311. St. Francis Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry
  1 pimento-stuffed olive (pimola)

Fill shaker with ice, shake for 10 seconds, strain, drop in olive, serve. — First appearing in Straub 1913, this gin-based Duo with a fussy garnish was thence incorporated into JM1916. The instructions are slightly misleading are not original. Until 1933, there were no instructions. It does not appear that the pimola was intended to be shaken, but simply to be added as a garnish. This mixture is supposed to have been invented at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, and is one of the drinks to which the modern idea of the dry Martini is attributed.

310. Sabbath Cocktail

My interpretation:

  1 oz Rémy Martin VSOP

  1 oz Offley Tawny Port

  1 oz black coffee (Portland Brew / Summit Roasting)

  1/2 tsp sugar

Shake all ingredients with ice 20 seconds, strain out ice, shake a further 15 seconds, strain into claret (small wine) glass, serve. — This large format caffeinated flip first appears in Straub 1913 (spelled “Sabath”) from whence it makes its way into JM1916. It resembles an attempt at what the Coffee Cocktail ought to have been. In other books, like the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) it is called a Sabbath Calm. But Jack Grohusko already had a Sabbath Morning Calm going back to 1908, consisting of gin and eggwhite shaken and strained. That was relegated to the miscellaneous section in 1916; . The Old Waldorf recipe calls, properly, for a full pony of coffee rather than a half, but also adds a quantity of cream, which is unnecessary here.

 

309. Ruby Royal

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry
  3 dashes homemade raspberry syrup

Shake vigorously with fine ice 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with amarena cherry, serve. — This light dessert Duo, combining a liqueur and a vermouth, first appears in Straub 1913, from which it is borrowed for JM 1916. There are some similarities to some Ruby recipes but not enough to demonstrate firmly an intentional relation or derivation. The final color with good sloe gin is somewhat nearer rust-red than ruby. It is not recommended to use a brightly dyed sloe gin (such as Bols or De Kuyper) since, while it bestows a rubicund hue more reminiscent of the namesake jewel, it generally tastes like saccharine medicine.

308. Ruby Cocktail

  

My interpretation:
  1.75 oz Plymouth Gin
  0.25 oz Peychaud’s Bitters

Fill shaker with broken ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — In 1910, that name is spelt “Rubie.” (And Peychaud’s is spelt “Peychard’s”.) Dry gin is called for at first. Straub’s recipe by this name has grenadine, applejack, and dry gin. The Old Waldorf recipe is quite different, and more reminiscent of the Rose in French recipes: Dry vermouth, cherry brandy, acid phosphate, orange bitters, and maraschino. The present recipe is much drier but has similarly appropriate coloring.

 

307. Royal Smile Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  2 T orange juice
  1 egg white

Beat egg white and orange juice briefly, then add gin. Shake well (30 seconds), strain into claret glass, serve. — There are different recipes by this name, to which is variously appended, or not, the epithet “Cocktail.” Straub has a “Royal Smile,” implied to be a cocktail, consisting of apple brandy, dry vermouth, grenadine, and lime (or lemon) juice shaken with egg white and served in a claret glass. McElhone has similar, replacing the dry vermouth with gin. In fact, JM 1912, where we first find our present recipe, has that recipe also, but without the “Cocktail” epithet, and without the egg white:

 The applejack-gin-grenadine-sour (here lemon instead of lime) omits the egg (as does the Old Waldorf) and makes it essentially a Jack Rose stiffened with a little gin—but Jack’s Jack Rose has a squirt of seltzer. Meanwhile, the Royal Smile Cocktail here is written out, unusually, in 19th-century paragraph form, is an orange blossom with egg white, served in the other drink’s claret glass. — I believe this cocktail has its cousin in the Savoy “Royal Cocktail No. 1” which gives lemon juice and powdered sugar instead of orange juice, and uses the whole egg (with the yolk); the color would be about the same, and an inaccurate visual memory of the drink’s preparation might explain the difference. This in turn is related to the Royal Fizz, which adds seltzer. Indeed, the drink resembles the basis of an orange-gin fizz minus the fizz. The present recipe might well be of Jack’s own devising.

 

306. Rossington Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Gin Lane 1751 Old Tom Gin
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir well (20 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, twist orange peel, garnish, serve. — There are two Rossingtons (AKA Martinis), one with dry gin, dry vermouth, and lemon peel, and another as given here. The Dry Rossington appears in JM1910–1912. After Straub’s influence, JM1916 has the Sweet Rossington with Old Tom. Thus I justify interpreting JM1933’s unqualified “gin” along the same lines. A similar pair of dry and sweet Rossingtons is found in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931). Spelled “Rosington” in the Savoy (1930), it is there built as 2:1 with dry gin to sweet vermouth orange peel.

