301. Robin Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.75 oz The Famous Grouse blended Scotch whisky
  0.25 oz cinchona-calisaya liqueur

Fill mixing-glass half-full with ice, stir 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with amarena cherry, serve. — This orange-tinged, slightly bittersweet, Scotch-forward cocktail, perfectly finished by the cherry, first enters the JM canon in 1916, a borrowing from Straub or otherwise inherited from the Old Waldorf tradition. The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) renders the drink in equal parts Scotch and calisaya, specifies stirring and straining (hence implying ice), and also features the cherry. The Robber Cocktail in Barflies & Cocktails (1927) is tantalizingly close, a Rob Roy served with a cherry. We may view the Robin as a riff on the Rob Roy replacing both vermouth and bitters with calisaya.

299. Riding Club Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz home-infused cinchona-calisaya liqueur
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  3 drops Extinct Horsford’s Acid Phosphate

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This bitter-sweet-tart cocktail first appears in Straub 1913 and is borrowed for JM 1916. It also appears in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931), suggesting a common heritage. There, the recipe specifies red calisaya (as opposed to white) and 1/2 pony of acid phosphate; our three drops are then discovered to be generous drops. The use of acid phosphate here is significant—it balances the bitterness of the Calisaya and Angostura by a neutral sour without lemon or lime overtones.
  

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.
 

153. Good Fellow Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Henry McKenna Bourbon Aged 10 Years
  1 oz Dolin Rouge
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  1 dash homemade Calisaya

Stir well (20–30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This cocktail first appears in Straub 1913 and is borrowed without change in JM 1916. The whisky formerly specified was Green River, which was touted as producing no headaches.
 

70. Calisaya Cocktail

My interpretation:
  3 oz homemade Calisaya mixture

Fill mixing-glass half-full with cracked ice, stir, strain, serve. — This recipe is included from the first edition, where it is spelled “Calasaya.” Though the spelling is corrected in JM 1910, it never, unlike Straub 1913/1914, provides for the addition of a dash of bitters.

61. Brut Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Gallo Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Old Forester Signature
  0.75 oz homemade Calisaya mixture

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice. Stir, strain, and serve. — This recipe did not exist in JM editions before Straub 1913. While Jack has a Brut Cocktail there, after Straub’s publication, that recipe is re-named “Brut Cocktail (French Style)” and this one is preposited. Nevertheless, this is not an exact copy of Straub’s regular Brut Cocktail, which calls for equal parts Calisaya and Dry Vermouth with a dash of Absinthe. Instead, Jack drops the absinthe and bumps down the Liquore Calisay with an equal showing of Whisky (here I interpolate Bourbon whisky, though sour mash might do nicely,). Were Jack’s reserves of Calisaya and absinthe diminishing, or does this represent another viable and venerable tradition? Hard to say, though the only Brut Jack’s Manual knew before was the next one, now dubbed French Style — for which see the following post.

37. Bishop Potter Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz St. George Botanivore
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso
  2 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
  2 dashes Calisaya bitters mixture (homemade)

Stir well (20 seconds) with broken ice, strain, serve. — What the modern person might today call a “perfect” martini with some extra bitters. A variant of this recipe is doubtless represented by the “Bishop Poker” of the Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book (1935) which divides the liquors in thirds and for its bitters uses only one dash of Amer Picon.

14. Ardsley Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz homemade Calisaya mixture (using chinchona and gentian liqueurs with a focus on orange and warm spices)
  1.5 Plymouth Sloe Gin. 

Shake (with broken ice), strain, and serve. Garnish with orange peel.

Note: Since Elixir’s Calisaya is not sold here, I created a fair stand-inMy Calisaya mixture was designed to pair with this drink as well as to answer the descriptions given in other sources. In any event, it counterbalances the thick syrupy qualities of the Sloe with some bracing bitterness and complexity.