Stomping Through the "Savoy" (2006–2007)

[eje]

Club Cocktail

2/3 Dry Gin (1 1/2 oz Boodles Gin)

1/3 Italian Vermouth (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)

1 Dash Yellow Chartreuse

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

Here's one I expected to like a lot. While I found it fine, it didn't jump out of the glass at me. I think the Boodles may have been a bad choice. Something like Tanqueray or Junipero would have fought it out more actively with the sweet vermouth and Chartreuse.

Remade with Junipero and Cinzano Rosso, I found I did enjoy it to a much greater extent. Sort of a light version of the Bijou/Jewel.

Really should double strain these stirred cocktails, as pieces of cracked ice sometimes get out around the side of the julep strainer. Not very attractive.

[TBoner]

I think I've seen the above listed somewhere else (Killer Cocktails, maybe?) as the San Martin. I have tried it with green charteuse, which was just too much, I think. I don't have any yellow, but I know of a bottle priced at $18.50 (a bit dusty and in a store that has more than a few incorrectly priced items), so I'll pick some up soon and give it a shot.

I can see where a more assertive junipery gin would be needed here. I wonder if you could get away with Vya sweet with Junipero (or even Beefeater).

[eje]

Coffee Cocktail

The Yolk of 1 Egg.

1 Teaspoonful Sugar or Gomme Syrup.

1/3 Port Wine. (1 oz?)

1/6 Brandy. (1/2 oz?)

1 Dash Curacao.

Shake well, strain into a small wineglass, and grate a little nutmeg on top.

The name of this drink is a misnomer, as coffee is not to be found among its ingredients, but it looks like coffee when it has been properly concocted.

The Savoy recipe for the Coffee Cocktail doesn't make much sense to me. Small, quite sweet, and very eggy. Notably, it is the only Savoy recipe I've noticed so far, where the fractions don't add up to a whole. Typo? Evidence that the fractions are actually portions of some standard measure rather than the total volume of before chill liquids?

Thanks to the DrinkBoy forums, Dale DeGroff, and Darcy O'Neil, I recently found out it is originally from Jerry Thomas' book.

Thomas' version is as follows:

Coffee Cocktail.

(Use a large bar-glass.)

Take 1 tea-spoonful powdered white sugar.

1 fresh egg.

1 large wine-glass of port wine. (2 oz?)

1 pony of brandy. (1 oz?)

2 or 3 lumps of ice.

Break the egg into the glass, put in the sugar, and lastly the port wine, brandy and ice. Shake up very thoroughly, and strain into a medium bar goblet. Grate a little nutmeg on top before serving.

The name of this drink is a misnomer, as coffee and bitters are not to be found among its ingredients, but it looks like coffee when it has been properly concocted, and hence probably its name.

Makes more sense, though uses a whole egg and leaves out the Curacao.

Of particular interest, is the fact that Craddock (or the Savoy editors) leave out the critical, "and bitters," from the comments. So, we see Thomas (or whoever wrote his copy) discriminating a traditional "Cocktail" as containing bitters, while the Savoy pointedly does not.

I split the difference and semi-accidentally upped the booze to port ratio:

Coffee Cocktail

The Yolk of 1 Egg.

1 Teaspoonful Caster Sugar.

1 1/2 oz Ficklin Old Vine Tinta Port.

1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac.

1 Teaspoonful Brizard Orange Curacao.

Shake well, strain into a small wineglass, and grate a little nutmeg on top.

Very nice. I will have to go back and redo it with the proper amounts of port and brandy.

[bostonapothecary]

the coffee cocktail was my first egg drink and i had found it in the bon vivants companion.... it appealed to me because the ingredients were all things i consumed in the morning.... port, cognac, and egg.... they formed like voltron to rival the greatest morning beverage.... coffee! to me it compares not in flavor or anything but in spirit. a very nice pick me up....

[Chris Amirault]

it appealed to me because the ingredients were all things i consumed in the morning.... port, cognac, and egg....

←

I want to eat (drink?) breakfast with you, man.

[eje]

Cold Deck Cocktail

1/4 White Crème de Menthe. (1/4 oz Brizard)

1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Cinzano Rosso)

1/2 Brandy. (1 1/2 oz Maison Surrenne Petite Champagne Cognac)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

Reduced Crème de Menthe a bit. Still the dominating element of the cocktail.

