My interpretation:
2 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth
0.25 oz homemade Devil Bitters mixture
Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — Devil Bitters apparently refers to Fred Kalina’s Stomach Devil-Cert Bitters, formerly produced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Fred seems to have been of Bohemian extraction; the word “cert” means devil). While many empty bottles for this bitters can be found among private collections, the recipe, apparently a 70-proof digestive bitter, is not recorded and there is no known emulation of this specific concoction. I present my own interpretation, assuming by its name that it featured a mild tincture of piquant ingredients common at the time. Thus I have combined Fee Brother’s Cardamom Bitters, Underberg’s stomach bitters, and a small but powerful tincture of cayenne and sweet paprika in neutral spirit, melded by means of a little gum syrup. The effect is not unpleasant, but rather savory and medicinal. One notes that the Devil’s and Diabolo cocktails from the Savoy Cocktail-Book are quite different.
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