332. Soul Kiss Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Dubonnet Rouge
  0.5 oz Bulleit Rye
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Dry
  0.5 oz fresh orange juice
  1/2 tsp sugar
  
Fill mixing-glass half-full with ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, top up with soda, serve. — This mixture, named after a musical comedy, first appears in JM 1912 (3rd Edition) and resembles a perfect Manhattan with Dubonnet (originally Byrrh) replacing vermouth, and the addition of sugar, orange, and soda, suggesting a hybrid recipe, unless the fizz water indicates a long drink. Here, however, it seems to add only a slight fizz edge to the final service. A larger cocktail glass seems appropriate. The recipe is also found in Straub 1913 (as “Soul Kiss No. 2”) and in McElhone’s Barflies & Cocktails (1927). The drink by this name in the Waldorf Bar Days is a dry martini shaken with egg white. Of the two recipes by the name in the Savoy book (1930), the no. 2 is more similar, having rye whiskey instead of Italian vermouth (the other ingredients are all shared: Dubonnet, orange juice, and dry vermouth).

320. Sherman Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz William Wolf Rye
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  1 dash St. George absinthe

Fill mixing-glass half-full with broken ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Manhattan riff with absinthe instead of bitters, perhaps named after the Civil War general, appears first in Straub; from thence it is taken into JM1916.

315. Saratoga Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Copper & Kings Brandy
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  0.25 oz Rittenhouse BiB
  2 barspoons pineapple syrup
  2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This pineapple-tinged Brandy-Vermouth cocktail—no relation to the Saratoga Cooler as found in Harry Johnson—with an added slug of Rye, betrays the great care and consideration that went into its alteration, and the effect is admirable. This late-19th century favorite appears, e.g., in the Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide (1905) with maraschino, strawberries, and champagne, but Jack Grohusko includes his own pared-down, more historic version from the outset in 1908 and continues unchanged. The drink by this name in Straub is 2 oz of brandy with pineapple syrup, maraschino, and orange bitters—this is the modern version; but Grohusko does not apparently feel the need to conform to new ideas, with the exception of pineapple syrup (much as serious coffee-houses usually, reluctantly, offer some sort of analog to a Starbucks “caramel macchiato”). Dominique Migliore’s 1925 L’Art du Shaker is more similar to Grohusko but forgoing the novel pineapple: brandy and sweet vermouth with Angostura, curaçao, and absinthe. McElhone, in Barflies & Cocktails (1927) restores to Straub’s version of the newer recipe the missing two strawberries and a top-up of champagne as the turn-of-the-century Hoffman House version. The pineapple in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) is a slice rather than syrup, and the champagne top-up is downgraded to seltzer.

 

263. Pan-American Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Rittenhouse Rye (or if it’s too woody for you, Old Granddad)
  1 dash gum syrup
  1 dash lemon juice

Shake (20 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This drink, not named for the Pan-American Airways (which existed from 1927 to 1991) but rather for John Barrett’s association of all (North and South) American countries, as we are told in the Old Waldorf Bar Book, appears first in Straub 1913 before showing up in JM 1916. The Old Waldorf calls for a half lemon muddled and three dashes of syrup. At any rate, your dash should be substantial enough to be noticed in this liquor-forward whisky service, and yet not result in a Whisky Sour. The emphasis here is only on smoothing the whisky.

260. Palmer Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Bulleit Rye
  1 dash Amaro Ciociaro

Fill mixing-glass with broken (or method) ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, really a type of “whiskey service” or Whiskey & Bitters, first enters the JM repertoire in 1912 in his third edition. Straub’s recipe by this name is unrelated; it is essentially a Manhattan with St. Croix rum. The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) has a possibly related drink consisting of Canadian whisky dashed with Angostura and lemon juice.

238. Millionaire Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Rittenhouse Rye
  1 egg white
  1 tsp Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  2 dashes Jack Rudy Grenadine
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters

Shake well (30 seconds) with cracked ice, strain into large (claret) glass, serve. — Note that while I usually humor JM when it calls unnecessarily for shaking, I could not here countenance the prospect of imbibing a drink in which the egg white is merely stirred. However, the stirring technique is specific all the way back to Straub 1913, from which it is reproduced in JM 1916. This must be an error. The same recipe in Barflies and Cocktails (1927) is indeed well shaken, where it is also attributed to the Ritz Hotel, London. The Savoy Cocktail Book has two Millionaire cocktails, neither of which we need concern ourselves with here. The only resemblance is that one of them has an egg white (well shaken, naturally).

There is, however, in the Jack’s Manual tradition a different, earlier “Millionaire’s” (with possessive) recipe going back to JM1910 and corroborated to some degree in the 1931 Old Waldorf Bar Book, where it is called “Millionaire” and described as a Martini with grenadine poured on top, in a glass. JM1910 is a little more complex but essentially the same drink: A 5:4:1 mix of dry gin, dry vermouth, and grenadine with juice of 1/2 lime, stirred. This drink was no doubt replaced by the richer but unrelated Ritz / Straub drink to avoid confusion. Pictured below is the result of that later recipe:

 

221. Manhattan Cocktail

 

My interpretation:

  1.5 oz Rittenhouse Rye

  1.5 oz Casa Mariol Vermut

  1 dash (3 drops) Angostura bitters

Stir with 1/2 glass cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — The original JM1908 called for Ballor Vermouth and Boker’s Bitters. Boker’s original recipe, or a good approximation of it, is not readily available, though Fee’s Cardamom is worth a try (perhaps mixed with Angostura). Ballor Vermouth may have been closer to a Turin chinato like Alessio. Casa Mariol has plenty of interesting qualities, if not the bitterness. In any event, Martini & Rossi was preferred by 1916. For the whisky (note that rye is crossed out in this copy), a spicy bonded rye like Rittenhouse works perfectly.

 

210. Liberal Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Rittenhouse Bonded Rye
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  1 dash Amaro Ciociaro

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain, and serve. — This Manhattan-riff dates back to the first edition of JM, 1908, where Ballor vermouth is specified. Straub includes it in 1913, probably from JM. The Old Waldorf Bar Book (1935) indicates an additional 3 dashes of Orange Bitters, which Straub would likely have included if that had been in his source. By 1916, JM is specifying new sponsor, Martini & Rossi vermouth.

191. Japanese Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.0 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  0.75 oz Hochstadter’s Bonded Rye
  0.25 oz Jack Rudy grenadine
  2 dashes Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Shake vigorously with broken ice 30 strokes, strain, serve. — This recipe dates back to JM 1908 and is picked up by Straub in 1913. Japanese Cocktail is otherwise, and now more normally, a cognac-orgeat recipe with lemon peel, as in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.

 

128. Evans' Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  2 oz Hochstadter’s Straight Rye
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 dash Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur
  1 dash Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters (Boker’s Style)

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir 30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This JM 1908 standby, a variation on a traditional “fancy” whisky cocktail, originally called for Boker’s Bitters, though this specification soon fell away before the 2nd edition in 1910 (I use Fee Brothers cardamom in tribute to this, and it fits really well with the profile). The apostrophe in the name was added in 1933. Straub borrows the recipe in 1913, omitting bitters altogether. Note that I have taken apricot brandy to indicate the sweeter, fruitier brandy-based liqueur, rather than a drier brandy distilled from apricots; this is supported by the small dosage required, suggesting a more flavorful quality.