350. Turf Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  1 oz Martini & Rossi Sweet Vermouth
  2 dashes St. George Absinthe Verte
  2 dashes Luxardo maraschino
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters

Fill mixing-glass half full of ice, stir well, strain into cocktail glass, drop in olive, serve. — This Dry Martini augmented by dashes from half the liquor cabinet appears in JM1908 and continues unchanged. It becomes the Turf Cocktail No. 1 in Straub 1913, where the No. 2 is Holland gin, sweet vermouth, and bitters—essentially a Sweet Martini with genever, which is the recipe named “Turf Club” in JM1916 (see the next post), but simply “Turf” in the Old Waldorf Bar Book (1931).

 

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.
 

243. Narragansett Cocktail

This recipe with a toponymic name, as if the Rhode Island yacht-clubbers’ take on a Manhattan, appears in a 2:1 ratio in Straub 1913 (where absinthe is used instead of anisette), which translates, as usual, to a slightly less tipsy 3:2 ratio when borrowed by JM in 1916. The vermouth, anisette, and olive recall the Montana Club listed a few entries above on the same page, but the effect with sweet vermouth and rye is decidedly different. Both authors likely got the recipe from the old Waldorf manual, which finds expression in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931). There we see first the important note “No Bitters.” This was to prevent the bartender from automatically adding the typical bitters to a drink which had every sign of being a cocktail, which everyone knew meant liquor, sweetener, bitters, and dilution. This delves back into the pre-cocktail Sling. Here the anisette (is this an indication that JM is more faithful to the original?) serves the purpose of bitters, though. Incidentally, the Old Waldorf also specifies straining the drink onto the olive, not dropping the latter in after. I include the Straub version with absinthe for comparison:

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.

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).
 

180. Imperial Cocktail

 

My interpretation:

  1 oz Big Gin

  1 oz Dolin Dry

  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

  1 dash Angostura bitters 

Stir well with ice (25 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve with olive. — This recipe comes from the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930).

 

176. Hudson Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Aviation Gin
  1 oz Dolin Dry
  3 dashes Regan’s orange bitters

Stir with broken ice, strain, serve with olive. — In Straub 1913, this cocktail calls for sweet vermouth, dry gin, and an orange slice rather than an olive. The recipe in JM with dry vermouth goes back at least as far as 1910s. JM 1910s and both 1916 call for Holland Gin. Here is my version with the 1933 recipe an American gin.
 

159. Hall Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Dolin Dry
  0.75 oz Dolin Rouge
  0.66 oz Castle & Key London Dry

Stir with ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with olive. — This perfect martini riff with olive garnish first appears in Straub 1913 in equal parts (1/3 jigger each ingredient), from which it was borrowed for JM 1916 with a slight reduction in gin. Presumably this was to enable easier measuring using Jack’s particular bar equipment; or else he may have thought that such a miniscule reduction of gin would result in substantial savings for his pocket. The old method calls for dropping the unadorned olive in the empty glass and pouring over it the contents of the mixing-glass.
 

117. Down Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Dolin Rouge
  1.25 oz Hawthorn’s London Dry
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters

Stir up drink in mixing-glass filled with ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with olive (picked or sunk) and serve. — A nice Martinez riff from Straub 1913, who called for a “high and dry” gin, meaning preferably 90 proof or greater, or at least not Old Tom. Jack in 1916 calls for M&R vermouth and Gordon dry gin. The name is unclear, and may sound like a cocktail instruction (e.g., “This is how to serve any type of liquor ‘down,’” implying a lowball glass) but, without specification of glass type, I have opted to give it the standard cocktail presentation.

75. Cat Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire
  1.5 oz Dolin Extra Dry
  2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Stir with cracked ice, garnish with olive, and serve. — This Cocktail recipe, closely resembling the modern Martini (with addition of bitters) first appears in Straub 1913/1914 and thence passes into JM 1916.