Cocktails: Same Name, Different Drink

[slkinsey]

I was recently reading through Anthony Giglio's Cocktails in New York, an interesting book on which I shall have more to say anon. Therein I read a recipe for a "Suffering Bastard" that included four kinds of rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and cranberry juice served up in a cocktail glass. Notwithstanding the fact that this sort of concoction is not my cup of (Long Island iced?) tea, this struck me as a very strange recipe for a Suffering Bastard. The recipe with which I am most familiar is a tall drink made with bourbon, gin, lime juice, bitters and ginger ale. This is the recipe found in Dave's Esquire Drinks, and other places. But then I decided to check Dale DeGroff's The Craft of the Cocktail. Dale says it's a "Mai Tai with orange juice" and calls for two kinds of rum, orange curaçao, oregat, orange juice and lime juice served in a tall glass with ice. What gives?

Any other examples of radically different cocktails with the same name?

[Heikki]

Any other examples of radically different cocktails with the same name?

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Do the ones in the Savoy cocktail book count? Some are numbered or otherwise differentiated, such as Rose (English) and Rose (French Style No. 1) and some just have the same name such as the two Queen Elizabeth cocktails which I first noticed when I just opened the book, but none of the same incredients. Actually, the French versions of Rose cocktails are not that different but at least the Corpse Revievers are :)

Heikki

[slkinsey]

Any other examples of radically different cocktails with the same name?

Do the ones in the Savoy cocktail book count? Some are numbered or otherwise differentiated, such as Rose (English) and Rose (French Style No. 1) and some just have the same name such as the two Queen Elizabeth cocktails which I first noticed when I just opened the book, but none of the same incredients. Actually, the French versions of Rose cocktails are not that different but at least the Corpse Revievers are :)

I think some of this may have to do with the fact that a corpse reviver at that time wasn't considered a name for a specific cocktail, rather it was considered the name of an separate class of drink. This is to say that a corpse reviver was not a a cocktail (or a flip, sling, etc.), it was a corpse reviver. Viewed this way, it is not surprising that we have many different corpse reviver recipes just as we have many different flip, sling, toddy, etc. recipes. What makes corpse revivers different is that they don't seem to have been individually named like the others (e.g., Boston flip, rum flip, etc.).

On the other hand, to return to my original example, I don't think "suffering bastard" is an old-school drink classification.

[tryska]

this reminds me - i was reading some bartending guide the other day and there recipe for a black and tan involved whiskey. i was so confused by that, as i've always know it to be stout and lager.

[cakes]

There is/was a drink here in Sarasota that is called a Whisper and was created by a restaurant owner that had had two places, both called The Whisper Inn.

We made the mistake of ordering two of them at a nice place and they tried to look it up with no luck. It is kind of a Smith and Kerns drink.

After the debacle I googled Whisper and found all kinds of completely different drinks, none of which were what we were after.

I thought Smith and Kerns was a well known drink also, but.............

Cakes

[JAZ]

Sam, I don't know if you remember the discussion I had with Julie at the Flatiron, but we were talking about how in San Francisco, a "French Martini" is simply a (gin) martini with Lillet instead of vermouth, but in New York (and presumably elsewhere) it involves cassis and, well, other stuff I can't recall.

So I wonder if at least some of the differences are due to geography.

[the queneau]

Black & Tan - Ale layered onto Stout.

French Martini (Standard) - Vodka, Pineapple Juice & Chambord.

My thoughts are this - bartenders are, on the whole, idiots who are driven by ego. Customers are, on the whole, idiots. And yes, I am both a bartender and a customer.

Consider this:

A bartender fires together some vodka, some saccharine liqueur and a variety of juices. Two of the regular lushs at the bar consider this to be the greatest libation ever created, by dint of the fact that said 'tender is chucking them out for free to his guinea pigs, and the guineau pigs would, in any case, be content drinking kerosene.

Based on this positive reaction, the bartender has his/her ego bolstered as the greatest bartender *evah!*, and sticks this concoction on his/her menu and names it after some activity involving various bodily appendages/fluids. Further customers come into the bar, see it on the menu, and their leather palates are equally as impressed by the muck.

