378. Williams Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Tinkerman’s Sweet Spice Gin
  0.5 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso
  1 oz fresh orange juice 

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake, strain into sufficiently sized glass or goblet, serve. — This sort of pre-Bronx Blossom / Harvester first appears in JM1910, where the gin is specified as “dry.” It remains a stable part of the JM tradition despite not being picked up by Straub or other manuals.

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.

366. Waldorf Queen Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Tinkerman’s Gin (Sweet Spice)
  0.5 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso
  0.5 Dolin Dry
  1 quarter orange
  2 quarter-slices pineapple

Muddle pineapple in shaker, add ingredients and fine ice, rappé well (shake vigorously 30 till nicely frosted), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — In 1913, Jacques Straub, ever the entrepeneur of all things Waldorf, includes this Bronx variant under the name Waldorf Queen’s. JM1916 picks up with slight variation, dropping the possessive marker (and thus any connection to a New York borough name, a là Bronx). The same drink proved popular and was included in books like McElhone’s 1927 Barflies & Cocktails (under the simplified name Waldorf). The Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931), which usually holds the best claim, calls it the Waldorf Bronx and makes it much simpler than a Bronx, with only gin, orange juice, and pineapple slices:

Here is my version of Jack’s recipe.

358. Van Lee Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key London dry gin
  0.75 oz Dubonnet Rouge
  0.25 oz The Famous Grouse scotch whisky

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain into a cocktail glass, serve. — This variant on an Apéritif Cocktail (be it Byrrh, Saint Raphael, or Dubonnet), spiced up with a notion of Scotch whisky, first appears in JM1910 with Byrrh instead of Dubonnet, as usual in the earlier books. It is not picked up by Straub, and appears to be named for one of the local fixtures at Jack’s bar.

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.
 

353. Tussetto Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  0.75 oz El Maestro Sierra Oloroso Sherry
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters

Fill mixing-glass half full of broken ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This recipe, otherwise known as a Sherry Martini, is closely linked to the Tuxedo Club, also spelled Tucseto or Tucsedo after the Indian term for which the eponymous community club was named. Grohusko’s spelling here seems unique, and may be regarded as an Italianized interpretation of the spelling, though it first appears that way not in JM 1916 but in Straub 1913. The Savoy (1930) has two Tuxedos of the martini+absinthe vein, neither with sherry. It is the most simple and elegant of all the Tuxedo-related drinks. Further information for this and the next drink, the Tuxedo proper, is found here.
 

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).

 

347. Trowbridge Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Castle & Key London Dry Gin
  1 oz Martini & Rossi Sweet Vermouth
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters

Fill mixing-glass half full with ice, stir, strain into whisky glass, garnish with orange twist, serve. — This Sweet Martini with a twist, served down, first appears in Straub 1913 in a 2:1 ratio, sweetened up to 1:1, as usual, when copied by JM1916. There is no mention of ice, so a legitimate form of this drink would include a direct pour, esp. if the vermouth is duly chilled.

334. Spaulding Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Beefeater Gin
  0.75 Dubonnet Rouge
  1 tsp The Famous Grouse blended Scotch

Fill shaker with fine ice, shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This sweet martini-riff with a tinge of smoky scotch first appears in Straub 1913 and is borrowed in JM1916.
 

333. South Africa Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Lustau Amontillado
   1 oz Beefeater Gin
  3 drops lime juice (1 barspoon)
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This balanced Martini-riff with lime juice as well as sherry in place of vermouth, is first found in JM 1916, borrowed from Straub 1913.

330. Society Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Beefeater Gin
  0.75 oz Dolin Dry
  1 dash Jack Rudy Grenadine

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This martini with a dash of grenadine first appears in Straub 1913 and is borrowed for JM 1916.
 

