382. York Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  2 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  0.5 oz fresh lime juice with expended peel

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This simple Vermouth Service first appears in JM1912. The next year, Straub offers his version of the York, a Scotch-Vermouth duo with orange bitters shaken (aka Rob Roy Cocktail). Oddly enough, Straub’s recipe is the one found in The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931), which seems to point to this as the original. Craddock’s York Special, however, is 1.5 oz Vermouth, 0.5 oz maraschino, and 4 dashes of orange bitters. Despite them all, Jack sticks to his Vermouth+lime recipe till the end.

379. Wonder Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Bombay Sapphire
  0.75 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  1 quarter slice pineapple

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake vigorously (frappé), strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh pineapple slice — Yet another martini+pineapple combination, it appears first in Straub 1913 in a 2:1 ratio, then in JM1916 with the present 3:2, as usual.

375. White Elephant Cocktail

My interpretation:

  1.25 oz Tinkerman’s Sweet Spice Gin

  1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

  1 egg white

Fill mixing-glass with chipped or broken ice, shake well (about 30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This creamy Sweet Martini + Egg White first appears in Straub 1913 in a 2:1 ratio. When it was taken into JM1916, it was weakened slightly to 3:2. The 2:1 ratio also appears in The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931), doubtless a belated record of the original source.

370. Waxen Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.5 oz Gine Lane 1751 Old Tom Gin
  0.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth
  0.5 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
  0.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe first appears in Straub 1913 and is borrowed from thence for JM1916. The same recipe is found in McElhone’s Barflies . . . under the name “Warday’s” with the notable and in fact sensible reduction of chartreuse to 1 tsp., leaving the rest in equal thirds (about 0.75 oz each). That recipe and name are reproduced exactly in The Savoy (1930). While the Warday’s Cocktail is rightly deserving some attention today, it is well to note that Straub and Grohusko did it first, sort of, and to give credit where due. They may be independent creations, but I find it unlikely, given their proximity in the alphabet. The Waxen is also getting attention here and there.

369. Watkins Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Tinkerman’s Gin (Sweet Spice)
  0.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  0.5 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry
  1 slice pineapple in mixing-glass
  1 slice orange in mixing-glass

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain, serve. — This fruit-laced Perfect Martini recipe, first appearing in JM1912 bears a close resemblance to the later Straub’s Waldorf Queen[’s] (see above) added in 1916—which might stand out more if the Old Waldorf Bar Days recipe for the Waldorf Bronx (2:1 gin to orange juice, with 2 pineapple slices) had been followed.

168. Highland Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz The Famous Grouse
  1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

Shake with ice, strain, serve. — This recipe, essentially a shaken Rob Roy or Scotch Manhattan without bitters, is lifted directly from Straub 1913, etc., for JM 1916.

160. Hamersley Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Aviation American Gin
  0.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino 
  2 dashes Luxardo maraschino
 quarter orange (rind + 1/4 oz juice)

Squeeze orange-quarter into mixing-glass, drop in, add other ingredients, filled with crushed ice, and shake 30 seconds quickly, strain, and serve. — The quantity of juice and orange peels expressed from the inserted rind should not be so much as to render this cocktail a Blossom. It is rather to be considered a 3:1 martini (though shaken) with slight adjunct of maraschino and orange. The recipe is first found in JM 1910 (the 2nd Edition) and undergoes no change through the later editions.

 

149. Futurity Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  2 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir in mixing-glass half-full of cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Straub 1913 cocktail, a sweet, slightly bitter, aperitif, was borrowed in JM 1916. It is probably the best use of Sloe Gin featured thus far in Jack’s Manual.
 

144. Fowler Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Dolin Dry
  2 barspoons Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  2 T fresh orange juice

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This recipe, resembling the oldest versions of the Bronx as a martini riff with a small portion of sweet vermouth and orange juice to sweeten and round it out, first appears in JM 1910 (2nd edition) and continues without change to 1933.

142. Fourth Degree Cocktail

My interpretation:
  0.75 oz Copper & King’s Absinthe Blanche
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

Shake with ice about 30 seconds, double strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe comes to JM 1916 from Straub 1913. The Savoy Cocktail Book recipe has equal parts dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, and gin, with only 2 dashes of absinthe. This seems more accessible. Nevertheless, the present recipe is itself more accessible than the Duchess above, the only difference being the specified absinthe. In the Duchess, I used St. George Absinthe Verte. Here, since it called for white, I used the Copper & King’s absinthe alembic blanche, which is noticeably smoother and harmonizes better with the vermouths.
 

141. Four-Dollar Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Gin Lane 1751 London Dry
  0.5 oz Dolin Dry
  0.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

Stir in mixing-glass half-full of ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, first appearing in laconic Straub 1913 (we have added the instruction to stir with ice) and borrowed for JM 1916, is the definition of a Perfect Martini, that is, a Martini with equal parts of sweet and dry vermouth. The name is humorous. At the time of Straub, a cocktail was about 20 cents, in 1933 about 30 on average. In today’s dollars, that would make this a Hundred Dollar, or Two Hundred Dollar, cocktail; perhaps Double Benjamin rolls of the tongue better?

138. Fluffy Ruffles Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bacardi White
  1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

Shake well (30 seconds) with ice, strain into cocktail glass, express lime (or lemon) peel over glass, and garnish. — I prefer the lime with the rum. I use Cocchi to add a little bitterness which is otherwise lacking in this Duo. The recipe previously appeared in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.
 

127. Emerson Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin
  0.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  0.5 oz fresh lime juice
  3 dashes Luxardo maraschino

Fill shaker with cracked ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — Borrowed without change from Straub 1913 for JM 1916, this interestingly balanced mixture hovers between a Martinez and an Aviation, a sort of Martinez sour (as some have noted) which does best with a slightly bitter vermouth.

123. Duplex Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Old Forester Signature
  0.5 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry
  0.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

Stir in mixing-glass with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — A perfect Manhattan, hold the bitters, first appearing in JM 1916. A Straub 1913 recipe (identified as an alternate of the “Albern”) is, somewhat more logically, equal parts dry and sweet vermouth with two dashes of orange bitters. The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book uses the same recipe, specifying as alternative to orange bitters two squeezes of orange peel.

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.

 

106. Creole Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  0.75 oz St. George Absinthe

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This Creole cocktail (duo) derives from Straub’s Chicago recipe and appears in the 1916 and 1933 editions of Jack’s Manual.

91. Clove Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
  1.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1 tsp Remy Martin VSOP

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This is a recipe, not in JM 1910 or earlier, is from Straub, and is essentially the same as the Clare Cocktail (or Duo) but that it is shaken, not stirred. For more variation and interest I am trying the Cocchi amber vermouth here, and cognac instead of my standard German brandy. I like the colder, thinner feel here with the slight bitterness and the nice layer of foam from shaking.