306. Rossington Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Gin Lane 1751 Old Tom Gin
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir well (20 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, twist orange peel, garnish, serve. — There are two Rossingtons (AKA Martinis), one with dry gin, dry vermouth, and lemon peel, and another as given here. The Dry Rossington appears in JM1910–1912. After Straub’s influence, JM1916 has the Sweet Rossington with Old Tom. Thus I justify interpreting JM1933’s unqualified “gin” along the same lines. A similar pair of dry and sweet Rossingtons is found in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931). Spelled “Rosington” in the Savoy (1930), it is there built as 2:1 with dry gin to sweet vermouth orange peel.

292. Racquet Club Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  1 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir (or more authentically, shake), strain into cocktail glass, twist orange peel over and garnish; serve. — This 1:1 Dry Martini with a twist first appears by this name in Straub 1913 and is borrowed for JM 1916. It appears in Savoy (1930) as a 2:1 Dry Martini shaken with orange bitters. The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) has both orange bitters and peel, and calls for frappé (thus shaken). The lack of instruction whether to shake or stir is due to the omission in typically terse Straub.
 

267. Parson's Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  1 piece orange peel

Fill mixing-glass with fine ice, frappé, strain into whisky glass, garnish with fresh orange peel, serve. — The original 1908 recipe in Jack’s Manual calls for Gordon dry gin, editions 2–4 for “high and dry” gin. Properly, this drink should have a higher proof dry gin, such as Castle & Key or Beefeater. However, the botanical gin works quite well in the circumstances, though it may not please the titular Parson. It is meant to be a bracing drink with an orange undertone, served very cold and somewhat diluted in a comfortable glass. Straub 1913/1914 has a “Parson” (non-possessive) under which the reader is referred to the Rossington, a similar drink, described as 2:1 Old Tom Gin and Sweet Vermouth stirred with an orange peel.

233. Merry Widow Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  1 oz Dubonnet Rouge Grand Apéritif

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, twist orange peel over glass, garnish, serve. — The fancifully named drink alludes to a play and an operetta. JM1908 calls for Byrrh wine instead of Dubonnet. This is typical of that period, as several of the drinks of this kind (excepting those with Dubonnet or St Raphael in the name) used Byrrh instead of Dubonnet as a rule. Straub 1913 has a variant of this Merry Widow (there are several recipes by the name) gives the option of Sweet Vermouth or Byrrh, but the similarity ends there. It also includes maraschino and Dry Vermouth (but no gin) and is to be shaken rather than stirred. The Old Waldorf Bar Book matches Grohusko’s recipe but instructs the bartender to frappé rather than stir. JM switches from Byrrh to Dubonnet in 1916.
 

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.
 

 

222. Manhattan Jr. Cocktail

 

 My interpretation:

  1 oz Rittenhouse Rye

  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut

  1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake well (20-30 seconds) with 1/2 glass (6 oz.) cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with orange twist, serve. — This recipe comes from Straub 1913, clearly poised as a variation on the Manhattan, though how “Jr.” fits is unclear. The drink is not smaller, or less in anyway; it is perhaps more puerile with its shaking rather than stirring (thus more dilute, colder, less savory) and with its sweet, fragrant garnish.

125. Edner Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Dubonnet
  1 oz Gin Lane 1751 London Dry

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, twist orange peel over glass, garnish, and serve. — The Edner Cocktail, resembling closely the standard Dubonnet Cocktail, is an old JM standby from 1908, originally using the aperitif St. Raphaël, this being replaced by the similar Dubonnet sometime before 1916, presumably because it was no longer available in the US, or else for the sake of economy, after the Dubonnet Cocktail was added to the repertoire and claimed a spot on the shelf.
 

120. Dubonnet Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Gin Lane 1751 London Dry
  1 oz Dubonnet Rouge (US)

In mixing-glass 1/2 full of cracked ice stir 20 seconds with even stroke, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — In 1908, this somewhat controversial cocktail (spelled Doubonnet at first) has the instructions “Twist of orange peel, shake, strain, and serve.” The instruction continues unimpeded until 1916, when it is revised in no uncertain terms: “Stir well, don’t shake.” This correction could not have come from Straub 1913, which also calls for shaking; yet 1916 may have Straub in mind when it further specifies “No bitters of any kind,” since Straub’s recipe (and perhaps others’) called for orange bitters. The Savoy Cocktail Book calls only for stirring and straining. Thus in JM 1916 we have a clean break from past JM tradition with a proper stir replacing the shake, no twist of orange peel, and no bitters. It is a clean drink of the connoisseur who likes his Dubonnet to be unadulterated. NB: No attempt to shake or add orange products was made in the pictured cocktail.
 