324. Silver Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater Gin
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
  2 dashes Luxardo maraschino
  1 dash gum syrup
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir well (30 seconds) in mixing-glass half full of ice, strain into cocktail glass, squeeze lemon peel, garnish, serve. — This recipe is first found in JM1908 and continues without change to JM1933. Straub 1913 shows a simpler formula with sweet vermouth and no gum syrup. McElhone’s recipe in Barflies & Cocktails (1927), ascribing the authorship to Pat O’Brien of the Knickerbocker, uses dry vermouth, but instead of gum syrup calls for egg white and orgeat—for which Jack’s use of gum syrup would be a reasonable, if lackluster, substitute. The Savoy Cocktail Book simplifies on Jack’s recipe by dropping the Angostura and gum syrup, bringing it closer to an augmented dry Martini or Tuxedo. This idea is also reflected in the Old Waldorf Bar Days book, which calls for a Martini with maraschino, frappé.
   

318. Schulke Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Beefeater London Dry Gin
  0.5 oz home-infused orange gin (Gin Lane 1751 Old Tom + orange peels)
  0.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1 T lime juice

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain, serve. — This interesting Trio balanced with a little lime juice, comes off like a Savoy punch-style drink, though it makes its appearance much earlier in JM1910. The orange gin of the day was Booth’s. Today a number of options are starting to appear again, but home-infused orange gin may still be the best resort in many parts of the States.

313. St. Peter Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Beefeater Dry Gin
  1 dash fresh lime juice
  1 dash gum syrup

Shake with ice 20 seconds, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — The third “saint” in Straub provides JM1916 and 1933 with this variation on a Gin Cocktail sans bitters, lime for lemon, sanding the edges of the dry gin very neatly. It might conversely be considered a sort of boozy, gin-forward Gimlet, easy on the additives (another drink in the Miscellaneous section, the Lime Kiln, forms the opposite pole, with a proportionally greater quotient of lime and syrup, of which two the Gimlet (not otherwise represented in JM) would represent the average.

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.

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.

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.
 

280. Poet's Dream Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.33 oz Aria American Dry Gin
  0.66 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
  2 dashes DOM Benedictine

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This dry martini riff is first found in Straub 1913 in the ratio 2:1, 2 ds each of orange bitters and Benedictine. It is reprodcued in JM1916. The 1931 the Old Waldorf Bar Book gives an equal-thirds recipe of dry gin, dry vermouth, and Benedictine, with a lemon twist.
 

279. Plaza Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Aria American Dry Gin
  0.5 oz Lustau Vermut
 1 slice pineapple

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, shake (including piece of pineapple), strain, rinsing strainer of pineapple pulp if necessary, serve in cocktail glass with pineapple garnish. — This ananas-tinged Martini-riff, named for the Plaza Hotel of New York fame (thus often found as “Hotel Plaza Cocktail”) is first found in Straub 1913 with typically terse directions, reproduced in JM1916 with the ratio 13:7 or roughly 2:1 gin to vermouth. This is rounded up to 3:1 in 1933. What to do with the pineapple is the primary question, at which most recipes guess. Barflies & Cocktails (1927) gives the recipe in equal thirds: gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, along with a “chunk of pineapple” ambiguously mentioned twice, both in the ingredients and in the service. The popular Savoy (1930) version copies a feebler equal-thirds version. By 1932, this cocktail is found, e.g., in the Stafford Bros.’ book, in equal fourths with pineapple juice taking the last slot in place of the pineapple piece (to strain which might slow the bar service considerably); this last recipe, though perhaps degenerate in its call for juice, is nevertheless evidence that the the pineapple is no mere garnish, but an ingredient integral to the drink’s identity.

276. Pine Tree Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 Aria American Dry Gin
  0.75 Lustau Vermut
  1 mint sprig (to be shaken)

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with fresh mint. — This mentholated martini-riff originates with Straub in 1913, is picked up by Jack in 1916, and dies there in 1933. It may have been named after a Pine Tree Hotel or Club (as many otherwise inexplicably named cocktails seem to have been). Today the name brings to mind a pinaceous gin and a dash of Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur, perhaps, or Evergreen, or even just a pine muddle or tincture; and in fact there are some strong contenders that go this way. Suffice it to say, the identity of the drink did not take root in the heart of the general drinking populace, and it died. But an echo lives on in the Cooperstown Cocktail, which is differentiated chiefly by the incorporation of dry vermouth.