384. Zazarac Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz McKenna 10 Year Bourbon
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte
  1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  1 tsp sugar

Take chilled glass from cooler, dip rim in sugar, carefully strain stirred ingredients into glass over large lump ice, serve. — This fairly well-known cousin of the Sazerac, what might be called a Fancy Bourbon Old-Fashioned, yet legitimate in its own right, is described by Jack Grohusko from 1908 onward in the above manner, only that the name is spelt Zazarack until 1933, when the k is dropped. Straub himself effects this change earlier, along with specifying these differences: 1 dash of anisette is added over and above 2 dashes of absinthe, orange bitters are substituted for Peychaud’s, an option of bourbon or rye is given, and a lemon peel is twisted over the glass, nor is a sugar rim called for. Grohusko continues his recipe in 1916 unaffected by Straub’s variant. The Savoy Cocktail Book resembles Straub somewhat, with rum, Canadian club, gum syrup, anisette, angostura, orange bitters, and absinthe; this drink is shaken and strained into a cocktail glass and finished by squeezing over it a lemon peel.
 

380. Yale Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  2 oz Bombay Sapphire London Dry gin
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters 
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte
  1 lemon peel

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, twist lemon peel, garnish, serve. — This recipe comes from Straub 1913. Craddock’s version in 1930 has orange bitters, Angostura, lemon peel, and a splash of soda. The Old Waldorf Bar Days, with this note:

calls for Tom Gin and Sweet Vermouth stirred and strained and finished with the seltzer. McElhone in 1927 calls for gin, orange bitters, Angostura bitters, lemon peel, and soda. Which drink best represents the institution in question is unsure.

377. White Rat Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Copper & Kings Absinthe Blanche
  0.5 oz Hiram Walker Anisette

 Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake well (about 30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This glowing anise Duo first appears in JM 1908 with (strangely mangled) Ojen or white absinthe and Anise topped with soda, making in effect a non-bittered Ojen cocktail:

Perhaps following Straub 1913/1914, who is known for simplifying, leaving out information, or otherwise altering Grohusko’s recipes (cf. Brooklyn Cocktail, infamously), JM1916 drops the carbonic or soda as well as the specification of white absinthe. The effect of these two ingredients by themselves resembles that of a sweeter Ojen Spanish absinthe. The simplified recipe finds its way into later books such as Judge Jr.’s Noble Experiments (1930).

362. Vienna Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso (sweet vermouth)
  1 oz Noilly Prat extra dry vermouth
  1 dash St. George absinthe verte

Fill mixing-glass with fine ice, frappé (shake vigorously), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This vermouth x2 duo + absinthe first appears in Straub 1913. A light drink that can be enjoyed anytime, it can easily be imagined being deposited on a small café table in Vienna, Austria or Vienna, Virginia.

356. U. C. Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  1 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth
  1 dash St. George absinthe verte

Fill shaker with ice, shake about 30 strokes, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This shaken Martini+absinthe recipe first appears in Straub 1913 without a hint as to the source of the name.
 

354. Tuxedo Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Gin Lane 1751 Old Tom Gin
  1.5 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  3 dashes Angostura bitters
  1 dash Luxardo maraschino
  1 dash St. George absinthe verte

Fill mixing-glass half full with ice, stir well (about 30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, add cherry (here Amarena), serve. —This heavy-hitter classic cocktail from the Tuxedo Club, NY, is offered by Grohusko in a redder, more heavily bittered incarnation. Straub 1913 sees Jack and raises him a barspoon of sherry wine (authentic secret or misguided allusion to the Tussetto? See previous post). McElhone garnishes this with a lemon twist. Craddock (in the No. 2 by this name) has cherry and expressed lemon peel, but the drink is shaken. For further information, see Difford’s detailed post.
 

350. Turf Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  1 oz Martini & Rossi Sweet Vermouth
  2 dashes St. George Absinthe Verte
  2 dashes Luxardo maraschino
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters

Fill mixing-glass half full of ice, stir well, strain into cocktail glass, drop in olive, serve. — This Dry Martini augmented by dashes from half the liquor cabinet appears in JM1908 and continues unchanged. It becomes the Turf Cocktail No. 1 in Straub 1913, where the No. 2 is Holland gin, sweet vermouth, and bitters—essentially a Sweet Martini with genever, which is the recipe named “Turf Club” in JM1916 (see the next post), but simply “Turf” in the Old Waldorf Bar Book (1931).

