Monster in a Glass

Classic cocktail history Ritz Sidecar

The Pendennis Cocktail seems to have been a drink that was hardly known. Appearances in recipe books are few and far between, and when it did show up, there were variations on the recipe. Not much to talk about there. However, while the cocktail information was sparse, there seems to be a whole lot of different Pendennis drinks including a toddy, a mint julep, and even an eggnog. So, this Pendennis must be something important. Join us as we discuss this almost completely forgotten cocktail. We also explore the Pendennis Club, where it got its name, and why we probably would not be asked to be members. We also do a call back to the Old-Fashioned episode where the Pendennis Club made an appearance, and the Fish House Punch episode where we discussed similar types of social clubs. More clubs where we would probably not be asked to be members.

The Pegu Club Cocktail takes us all the way to Myanmar, to ask the question. What was the Pegu Club? And how did it get its own cocktail? The answer is…not 100% sure! We know it was a club for Brits who lived and had their holidays in Myanmar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this episode we try to piece together what the purpose of the club was, why the British were there (hint: it rhymes with mimperialism), and a very tiny slice of Myanmar’s long and rich history that led to the cocktail we discuss.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the Palm Beach Special probably has something to do with Palm Beach. So pack your flip-flops, buckle up, and prepare to be sweaty, we’re headed to Florida! Join us as we discuss the pioneering days of Florida, the wealth that made it a destination, how the situation with grapefruit juice in the 1940s might have made the Palm Beach Special fade away, as well as monkeys, pastel, people hiding, and a whole lot of swampiness.

The Mother-in-Law Cocktail is a tricky one to discuss. It is a family recipe out of New Orleans, and the ingredients are in great proportions to make it something you store in a bottle. This drink calls for New Orleans staple Peychaud’s Bitters, Angostura, Bitters, Amer Picon, Orange Curacao, simple syrup, maraschino liqueur, and Bourbon. Just short of every booze possible. So, with nothing to go on as far a history of this cocktail we talk about, you guessed it, Mother-in-laws! Join us as we discuss the long-running mother-in-law jokes and stereotypes with roots in Vaudeville and the transition to other entertainment mediums, possibilities of where this trope might have originated, and whether there is any cultural truth behind overbearing mother-in-laws. The recipe is: 1 tsp Peychaud's Bitters 1 tsp Angostura Bitters 1 tsp Amer Picon 0.5 oz orange curacao 0.5 oz simple syrup 0.5 oz maraschino 9 oz bourbon

We have done a number of episodes that have taken us into the realm of gross. Sometimes it is the ingredients, sometimes it is the backstory, sometimes it is because we are gross. The Monkey Gland is a special one because hits on all three! Join us as we break down the why Harry MacElhone and not Frank Meier created this drink, how the drink was used as a defense in a trial, and how this drink was named after some very weird virility experiments involving, you guessed it, monkey glands. The recipe is: 1 ½ ounces dry gin 1 ½ ounces orange juice 1 teaspoon grenadine 1 teaspoon absinthe

The Modernista, or as it is known originally, The Modern Cocktail, has recipe that appears to have all the flavors and all the booze. Just not all the flavors you might think go together with absinthe, scotch, orange bitters, lemon juice, and rum. It seems this is one cocktail that really was forgotten, starting in the 1910s and barely making it to the 1930s. Join us as we take a look at what modern means, what was considered modern in the early 20th century and the term modern in advertising. We also get all philosophical with this one, discussing modernity and postmodernism.

You would expect the Millionaire Cocktail to be opulent, featuring the finest liquors, a white truffle garnish, served in a solid gold goblet, rimmed with caviar, and a $100 bill for a straw. Or it is all just a trick to get you to drink something that is hardly different than a hundred other cocktails so you can feel fancy. This drink should have been fairly easy to research except for the fact that there were two different recipes running concurrently for the first half of the twentieth century. Not to mention other Millionaire drinks with different recipes popping up here and there to confuse matters. In this episode, we explore whether this was a coincidence or some lifting of recipes and alterations along the way. It might be that the researcher just got into the conspiracy theory juice again. Join us as we explore the millionaires over time, why the path of the Millionaire Cocktail follows those bartenders who seemed to be extra fond of grenadine, and the life of bartender Jacques Straub. 1.5 oz dark rum .75 oz peach brandy .75 oz sloe gin juice of one lime

This episode we are talking about Milk Punch, which in newer recipes resembles a boozy milkshake. As the recipes get older, they get, let’s say slightly more unusual. This is the oldest drink that we have covered so far, with origins dating to at least the early 1700s, probably earlier. Going back to these early recipes, we learn about women’s roles as brewers, distillers, wine-makers, and home-doctors during the 17th and 18th centuries. Join us as we talk a whole lot about milk, like probably more than you ever wanted to hear about it. In addition to combining citrus and milk and pasteurization, we dive into the old-timey medicinal benefits for things like fleas and something called the Pissing Evil. Fair warning, this one gets pretty gross. Like running milk through a hair sieve gross. The recipe is: 1 ounce brandy ½ ounce dark rum 2 teaspoons simple syrup 2 dashes vanilla extract 4 ounces whole milk

