365. Waldorf Special Cocktail.

 My interpretation:
  2 oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot
  1 T lime juice

Shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, if it may be called that (better, an apricot liqueur treatment neatly balanced with a little lime), which makes a nice post-prandial, is first described in Straub 1913 (specifying “apricotine”) before appearing in JM 1916. It does not appear in the Old Waldorf Bar Days book—which doesn’t mean, of course, that it was not served or invented there. When combined with a dry martini, it becomes a Webster (q.v.)

277. Ping-Pong Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Rothman & Winter Creme de Violette
  1 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1 tsp lemon juice

 Shake with fine ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This St. Louis-born dessert duo, augmented with a balancing squirt of lemon and floral Violette note, does much to improve the reputation of Sloe Gin. The simple and effective (indeed, award-winning—see below) recipe is first found in Charles Mahoney’s Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide (1905), where it specifies 3 dashes of lemon juice but also adds a cherry (Jack often omits garnishes). It is from there we also interpolate the usage of fine ice for “mixing.” That recipe’s final note warns against making it “too sweet.” The later Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) has a 2:2:1 ratio, which brings the lemon juice more forward (it only needs more than 3 dashes if those are small dashes). In the Old Waldorf Bar Book (1930), a Ping-Pong cocktail is a simple sloe gin-based drink and seems to have forgotten all about Bennett and the Hoffman House. The Waldorf, it states there, had a ping-pong table in its old bar (this seems to be a set-up for a bad joke about drunkenness): it calls for 1:1 sloe gin and dry vermouth with orange bitters—related perhaps, but quite different in effect. Barflies & Cocktails (1927) reproduces the original recipe as well as the attribution of the recipe to Mr. James G. Bennett of the Broken Heart Café, St. Louis, MO, while omitting Mr. Mahoney’s recognition of Mr. Bennett for winning the Police Gazette Bartender’s Medal for 1903.

220. Mallory Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Western Grace Spanish Brandy
  0.75 oz Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur
  0.66 oz Hiram Walker Creme de Menthe (white)
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This dessert Trio first appears in Straub 1913 (who seems to harbor a distinct fondness for such toothsome postprandials) and is taken from thence into JM1916 with Jack’s usual tweak of the perfect thirds recipe to reduce slightly the crème de menthe, which might otherwise overpower the apricot and dash of absinthe.

 

89. Claridge Cocktail

My interpretation:
  .75 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  .75 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  .75 oz Hiram Walker Apricot
  .75 oz Cointreau 

Shake well (20 seconds) with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — A new, fairly well balanced liqueur-rich dessert drink for the 1933 edition. It also appears in Craddock’s 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.

9. Anne's Delight

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1.5 oz Depart Brandy VSOP

Instructions followed without variation. It’s a sweet drink. There’s not much else to say. The sloe gin has a nice deep stonefruit flavor but the brandy does not cut it; only the thinning effect of the cracked ice offers balance to the sweetness and mouthfeel. Perhaps best served as a small dessert cocktail.

6. Alexander's Sister Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Uncle Val’s Restorative gin
  0.75 oz heavy cream
  1 oz green creme de menthe (homemade)

Shake well (about 20 seconds) and strain into cocktail glass (here a dessert glass). Garnish with fresh mint. This is pretty straightforward. Related to the Alexander, it seems to have been designed for ladies and, like its counterpart, fits well in the dessert domain.