218. Mah-Jongg Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Cointreau
  1 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Bacardì Superior White Rum

Shake well (20 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This exotically titled recipe appears first in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1935) and from thence is borrowed only for JM1933, the fifth and final edition. In the process, the ratio is changed, since Savoy indicates a 4:1:1 ratio of Gin to Cointreau and Rum (probably conceived as 2/3 Gin and 1/3 Cointreau-Rum mix); Jack’s ratio is 2:2:1, significantly upping the Cointreau quotient and reducing the rum to a background accent by comparison. Using white rum, this drink affords a pearly white quality when shaken, here enhanced by the iridescent effect of Roman glass.
 

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.

 

216. Love Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
  1 oz Alessio Vermouth Chinato
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 egg white

Shake ingredients with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe is taken directly from Straub 1913 for JM1916. My interpretation uses Jack’s definition of a Martini (1:1) rather than Straub’s (2:1), though the duplicated language “Martini Cocktail” certainly refers to each author’s respective version.

215. Luigi Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
  0.5 oz fresh tangerine juice
  1 tsp Jack Rudy grenadine
  1 dash Cointreau

Shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — The recipe, attributed to Italian-Briton Luigi Naintre, erstwhile proprietor of the Embassy Club, London, is taken up without change in  JM1933 from the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930).

214. Lone Tree Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bluecoat Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  0.5 oz Alessio Vermouth Chinato

Fill mixing-glass with ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This perfect Martini riff is shaken instead of stirred, and found in several books. The first JM to feature it is the Third Edition (1912 or 1910s) where it is misspelled “Lond Tree.” This recipe is reflected in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) in a “thirds” ratio, with the addition of Orange Bitters, while McElhone (1927) calls for simply squeezing the orange peel in the shaker. These niceties might have been missed by Jack and anyone else peeking at the old Waldorf bar manual. A variant recipe in Straub (1913) and the Waldorf Bar Book (1935) indicates equal portions of Old Tom Gin and Sweet Vermouth with a dash of Orange Bitters. The latter publication traces the origin to drink enjoyed at the Old Waldorf by golfers playing at a certain course outside Philadelphia.

213. London Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  2 dashes gum syrup
  2 dashes Hiram Walker Anisette

Shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe follows almost exactly the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, except for the Anisette in place of original Absinthe. Since Jack retains absinthe in other recipes, this is a curious change, though we know from experience that he generally makes his drinks a little weaker, and this may be for that purpose.

212. Loftus Cocktail

See No. 121: The Duchess Cocktail.

211. Little Devil Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bluecoat Gin
  0.75 oz Cointreau
  0.25 oz Myers’s Rum
  1 T fresh lemon juice

Shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, which resembles a sort of Gin-based riff on Between the Sheets (No. 32), appears first in McElhone’s Barflies and Cocktails (1927) where it is attributed to the author’s pupil, Fitz, of Ciro’s bar, London. Apparently Jack thought it worth including; as a gin-based punch-style recipe, it may have been enjoying great enough success overseas.

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.

209. Lewis Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bluecoat Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This martini-riff, a shaken dry Fifty-Fifty Martini, first appears in Straub 1913 and is picked up from thence by JM 1916 without change. The recipe originally specified Dry Gin, and JM 1916 calls for Gordon’s. It is included in the Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book (1935) with the same recipe, and may have thus been picked up by Straub directly from the W-A bar manual before the Bar Book was published.

208. Leowi Cocktail (Loewi Cocktail)

 My interpretation:
  0.5 oz Hayman’s Old Tom infused with orange peels
  1 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This pre-dinner cocktail recipe first appears in JM 1908 under the name Loewi (a surname, like Otto Loewi). In that recipe, Booth’s Orange Gin is specified by name. The 2nd Edition changes the spelling to Leowi. The 3rd Edition’s pertinent page is missing. Straub 1913 has Loewi, pointing to Straub’s better knowledge or confinement to JM 1908. At any rate, the change in spelling persists to 1933, though the spelling Loewi seems correct. While no orange gins are readily available in our market, orange gin is not difficult to produce. The easiest method is to place several orange peels in a container of gin for about 4 weeks, agitating occasionally, and strain off into a clean, sealable container. This special ingredient adds a fragrant orange flavor to this Dry Martini riff (with a 3:1 ratio) without weakening or sweetening it too much.

207. Leonora Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
  0.5 oz fresh orange juice
  0.5 oz homemade raspberry syrup

Frappé (shake well) with 1/2 glass cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe of the Daisy variety first appears under this name in JM 1908. It resembles the Harvester with raspberry syrup substituted for half the orange juice.

206. Lawrence Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2/3 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  1/3 oz Casa Mariol Vermut
  2/3 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  1/3 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Shake with broken ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This recipe first appears in JM 1910 (his 2nd Edition) and is evidently designed in complementary doses, so that the total ingredients may be measured in two ponies. In any event, the result is a sort of elegant, fruity perfect martini, subtracting some of the gin in favor of the sweetening Sloe Gin, and offsetting with the pungent Peychaud’s.
 

205. Lawhill Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  1 dash Hiram Walker Anisette
  1 dash Luxardo Maraschino
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass. — This riff on a dry Manhattan appears to be a variation of that in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), substituting generic rye for Canadian Club and anisette for absinthe. Jack has also adjusted the proportion of base and vermouth from 2:1 to 1:1. The combined result is slightly weaker and less expensive, but none the less interesting.
 