For as many times that we have said that there aren’t a whole lot of Scotch cocktails, we have another one for you! This one also has the name of a person, which sometimes is helpful like the Lucien Gaudin and sometimes unhelpful like the Barbara West. We are somewhere in the middle with The Mamie Taylor. This cocktail is Scotch, lime juice and ginger ale, and was often noted as being a refreshing summer drink. Mamie Taylor was an operatic singer who seems to have been involved in musical theater and plays around the end of the 19th century. While not famous per se, must have been of some note to someone in order to get a whole drink named after her. Join us as we discuss how this drink may have been a product of Washington correspondents, how no one reads anything before reposting it on the internet, and William “The Only William” Schmidt claiming that he actually invented the drink way before it became popular. The recipe is: 2 ounces of Scotch ¾ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice Ginger ale

At first glance, you might say that this cocktail has an unusual combination of ingredients, featuring gin, Campari, French Vermouth and Cointreau. And then you realize it is a Negroni with Cointreau. Oh well, there are only so many ingredients! The Lucien Gaudin Cocktail on the surface seems like a perfect cocktail to be able to research because, someone’s name! As our Barbara West episode showed, it isn’t always going to be that easy. In this case, we Gaudin, a champion, left-handed, French fencer, happened to be more of a household name than our vague Ms. West. Join us as we discuss whether this drink was something Gaudin was a fan of, or if he was lending his name to a book to add a celebrity endorsement. This episode takes us into the world of championship fencing, the Olympics, and duels! No joke, 20th century duels were a thing. History, you so crazy. 1 oz gin 1/2 oz Cointreau 1/2 oz Campari 1/2 ox dry vermouth

The Lion’s Tail cocktail is one of just many, many recipes originating from the Café Royal Cocktail Book (1937), that never really appeared again until very recently. Most of the ingredients are pretty standard, with the exception of Pimento Liqueur, more commonly known as Allspice Dram nowadays. We discuss this rum-based liqueur’s Caribbean origins, strong Christmas flavor, and unusual pairing with bourbon instead rum. In this episode, the name of the drink leads us to a long history of the lion as a symbol of Britain, and a whole lot of twisting of its figurative tail. So join us as we explore the use and origins of this phrase “twisting the lion’s tail” with the nineteenth century Irish on both sides of the Atlantic, a resurgence of the phrase in the 1920s and 1930s, and key points of Ireland’s relationship with Britain that led to all this talk about doing stuff with lion’s tails. The recipe is: 2 ounces of bourbon ¾ ounce of Allspice Dram ½ ounce of lime juice ½ tablespoon of simple syrup 2 dashes of Angostura bitters

In the U.S. of today the term liberal has very specific connotations. What did it mean when the Liberal Cocktail was created in the 1890s though? Was the creation a celebration of or jab at late 19th-century liberal ideals? If you had that label, what were you fighting for? Join us as explore the concept of liberalism and its meaning during the early 20th century. We also discuss the Liberal Cocktail, its standout ingredient Amer Picon, and the nearly complete disappearance of both. In the case of the cocktail, we take a look at whether a backlash against liberalism may have been the real cause of its disappearance. The recipe is: ¾ ounce of whiskey ¾ ounce of Italian vermouth 3 dashes of Amer Picon (or Torani Amer) 1 dash of orange bitters

First printed in Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up cocktail guide, this drink is not well represented and probably not well liked but nevertheless we did our 82nd episode on it. It first appears nearly simultaneously with the introduction of blue curacao on the market, it's recipe in Saucier's book, and a Bols ad for blue curacao roughly around 1951. It seems to have been given a spotlight for a short time by Bols and a couple of wheeling-dealing PR agents, Ted Saucier and Frank Farrell, who both did a stint in the Marines. It's an interesting little tale of cocktail invention in the Mad Men era. But we didn't leave it at that. We did a full assessment of understanding the origin of the word leatherneck and how it came to be applied to the personnel of the U.S. Marine Corps and then we told the stories of how the U.S. Marine Corps came to be and some of the amazing adventures they had in their early years. Truly cinematic stuff. The drink is: 2 oz blended whiskey 0.75 oz blue curacao 0.5 oz lime juice First off, the drink is frightening in aspect. We kept referring to it as green alien blood. The taste was pretty horrid as well. We sat in the bar trying to figure out why anyone would make this drink if it wasn't a prank...and then it hit us. The Leatherneck Cocktail tastes like salty leather. So nobody would ask to drink a cocktail that tastes like a sweaty leather collar, but if someone proposed that they could make a drink that tastes like briny hide people would still be impressed that that could be delivered. Granted its a parlor trick that works once and then it's retired...however, once we understood what the cocktail was all about, some members of the tasting team started to appreciate its complexity. Going into production of this episode I didn't think there was going to be much to discuss. This one ended up like a hidden gem...probably emerald...or maybe more sapphire.