Not sure what I think about this one. It is very minty. Not exactly in an unpleasant way though. Was having some Elk Creamery Camembert de Chevre and crackers at the same time, and expected it would be a bad flavor combination, as many cocktails are. It was actually quite nice.

The Maison Surrenne is a very different Cognac from the Pierre Ferrand Ambre. Stronger in the wood and vegetal characteristics, where the Pierre Ferrand is fruity/citrus and white pepper. It will certainly be interesting to see how it works out in other cocktails.

[eje]

Colonial Cocktail

2/3 Dry Gin. (2 oz Plymouth Gin)

1/3 Grape Fruit Juice. (1 oz fresh squeezed Grapefruit Juice)

3 Dashes Maraschino. (Luxardo)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

While I wouldn't quite call this a "great" or "amazing" cocktail, it is pleasantly refreshing and enjoyable enough. I imagine it would be quite nice on a hot day. If we ever had any of those here in San Francisco.

One thing I noticed was that this flavor combination really highlighted the nutty flavor aspects of the Luxardo Maraschino.

edit - Oh, yeah, not too far from the Daiquiri variant reputedly enjoyed by Hemingway, eh?

Edited August 17, 2007 by eje (log)

[jmfangio]

Colonial Cocktail

2/3 Dry Gin. (2 oz Plymouth Gin)

1/3 Grape Fruit Juice. (1 oz fresh squeezed Grapefruit Juice)

3 Dashes Maraschino. (Luxardo)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

While I wouldn't quite call this a "great" or "amazing" cocktail, it is pleasantly refreshing and enjoyable enough.  I imagine it would be quite nice on a hot day.  If we ever had any of those here in San Francisco.

One thing I noticed was that this flavor combination really highlighted the nutty flavor aspects of the Luxardo Maraschino.

edit - Oh, yeah, not too far from the Daiquiri variant reputedly enjoyed by Hemingway, eh?

←

Or, tweak the proportions a bit and garnish with a ming sprig, and it's a Seventh Heaven No. 2. I haven't tried this version, but I quite like the Seventh Heaven. However, these two recipes remind me of what Martin Doudoroff said way back on the second page of this thread, regarding the Savoy as an early example of a 'shovelware' book, "- many recipes are essentially identical except for name or some trivial detail."

[eje]

Cooperstown Cocktail

1/3 French Vermouth. (1 oz Noilly Prat Dry)

1/3 Italian Vermouth. (1 oz Cinzano Rosso)

1/3 Dry Gin. (1 oz Junipero Gin)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. Add a sprig of Mint.

I first made this cocktail with another of our local gins, No. 209.

Unfortunately, it really didn't have the Cojones to stand up to the dual vermouths in these proportions.

With the Junipero, it is a pretty enjoyable cocktail. A dash or two of bitters, and we'd be cooking with gas.

[eje]

Cordova Cocktail

2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Tanqueray)

1 Dash Absinthe. (Lucid Absinthe)

1 Teaspoonful Fresh Cream.

1/3 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Cinzano Rosso)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

I was making dinner and had some fennel fronds around, so I dropped a couple on top.

This was kind of weird.

Cream, Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Absinthe really isn't a combination I would think of.

It's not a bad cocktail; but, really didn't do a lot for me, either. I'd say, probably, I would greatly prefer it without the cream, thank you very much.

[bostonapothecary]

Cordova Cocktail

2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Tanqueray)

1 Dash Absinthe. (Lucid Absinthe)

1 Teaspoonful Fresh Cream.

1/3 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Cinzano Rosso)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

hmm. i will either skip trying that one or scrap the cream and go egg yolk....

[eje]

The Corn Popper

1 Pint Corn (Georgia or Maryland).

1/2 Pint Cream.

The Whites of 2 Eggs.

1 Tablespoonful Grenadine.

Fill highball glasses half full of this mixture and fill up with Vichy or Seltzer.

This is another of the recipes Craddock (or the Savoy editors) cribbed verbatim from Judge Jr.'s "Here's How".

The recipe in "Here's How" includes the following recommendation, "Don't get near a fire after one of these!"