 

343. Taxi Cocktail

My interpretation:

  1 oz Castle & Key dry gin

  1 oz Dolin Dry

  2 tsp lime juice

  2 tsp St. George absinthe verte

Fill shaker with fine ice, frappé / shake vigorously 40-50 strokes, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This cold dry martini with lime and absinthe comes from Straub 1913 and finds its way thence into JM1916, which changes barspoons to teaspoons but keeps everything else the same.

341. Swan Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Copper & Kings white absinthe
  1 oz fresh orange juice

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This breakfast bracer (or anytime bracer) duo first appears in JM1912. The next year, Straub listed a recipe by the same name but dissimilar in every other way. It is a dry martini with bitters and a dash of lime. The key here is that this other recipe is named for the brand name of Swan gin, a notable brand of genever from Schiedam, Netherlands. That recipe derives from the earlier Old Waldorf manual, which was published later in 1931 under the title the Old Waldorf Bar Days, which adds absinthe as well. Long story short, the Grohusko recipe is unique and unrelated, lending dignity to the name as descriptive of the drink itself, reflecting the beauty and elegance of that noble bird. The other simply plays upon a popular name for genever.

320. Sherman Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz William Wolf Rye
  0.75 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
  1 dash St. George absinthe

Fill mixing-glass half-full with broken ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Manhattan riff with absinthe instead of bitters, perhaps named after the Civil War general, appears first in Straub; from thence it is taken into JM1916.

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.

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.

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.”

254. Opal Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Copper & King’s Blanche Absinthe
  1 oz Casa Mariol Vermut

Fill mixing-glass half-full of ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This bracing recipe first appears in JM 1912. A recipe by the same name in Straub 1913/1914 is a stirred dry Martini with a dash of absinthe on top. This suggests a common source imperfectly reproduced in one or either of the books. Straub is corroborated by reference to the 1931 Old Waldorf Bar Book, which also inserts 1 dash of Orange Bitters in the dry Martini. A different cocktail by the same name in The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) is a large-format cocktail for 6 people consisting of gin, orange juice, and curaçao, etc.
 

252. Olivette Cocktail

My interpretation:
   1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
   1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  3 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
  3 dashes St. George Absinthe Verte
  1 dash Angostura Bitters
  1 dash gum syrup

In mixing-glass half-full of ice stir well (20-30 seconds), strain into chilled cocktail glass, express lemon peel over glass and garnish with fresh lemon peel. — The original recipe for this Martini riff from JM 1908 omits vermouth, has 2 dashes of syrup instead of 1, and includes an olive alongside the lemon peel, the latter point being perhaps rather on the nose for a drink by this name. 

These differences all reflect a reorientation of the original recipe, an enhanced Plymouth Gin Cocktail + olive, in conformity with the Martini style recipe in Straub 1913/1914, which cuts the gin with vermouth, dials down the syrup, and drops the olive. In 1927’s Barflies and Cocktails, however, we find the older recipe without vermouth, with 2 dashes syrup, and with the olive. This earlier recipe is again found in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. A less similar Olivet in the Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) has gin paired with sweet vermouth, orange bitters, and an olive, a Martinez-riff.
 

250. Ojen Cocktail (American Style)

My Interpretation:
  0.5 oz Hiram Walker Anisette
  0.5 oz Copper & Kings White Absinthe
  6 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
  
Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice; stir with a dash (about 1/2 oz) of carbonated water, strain, serve. — This is the recipe found in the third Jack’s Manual (1912) and continues, after Straub’s Spanish recipe, with the epithet “American style.” The preparation is less finnicky than the Spanish, and the flavor of the absinthe is much improved by the addition of Peychaud’s.

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).

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.
 

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.

 

225. Marqueray Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
  1 egg white
  2 dashes Jack Rudy Grenadine (about 1 tsp)
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte
  1/2 T fresh lime juice

Shake all ingredients well with cracked ice, about 30 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — Borrowed from Straub 1913 for JM 1916, this Gin Sour recipe, with lime for the sour and grenadine for the sweet, distinguishes itself from similar recipes (like the Sunshine Cocktail) by the added enhancement of absinthe, which for a modern twist could be dashed or sprayed on top before serving instead of shaking in. Another example is found here.