372. Wedding Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Tinkerman’s Sweet Spice Gin
  0.25 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  0.25 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso
  2 barspoons Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 oz fresh orange juice

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain into a claret glass (a stemmed glass of about 5 oz capacity), and serve. —This cocktail as described in JM1933 is without precedent. However, McElhone and Craddock both mention a similar cocktail consisting of gin, orange juice, cherry brandy, and Dubonnet, called the Wedding Belle or Wedding Bells, of which this may theoretically represent a variant. In effect, it is a long Bronx sweetened by addition of curaçao and additional juice.

368. Washington Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.75 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  0.25 oz Copper & Kings Brandy
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This light, vermouth-forward aperitif recipe first appears in JM1912 and remains a standard part of the JM repertoire. It later appears from an undetermined source in McElhone’s Barflies & Cocktails (1927) in the ratio 2:1 vermouth to brandy, with 2 dashes of syrup instead of curacao, and 2 dashes of bitters. That recipe is reproduced exactly in
The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930).
 

362. Vienna Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso (sweet vermouth)
  1 oz Noilly Prat extra dry vermouth
  1 dash St. George absinthe verte

Fill mixing-glass with fine ice, frappé (shake vigorously), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This vermouth x2 duo + absinthe first appears in Straub 1913. A light drink that can be enjoyed anytime, it can easily be imagined being deposited on a small café table in Vienna, Austria or Vienna, Virginia.

348. Tucker Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky 100 pf
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Pour ingredients directly in glass with large piece of ice and lemon twist. — This Dry Manhattan served down on the rocks appears first in JM1910. The instructions generally seem to imply that the lemon twist should be placed in the glass first before stirring.
 

345. Treasurer Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Gin
  1 slice orange (for mixing)

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain, garnish with orange twist, serve. — This strong dry martini with an orange twist appears in Straub 1913 by the slightly different name Treasury, with an orange slice instead of twist, to be shaken (frappéed) with the other ingredients. I have included the orange component on both ends for the added distinction from other similar recipes.

 

340. Sunshine Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
  1 tsp lime juice
  1/2 tsp Jack Rudy Grenadine
  1 egg white

Shake vigorously with a little ice about 45 seconds, strain into claret glass or 5-6 oz stemmed glass, serve. — This gin-and-lime brunch recipe, resembling a frothed up, fancy Gin Daisy/Sour, first appears in Straub 1913 with some additional details (Old Tom gin, 2-person drink), whence it finds its way into JM1916. An unrelated drink by this name in Barflies & Cocktails (1927) is essentially a brandy-rum sour. The 1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days has a somewhat related Sunshine amounting to a lemon-lime silver fizz in a lemonade glass, omitting sweetener. Modern drinks bearing this name are unrelated, or perhaps derived from McElhone’s recipe.
  

336. Stanton Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry
  2 dashes D.O.M. Benedictine

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Dry Martini riff with Benedictine tinge first appears in JM1908, an apparent Grohusko original. Earlier instances of hte recipe specify dry gin, so the absence of a modifier here is not a hint at something less-than-dry, but probably a typo. Stanton is the name of a street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, not far from Baracca’s Eating-House / Jack’s bar.
 

328. Smallwood Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.5 oz Beefeater Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  0.5 oz Vermut Lustau
  0.5 oz Cherry Heering 

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — The origins of this perfect martini + cherry cordial are obscure. It appears only in JM1933 and nowhere in the earlier usual suspects. Whether named for the revolutionary general and governor of Maryland, or the vacationers’ hamlet in Bethel, New York, is unknown.
 

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.
   

314. Salome Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Dry
  2 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
  3 celery leaves

Shake vigorously with fine ice until shaker is covered with ice (about 30-40 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, garnish with celery leaf, serve. — This recipe, a Perfect Martini with an exotic, savory celery tinge, comes to JM1916 from Straub. In the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) which represents the root of the same tradition, a drink by the same name follows the St. Peter, but is a completely different drink consisting of Sweet Vermouth, Dubonnet, and absinthe; The Savoy (1930) had a probably related mixture of Sweet Vermouth, Dry Gin, and Dubonnet. The root of any drink in those days bearing this name is surely the book by Oscar Wilde, and perhaps more so, the infamous opera by Richard Strauss, written in 1905 with a US premiere in 1907.

311. St. Francis Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry
  1 pimento-stuffed olive (pimola)

Fill shaker with ice, shake for 10 seconds, strain, drop in olive, serve. — First appearing in Straub 1913, this gin-based Duo with a fussy garnish was thence incorporated into JM1916. The instructions are slightly misleading are not original. Until 1933, there were no instructions. It does not appear that the pimola was intended to be shaken, but simply to be added as a garnish. This mixture is supposed to have been invented at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, and is one of the drinks to which the modern idea of the dry Martini is attributed.

