280. Poet's Dream Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.33 oz Aria American Dry Gin
  0.66 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  2 dashes DOM Benedictine

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This dry martini riff is first found in Straub 1913 in the ratio 2:1, 2 ds each of orange bitters and Benedictine. It is reprodcued in JM1916. The 1931 the Old Waldorf Bar Book gives an equal-thirds recipe of dry gin, dry vermouth, and Benedictine, with a lemon twist.
 

279. Plaza Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Aria American Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Lustau Vermut
 1 slice pineapple

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake (including piece of pineapple), strain, rinsing strainer of pineapple pulp if necessary, serve in cocktail glass with pineapple garnish. — This ananas-tinged Martini-riff, named for the Plaza Hotel of New York fame (thus often found as “Hotel Plaza Cocktail”) is first found in Straub 1913 with typically terse directions, reproduced in JM1916 with the ratio 13:7 or roughly 2:1 gin to vermouth. This is rounded up to 3:1 in 1933. What to do with the pineapple is the primary question, at which most recipes guess. Barflies & Cocktails (1927) gives the recipe in equal thirds: gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, along with a “chunk of pineapple” ambiguously mentioned twice, both in the ingredients and in the service. The popular Savoy (1930) version copies a feebler equal-thirds version. By 1932, this cocktail is found, e.g., in the Stafford Bros.’ book, in equal fourths with pineapple juice taking the last slot in place of the pineapple piece (to strain which might slow the bar service considerably); this last recipe, though perhaps degenerate in its call for juice, is nevertheless evidence that the the pineapple is no mere garnish, but an ingredient integral to the drink’s identity.

278. Pink Lady Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Aria American Dry Gin
  1 oz Laird’s Blended Applejack
  2 tsp Jack Rudy Grenadine / 1 tsp Rose’s Grenadine
  1 T fresh lime juice

Fill mixing-glass with ice, shake 30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This beguiling ride with a pretty paint job, Liquor in the front seat, and a Sour in the back, is first found in Straub 1913 and borrowed for JM1916. Barflies & Cocktails (1927) gives the recipe as brandy, gin, grenadine, and egg white (no lime juice). The Savoy (1930) version consists simply of gin, grenadine, and egg white without lime, applejack, or brandy. In all cases, as usual, the choice of grenadine, and its quantity, will require adjustment in order to obtain the proper color. In any event, you will want a color somewhere between the two examples below, with a flavor more approximating the first:

277. Ping-Pong Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Rothman & Winter Creme de Violette
  1 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1 tsp lemon juice

 Shake with fine ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This St. Louis-born dessert duo, augmented with a balancing squirt of lemon and floral Violette note, does much to improve the reputation of Sloe Gin. The simple and effective (indeed, award-winning—see below) recipe is first found in Charles Mahoney’s Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide (1905), where it specifies 3 dashes of lemon juice but also adds a cherry (Jack often omits garnishes). It is from there we also interpolate the usage of fine ice for “mixing.” That recipe’s final note warns against making it “too sweet.” The later Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) has a 2:2:1 ratio, which brings the lemon juice more forward (it only needs more than 3 dashes if those are small dashes). In the Old Waldorf Bar Book (1930), a Ping-Pong cocktail is a simple sloe gin-based drink and seems to have forgotten all about Bennett and the Hoffman House. The Waldorf, it states there, had a ping-pong table in its old bar (this seems to be a set-up for a bad joke about drunkenness): it calls for 1:1 sloe gin and dry vermouth with orange bitters—related perhaps, but quite different in effect. Barflies & Cocktails (1927) reproduces the original recipe as well as the attribution of the recipe to Mr. James G. Bennett of the Broken Heart Café, St. Louis, MO, while omitting Mr. Mahoney’s recognition of Mr. Bennett for winning the Police Gazette Bartender’s Medal for 1903.

