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.

372. Wedding Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Tinkerman’s Sweet Spice Gin
  0.25 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry
  0.25 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso
  2 barspoons Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 oz fresh orange juice

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain into a claret glass (a stemmed glass of about 5 oz capacity), and serve. —This cocktail as described in JM1933 is without precedent. However, McElhone and Craddock both mention a similar cocktail consisting of gin, orange juice, cherry brandy, and Dubonnet, called the Wedding Belle or Wedding Bells, of which this may theoretically represent a variant. In effect, it is a long Bronx sweetened by addition of curaçao and additional juice.

317. Scheuer Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1 oz Vermut Lustau
  1 oz Dubonnet Rouge

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This simple, light, vermouthy Duo appetizer goes back to JM1908 and continues unchanged. In 1913, Straub includes the recipe (perhaps they both may be traced to the same source) with the probably wise addition of 1 dash Angostura Bitters, but the dash of Bitters is not incorporated by Grohusko in 1916 or 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.

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.

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).
 

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.

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.

 

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.

224. Marguerite Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Plymouth Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash St. George Absinthe Verte

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, add regular olive (not stuffed), serve. — This old Martini riff, one of the recipes that helped shape the modern concept of the Martini, is part of the JM tradition going back to 1908. Whence it came before that is unclear, though the unique language in the instructions (“stir up well with spoon”) points to an earlier source outside of JM. In 1908, it specifies Field’s Orange Bitters and Chappaz dry vermouth. Later, Straub 1913 includes the recipe, olive omitted, making it essentially a Dry Martini (he also omits the Plymouth specification).
 

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.

207. Leonora Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
  0.5 oz fresh orange juice
  0.5 oz homemade raspberry syrup

Frappé (shake well) with 1/2 glass cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe of the Daisy variety first appears under this name in JM 1908. It resembles the Harvester with raspberry syrup substituted for half the orange juice.

203. Larchmont Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Lustau Amontillado
  1.5 oz Alessio Vermouth Chinato

Fill glass with cracked ice, stir, serve. — The first time I did this, I unconsciously inserted the word “strain” into the recipe, and got what is essentially an Adonis:

However, this is incorrect. There is no “strain.” Ever since the Third JM in 1912, this recipe has simply said “fill glass with cracked ice, stir, and serve.” So I realized it had to be served on cracked ice. This could mean in a larger, perhaps claret-sized, glass, though none is specified. Here is my latest preparation, using Lustau for the vermouth as well as the sherry. It kind of resembles an iced tea this way.

189. Jack Rose Cocktail

 My interpretation
  1.5 oz Daron calvados
  0.25 oz raspberry syrup
  0.25 oz barspoons lemon juice
  2 barspoons orange juice
  0.25 oz lime juice

Shake with cracked ice, strain, top up with cold soda water, serve. — This famous recipe is presented here in a slightly more involved, but worthwhile, form. As with the Clover Club, Jack calls for a mixture of citruses, which may reflect firs-thand knowledge of recipes used at the Waldorf or similar bars prior to his first publication in JM 1908. Calvados furnishes a drier effect, while Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy provides more fruity apple flavor.

188. Jack-Rabbit Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Alessio Chinato
  0.5 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  1 tsp Jack Rudy grenadine
  1 T fresh orange juice

Shake with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This lighter Martinez riff with lower portion of gin keeps the head even but not cloudy. It first appears in JM 1910 (2nd Edition).

182. Improved Martini Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Captive Spirits Big Gin
  1 oz Alessio Chinato
  1 dash Fee Bros. Orange Bitters
  1 dash Luxardo Maraschino

Fill glass (12 oz) with cracked ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — Like the previous Improved Manhattan, this recipe calls for the simple addition of 1 dash Luxardo Maraschino to the regular recipe (to come). It first appears in JM 1908 and is taken up by Straub 1913 with an extra dash maraschino.

181. Improved Manhattan Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Hochstadter's Rye
  1.5 oz Alessio Chinato
  1 dash Fee Bros. Cardamom
  1 dash Luxardo maraschino

Stir with 1/2 glass (about 6 oz) cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe appears first in Jack's Manual 1908 with specification of Martini Rossi vermouth and Boker's Bitters. It “improves” the traditional Manhattan simply by adding maraschino. Straub omits this recipe while retaining the Improved Martini (see next).

174. Honolulu Cocktail

 My interpretation:
  1 tsp powdered sugar
  1 T orange juice
  1/2 T lime juice
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice, strain, garnish with lemon twist, serve. — The original recipe appearing in Jack’s Manual 1908 and continued in 1910 is quite different, resembling more a whisky highball:

The realization of this recipe’s similarity to the Whisky Highball in the more organized 3rd Edition (1910s) must have led to the new, more Tropical-inspired, gin-based, citrus-heavy recipe that continues thereafter, and which seems more prescient of the tiki style that would shortly develop.

151. Gin Cocktail

My interpretation:
   2 oz Castle & Key London Dry
   1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir in mixing-glass half-full of cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass; twist lemon peel, serve. — This traditional gin cocktail recipe goes back to Jack’s Manual 1908. By contrast, Straub calls for “1 or 2” dashes of Orange bitters, no mention of lemon peel.

146. Frank Hill Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Western Grace brandy
  1 oz Cherry Heering

Shake well (30 seconds) with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass, twist lemon peel, serve. — This Jack’s Manual original after-dinner Duo goes back to 1908 and is an enjoyable way to taste the Heering without the cloying syrupy quality.