116. Dorr Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Hawthorn’s London Dry Gin
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth
  0.25 oz Dolin Rouge

Fill mixing-glass half-full of fine (chipped) ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with orange peel; serve. — A cold, diluted perfect martini riff, easy on the sweet vermouth, unchanged from its first appearance in JM 1908.
 

113. Delmonico Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Hawthorn’s London Dry Gin
  1.5 oz Noilly Prat or Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth

Shake, strain, serve in cocktail glass, garnish with orange peel. — This recipe seems to come from Straub 1913. The standard cocktail by this name currently contains a portion of Cognac or Brandy in addition to Gin and Dry Vermouth. The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book (1935) has two orange peels and adds a dash of Orange Bitters but no brandy. Here are two presentations of this recipe:
 

84. Chrysanthemum Cocktail

My interpretation:
   2.5 oz Dolin Dry
   0.5 oz Benedictine
   3 dashes Hiram Walker Anisette

Shake well (20 seconds) with ice, strain into cocktail glass, express orange peel and garnish. — This classic vermouth-forward recipe, ideal for dessert, was a new addition to JM 1933.
 

76. C. A. W. Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Carpano Antica
  1.25 oz Dolin Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Asbach Uralt

Shake with ice, strain, garnish with orange peel; serve. — This recipe comes from Straub 1913/14 and is presumably named for the Chicago Auto Workers union.

66.5. Byrrh Cocktail*

Note: I am departing slightly from my formerly stated intentions in order to include a recipe which, being featured in two early editions of JM, as well as in Straub 1913/1914, was sadly omitted in JM 1916, and in JM 1933 for all intents and purposes was replaced by the B. V. D. Cocktail, at least positionally speaking—hence the half-number.

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Bulleit 95 Rye (90 pf)
  1.5 oz Violet Frères Byrrh Grand Quinquina

Fill mixing-glass half-full of fine ice (hand-cracked or mallet-broken), stir, strain into cocktail glass, express orange peel, garnish, and serve. — The 1908 edition specifies Noilly Prat Vermouth, which I was happily able to obey. This turns out to be a good cocktail, justifying its inclusion here. One wonders whether Byrrh stocks or importations were reduced after the Sad Era. JM 1933 features Byrrh in only one recipe: The Byrrh Wine Daisy, where JM 1910 additionally offers the Byrrh Wine Rickey.

63. Bud's Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire
  0.75 oz Gallo Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Yzaguirre Rojo
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash Hiram Walker Apricot Brandy

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain, serve. Garnish with twisted orange peel. — This Cocktail, a “perfect Martini with a couple extras,” first appears in the reorganized and expanded JM 1916.

54. Bridal Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.75 oz Uncle Val’s Restorative
  1.25 oz Yzaguirre Rojo
  1 dash Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

Stir well (20 seconds) with ice, strain. Garnish with twisted orange peel; serve. — A delicious cocktail of the sweet “Martini” type which at this ratio might as easily be served at room-temperature. Straub, from whom Jack presumably acquired this recipe for his 1916 expanded and re-organized manual, specifies Holland maraschino.



 

42. Blackstone Cocktail No. 2. (Special Blackstone)

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Gallo Dry Vermouth
  1.75 oz St. George Botanivore Gin
  
Stir with ice, strain, serve. Garnish with twisted orange peel. — Conversely, the final instruction might imply that a flat peel was originally floated on top. Another from the eponymous hotel. It is curious that neither in Straub nor Jack’s Manual do instructions for preparation occur. It is unlikely but possible that the drink was simply poured without chilling, dilution, or stirring.
 

40. Blackstone Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz St. George Botanivore
  0.75 oz Gallo Dry
  0.75 oz Yzaguirre Rojo

Shake with ice, strain, garnish with twisted orange peel. — Essentially what people might today call a perfect Martini with an orange twist. The putative house cocktail of the famous Blackstone Hotel, built in Chicago in 1910, the recipe was included in Chicago-based Straub’s pocket manual and from thence likely came into Manhattan-based Grohusko’s expanded 1916 edition.
 

8. Anderson Cocktail

My interpretation:
  3 oz Hawthorn’s London Dry Gin
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negro (sweet vermouth)

The curious notice to use a mixing glass is presumably to enable the proper frappéing of the mixture. Perhaps it is an artifact from the original source. In any event, I follow obediently, filling with cracked ice, frappéing, straining, and serving—here in a large glass. I disobey the letter by twisting the peel last and making it a garnish.