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 — Originally made in 1908 with Amer Picon (old formula) and favored Ballor Vermouth, this satisfying citrus digestif was eventually included in Straub 1913 in roughly the same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).
 

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.

260. Palmer Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Bulleit Rye
  1 dash Amaro Ciociaro

Fill mixing-glass with broken (or method) ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, really a type of “whiskey service” or Whiskey & Bitters, first enters the JM repertoire in 1912 in his third edition. Straub’s recipe by this name is unrelated; it is essentially a Manhattan with St. Croix rum. The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) has a possibly related drink consisting of Canadian whisky dashed with Angostura and lemon juice.

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.
 

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.

172. Holstein Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Remy Martin VSOP
  1 oz Hiram Walker Blackberry Brandy
  1 dash Amaro Ciociaro

Shake 30 seconds with crushed ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Jack Grohusko original, ideal as an after-dinner brandy-based Duo, appears first in his Manual of 1908 and continues without change through every edition, being picked up by Straub along the way, who himself specifies Martell, though no brand is ever mentioned by Grohusko.

112. Dean Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bulleit Rye
  1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  1 dash Amaro CioCiaro
  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — A good Manhattan riff, similar to the Brooklyn with its bitter orange quality, dating back to the first JM 1908.
  

107. Crescent Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz McKenna 10 Year
  0.75 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  0.33 oz Amaro CioCiaro
  1 tsp homemade raspberry syrup

Shake well (20-30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This Manhattan riff takes a cue from Jack’s very own Brooklyn, amps down the main ingredients, amps up the Amer Picon, dropping the bitters and making for a sweeter drink with bitter complexity from the Picon and just a touch of tartness. To augment the bitterness of the CioCiaro I opt for Cocchi amber vermouth.

 

62. Brut Cocktail (French Style)

This interesting recipe deserves a little preliminary study, as it has evolved somewhat over time through the various editions of Jack’s Manual. If one were to follow it as presented in the 1933 edition, one would be missing some important details. Here it is in 1908:

Not only do we have here more ample directions regarding the chilling and dilution of the drink (mixing-glass full of shaved ice), but also somewhat different proportions based on the jigger system, which has the effect of decreased Picon and increased Vermouth (this recipe matches that in Boothby’s book of the same year), and two more dashes of Angostura. In addition, we have the instruction to serve in a cocktail glass. JM 1910 introduces the first set of changes:

Here we still have the mixing-glass full of shaved ice, the good stirring, and the cocktail glass service, but the Angostura bitters have been deidentified and significantly reduced to a single dash, and the proportions significantly altered from a 1:2 to a 1:9. In face, the drink has become quite a bit more focused on the French Vermouth. This may be an attempt to bring the recipe more in line with other/earlier sources, an authenticizing, if you will. This does not last long. After Straub 1913, with its two Brut Cocktails, this Jack’s standard gets shifted to line up with Straub’s “French Style,” adding the epithet in the process, though Jack’s non-French Brut isn’t an exact copy of Straub’s. JM 1914 show influence from the Straub formula:
 

 At the same time, this is not an exact copy of Straub, but a reformulation actually increasing the Amer Picon quotient. If he had followed Straub, he would have reverted to his 1/3 and 2/3 jigger recipe. Customers may have preferred the stiffer, Picon-heavy version. But more importantly, it was in 1916 that Jack introduced his novel percentage system, replacing the old jigger system.

My interpretation:
  2 oz. Dolin Vermouth
  1 oz. Amaro CioCiaro
  4 dashes Angostura bitters.

In a mixing-glass full of fine ice stir well (20 seconds), strain, and serve. I have used a bar glass here but a (stemmed) cocktail glass would be most proper to the original intent.

59. Brooklyn Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Bulleit Rye
  1.5 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso
  1 dash Amaro Ciociaro
  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain, and serve. — Much has been said of this Cocktail, universally attributed to Jack Grohusko (who includes it from 1908), with the bulk of commentary focusing on its slow reception and the alteration of the recipe in Straub 1913 by substitution of dry vermouth for sweet. Given that most of Straub’s borrowings from JM are patently aware of the difference between sweet and dry vermouth (the terminology “regular vermouth” for sweet appears later after the Sad Era), one must assume that Straub preferred the dry, perhaps for the sake of distinction as well as or more than for the sake of taste. The most Brooklynite aspect of this drink may be the prescription of a nigh-unobtainable ingredient and the ensuing quasi-gnostic debates regarding how the bartender obtained said contraband or which substitution may be best.