187. Italian Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negro
  0.5 oz Fernet Branca
  0.5 oz Jack Rudy grenadine

Fill glass (12 oz) with broken ice, shake well / frappé 30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — A fine aperitif Trio

186. Isabelle Cocktail

My interpretation:

  1 oz Mathilde crème de cassis

  1 oz Jack Rudy grenadine

Pour over lump of ice in cocktail glass, stir briefly, serve. — This thick, sweet dessert Duo from the first Jack’s Manual 1908. It must have proved somewhat popular, as Straub picks it up in 1913 without alteration.

185. Irving Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Aviation American Gin
  0.75 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  0.25 oz homemade Calisaya bitter liqueur
  1 slice of orange (for shaker), another for garnish

Fill glass (12 oz) with broken ice, frappé/shake 30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with orange slice, serve. — This JM 1908 original, a sort of orange-bitter martini riff, first called for Gordon Dry gin and Chappaz vermouth. The instructions invariably call for the orange slice before adding ice or shaking. I added another slice in the shaker for good measure. Straub picks it up in 1913 and also lists the orange slice before the shake.
 

184. Iris Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
  3 sprigs of mint
  1 tsp powdered sugar.

Shake with ice 20 seconds, double strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This minty, greenish Gin Sour is included in JM1916 from Straub with a few adjustments. The 2:1 ratio is altered to 3:2, the barpsoon is changed into a teaspoon, and the three sprigs of mint are ordered before the shake (hence my inclusion in the drink, which also helps distinguish it from a typical gin sour with mint bouquet).
 

183. Infuriator Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Western Grace brandy
  0.5 oz Hiram Walker Anisette

Shake 35 seconds with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This is a typical Straubian dessert Duo, originally a sweeter 2:1 ratio, borrowed from Straub for JM 1916.
 

182. Improved Martini Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  1 oz Alessio Chinato
  1 dash Fee Bros. Orange Bitters
  1 dash Luxardo Maraschino

Fill glass (12 oz) with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — Like the previous Improved Manhattan, this recipe calls for the simple addition of 1 dash Luxardo Maraschino to the regular recipe (to come). It first appears in JM 1908 and is taken up by Straub 1913 with an extra dash maraschino.

181. Improved Manhattan Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Hochstadter's Rye
  1.5 oz Alessio Chinato
  1 dash Fee Bros. Cardamom
  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

Stir with 1/2 glass (about 6 oz) cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe appears first in Jack's Manual 1908 with specification of Martini Rossi vermouth and Boker's Bitters. It “improves” the traditional Manhattan simply by adding maraschino. Straub omits this recipe while retaining the Improved Martini (see next).

180. Imperial Cocktail

 

My interpretation:

  1 oz Big Gin

  1 oz Dolin Dry

  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

  1 dash Angostura bitters 

Stir well with ice (25 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve with olive. — This recipe comes from the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930).

 

179. Ideal Cocktail

 

My interpretation:

  1 oz Big Gin

  0.5 oz Dolin Dry

  0.5 oz Alessio Vermouth Chinato

  1/8 grapefruit wedge

Shake with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh 1/8 grapefruit slice, serve. — This recipe is similar to that in The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) which calls for a stronger 2:1 mixture of Dry Gin and Sweet Vermouth with 3 dahses of Maraschino and a “nut” garnish. I have substituted a piece of grapefruit to indicate more directly the composition of the mixture. The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book (1935) similarly calls for using 2:1 Plymouth Gin and Sweet Vermouth, adding: “flavor with grapefruit.” The purpose of including grapefruit in the shaker is ostensibly to express oil as well as to extract a little juice.

 

178. Hurricane Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.5 oz Big Gin
  0.5 oz Hochstadters Rye
  0.25 oz Hiram Walker Crème de Menthe
  2 T lemon juice

 Shake well (20 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This bracing cocktail is taken from the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930). The now more popular, tropical-style drink by the same name, invented only much later in the 1940s in New Orleans, is clearly unrelated, except for the large amount of juice.
 

177. Hunter Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Hochstadters Straight Rye Whisky (100 pf)
  0.5 oz Cherry Heering

Stir, strain, serve. — This Jack’s Manual original Duo (good for an aperitif) was picked up by Jacques Straub in 1913 for his own manual, the ratios being altered, as typical, from 3:1 to 2:1.

176. Hudson Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Aviation Gin
  1 oz Dolin Dry
  3 dashes Regan’s orange bitters

Stir with broken ice, strain, serve with olive. — In Straub 1913, this cocktail calls for sweet vermouth, dry gin, and an orange slice rather than an olive. The recipe in JM with dry vermouth goes back at least as far as 1910s. JM 1910s and both 1916 call for Holland Gin. Here is my version with the 1933 recipe an American gin.
 

