249. Ojen Cocktail (Spanish Absinthe Cocktail)

My Interpretation:
  1 oz Hiram Walker Anisette
  1 oz Copper & Kings White Absinthe
  2 dashes Angostura bitters
  Carbonated water

Using an absinthe dripper, or else manually, drip seltzer into mixing-glass filled with Ojen (or substitute) and cracked ice while stirring, approximately 45 seconds. Add bitters after stirring and strain into chilled cocktail glass. If Ojen is not available, a mixture of anisette and white absinthe may serve the purpose. — While Jack had an Ojen Cocktail before Straub’s Manual (1913), this particular cocktail, identified as the Spanish version, uses angostura bitters rather than Peychaud’s, and gives a detailed instruction for preparation, taken directly from Straub. After borrowing the Spanish recipe in 1916, Jack renames his older Peychaud’s recipe the American one, which is to say, that derived from New Orleans. See no. 249 (following).

248. Nutting Cocktail

My Interpretation:
  1.25 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  0.75 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  1 dash Fee Brothers orange bitters

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Martini riff calling lavishly for two bitters, is first found with this name in Straub 1913, borrowed in 1916, when the 2:1 ratio became 3:2. In 1933, “dry gin” was changed to “gin” either accidentally or without effect (a vague term in 1916 and 1933).

247. North Pole Cocktail

My Interpretation:
  1.5 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  0.5 oz “fresh” (canned) pineapple juice

Dip dampened rim of glass a couple times in shallow dish of powdered sugar to form thick, icicle-like “frost.” Shake ingredients with cracked ice, strain into glass carefully so as not to damage frosting; serve. — This novel shim (weak drink) recipe with its thematic gimmickry first appears in JM1912. Straub 1913 has a drink sharing little besides the name and a faint concept of snowy climes; it is an egg-white Gin sour with maraschino and topped with whipped cream. Jack’s is admittedly not memorable and both drink swould eventually yield their name to a variety of cocoa or peppermint laced eggnogs.
 

246. Nicholas Cocktail

This luxuriant dessert Duo, first appearing in JM1912, might be construed as a sweet-tooth variant on the old Gin-Sweet Vermouth workhorse cocktail base which finds so many iterations in the old books. The orange-infused gin is not much sweeter than a Tom Gin (I use Hayman’s as the base here), though the original Booth’s Orange Gin may have been much sweeter (it was 60 proof, thus more of a liqueur based on gin), and (here) Plymouth Sloe Gin—Jack used Field’s Sloe Gin—which is only slightly thicker and more syrupy than the deepest, darkest sweet vermouth. The balance when the two combine is pleasantly surprising. Foolishly attempting to use a cheap sloe gin here will get you an incongruous cotton-candy note and medicinal aftertaste. Incidentally, Straub, who picks this up in 1913, specifies Old Tom gin (Booth’s brand) instead of orange gin. Here is my take of Grohusko’s recipe with my own home-infused orange gin.

245. Newman Cocktail

This Dry Martini riff with a bitter-orange amaro accent is borrowed from Straub to make its JM debut in 1916, but both men may have known it from the old Waldorf Bar, which, besides presenting it as a Perfect Martini riff which is frappéed rather than simply shaken, also provides an interesting detail:

Here is the JM1933 take with Amaro CioCiaro sitting in for Amer Picon. Bigallet China-China Amer, now widely available, would do just as well if not better, though not much better for the price.
 

244. Netherland Cocktail

Netherland, not “-lands.” This recipe, which Jack may have gotten from Straub 1913/1914 (both require “good brandy”), is claimed by the Old Waldorf Bar Book to be named for, and derived from, the (New) Netherland Hotel (1893–1927), a Waldorf-Astor property. I suppose they should know, though the orangey-ness of the drink suggests at least a passing familiarity with the “old” Netherland and the importance of that fruit and color to its history (not to mention Curaçao then belonging to Dutch Antilles).
 

243. Narragansett Cocktail

This recipe with a toponymic name, as if the Rhode Island yacht-clubbers’ take on a Manhattan, appears in a 2:1 ratio in Straub 1913 (where absinthe is used instead of anisette), which translates, as usual, to a slightly less tipsy 3:2 ratio when borrowed by JM in 1916. The vermouth, anisette, and olive recall the Montana Club listed a few entries above on the same page, but the effect with sweet vermouth and rye is decidedly different. Both authors likely got the recipe from the old Waldorf manual, which finds expression in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931). There we see first the important note “No Bitters.” This was to prevent the bartender from automatically adding the typical bitters to a drink which had every sign of being a cocktail, which everyone knew meant liquor, sweetener, bitters, and dilution. This delves back into the pre-cocktail Sling. Here the anisette (is this an indication that JM is more faithful to the original?) serves the purpose of bitters, though. Incidentally, the Old Waldorf also specifies straining the drink onto the olive, not dropping the latter in after. I include the Straub version with absinthe for comparison:

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.
 

241. Morning Cocktail

The Morning Cocktail is an old standard shared by several cocktail manuals, always involving brandy and sweet vermouth augmented by dashes of various ingredients and served with a lemon twist. The name recalls the origin of the cocktail as a genteel morning pick-me-up. This version in JM1933 goes back to the first edition in 1908, showing by its lack of change the perfection of this early form and the regard for it among genteel morning-tide tipplers. Barflies and Cocktails (1927) specifies orange bitters for the generic bitters given here (I used Fee Brothers Cardamom/Boker’s Style this time), and adds a cherry in the glass along with the twist, which variation is reproduced also in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930). JM omits the cherry.
 