Given that customers are idiots, they invariably go into other bars and assume that the bartender will know every drink ever created, and order the Slippery Sex against a Sloe Mexican Wall or whatever. The bartender, who suffers from similar ego problems to the first bartender, doesn't want to admit that he/she doesn't know the drink, so randomly fires together some rum, some saccharine liqueur and a variety of juices, and states that it is the drink the customers ordered. Other customers see this drink, and ... so the cycle of misfortune is perpetuated.

Meanwhile, in a Neighbouring state, the same thing is happening with a different bartender, and different customers, but, due to a lack of inventiveness, with a drink of the same name (albeit with different ingredients).

In my experience, these problems only arise with drinks that have cuss werds, sexual innuendoes, or the like in the title, as this type of nomenclature is just kerazee, isn't it kids.

Just my tuppence anyhoo.

Edited December 8, 2004 by the queneau (log)

[ludja]

I was recently reading through Anthony Giglio's Cocktails in New York, an interesting book on which I shall have more to say anon.  Therein I read a recipe for a "Suffering Bastard" that included four kinds of rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and cranberry juice served up in a cocktail glass.  Notwithstanding the fact that this sort of concoction is not my cup of (Long Island iced?) tea, this struck me as a very strange recipe for a Suffering Bastard.  The recipe with which I am most familiar is a tall drink made with bourbon, gin, lime juice, bitters and ginger ale.  This is the recipe found in Dave's Esquire Drinks, and other places.  But then I decided to check Dale DeGroff's The Craft of the Cocktail.  Dale says it's a "Mai Tai with orange juice" and calls for two kinds of rum, orange curaçao, oregat, orange juice and lime juice served in a tall glass with ice.  What gives?

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Interesting you should mention this example... I actually like this drink and have had it many times at Trader Vics. They just had a big spread on Trader Vic's in this month's Saveur and published their recipe--

juice of 1 lime,

4 oz Trader Vic's Mai Tai mix (blend of oregeat and orange curaco),

1 oz light rum,

1 oz gold rum, and

1/2 oz dark rum.

Shake with ice and serve over crushed ice.

Garnish w/half of squeezed lime, a cucumber spear and a sprig of mint.

(So this version is somewhat similar to DeGroff's version--but no oj, also, the cucumber and mint are an impt part of what makes it a very interesting drink IMHO. (Also impt-- the healthy amount of lime; this is not a sweet drink),

I know what you mean about the different recipes re:this drink though. Before we could wranple a recipe out of the Trader Vic's bartender awhile back, I searched on the internet and found the bourbon/gin version you mentioned above...

As a side note, the Saveur article gives a provenance of this drink: Shephard's Hotel in Cairo.

[slkinsey]

As a side note, the Saveur article gives a provenance of this drink: Shephard's  Hotel in Cairo.

Interesting. Dave's book credits the Cairo hotel as well, but gives the bourbon/gin version.

[JAZ]

French Martini (Standard) - Vodka, Pineapple Juice & Chambord.

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My point was that in San Francisco, a French Martini is gin and Lillet -- not vodka, pineapple juice and Chambord.

Here's yet another: the Sensation, which can be either an Aviation with mint (which is what I've had by that name) or a brandied port (from the Esquire Drink book).

[Tri2Cook]

Dredging up an old one. While working my way through lists of classic drinks, I came across the Orange Blossom. Gin, Cointreau, OJ. Kinda unexciting. I thought I had a flash of brilliance. I spent a large part of my life in the southeast U.S. and I'm a fan of country music so I thought "make it with bourbon instead of gin, toss in some orange bitters for good measure and call it an Orange Blossom Special". It was way too easy so I googled it and sure enough, it already exists minus the bitters. Maybe I'd seen it at some point while searching recipes and it pushed out of the depths after trying the Orange Blossom. I don't remember having seen it but it's possible. The point I'm slowly working towards is, when I googled "Orange Blossom Special", a large variety of drinks came up with that name. How do you track down a drink name and figure out which version is the real deal? Maybe it's time to start adding a few cocktail books to my bookcase?