361. Vermouth Cocktail

2 oz Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth
1 dash Fee Brother’s cardamom bitters
1 dash Luxardo maraschino

Fill mixing-glass with fine ice, frappé (shake well), strain into cocktail, serve. — This recipe appears in JM 1908 following the Vermouth Frappé, the distinction apparently confined to the addition here of maraschino. Boker’s bitters is best replicated by Dr. Elmegirab’s Boker’s bitters, but any aromatic bitters will do adequately here if the vermouth has a harmonious character. The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) gives the option sweet or dry vermouth, and of 4 dashes orange bitters or 1 dash Angostura, but no maraschino; the drink is stirred rather than shaken. The Old Waldorf Bar Book (1931) lists the French and Italian Vermouth Cocktails separately, calling for one dash of orange bitters for each.

205. Lawhill Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
  1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  1 dash Hiram Walker Anisette
  1 dash Luxardo Maraschino
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake well (30 seconds), strain into cocktail glass. — This riff on a dry Manhattan appears to be a variation of that in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), substituting generic rye for Canadian Club and anisette for absinthe. Jack has also adjusted the proportion of base and vermouth from 2:1 to 1:1. The combined result is slightly weaker and less expensive, but none the less interesting.
 

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.

 

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.

108. Cris Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Hawthorn’s London Dry Gin
  1.25 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth
  2 dashes Luxardo Maraschino

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, and serve. — This counterpart to the Christie, a JM standby from the start, and thus another 50/50 stirred martini riff, has maraschino substituted for the Peychaud’s Bitters.
 

31. Benz Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2.75 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
  0.25 oz St. George absinthe
  2 dashes Luxardo Maraschino

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, shake, strain, and serve. A nice lighter libation with still a stiff absinthe showing and balance of Luxardo fruit pleasantness. Plus it glows.