309. Ruby Royal

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry
  3 dashes homemade raspberry syrup

Shake vigorously with fine ice 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with amarena cherry, serve. — This light dessert Duo, combining a liqueur and a vermouth, first appears in Straub 1913, from which it is borrowed for JM 1916. There are some similarities to some Ruby recipes but not enough to demonstrate firmly an intentional relation or derivation. The final color with good sloe gin is somewhat nearer rust-red than ruby. It is not recommended to use a brightly dyed sloe gin (such as Bols or De Kuyper) since, while it bestows a rubicund hue more reminiscent of the namesake jewel, it generally tastes like saccharine medicine.

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.
 

283. Porter Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  0.75 oz Aria American Dry Gin
  0.25 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  1 sprig fresh mint

Muddle mint in mixing-glass, add ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh mint, serve. — This lighter, minty vermouth-forward cocktail, originates with JM 1908 and continues unchanged until the last edition. Curiously, Straub includes his own Porter cocktail, which he equates with Pat’s, and the recipe resembles that of Pat’s Cocktail found in Jack’s Manual, only with addition of a mint sprig.

 
   

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.
 

247. North Pole Cocktail

My Interpretation:
  1.5 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  0.5 oz “fresh” (canned) pineapple juice

Dip dampened rim of glass a couple times in shallow dish of powdered sugar to form thick, icicle-like “frost.” Shake ingredients with cracked ice, strain into glass carefully so as not to damage frosting; serve. — This novel shim (weak drink) recipe with its thematic gimmickry first appears in JM1912. Straub 1913 has a drink sharing little besides the name and a faint concept of snowy climes; it is an egg-white Gin sour with maraschino and topped with whipped cream. Jack’s is admittedly not memorable and both drink swould eventually yield their name to a variety of cocoa or peppermint laced eggnogs.
 

240. Montana Club Cocktail

This dry, brandy-based cocktail first appears in JM 1908 and continues pretty much without change to the end. In 1908, he calls for a large bar glass half full of ice. This peculiar instruction may indicate a borrowing. Also specified there is “California Brandy.” That is, rather than French brandy (cognac). A similar cocktail in Straub called simply the “Montana Cocktail” adds 2 dashes of Angostura bitters and 2 dashes of port, specifies shaking, and leaves out the olive; still, the brandy + dry vermouth + anisette combination is enough to relate it, whereas the recipe of the same name in the 1927 Barflies & Cocktails book shares only the french vermouth and anisette, with Sloe Gin as the base, to which orange bitters are added, and a squeeze of lemon peel as a bonus. If one were charitable, one might be tempted to see the sloe gin as a good guess for the brandy + port. Another recipe found in the Old Waldorf Bar Book, a later iteration of the earlier source of many New York recipe collections, serves as an elucidator: Simply equal portions of Brandy, French Vermouth, and Port Wine, stirred. It is there called “a compliment to the field of operations of many early patrons of the Bar.” Obviously the recipes are related, though an explanation for the disparity between anisette and port is still wanting.

234. Metropolitan Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
  1.5 oz Western Grace Brandy

Fill mixing-glass 1/2 full with fine ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, a dry brandy manhattan, if we might call it that, was added to the JM repertoire in 1912. It is hard to choose the best dry vermouth to go with brandy. Noilly Prat seems to work better than Dolin Dry does. Straub 1913 has it with additional 2 dashes of Angostura bitters. In the Old Waldorf Bar Days, this recipe is known as Metropole and adds Orange and Peychaud’s Bitters as well as a cherry. It is there ascribed to the hotel of that name.
 

 

232. McLane Cocktail

My interpretation
  1 oz Beefeater Gin
  0.5 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry

Shake 20 seconds in mixing-glass with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, express orange peel and garnish. — Straub 1913, under the entry by this name, informs the reader: “Same as Perfect Cocktail.” This is given as 1/2 jigger of gin, 1/3 jiggers each of Sweet and Dry vermouths, and an orange peel, shaken. The orange peel is meant to be shaken in the drink, and possibly used as a garnish as well. Clearly, this is a shaken Perfect Martini with addition of orange oil either in the shaking or expressed on top, according to preference.
 

 

224. Marguerite Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, add regular olive (not stuffed), serve. — This old Martini riff, one of the recipes that helped shape the modern concept of the Martini, is part of the JM tradition going back to 1908. Whence it came before that is unclear, though the unique language in the instructions (“stir up well with spoon”) points to an earlier source outside of JM. In 1908, it specifies Field’s Orange Bitters and Chappaz dry vermouth. Later, Straub 1913 includes the recipe, olive omitted, making it essentially a Dry Martini (he also omits the Plymouth specification).