41. Blackstone No. 1.

 My interpretation:
  2.25 oz Uncle Val’s Restorative Gin
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso

Shake with cracked ice, strain. Squeeze lemon peel and use for garnish. Another “Martini” variation named for the Chicago hotel (see Blackstone, Blackstone No. 2). In Jack’s 1916 edition, following Straub (1914) he calls for Old Tom Gin.

40. Blackstone Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz St. George Botanivore
  0.75 oz Gallo Dry
  0.75 oz Yzaguirre Rojo

Shake with ice, strain, garnish with twisted orange peel. — Essentially what people might today call a perfect Martini with an orange twist. The putative house cocktail of the famous Blackstone Hotel, built in Chicago in 1910, the recipe was included in Chicago-based Straub’s pocket manual and from thence likely came into Manhattan-based Grohusko’s expanded 1916 edition.
 

39. Black Hawk Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Bulleit 95 pf Rye
  1.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin

Fill mixing-glass with cracked ice, stir, strain, serve in cocktail glass. — Note, this is technically a duo, not a cocktail, and might best be called simply a Black Hawk.

 

38. Bismarck Cocktail

My interpretation:
  3 oz Bulleit 95 pf Rye
  2 dashes Angostura Bitters
  1 dash Grande Absente absinthe

Build in lowball glass beginning with absinthe and bitters, add large ice, pour over whiskey, stir briefly. Garnish with half orange slice. — Obviously this has no relation to that “Bismarck” mixture of schwarzbier and champagne, aside from the name, which in some places came to be called the Black Velvet from 1914 on.

 

37. Bishop Potter Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz St. George Botanivore
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Extra Dry
  0.75 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso
  2 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
  2 dashes Calisaya bitters mixture (homemade)

Stir well (20 seconds) with broken ice, strain, serve. — What the modern person might today call a “perfect” martini with some extra bitters. A variant of this recipe is doubtless represented by the “Bishop Poker” of the Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book (1935) which divides the liquors in thirds and for its bitters uses only one dash of Amer Picon.

36. Bishop Cocktail

First of all you will note that, whatever his source, Jack’s Manual (1933), in his Cocktail section (* the recipe appears a second time correctly in the Miscellaneous section, p. 155, with the addition of orange juice) has the rum and claret reversed. Historically, as seen in earlier sources, e.g. Kappeler, the cold mixed drink called a Bishop (not a cocktail) is predominantly wine with rum as an afterthought. Straub himself has the error in his 1914 crib-sheet manual (did he copy this error from Jack somehow, or was it the reverse?). In any case, both the 1908 and 1910 editions of Jack’s Manual have the recipe correct (in more ways than one):

My interpretation of the 1933 version (assuming wine / rum reversal to be a typo), which attempts to bring this drink closer to cocktail territory:
  3 oz. red wine
  1 tsp. sugar syrup
  1 tsp. Myers’s Rum
  1 T fresh lemon juice.

Shake with cracked ice, strain, serve. Garnish with lemon slice. — Note that the original recipe calls for the drink to be served on fine or broken ice in a claret glass, dressed with seasonal fruit. Kappeler adds seltzer along with the straws. Ideally, following the 1908 instructiosn, it would look something like this (along with whatever seasonal fruits):

The photo below represents the incorrect 1933 version, which is in effect a vinous, citrusy rum drink.

35. Bird Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.25 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
  1.75 oz Courvoisier VSOP.

Shake well (20 seconds) with ice, strain, serve. Garnish with orange peel. — Not a Cocktail technically, but a simple duo using curaçao as a sweetener. According to Elemental Mixology, Curaçao brun is simply curacao dyed to resemble the color of the mature brown orange. I estimate the use of the authentic ingredient (all but unavailable) would have a darkening effect on the color, but minimal effect on the taste.
 

34. Billin Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.75 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
  1.25 oz Hawthorn’s London Dry Gin

Fill mixing-glass with broken ice, stir, strain, serve. Garnish with lemon. — An overproof gin like Death’s Door would improve this drink a bit.
 

33. Bijou Cocktail

My interpretation:
  1.5 oz Green Chartreuse
  1.25 oz Yzaguirre Rojo
  0.25 oz Hawthorn’s London Dry Gin

Fill mixing-glass 3/4 full with cracked ice, stir well (20 seconds), strain, garnish with cherry and 2 dashes of lemon juice (or, express lemon peel over drink). — I never tried it with an olive; that should be a future post. Also, the language of this gem strikes me as being from an older source.

32. Between-the-Sheets Cocktail

My interpretation:
  2.0 oz Courvoisier VSOP
  0.5 oz Cointreau
  0.25 oz Myers’s Rum
  1 T fresh lemon juice

Shake well (20 seconds) with ice, strain, serve.

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.