276. Pine Tree Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 Aria American Dry Gin
  0.75 Lustau Vermut
  1 mint sprig (to be shaken)

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh mint. — This mentholated martini-riff originates with Straub in 1913, is picked up by Jack in 1916, and dies there in 1933. It may have been named after a Pine Tree Hotel or Club (as many otherwise inexplicably named cocktails seem to have been). Today the name brings to mind a pinaceous gin and a dash of Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur, perhaps, or Evergreen, or even just a pine muddle or tincture; and in fact there are some strong contenders that go this way. Suffice it to say, the identity of the drink did not take root in the heart of the general drinking populace, and it died. But an echo lives on in the Cooperstown Cocktail, which is differentiated chiefly by the incorporation of dry vermouth.

275. Picon Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 2/3 oz Amaro Ciociaro
  1/3 oz Noilly Prat Rouge

Fill mixing-glass halfway with ice; shake, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh orange peel, serve. — Originally made in 1908 with Amer Picon (old formula) and favored Ballor Vermouth, this satisfying citrus digestif was eventually included in Straub 1913 in roughly the same form (3:1 ratio). In 1916 JM is selling M&R Vermouth instead of Ballor but the ostensibly successful recipe remains the same. The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), usually leaning stronger than Jack, curiously calls for equal parts and no orange twist. Amaro Ciociaro can stand on its own, but Bigallet China-China Amer could do so as well. Indeed, this is a fine method of serving many amari of the same class (not forgetting to change the name accordingly).
 

274. Pick-Me-Up Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Rémy Martin VSOP
  0.75 oz Lustau Vermut
  0.5 oz St. George Absinthe Verte

Frappé (shake intensely with fine ice) 25-30 seconds, strain, serve. — This bracing morning recipe first appears in Straub 1913 in perfect thirds, and from thence is borrowed for JM1916 with a slight reduction of the absinthe. Typical of a class of drinks reputed to lift the spirits especially in the morning, it resembles similarly named recipes in a number of mixology books. Most notably, I may mention the 1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days recipe, 1:1 Absinthe to Sweet Vermouth with 2 dashes acid/lemon phosphate; shake, strain. Though absinthes vary in character, the principle that guides Jack’s adjustment here is well to note. With a softer white absinthe, for example, one might choose to use equal thirds, with a VS cognac, perhaps reduce its quantity. However, the drink should not be perfectly balanced. It should be “bracing.”

273. Philadelphia Cocktail

My interpretation

  1 oz Aria American Dry Gin

  1 oz Lustau Vermut

  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Stir with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe first appears in Straub 1913, by the same description (Martini with a dash of curaçao) and from Straub is borrowed into JM 1916. In Straub, however, a dash of Orange Bitters is included in the recipe. I have interpreted the curaçao as a substitute for the bitters, but it would be perhaps more justifiable to see both involved here. Note also that in earlier editions of Jack’s Manual, there is a drink called Philadelphia Bronx, which is essentially a sort of Perfect served in an Old-Fashioned glass and topped off with ginger ale.

272. Pheasant Cocktail

My interpretation:

  1 oz Rémy Martin VSOP

  1 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin

In mixing-glass half-full of broken ice shake 20–30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — My interpretation of the recipe here is admittedly incorrect. Though no type of gin is specified in 1933, the earlier editions all indicate some form of dry (or Gordon’s) gin. My error came from the (usually correct) assumption that an unspecified “gin” in JM 1933 means something not “dry,” i.e., Old Tom, or occasionally, Holland Gin. Nevertheless, the recipe works well this way, and is a bit softer and more blended in effect. The original formulation is more bracing. We might call this variant the Tom Pheasant. The Pheasant Cocktail first appears in JM1908 and is picked up by Straub in 1913. Gordon dry is still indicated in JM 1916, but the last edition introduces the generic switch for unknown reasons.

271. Perfect Cocktail

While the Perfect Cocktail seems to be the original here, appearing in the earlier edition, from which the McLane is absent (not to mention featuring the full recipe rather than a simple redirect like the McLane), nevertheless, since the McLane has already been treated above (#231), I omit the recipe and discussion here, and only note that the change in priority seems to have occurred by influence of Straub 1913/1914, which has both recipes and identifies them as the same. Note also how the formula changes between 1910 and 1912 from a classic Martini (1:1 dry gin and sweet vermouth, no bitters, stirred) to the modern idea of the perfect (2:1:1 dry gin to sweet and dry vermouths stirred) and eventually picks up an orange twist.