305. Rose Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz (overfull) Castle & Key Dry Gin
  0.5 oz (scant) Jack Rudy grenadine
  0.5 oz (scant) fresh orange juice

Fill shaker half-full with cracked ice, shake 20-30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe (the name has been taken for many differing recipes of various qualities) is first found in Straub 1913. The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) attempts to gather most of these. What they all have in common is dry gin, and several of them, grenadine (being helpful for achieving the right color). The main division is English vs. French, the former being a kind of punch or blossom, the latter distinguished by having some kind of cherry ingredient (either kirsch or cherry brandy) along with something to weaken or sweeten (vermouth or grenadine). The English is reflected in our recipe in the punchlike mixture of succulent orange juice, grenadine for color and sweetening (shared with the French family of Roses) and gin, of course. The Savoy English recipe is a more complex punch: lemon, grenadine, apricot, dry vermouth, dry gin. The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) version is an outlier, simply 4:1 dry gin and Grand Marnier. The modern Rose adopted by the IBA shows that the French won out, and is traced back to McElhone’s recipe in Barflies and Cocktails (1931)—2/3 dry vermouth with a little kirschwasser and redcurrant syrup (generally replaced by grenadine today). Adding absinthe to our recipe makes it essentially a Monkey Gland, another of McElhone’s creations. Replacing grenadine with orange liqueur or sweet vermouth gives us an Orange Blossom. Here is an interesting survey of Rose cocktails.

304. Rolls-Royce Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Dolin Dry
  0.5 oz Vermut Lustau
  1 dash DOM Benedictine

Fill shaker half-full with cracked ice, shake 20-30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Perfect Martini with Benedictine is found in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) and was found popular or worthy enough to be included in JM 1933.

303. Robinson Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  0.75 oz Dubonnet Rouge
  0.25 oz fresh orange juice

Fill mixing-glass half-full with cracked ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, somewhere between a Bronx and a Martini, with Dubonnet for vermouth and orange juice for orange bitters, dates back to the original JM 1908. The mixture ends up somewhat similar to the newer Marble Hill, named for a district in New York but has a much better claim historically.

302. Rob Roy Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz The Famous Grouse
  1 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir with 1/2 glass full of cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This famous Scotch-Manhattan, supposedly named for the opera rather than the folk hero, originally appeared in JM 1908–1910 as a sherry-based cocktail with sweet (Ballor) vermouth and a dash of orange curaçao. Only in 1912, the third edition, is the present, presumably more correct, recipe introduced (with Peychaud’s being spelled “Peychard’s”—indistinguishable in an old New York accent). The version incorporated by Straub called for 1 dash each of Angostura and Orange bitters instead. This is similar to the Robber Cocktail of Barflies and Cocktails (1927) which forgoes Orange Bitters. The Savoy (1930) also calls only for Angostura, and notes interestingly: “Particularly for St. Andrew’s Day, to open the evening for the usual enormous annual gathering of the clans at the Savoy.” The Old Waldorf Bar Days only specifies Orange Bitters, no Angostura. It is well to note that the Waldorf, as the originator, may be expected to present the recipe most faithful to the original. Also note, no cherry garnish is specified in any of these recipes.

301. Robin Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.75 oz The Famous Grouse blended Scotch whisky
  0.25 oz cinchona-calisaya liqueur

Fill mixing-glass half-full with ice, stir 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with amarena cherry, serve. — This orange-tinged, slightly bittersweet, Scotch-forward cocktail, perfectly finished by the cherry, first enters the JM canon in 1916, a borrowing from Straub or otherwise inherited from the Old Waldorf tradition. The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) renders the drink in equal parts Scotch and calisaya, specifies stirring and straining (hence implying ice), and also features the cherry. The Robber Cocktail in Barflies & Cocktails (1927) is tantalizingly close, a Rob Roy served with a cherry. We may view the Robin as a riff on the Rob Roy replacing both vermouth and bitters with calisaya.

