213. London Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  2 dashes gum syrup
  2 dashes Hiram Walker Anisette

Shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe follows almost exactly the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, except for the Anisette in place of original Absinthe. Since Jack retains absinthe in other recipes, this is a curious change, though we know from experience that he generally makes his drinks a little weaker, and this may be for that purpose.

208. Leowi Cocktail (Loewi Cocktail)

 My interpretation:
  0.5 oz Hayman’s Old Tom infused with orange peels
  1 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This pre-dinner cocktail recipe first appears in JM 1908 under the name Loewi (a surname, like Otto Loewi). In that recipe, Booth’s Orange Gin is specified by name. The 2nd Edition changes the spelling to Leowi. The 3rd Edition’s pertinent page is missing. Straub 1913 has Loewi, pointing to Straub’s better knowledge or confinement to JM 1908. At any rate, the change in spelling persists to 1933, though the spelling Loewi seems correct. While no orange gins are readily available in our market, orange gin is not difficult to produce. The easiest method is to place several orange peels in a container of gin for about 4 weeks, agitating occasionally, and strain off into a clean, sealable container. This special ingredient adds a fragrant orange flavor to this Dry Martini riff (with a 3:1 ratio) without weakening or sweetening it too much.

206. Lawrence Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2/3 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  1/3 oz Casa Mariol Vermut
  2/3 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  1/3 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Shake with broken ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This recipe first appears in JM 1910 (his 2nd Edition) and is evidently designed in complementary doses, so that the total ingredients may be measured in two ponies. In any event, the result is a sort of elegant, fruity perfect martini, subtracting some of the gin in favor of the sweetening Sloe Gin, and offsetting with the pungent Peychaud’s.
 

195. Jim Lee Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  0.5 Dolin Dry
  0.5 Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
  2 dashes Angostura bitters
  
Shake with ice, strain, serve in cocktail glass. — This Perfect Martini riff comes with an added dose of bitters, providing an augmented ruddy blush to the drink. It first appears in Straub 1913 and is picked up in JM 1916.
 

192. Jenks Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  1 oz Alessio Chinato
  1 dash Benedictine

Stir, strain, serve with slice of pineapple. — This JM 1908 recipe originally had no garnish. The pineapple first appears in JM 1912 (Third Edition) and helpfully serves as a visual indicator to distinguish the drink from an old style Martini.

188. Jack-Rabbit Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Alessio Chinato
  0.5 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  1 tsp Jack Rudy grenadine
  1 T fresh orange juice

Shake with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This lighter Martinez riff with lower portion of gin keeps the head even but not cloudy. It first appears in JM 1910 (2nd Edition).

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).
 

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.

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.
 

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.

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.

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.