Jack’s Manual 1908

Jack’s Manual 1910

Jack’s Manual 1912

Straub’s Manual 1913

Straub’s Manual 1914

Jack’s Manual 1916

Barflies & Cocktails, 1927

The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930

The Old Waldorf Bar Days, 1931

 

270. Peacock Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Copper & Kings Brandy
  1 dash Amaro Ciociaro
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte

Fill mixing-glass with ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, a sort of augmented Brandy suitable for daytime and pre-dinner (where brandy is usually after dinner), is first found in print in Straub 1913, and is first borrowed in JM 1916. While modern drinks bearing this name often include brightly-colored mixers in honor of the name, our present mixture may possibly be named by portmanteau from the formula “Pic(on)” + “Cock(tail).” But the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) suggests as the origin the famous Peacock Alley corridor originally connecting the two halves of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. A movie and a restaurant by the same name came later. Note that Amaro Ciociaro is used here in place of the Amer Picon or “Picon bitters,” unobtainable in its old formula. Bigallet China-China Amer would also work.

269. Patrick Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Aria American Dry Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  5 drops McCormick Green food coloring

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Martini-riff distinguished by green food coloring (“Breton” was an old brand) first appears in JM 1912 and is presumably designed as a novelty drink for the occasion of St. Patrick’s Day, something akin to green beer.

268. Pat (Pat's) Cocktail

My interpretation:
 1 oz Aria American Dry Gin
 0.75 oz Casa Mariol Vermut
 1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
 1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir with cracked ice, strain into bar glass, stein, or cocktail glass, garnish with lemon twist, serve. — This Martinez-like recipe, a JM 1908 original apparently designed for a customer and variously called Pat’s or Pat Cocktail (perhaps related to the Savoy recipe by the same name), is a little scant on details, but on closer inspection probably describes a lowball drink, best served in a whisky glass or small stein (6-8 oz glass with handle). In 1933, the recipe has been altered or accidentally distorted, since the 40% percent is in all previous cases Dry Vermouth, and the 10% Sweet Vermouth is omitted, so that the 40% is given to Sweet Vermouth. The specification of bar glass or stein has also been omitted:

Jack’s Manual 1908

Jack’s Manual 1912

Jack’s Manual 1916

Jack’s Manual 1933 (interpreted)

Jack’s Manual 1912–1916

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.

266. Parisian Cocktail

 

My interpretation:
 2 oz Dubonnet Rouge
 1 T lime juice

Stir with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This recipe, occurring in two variants, is to be distinguished from that of the same name in Barflies & Cocktails (1927) and The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which call for equal parts gin, dry vermouth, and cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). Regarding our present recipe, the information in JM 1933 is somewhat scant by comparison with the earlier instances, which include seltzer. The change is to be traced to Straub 1913/1914, which omits the seltzer and ice. Byrrh is retained until 1916, when it is replaced with Dubonnet. I therefore add the version of JM 1908, probably imagined as a sort of lowball, in view of the ice:

My interpretation:
 2 oz Byrrh
 1 T lime juice

Build in highball glass (to accommodate seltzer), stir, add two pieces of ice, stir, top off with seltzer, serve. Below I present first the 1933 recipe served “up” and then two interpretations of the earlier recipe with seltzer.

Jack’s Manual 1916, 1933

Jack’s Manual 1908, 1910, 1912

Jack’s Manual 1908, 1910, 1912

265. Parisian Blonde Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Myers’s Rum
  0.66 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  0.33 oz light cream

Shake 20-30 seconds with broken ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This creamy, orangey dessert Trio, which resembles a Panama Cocktail with substitution of curaçao for cacao, first appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), from thence being taken into JM 1933.

264. Paradise Cocktail

My interpretation:

  1.25 oz Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur

  0.75 oz Aria American Dry Gin

Shake with broken ice 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This simple dessert Duo, emphasizing the fruit brandy, appears in Straub 1913 before showing up in JM 1916. The Barflies & Cocktails (1927) has the recipe with the addition of orange juice in three equal parts (pushing it toward a brunch or lunch tipple). The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) doubles the gin over the apricot and OJ and adds a dash of lemon juice. The addition of citrus in other books reimagines the Paradise as a sort of blossom or punch.