355. Two-Spot Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao (uncolored)
  1 oz Martell VS Cognac

Fill shaker with ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, twist lemon peel, garnish, serve. — This Straub 1913 Duo with the unusual call for Curaçao Brun (not readily available here) has been modified in my preparation by the use of a Curaçao which necessarily presents a different flavor profile as well as color. In any event, the drink appears to be a local phenomenon in Straub and Grohusko which did not afterward gain traction.
 

324. Silver Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
  2 dashes Luxardo maraschino
  1 dash gum syrup
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir well (30 seconds) in mixing-glass half full of ice, strain into cocktail glass, squeeze lemon peel, garnish, serve. — This recipe is first found in JM1908 and continues without change to JM1933. Straub 1913 shows a simpler formula with sweet vermouth and no gum syrup. McElhone’s recipe in Barflies & Cocktails (1927), ascribing the authorship to Pat O’Brien of the Knickerbocker, uses dry vermouth, but instead of gum syrup calls for egg white and orgeat—for which Jack’s use of gum syrup would be a reasonable, if lackluster, substitute. The Savoy Cocktail Book simplifies on Jack’s recipe by dropping the Angostura and gum syrup, bringing it closer to an augmented dry Martini or Tuxedo. This idea is also reflected in the Old Waldorf Bar Days book, which calls for a Martini with maraschino, frappé.
   

294. Raymond Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  .75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  .75 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  2 dashes Chartreuse
  lemon twist

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into champagne coupe or flute, garnish with lemon, serve. — This Perfect Martini riff with an herbal undertone first appears in JM 1910 and continues unchanged. It does not appear to have any counterparts in other manuals. The Raymond Hitch Cocktail in the Savoy (1930) does not seem to be related.
 

288. Princeton Cocktail

 

My interpretation:
  1.75 oz Castle & Key Gin
  2 dashes Angostura Bitters
  0.25 oz carbonated water


Stir gin and bitters with ice, strain into cocktail glass, add cold carbonated water, twist lemon peel, garnish, and serve. — One of several cocktails named for colleges of the Ivy League, this version, first appearing in Straub 1913, has proved the more prosaic and less popular than the other Princeton, which layers port and Old Tom gin and orange bitters (this is found in Barflies & Cocktails, 1927 and Savoy, 1930). At least the light fizz of the soda on top produces something a little more interesting than the Gin Cocktail. Old Waldorf Bar Days, the putative originator of the drink, and at least flagship of the New York / American school of early 20th c. mixology, has the present Gin-and-Soda thing, specifying Old Tom Gin, which seems to commend itself to this simple recipe, and also be supported by the generic term “gin” here, which in the JM tradition more often than not means the older standard Old Tom (or Ancient Thomas).
 

268. Pat (Pat's) Cocktail

My interpretation:
 1 oz Aria American Dry Gin
 0.75 oz Casa Mariol Vermut
 1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
 1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir with cracked ice, strain into bar glass, stein, or cocktail glass, garnish with lemon twist, serve. — This Martinez-like recipe, a JM 1908 original apparently designed for a customer and variously called Pat’s or Pat Cocktail (perhaps related to the Savoy recipe by the same name), is a little scant on details, but on closer inspection probably describes a lowball drink, best served in a whisky glass or small stein (6-8 oz glass with handle). In 1933, the recipe has been altered or accidentally distorted, since the 40% percent is in all previous cases Dry Vermouth, and the 10% Sweet Vermouth is omitted, so that the 40% is given to Sweet Vermouth. The specification of bar glass or stein has also been omitted:

Jack’s Manual 1908

Jack’s Manual 1912

Jack’s Manual 1916

Jack’s Manual 1933 (interpreted)

Jack’s Manual 1912–1916

252. Olivette Cocktail

My interpretation:
   1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
   1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  3 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
  3 dashes St. George Absinthe Verte
  1 dash Angostura Bitters
  1 dash gum syrup

In mixing-glass half-full of ice stir well (20-30 seconds), strain into chilled cocktail glass, express lemon peel over glass and garnish with fresh lemon peel. — The original recipe for this Martini riff from JM 1908 omits vermouth, has 2 dashes of syrup instead of 1, and includes an olive alongside the lemon peel, the latter point being perhaps rather on the nose for a drink by this name. 

These differences all reflect a reorientation of the original recipe, an enhanced Plymouth Gin Cocktail + olive, in conformity with the Martini style recipe in Straub 1913/1914, which cuts the gin with vermouth, dials down the syrup, and drops the olive. In 1927’s Barflies and Cocktails, however, we find the older recipe without vermouth, with 2 dashes syrup, and with the olive. This earlier recipe is again found in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. A less similar Olivet in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) has gin paired with sweet vermouth, orange bitters, and an olive, a Martinez-riff.
 

241. Morning Cocktail

The Morning Cocktail is an old standard shared by several cocktail manuals, always involving brandy and sweet vermouth augmented by dashes of various ingredients and served with a lemon twist. The name recalls the origin of the cocktail as a genteel morning pick-me-up. This version in JM1933 goes back to the first edition in 1908, showing by its lack of change the perfection of this early form and the regard for it among genteel morning-tide tipplers. Barflies and Cocktails (1927) specifies orange bitters for the generic bitters given here (I used Fee Brothers Cardamom/Boker’s Style this time), and adds a cherry in the glass along with the twist, which variation is reproduced also in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930). JM omits the cherry.
 

193. Jersey Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Daron Calvados or Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Mix with ice, strain, garnish with lemon twist, serve. — The omission of ice in this 1908 recipe is curious, since the use of ice certainly improves the drink. However, the use of Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy (not Applejack) really provides the proper fruity element for either chilled or unchilled preparation, and is especially appropriate in view of the name, since Jersey always originally referred to Laird’s, which began in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Straub 1913 substitutes 2 dashes of syrup for the jigger of Vermouth.
 

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.

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:

151. Gin Cocktail

My interpretation:
   2 oz Castle & Key London Dry
   1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir in mixing-glass half-full of cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass; twist lemon peel, serve. — This traditional gin cocktail recipe goes back to Jack’s Manual 1908. By contrast, Straub calls for “1 or 2” dashes of Orange bitters, no mention of lemon peel.

146. Frank Hill Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Western Grace brandy
  1 oz Cherry Heering

Shake well (30 seconds) with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, twist lemon peel, serve. — This Jack’s Manual original after-dinner Duo goes back to 1908 and is an enjoyable way to taste the Heering without the cloying syrupy quality.
 

105. Cotton Cocktail

My interpretation:
   1.5 oz Bulleit Rye
  0.5 oz Dolin Rouge
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  1 dash St. George Absinthe
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice; stir, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This “perfect” Manhattan riff with added dash of absinthe and use of lemon peel, first appears in the Third Edition, JM 1910 (II) and continues to JM 1933.