300. Robert Burns Cocktail

My intepretation:
  1.5 oz The Famous Grouse blended Scotch whisky
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake well (about 30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This classic Scotch cocktail goes heavy on the base, surprisingly similar to the modern version. In 1908, Jack was a little confused on the Scotch trio of recipes which appear in close proximity here. The first, the Robert Burns, was to be made with equal portions of Scotch whisky and French (Chappaz) vermouth, with 3 dashes of absinthe. This was only amended in JM1916, after Straub’s Manual appeared and according to that recipe, which also rightly introduced the option of Scotch (Robert Burns was himself Scotch, so it makes sense). The Irish option remained, perhaps due to the popular taste for that whisky among those of Irish descent living New York at the time. The drink ought to be stirred, as specified in the earlier, pre-Straub editions of Jack’s Manual.

299. Riding Club Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz home-infused cinchona-calisaya liqueur
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  3 drops Extinct Horsford’s Acid Phosphate

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This bitter-sweet-tart cocktail first appears in Straub 1913 and is borrowed for JM 1916. It also appears in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931), suggesting a common heritage. There, the recipe specifies red calisaya (as opposed to white) and 1/2 pony of acid phosphate; our three drops are then discovered to be generous drops. The use of acid phosphate here is significant—it balances the bitterness of the Calisaya and Angostura by a neutral sour without lemon or lime overtones.
  

298. Richmond Cocktail

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

Fill mixing-glass with fine ice, stir, strain, and serve. — This light, vermouth-based cocktail first appears in JM1908. It is borrowed by Straub in 1913, which alters the ratio to 2:1 and changes stirring to shaking. The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) features a stiffer Richmond Cocktail, similarly a Duo, but composed of 2 parts Plymouth Vermouth and 1 part Kina Lillet, with a squeeze of lemon. While apparently different in effect, it’s possible that the color of the Kina Lillet (amber) and Plymouth Gin (clear) appeared to match the vermouth components of this Richmond, so that the recipe derives from the same source, if inexactly reproduced, or else intentionally amended. The Savoy Richmond, incidentally, is shaken like the Straub version.

297. Reis Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin
  2 dashes Angostura bitters
  2 dashes St. George Absinthe Verte

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — JM1916 has this from the recipe in Straub 1913/1914. Undoubtedly related is the Rees Cocktail in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931), where it is given the alternate name “H. C. Club.” This recipe has an absinthe rinse, 2 dashes Angostura, 9/10 Tom Gin, and 1/10 Sweet Vermouth; yet the drink is to be served warm, apparently not shaken or stirred with ice.

296. Red Lion Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  0.25 oz home-infused orange gin

Stir with mixing-glass half-full of cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Dry Martini riff with a stiff orange twist appears in JM 1908 calling for high and dry gin, Ballor Vermouth, and Booth’s Orange Gin. The latter, by the symbol on its label, inspired the name for this drink, though, aside from the Booth’s Orange Gin, this mixture differs considerably from that sweet-sour one ascribed to A. A. Tarling.

295. Raymond Hitch-Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Vermut Lustau
  1 T fresh orange juice
  1 slice pineapple + 1 piece (for garnish)

Shake with pineapple slice 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh pineapple piece, serve. — This light vermouth-based cocktail with a humorous name (a play on the name Raymond Hitchcock) is found in Savoy (1930), from which it appears to be taken into JM 1933.

294. Raymond Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  .75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  .75 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  2 dashes Chartreuse
  lemon twist

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into champagne coupe or flute, garnish with lemon, serve. — This Perfect Martini riff with an herbal undertone first appears in JM 1910 and continues unchanged. It does not appear to have any counterparts in other manuals. The Raymond Hitch Cocktail in the Savoy (1930) does not seem to be related.
 

293. Raphael Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Dubonnet (or Saint-Raphaël) aperitif
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry
  0.25 oz Plymouth Gin

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Dubonnet treatment of the Saint-Raphaël aperitif resembles the Dubonnet cocktail proper. It first appears with the angelic elixir in JM 1910, substituting Dubonnet in 1916; the rest of the recipe remaining unchanged through 1933. A Raphael Cocktail does not appear in the usual cocktail books of the period; it may have come directly from the producer.

 

292. Racquet Club Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key Dry Gin
  1 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir (or more authentically, shake), strain into cocktail glass, twist orange peel over and garnish; serve. — This 1:1 Dry Martini with a twist first appears by this name in Straub 1913 and is borrowed for JM 1916. It appears in Savoy (1930) as a 2:1 Dry Martini shaken with orange bitters. The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) has both orange bitters and peel, and calls for frappé (thus shaken). The lack of instruction whether to shake or stir is due to the omission in typically terse Straub.
 