Being the literalist that I am, and knowing that most of the commercial "corn whiskey" is of questionable merit, I was thinking I would use some semi-vintage J.W. Dant Bourbon I found at a liquor store. It's the only whiskey I have that actually tastes like corn.

However, I decided to double check on "Corn", so consulted our resident "Moonshine" (Link to his excellent book on the subject) expert Matt Rowley in regards to that cocktail.

He replied:

Now you've drifted into some interesting semantic territory rather than merely obscure ingredients.

In the Savoy book, some things are what they seem - absinthe is generally that, despite variations in style. So is applejack (usually). "Corn" is a shorthand code, especially a post-prohibition work, merely for illicit spirits (often, but not necessarily, whiskey) that may be made from nearly any ingredient except fruit, but including sugar, wheat, rye, "ship stuff," sorghum, cattle feed, mule chop, and, on occasion, corn.

Just like "The South" is used as a false badge of authenticity when attributing origins to quite local corn whiskey, "corn" itself is a suspect appellation.

Shake loose that notion that "corn" is ever really corn whiskey. Unfortunate, but there it is. From the 1920's through the late 1990's, sugar formed the backbone of American off-the-books distilling. It was cheaper, faster, and more profitable to make sugar spirits than corn. When the price was right, you could call it whatever you want.

Also, there is and was such diversity in manufacture from unregulated distillers that November's corn was rarely the same as August's (which may, in fact, be more prone to being an ersatz whiskey because the harvest wasn't in yet). Even today's new wave of home distillers who are very serious about their brandies and absinthe will bump their corn with table sugar.

Add to that regional flavor profile variants, the effect of water on the flavor profile (both in fermenting mash and cutting the distillate), and the taste and sugar content variability of pre-prohibition heirloom maize among genuine corn and you quickly find that a cocktail specifying "corn" might as well specify "liquor" as an ingredient.

As you've noted, the nationally available commercial examples of corn whiskey are, well, less than inspiring and I've yet to find one I'd recommend as anything than a learning experience.

If all you have available is commercial corn liquor, try the corn popper with bourbon (or white dog if you can lay your hands on some) - it's probably not a bad place to begin even though most corn - real or not - tends to be clear, uncolored, and often unaged whiskey. This is not the time to break out your finest as you wander into Delmarva milk punch territory.

Well, alright, then. With that in mind I set about re-doing the recipe for a single serving.

The Corn Popper

1 1/2 oz clear, pungent, liquid of unknown origin

1 egg white

3/4 oz Cream

1 teaspoon Grenadine (homemade)

Measure ingredients into cocktail shaker. Seal and shake well. Break seal, add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into collins glass. Top with selzer or sparkling mineral water.

The drink has a nice flavor of yeast and malt. Reminded me a bit of a very potent malted egg cream.

Also, interesting, that the drink really isn't very sweet. I was being pretty generous in using a whole teaspoon of Grenadine, as Savoy/Judge Jr. only call for a tablespoon of grenadine in a pint of liquor and a half pint of cream.

This probably betrays some weakness of character on my part; but, I was having a Unibroue Maudite later in the evening, and thought, you know, topping up the Corn Popper with Maudite instead of sparkling water might be kind of nice.

[eje]

The Cornell Special Cocktail

1/4 Part Gin. (3/4 oz Tanqueray)

1/4 Part Benedictine. (3/4 oz Benedictine)

1/4 Part Lemon. (3/4 oz Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice)

1/4 Part Lithia Water. (3/4 oz Gerolsteiner Heavy Mineral Content Mineral Water)

Stir well and serve in cocktail glass.

Well, this one gave me a lot of trouble. I found some online sources that purported to sell "Lithia Water" but none of them would return my phone calls or emails. Driving all the way to Ashland, Oregon seemed pretty crazy.

Did some more research, trying to find mineral waters with a high mineral content and taste. Gerolsteiner was one, and according to some web sites, actually contains some Lithium (Not to mention 8% of your daily allowance of Calcium! Now that is heavy mineral content!)

A lot of chasing around for a drink that ends up tasting like slightly herbaceous, sparkling lemonade. It is certainly easy drinking.

[eje]

Coronation Cocktail (No. 1)

1/2 Sherry. (1 1/2 oz Domecq La Ina Fino Sherry)

1/2 French Vermouth. (1 1/2 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth)

1 Dash Maraschino. (Luxardo)

2 Dashes Orange Bitters. (1 dash Regan's, 1 dash Fee's)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Again, prefer these sorts of things on the rocks, so there you go.