204. La Roche Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  0.75 oz Dolin Dry
  0.75 oz Lustau Vermut
  2 T fresh orange juice

Frappé (shake with cracked ice), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Bronx riff (resembling a perfect martini with OJ) comes in equal portions for easy preparation and makes a decent brunchtime libation. Its first appearance in JM 1912 (1910s) is in paragraph form rather than list form, which to me suggests borrowing from another, older-style source, like Boothby, which uses paragraphs. However, I have been unable to locate any possible source to date. Jack’s instruction to “frappez” here is rare, and as such, difficult to interpret precisely. He may simply mean shake hard with ice, or else he may refer to crushed or shaved ice being placed in the glass with the strained drink; but then, the instruction to shake is absent. I take it here as an synonym for shake.

203. Larchmont Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Lustau Amontillado
  1.5 oz Alessio Vermouth Chinato

Fill glass with cracked ice, stir, serve. — The first time I did this, I unconsciously inserted the word “strain” into the recipe, and got what is essentially an Adonis:

However, this is incorrect. There is no “strain.” Ever since the Third JM in 1912, this recipe has simply said “fill glass with cracked ice, stir, and serve.” So I realized it had to be served on cracked ice. This could mean in a larger, perhaps claret-sized, glass, though none is specified. Here is my latest preparation, using Lustau for the vermouth as well as the sherry. It kind of resembles an iced tea this way.

202. Knickerbocker Special Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Appleton Estate
  0.5 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 tsp homemade raspberry syrup
  1 tsp fresh lemon juice
  1 tsp fresh orange juice
  1/4 slice pineapple (peeled, for mixer)

Shake ingredients together with ice, including quarter pineapple slice. Strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh pineapple, serve. — Although a Knickerbocker Special (not a Cocktail) was included from the first JM 1908, which called for similar ingredients (with St. Croix rum) to be poured in a glass with cracked ice and dressed “with fruits in season,” the present recipe, which is a variation thereof, appears in The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), where the instructions are absent. It seems that it was borrowed thence on the assumption that a smaller, iceless recipe was meant. The Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, in its chapter on punches, further specifies a claret float. At any rate, a “cocktail” in this period would suggest a strained drink served in a cocktail glass (with or without bitters), making this an adaptation of the original Knickerbocker Special (Punch), which would accordingly be served in a punch glass. That recipe appears elsewhere in Jack’s Manual.

201. Kentucky Colonel

 My interpretation:
  2.25 oz Henry McKenna 10 Year
  0.75 oz DOM Benedictine

Stir well (30 seconds) with ice, strain into Old Fashioned glass with fresh piece of ice (my addition). Garnish with lemon peel. — This simple, satisfying “new fashioned” mixture (with Benedictine serving for sweetness and complexity) first appears in Straub 1913 and is then picked up by JM 1916.

200. Junkins Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Hochstadter’s 100 Pf Rye
  0.5 oz Alessio Chinato

Stir with ice, strain into whisky glass with piece ice, twist lemon peel, serve with spoon. — A recipe under this name first appears at least in JM 1910 (2nd Edition) — the 1st Edition before me lacks the appropriate page— with the following recipe:

However, after the publication of Straub 1913, the JM recipe follows his Rye or Gin + Vermouth variation. It is possible that this was closer to the source which JM was trying to replicate based on visual memory. In 1912, JM had a different variation (again with a small glass, spoon, and lemon peel), resembling a sort of “Improved Rye Cocktail” served down:

Pictured below is the post-Straub recipe as it appears in JM 1933:

199. Judge Smith Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.75 Hochstadter’s Bonded Rye
  0.25 Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur

Stir with ice 25 seconds, strain, serve. — This cocktail, essentially a cold, diluted rye service with apricot for sweetener, first appeared in JM 1908; it is otherwise known simply as Judge. Straub 1913 picks it up and gives it a 7:1 proportion under this more generic name.

198. John Wood Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.5 oz The Famous Grouse
  1.5 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  1 T lemon juice
  1 dash homemade kümmel
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake well (30 seconds), strain, and serve. — This cocktail, resembling almost a punch in its attentive balance, appears first in the Savoy Cocktail Book with Irish rather than Scotch whisky, and is then picked up for JM 1933 with a slight change. I have to admit, I think Jack improved this recipe by the substitution of Scotch, though I don’t know if John Wood approved it.

 

197. John Cocktail

My interpretation:

  0.5 Bols Genever

  0.5 Noilly Prat Dry

  0.5 Alessio Chinato

 1 egg white

Shake all but egg with ice 20 seconds, strain out ice, add egg white, shake 15 seconds, strain into cocktail glass. — This Perfect Martini riff using Holland Gin first appears in Straub 1913 and is picked up in JM 1916. The name may refer to the Holland Gin, i.e., genever, as the same ingredient is the distinguishing factor in the John Collins.

 

196. Jockey Club Cocktail

 This term for the Gin Cocktail first appears in Straub 1913. See The Gin Cocktail.

195. Jim Lee Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  0.5 Dolin Dry
  0.5 Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
  2 dashes Angostura bitters
  
Shake with ice, strain, serve in cocktail glass. — This Perfect Martini riff comes with an added dose of bitters, providing an augmented ruddy blush to the drink. It first appears in Straub 1913 and is picked up in JM 1916.