291. Queen's Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Gin
  0.5 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  0.5 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  1 piece pineapple (in mixing-glass)
  1 T orange juice

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve with fresh pineapple garnish. — This recipe appears at first glance to be a riff on the Bronx in order to give the borough of Queens its own drink; and thus, the spelling should probably omit the apostrophe. Indeed, by comparison with some popular Bronx recipes, its only peculiar contribution is the addition of pineapple to the shaker. Long before its first appearance in 1916, there was a Queen’s Highball with Amer Picon and Grenadine (see JM 1908). This drink, clearly unrelated, appears eight years later without any precedent in Straub. Its analogs otherwise include the identically named “Queen’s” in Barflies & Cocktails (1927) and in the Savoy (1930), which specifies crushed pineapple, and the “Queen” in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931).
 

290. Quaker's Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Copper & Kings Brandy
  0.5 oz Myers’s Rum
  0.25 oz homemade raspberry syrup
  1 T or 0.25 oz lemon juice

Shake well, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This balanced Rum Daisy-inspired concoction first appears in Barflies (1927) and Savoy (1930) books with equal portions of the Rum and Brandy, from which it is probably borrowed and adjusted for JM 1933.
  

289. Pueblo Cocktail

My interpretation:
  .33 oz Hiram Walker crème de menthe (dyed green)
  .33 oz Raspberry syrup
  .33 oz Luxardo Maraschino
  .33 oz Copper & Kings Brandy
  .33 oz Chartreuse Yellow
  .33 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao (dyed brown)

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice, shake 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass (or pousse café glass if you like), serve. — This interesting and somewhat sweet, if not beautiful, concoction seems like a jest, but likely has a very practical origin as a way to use a botched Pousse Café, e.g., when poured incautiously, sequenced incorrectly, or accidentally disturbed. Into the shaker it would go, given a new name and so the ingredients salvaged (it may have been offered at a discounted rate or even on the house, in which case, at least the ingredients did not go to waste). If this indeed is the case, and as the recipe suggests, the drink produced will be only a little larger than a Pousse Café due to dilution while shaking; thus a smaller glass may be preferred. Otherwise, if one actually sets out to make a Pueblo, the ingredients might well be enlarged to a 1/3 oz each.

We find this recipe in Straub, and then JM 1916, under the name “Peblo,” and in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) as “Peplo.”
 

288. Princeton Cocktail

 

My interpretation:
  1.75 oz Castle & Key Gin
  2 dashes Angostura Bitters
  0.25 oz carbonated water


Stir gin and bitters with ice, strain into cocktail glass, add cold carbonated water, twist lemon peel, garnish, and serve. — One of several cocktails named for colleges of the Ivy League, this version, first appearing in Straub 1913, has proved the more prosaic and less popular than the other Princeton, which layers port and Old Tom gin and orange bitters (this is found in Barflies & Cocktails, 1927 and Savoy, 1930). At least the light fizz of the soda on top produces something a little more interesting than the Gin Cocktail. Old Waldorf Bar Days, the putative originator of the drink, and at least flagship of the New York / American school of early 20th c. mixology, has the present Gin-and-Soda thing, specifying Old Tom Gin, which seems to commend itself to this simple recipe, and also be supported by the generic term “gin” here, which in the JM tradition more often than not means the older standard Old Tom (or Ancient Thomas).
 

287. Princess Mary Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Plymouth Gin
  1.25 oz Hiram Walker Crème de Cacao (white)
  0.25 oz light cream

Fill shaker with ice, shake 25-30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — If you think this sounds like an Alexander, wel, it is—at least, what is now thought of as an Alexander. In 1908, Jack Grohusko had an Alexander of a far different stripe: 2:1 rye and Benedictine, down, on a rock, with an orange twist; somewhat similar to the Colonel. This is found in JM and Straub until 1933. In Harry of Ciro’s ABCs of Mixing Cocktails (1923), the recipe is found by this description, along with its claim by the author of the book: it was invented by Harry McElhone in 1922 for the marriage of HRH Princess

Mary to Lord Lascelles; Harry’s Alexander has brandy, not gin—thus a Brandy Alexander. Barflies & Cocktails (1927), which also has the Princess Mary (along with repeated details on its creation), likewise gives the Alexander as brandy, cacao, and cream. The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) gives it with gin, cacao, and cream—identical to the Princess Mary, but that cocktail by McElhone is not present to confuse. In brief, while the Alexander appears in a variety of forms, the Princess Mary appears only with cream, cacao, and gin, usually in equal parts. It appears that the inclusion of the creamy Alexander occurs only in 1933 (along with addition of Alexander’s Sister) and without noting similarity to the Princess Mary). Note: I have used Plymouth Gin here, though the style is not specified in the recipe.