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.

239. Milo Cocktail

This recipe comes from Straub’s Manual, 1913/1914, with the base proportion of 2:1 rather than 3:2. Pepsin or Pepson (as in Savoy) bitters are defunct, but the name suggests a digestive purpose, for which scarcely anything is so good as Underberg (which would often be called Boonekamp bitters in the old days); granted, they were perhaps closer to standard Angostura or Boker’s in flavor. JM 1916 called for his apparent sponsors, Gordon’s and M&R.
 

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:

 

237. Miller Cocktail (=Colonial Cocktail)

The name and identification with the Colonial both originate in Straub 1913. No source is found which gives the Miller as the primary name for this recipe. See the Colonial Cocktail (No. 98).

236. Mill Lane Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Bacardí Ocho Años
  1 T lime juice
  1 tsp Jack Rudy Grenadine
  4 dashes (1 tsp) St. George Abinsthe Verte
  3 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice and ingredients including squeezed half lime; shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This cocktail, appearing only in JM1912(Third Edition) through 1933, and apparently an invention of Mr. Grohusko himself, is essentially a Rum Sour using grenadine for sweetener and augmented with anise qualities from Peychaud’s bitters and absinthe. More directly, it is a Bacardí Cocktail so augmented.

 

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.
 

 

233. Merry Widow Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  1 oz Dubonnet Rouge Grand Apéritif

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, twist orange peel over glass, garnish, serve. — The fancifully named drink alludes to a play and an operetta. JM1908 calls for Byrrh wine instead of Dubonnet. This is typical of that period, as several of the drinks of this kind (excepting those with Dubonnet or St Raphael in the name) used Byrrh instead of Dubonnet as a rule. Straub 1913 has a variant of this Merry Widow (there are several recipes by the name) gives the option of Sweet Vermouth or Byrrh, but the similarity ends there. It also includes maraschino and Dry Vermouth (but no gin) and is to be shaken rather than stirred. The Old Waldorf Bar Book matches Grohusko’s recipe but instructs the bartender to frappé rather than stir. JM switches from Byrrh to Dubonnet in 1916.
 

232. McLane Cocktail

My interpretation
  1 oz Beefeater Gin
  0.5 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry

Shake 20 seconds in mixing-glass with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, express orange peel and garnish. — Straub 1913, under the entry by this name, informs the reader: “Same as Perfect Cocktail.” This is given as 1/2 jigger of gin, 1/3 jiggers each of Sweet and Dry vermouths, and an orange peel, shaken. The orange peel is meant to be shaken in the drink, and possibly used as a garnish as well. Clearly, this is a shaken Perfect Martini with addition of orange oil either in the shaking or expressed on top, according to preference.
 

 

231. McHenry Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  1 dash Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
  1 tsp or bsp Rothman & Winter Apricot liqueur

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain, serve. — This augmented Martini, previously in JM1916, is found first in Straub 1913, where, as here, the reader is referred to the Martini Cocktail. To begin, therefore, we consult the Martini Cocktail on the previous page:

The only difference there is that Straub calls for stirring the Martini “well.” To this, then, is added 1 tsp of Apricot “brandy” (Hungarian in Straub), meaning, we may safely say, not the clean eau de vie des apricots, but the sweet, fruity, fragrant kind of dram pungent enough to be noticeable at the ratio of 1 tsp to 2 oz of remaining liquids (Straub specifies 1 bsp).

230. McCutcheon Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  0.5 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash Angostura Bitters
  1 dash Hiram Walker Anisette

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir ingredients except Anisette, strain into cocktail glass, finish with Anisette using spoon or mister. — This enhanced perfect Martini first appears in Straub 1913 and is then included in JM1916.

229. Mauser Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  1 oz Alessio Chinato Vermouth
  1 tsp Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, essentially a Martini riff with apple brandy replacing the orange bitters accent, comes from Straub 1913 and is taken up into JM 1916. The name may derive from the noted firearms manufacturer.

228. Mary Garden Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Dubonnet Rouge
  0.5 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — Named after the famous, early-20th c. opera singer (d. 1967), this lighter, aperitif wine-based cocktail first appears in JM 1916.

227. Martini Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut Negra
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters

Fill mixing-glass with method ice, stir 10 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — The original recipe shows little variation from standard recipes of the day, though the Dry option is not listed (the 1935 Old Waldorf Bar Book by contrast has 4 versions, perhaps an influence of post-Prohibition tastes). Jack originally specified Gordon Dry and Martini & Rossi in 1908.
 

226. Marquette Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
  0.75 Alessio Chinato
  1 dash Disaronno Amaretto

Shake with cracked ice, strain, serve. — Shaking should perhaps not exceed 10 seconds to avoid ice on the top of the drink. Optionally, stir instead of shaking. This recipe first appears in Straub 1914 (not in 1913), whence it is borrowed for JM 1916. Creme de Noyaux is available these days, but may not be worth the purchase unless you plan on making lots of Marquettes and Pink Squirrels.