333. South Africa Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Lustau Amontillado
   1 oz Beefeater Gin
  3 drops lime juice (1 barspoon)
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This balanced Martini-riff with lime juice as well as sherry in place of vermouth, is first found in JM 1916, borrowed from Straub 1913.

321. Sherry Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Lustau Amontillado Los Arcos
  2 dashes Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters
  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

Stir with ice, strain into cocktail glass, squeeze lemon peel, garnish with cherry (and lemon). — Obviously I have departed from Jack’s recipe on the supposition that a Sherry Cocktail ought properly to have sherry, not port. Port would have improved this cocktail (as would a superior bitters). After several attempts, I settled on Port and Angostura bitters (Dr. Elmegirab would be good), though I thought the Bristol Cream Sherry was a good runner up. Something sweet of that kind must have been used originally. 

Clearly, this is a very old recipe, as the name, ingredients, and characteristic wording suggest (directions such as “stir up with a spoon” are found mostly in books predating Boothby). It already appears in JM1908. What is of interest here is when, precisely, the recipe was altered by Jack Grohusko. A cursory investigation of the Manuals reveals the answer to be 1910 (the Second Edition), when suddenly “port wine” appears. Was there a sherry shortage? Or did customers think the “sherry wine” of the earlier versions made it too sour or insipid? Straub, at any rate, retains the use of sherry in 1913, and substitutes orange bitters for the maraschino.

203. Larchmont Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Lustau Amontillado
  1.5 oz Alessio Vermouth Chinato

Fill glass with cracked ice, stir, serve. — The first time I did this, I unconsciously inserted the word “strain” into the recipe, and got what is essentially an Adonis:

However, this is incorrect. There is no “strain.” Ever since the Third JM in 1912, this recipe has simply said “fill glass with cracked ice, stir, and serve.” So I realized it had to be served on cracked ice. This could mean in a larger, perhaps claret-sized, glass, though none is specified. Here is my latest preparation, using Lustau for the vermouth as well as the sherry. It kind of resembles an iced tea this way.

163. Harvard Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Lustau Amontillado
  1 oz Dolin Rouge
  2 dashes Angostura bitters
  2 dashes Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Pour ingredients into (large = 12 oz?) mixing-glass, add ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with twisted lemon peel, serve. — This cocktail, now normally known in its brandy (rather than sherry) form, first appears in JM 1910s (Third Edition). The brandy version in the 1935 Waldorf-Astoria book specifies the addition of siphon water.
  

21. Bamboo Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Lustau Amontillado
  0.75 oz Dolin Blanc
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry
 1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters
  
Fill mixing-glass half full (or empty) with ice, stir mixture, strain, serve. Garnish with lemon. I like the way the mixed dry-blanc vermouth works in this one. Cheers!