I dunno, this was really nice. I think I am coming around to dry sherry.

Earlier in the evening, I was experimenting with Aviation proportions and different violet liqueurs. Palate was pretty jaded from it all. This was a pleasant, simple, relief from all that perfumed nonsense.

[eje]

Coronation Cocktail (No. 2)

1 Dash Peppermint. (Brizard Creme de Menthe)

1 Dash Peach Bitters. (Fee's)

3 Dashes Curacao (teaspoon Brizard Orange Curacao)

2/3 Brandy (1 1/2 oz Germain-Robin Fine Alembic Brandy)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

Well, here's another one that doesn't add up to 1, again lending weight to the idea that the fractions in the Savoy may be a proportion of some standard measure.

This is actually quite enjoyable. Nice feature for the peach bitters, not too sweet.

Wasn't sure about "Peppermint". If that meant something like Peppermint extract or a liqueur. Such a small amount, it probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference, whether extract or liqueur.

[eje]

Corpse Reviver (No. 1)

1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)

1/4 Apple Brandy or Calvados. (3/4 oz Germain-Robin Apple Brandy)

1/2 Brandy. (1 1/2 oz Maison Surrenne Petite Champagne Cognac)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.

Apparently "Corpse Revivers" were a class of pre-prohibition drinks meant to be taken as "hair of the dog".

By the time we get to the 30s only about 3 or 4 recipes survived.

In the Savoy Cocktail Book we have Corpse Revivers No. 1 and No. 2.

In Duffy we have Corpse Revivers 1-3, with a slight variation in No. 2 which we'll cover in the next entry.

In European cocktail collections you will find another cocktail called the Corpse Reviver No. 2 (or sometimes No. 3). This drink is credited to Frank Meier of the Ritz in Paris and is identical to Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon". A shot of Absinthe topped up with champagne. I've tried that cocktail, and it definitely is a way to build up a head of steam. Not sure about it as a brunch cocktail, unless you do plan to die in the afternoon.

The Corpse Reviver No. 1 is a perfectly fine and enjoyable cocktail. I did find it significantly improved with the addition of a drop or two of Angostura Bitters.

[J_Ozzy]

Wasn't sure about "Peppermint".  If that meant something like Peppermint extract or a liqueur.  Such a small amount, it probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference, whether extract or liqueur.

←

Marie Brizard makes a Peppermint Schnapps which might suit the purpose

[bostonapothecary]

Corpse Reviver (No. 1)

1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)

1/4 Apple Brandy or Calvados. (3/4 oz Germain-Robin Apple Brandy)

1/2 Brandy. (1 1/2 oz Maison Surrenne Petite Champagne Cognac)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.

that is my kind of thing.... the season over here is slowly synchronizing with those flavors...

[thirtyoneknots]

Corpse Reviver (No. 1)

1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)

1/4 Apple Brandy or Calvados. (3/4 oz Germain-Robin Apple Brandy)

1/2 Brandy. (1 1/2 oz Maison Surrenne Petite Champagne Cognac)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.

that is my kind of thing.... the season over here is slowly synchronizing with those flavors...

←

Agreed, with a dash of bitters this looks like it would be positively wonderful.

[eje]

Well, the Corpse Reviver No. 1 is no Vieux Carre or Cocktail a la Louisiane. Still a fine enough cocktail in its own right.

Corpse Reviver (No. 2)

1/4 Wine Glass Lemon Juice (3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice)

1/4 Wine Glass Kina Lillet. (3/4 oz Cocchi Aperitivo Americano)

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

1/4 Wine Glass Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Bombay Gin)

1 Dash Absinthe. (Verte de Fougerolles)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Note: Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.

Ahem, well, going by the rules of a "Wine Glass" equaling 2 oz, I should have used 1/2 oz portions. However, the previous evenings celebrations had left this corpse badly in need of Revivifaction.

The Cocchi Aperitivo Americano is actually quite nice here, lending a bit more complexity than Lillet Blanc. So far I have yet to find a Savoy cocktail where I prefer using the modern Lillet to the Americano. On the other hand, the Americano was downright horrible in Pegu's White Negroni, a cocktail obviously created with the character of the modern Lillet in mind.

