert wine that made me think of such a project is donnafugata's passito di panteleria. a small amount in the blend would be killer.

←

As an aperitif from Bordeaux, shouldn't the wine base be a Sauv Blanc/Semillon blend and the fortifying spirit be Armagnac? The stuff sort of retains a trace of Semillon varietal character, I think.

[eje]

Oh Henry! Cocktail

1/3 Benedictine. (1 oz Benedictine)

1/3 Whisky. (3/4 oz Famous Grouse, 1/4 oz Jon Mark and Robbo Smokey Peaty One)

1/3 Ginger Ale. (1 oz Bundaberg Ginger Beer)

Stir well and serve.

This cocktail comes from Judge Jr.’s Prohibition era tome, “Here’s How.” In that book the recipe is given as: “1 jigger of Benedictine; 1 jigger of Scotch; 2 jiggers of ginger ale,” which seems a bit more sensible. Judge Jr. also notes this cocktail was, “Originated by Henry Oretel and believe us Henry knows his liquids!” I can dig up no information on Mr. Oretel.

While tasty, this is way too sweet for me. I think even with 2 parts ginger beer to 1 part Scotch and Benedictine. If I had to do it over, I would go with: 1/2 oz Benedictine, 1 1/2 oz Scotch. Build over ice and top up with Ginger Beer.

[eje]

Old Etonian Cocktail

2 Dashes Orange Bitters. (Angostura Bitters)

2 Dashes Crème de Noyau. (2/3 barspoon Rowley Noyau)

1/2 London Gin. (1 1/2 oz North Shore Distiller’s No. 11)

1/2 Kina Lillet. (1 1/2 oz Homemade Lillet Clone)

Shake will and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.

Lot of homemade shit in this one, eh?

Now you know when you get liqueur in a bottle as confidence inspiring as the above, you are in for a treat.

Matt Rowley, being the fearless man that he is, made a batch of Noyau earlier this year: If I Had a Hammer. The minute after I read his post, I had an email out to Rowley asking if he was interested in a trade of Noyau for Nocino. He was amenable and soon a bottle of Noyau appeared in the mail.

Zyklon B or no, it is tasty stuff. If you don’t have an enterprising friend like Rowley, the usual substitution of Amaretto will likely be fine.

The cocktail is one of the more pleasing in recent memory. The bitter almond and cherry-like flavor of the Noyau combines quite well with the slightly sweet oranginess of the Kina Lillet Clone. I can only imagine it would be tastier with Cocchi Americano.

Edited May 13, 2009 by eje (log)