374. Whiskey Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2 oz Henry McKenna 10 Year Bonded
  1 dash Angostura Bitters
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao 

Fill mixing-glass with ice, stir, strain into cocktail glass, serve. — This traditional recipe recalls the earlier phase of mixology when bitters and sugar or sweetening liqueur were dashed in with ice to round off the edges of a bourbon. Straub 1913 specifies cube sugar instead of syrup, with Green River Whisky (“the whisky without a headache”) and lemon peel; for all intents and purposes, an Old Fashioned. The new fashioned, of course, exchanged syrup for sugar; here, it is curaçao. McElhone in 1927 specifies gomme syrup with Scotch or Rye for the base. Craddock has 4 dashes of syrup and uses Canadian Club for his base. The Old Waldorf Bar Book, showing the older recipe, calls for whisky with dashes of angostura and of gum (misprinted “gin”), and then gives the “old style” option with lump sugar, lump ice, and lemon peel. Grohusko figures, what’s the use?—new is better than old.
 

 

143. Fourth Regiment Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1 oz McKenna 10 Year Bonded Whisky
  1 oz Dolin Rouge
  1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters
  1 dash Angostura bitters
  1 dash Bitter Truth celery bitters

Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with lemon peel, serve. — This classic Manhattan riff comes to JM 1916 from an unknown source, not appearing in Straub 1913. While it is usually made with Rye these days, I take Jack’s generic whisky as an invitation to defy the trend, and the experiment is successful on the whole, the celery working nicely with the flavors of the bourbon.
 

132. Fancy Brandy / Gin / Whisky Cocktail

 The next recipe is a category or style of service specifying any of three base liquors. My interpretation:
  2 oz Western Grace brandy, Gin Lane 1751 London Dry, or Old Forester Signature
  1 dash gum syrup
  1 dash Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake (sic) with ice, strain, twist lemon peel over drink, garnish, and serve. — This recipe, also copied by Straub in 1913, continues unchanged from JM 1908. Especially good if you like cloudy, aerated liquors!

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.

61. Brut Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Gallo Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Old Forester Signature
  0.75 oz homemade Calisaya mixture

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice. Stir, strain, and serve. — This recipe did not exist in JM editions before Straub 1913. While Jack has a Brut Cocktail there, after Straub’s publication, that recipe is re-named “Brut Cocktail (French Style)” and this one is preposited. Nevertheless, this is not an exact copy of Straub’s regular Brut Cocktail, which calls for equal parts Calisaya and Dry Vermouth with a dash of Absinthe. Instead, Jack drops the absinthe and bumps down the Liquore Calisay with an equal showing of Whisky (here I interpolate Bourbon whisky, though sour mash might do nicely,). Were Jack’s reserves of Calisaya and absinthe diminishing, or does this represent another viable and venerable tradition? Hard to say, though the only Brut Jack’s Manual knew before was the next one, now dubbed French Style — for which see the following post.