242. Nana Cocktail

This indulgent postprandial brandy service, specially designed for those who think brandy isn’t creamy or sweet enough on its own, first appears in Straub 1913 and is borrowed for JM1916 without change.
 

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.

235. Metropolitan Cocktail (Southern Style)

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  1.25 oz Western Grace Brandy
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This putative variant of the last drink (No. 235) first appears in the laconic Straub 1913 without instructions (simply “serve”), but with the usual 2:1 ratio favored by Straub and which was typically altered to 3:2 by Grohusko. It is for all intents and purposes a Brandy Manhattan.
 

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.
 

 

220. Mallory Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Western Grace Spanish Brandy
  0.75 oz Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur
  0.66 oz Hiram Walker Creme de Menthe (white)
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This dessert Trio first appears in Straub 1913 (who seems to harbor a distinct fondness for such toothsome postprandials) and is taken from thence into JM1916 with Jack’s usual tweak of the perfect thirds recipe to reduce slightly the crème de menthe, which might otherwise overpower the apricot and dash of absinthe.

 

217. Lusitania Cocktail

My interpretation
  1.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
  1 oz Western Grace Brandy
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash St. George’s Absinthe Verte

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This vermouth-based after-dinner recipe first appears in Straub 1913, from which it is taken up into JM1916. Note the important qualifier “good brandy.” Top shelf had to be used here, perhaps the dusty bottle of Martell? Yet it is allowed to take a backseat to the vermouth, indicating a weaker shim type drink. The absinthe indicates intention as a digestif.

 

183. Infuriator Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Western Grace brandy
  0.5 oz Hiram Walker Anisette

Shake 35 seconds with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This is a typical Straubian dessert Duo, originally a sweeter 2:1 ratio, borrowed from Straub for JM 1916.
 

156. Green Room Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Dolin Dry
  0.5 oz Western Grace Brandy
  2 dashes Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Shake well (30 seconds) with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This shim or lighter drink, named for the musician’s or actor’s private lounge behind a stage, resembles a Cup, being based on aperitif wine braced by a portion of brandy and flavored with curaçao, only without the ice. It seems to have been borrowed for JM 1933 from the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) where it is called “a great favourite with mummers.”
 

146. Frank Hill Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Western Grace brandy
  1 oz Cherry Heering

Shake well (30 seconds) with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, twist lemon peel, serve. — This Jack’s Manual original after-dinner Duo goes back to 1908 and is an enjoyable way to taste the Heering without the cloying syrupy quality.
 

139. Flushing Cocktail

My Interpretation:
  1.5 oz Western Grace brandy
  1 oz Dolin Rouge
  1 dash homemade gum syrup
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  1 lemon peel

Stir with cracked ice, strain into Old Fashioned glass with large ice, express lemon peel and garnish. — A sweetened brandy Manhattan served down, this recipe appears first in Straub 1913 with a 2:1 ratio of brandy to vermouth. For his 1916 edition, Jack adjusts the ratio to 3:2.

132. Fancy Brandy / Gin / Whisky Cocktail

 The next recipe is a category or style of service specifying any of three base liquors. My interpretation:
  2 oz Western Grace brandy, Gin Lane 1751 London Dry, or Old Forester Signature
  1 dash gum syrup
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake (sic) with ice, strain, twist lemon peel over drink, garnish, and serve. — This recipe, also copied by Straub in 1913, continues unchanged from JM 1908. Especially good if you like cloudy, aerated liquors!