Bombay Gin is another new player. I've been wanting to give the regular Bombay a try for a while now, and now that I finished off the Boodles, I picked up a bottle. Not bad at all.

Patrick Gavin Duffy has a slight variation on the Corpse Reviver No. 2 in his "Official Mixer's Manual", which is sometimes reproduced in modern cocktail collections. In it he substitutes Swedish Punsch for the Lillet.

1/4 Dry Gin (3/4 oz Bombay Dry Gin)

1/4 Cointreau (3/4 oz Cointreau)

1/4 Swedish Punch (3/4 oz Carlshamm's Flaggpunsch)

1/4 Lemon Juice (3/4 oz fresh lemon juice)

1 Dash Pernod (Dash Verte de Fougerolles Absinthe)

Shake well with ice and strain into glass

This is tad bit sweeter than the Lillet based affair. The flavor of the Swedish Punsch really dominates the cocktail.

Both are really quite nice, mild cocktails. If I had to give either the nod, I'd say the Savoy no. 2 is slightly more well balanced.

[Nathan]

the Savoy version is one of my favorite cocktails of all time...although personally I think it balances best with the Lillet Blanc (I don't think you're really supposed to detect any of the individual agreements...the drink functions very well as a harmonious whole)

[Chris Amirault]

I'm also a big CR2 fan, using the Savoy receipt, and agree with Nathan's point about not being able to distinguish any single ingredient. To that end, a heavy hand with the absinthe destroys this drink, as I've found out too many times. Best to think of that absinthe as the corpse's wraith: unnoticeable when subtle, but vengeful if revealed in full.

[jmfangio]

I've been waiting for you to get to the Corpse Reviver No. 2. It's a bit of a sentimental favorite - along with the Jasmine, it was one of the first cocktails to inspire me to move beyond martinis (thanks, Drinkboy!), and is a damn fine drink in its own right.

A local wine shop has a bottle of Cocchi gathering dust on a back shelf - I'll have to pick it up and give it a try in this.

The point I wanted to raise, though, is that this is the one pre-Prohibition cocktail where I actually prefer Pernod over absinthe. I think the sweeter anise tones work a bit better than the slightly more bitter tones of the absinthe. Of course, that may be a function of the absinthe I'm using (Verte de Fougerolles), but since that's the only one I know, I don't have any basis for comparison. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts if you try it again with Pernod.

[eje]

Well, I have to admit I have had scant success convincing others of the charms of the Cocchi Americano.

The usual response I get is, "tastes like vermouth."

Then folks kind of glaze over when I start going on about the subtle orange/cinnamon flavors and delightful bitter quinine notes in the late flavors.

It may be its particular combination of tastes just appeals particularly to me for some reason.

At least it isn't expensive...

[eje]

Cota Cocktail

1/4 Hercules. (3/4 oz Cocchi Barolo Chinato)

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

1/2 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Bombay Gin)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

The ingredient Hercules continues to confound.

Cocktaildb's ingredient database (and the Jones' Bar Guide) suggest it is an Absinthe substitute. However, making these cocktails with any modern Absinthe substitutes, they turn out to be rather horribly balanced. They are usually OK, if I reduce the Absinthe substitute to a dash.

Sometimes when I visit the Cocktaildb home page (and I do quite often) one of the random pictures that shows up is what appears to be a label or advertisement in dutch for something that appears to be called "Hercules".

Hercules Advert?

I don't know Dutch; but, the words like "Versterkende Bloedwijn" and "Kina Wijn" on the advertisement suggest it is for some sort of red wine based Quinquina.

Knowing that 3/4 oz Pastis, 3/4 oz Cointreau, and 1 1/2 oz Gin is going to be pretty undrinkable, I decided to experiment with a couple of the red wine Quinquinas I had around. The first try, with Byrrh Assemblage, was pretty lackluster.

Even though I suspect it is fairly unrelated to the intended Savoy "Cota Cocktail", the formula above, with the Barolo Chinato, was actually quite delicious. Similar to a slightly sweeter and orangier Negroni. Maybe call it the "Coda Cocktail"?

If anyone has any thoughts about a more appropriate Hercules substitution, please let me know.