175. Howard Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Big Gin
  1 dash Angostura bitters + 2 dashes
   
Stir with ice, twist lemon on top, drop extra dash of Angostura bitters on top, serve. — This recipe appears in Straub. The corresponding pages in the 2nd and 3rd editions of Jack’s Manual are not visible, but it does not appear in 1908. A cocktail by this name in the Old Waldorf-Astoria Book (1935) calls for Tom Gin stirred with 1 dash orange bitters, 2 dashes Angostura.

174. Honolulu Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1 tsp powdered sugar
  1 T orange juice
  1/2 T lime juice
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice, strain, garnish with lemon twist, serve. — The original recipe appearing in Jack’s Manual 1908 and continued in 1910 is quite different, resembling more a whisky highball:

The realization of this recipe’s similarity to the Whisky Highball in the more organized 3rd Edition (1910s) must have led to the new, more Tropical-inspired, gin-based, citrus-heavy recipe that continues thereafter, and which seems more prescient of the tiki style that would shortly develop.

173. Homestead Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Big Gin
  0.75 oz Alessio Vermouth Chinato
  1 orange slice (for shaker)
  
Shake wet and dry ingredients with ice, garnish with fresh half slice of orange. — This Martinez riff recipe seems to appear first in Straub and from thence to JM 1916. It also appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930, where this interesting note is given:

We may therefore postulate that it has a common source prior to Straub. I add a fresh orange slice garnish to distinguish the drink visually from the traditional Martini, etc., and to indicate that a slice was used in the shaking.

172. Holstein Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Remy Martin VSOP
  1 oz Hiram Walker Blackberry Brandy
  1 dash Amaro Ciociaro

Shake 30 seconds with crushed ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Jack Grohusko original, ideal as an after-dinner brandy-based Duo, appears first in his Manual of 1908 and continues without change through every edition, being picked up by Straub along the way, who himself specifies Martell, though no brand is ever mentioned by Grohusko.

171. Hoffman House Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1 oz Aviation American Gin
  1 oz Dolin Dry
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  
Shake 30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass. Twist lemon over glass, garnish, and serve. — This recipe from the famed Hoffman House bar appears previously in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) but in no prior JM edition. The Savoy specification of Plymouth gin is omitted in favor of a generic denomination. The Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book adds this note:

I have used a softer American in view of the apparently original call for Plymouth:

170. Hillard Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Aviation American Gin
  0.75 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negro
  2 dashes Angostura bitters

In absence (perhaps fortunately) of directions for preparation, I stir this with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve. — Yet another in a long row of Straub recipes first borrowed for JM 1916, this slightly stiffer Martinez riff is altered, as typical, from its original 2:1 ratio to a more moderate 3:2, perhaps more appropriate for service in a “fine” Italian restaurant as Baracca’s must have been in the early 1900s.

169. Highstepper Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Big Gin London Dry
  0.75 oz Dolin Dry
  2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This shaken Martini riff is taken from Straub’s Manual for JM 1916, altering the original 2:1 ratio to a softer 3:2 as typical with Jack Grohusko, who seems interesting either in saving money or keeping his customers more sober.

168. Highland Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz The Famous Grouse
  1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

Shake with ice, strain, serve. — This recipe, essentially a shaken Rob Roy or Scotch Manhattan without bitters, is lifted directly from Straub 1913, etc., for JM 1916.

167. Hearst Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negre
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters

Stir with ice, strain, and serve. — This Martinez, or traditional Martini, riff was borrowed from Straub 1913 without change for JM 1916.
 

166. Hawaiian Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Aviation American Gin
  3 dashes Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  0.5 oz fresh orange juice

Shake 30 seconds with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, like the previous one, appears only in JM1933 and seems to be borrowed from the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which specifies 4:2:1 ratio of gin, juice, and curacao. A lower portion of juice and the addition of curaçao provides a minimal distinction from the Harvester. One sometimes sees a Hawaiian Cocktail today made with a little pineapple juice rather than orange. This Blossom-style drink should not be confused with the Blue Hawaiian, which features rum and coconut along with pineapple.
 

165. Havana Cocktail

 

My interpretation:

  1 oz Kronan Swedish Punsch

  0.75 oz Aviation American Gin

  0.25 oz Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur

  1 dash fresh lemon juice.

Shake for 30 seconds with broken ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, only appearing in JM1933, seems to be a correction (at least, an improvement) of the recipe in the Savoy Cocktail Book, which calls for a 1/2 jigger of Apricot and a 1/4 each of Swedish Punsch and Gin. Making this more of a rum-gin base with apricot / lemon accent makes a lot of sense for the cocktail realm, unless a sweet dessert drink is desired. The final color of the drink rich and distinctive.