353. Tussetto Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  0.75 oz El Maestro Sierra Oloroso Sherry
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters

Fill mixing-glass half full of broken ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, otherwise known as a Sherry Martini, is closely linked to the Tuxedo Club, also spelled Tucseto or Tucsedo after the Indian term for which the eponymous community club was named. Grohusko’s spelling here seems unique, and may be regarded as an Italianized interpretation of the spelling, though it first appears that way not in JM 1916 but in Straub 1913. The Savoy (1930) has two Tuxedos of the martini+absinthe vein, neither with sherry. It is the most simple and elegant of all the Tuxedo-related drinks. Further information for this and the next drink, the Tuxedo proper, is found here.
 

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.