A name like the Jupiter Cocktail immediately evokes images of the enormous planet with the great swirling storms and the Roman king of the gods, with thunderbolt in hand. The cocktail indicates power, something greater than all. I would expect ten different kinds of liquor served in a barrel, full of lighting, and on fire…or it could be just a martini with some Parfait Amour and orange juice. Join us as discuss this stormy-colored drink and its standout ingredient Parfait Amour. We also try to figure out whether the inspiration was a god, a planet, or maybe even a World War I ship. The ingredients are: 1 and ½ ounces gin ¾ ounce dry vermouth 1 teaspoon Parfait Amour 1 teaspoon orange juice

Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch is a more contemporary take on an old drink called simply, Planter’s Punch. Resembling punches of the colonial-era, Planter’s Punch appears to have originated in the Caribbean in the early to mid-1800s. Where exactly in the Caribbean is the question, since most references just point to the “West Indies.” The unusual thing about this drink is that there did not seem to be a standard recipe. Rum, lime, and sugar were the common ingredients among Planter’s Punches, but the rest of the recipe varied greatly. Join us as we explore whether this punch could be a product of Jamaica, or from a neighboring island nation. We also take a look at its relation to other types of colonial punches, and try to figure out what the Planter’s in the Planter’s Punch means.

Do you like cocktails that are named after a 19th century varnish? Then step right up to the bar and order a Japalac Cocktail. That’s right folks, nothing says quenching your thirst like old lacquer! This recipe shows up first and only in Albert Stevens Crockett’s Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931). It was another creation of Johnnie Solon, of Bronx Cocktail fame. Was Johnnie famous for anything other than creating the Bronx Cocktail? Well, Crockett will tell you he was also known for a Mint Julep that took 30 minutes to make! This episode explores why a cocktail named after varnish wasn’t picked up by other bartenders at the time, historically sexist advertising methods, and what actually may have been going on at the Waldorf Bar with Mr. Johnnie Solon. Juice of ¼ orange ¾ ounce dry vermouth ¾ ounce rye whiskey 1 teaspoon raspberry syrup Combine in an iced cocktail shaker, and shake and strain into a small cocktail glass

The Jack Rose Cocktail ingredients look like a deconstructed fruit bowl, bringing together Applejack, lemon juice (or sometimes lime juice), and grenadine. Dating back to the early 20th century, Cocktail Bill Boothby appears to have brought it to print, but attributes it to New York bartender R.H. Townes. The name is a bit of a mystery. Is it a pairing of the jack in Applejack and its rose color? Or from a type of rose? Maybe it was created in reference to the gambling house owner and alleged member of the mafia, Jacob Rozenzweig, AKA, Baldy Jack Rose? Join us as we explore the origins of the drink, and what it might be named after, and the corrupt underworld of New York in the early 1900s.

It is hard to imagine why you would want to name a drink after something that the great majority of the world hates, but here we are with the Income Tax Cocktail. Harry Craddock appears to be the person who wanted to remind people that the government is coming for your hard-earned money, so you should probably drown your sorrows. This drink does not show up in very many places, but is often said to be just a Bronx Cocktail with Angostura bitters, which in turn is said to just be a perfect Martini with orange juice. So it is, and we don’t have a lot to go on with the cocktail itself. So our attention is turned to that exciting topic, TAXES! We dive into the origins of income taxes and the 16th Amendment that made it all possible. This one actually turned out to be much more of a tangled web than we anticipated, involving the temperance movement, farmers, WWI, and President Woodrow Wilson. So join us as we explore this cocktail with an unfortunate name, and the possibility of income taxes being the real cause of, and end of U.S. prohibition.

The Honeymoon Cocktail seems to first appear in Hugo Ensslin’s Recipes for Mixed Drinks (1917), and contains an unusually sweet and fruit-based combination of ingredients, calling for Apple Brandy, lemon juice, curacao, and Benedictine. We take a look at what Benedictine is and how the Honeymoon Cocktail encountered a swapping out of the Apple Brandy for Calvados and more Apple Jack. We also explore the history of honeymoons, where the term originated, and origin myths surrounding this tradition in relation to marriage.

With very few appearances in cocktail books, or really anywhere, it is probably fair to say that the “Have a Heart” cocktail didn’t make much of a splash at all. It seems originate from, and really only appears in Patrick Gavin Duffy’s The Official Mixer’s Manual (1934). The quotation marks allude to it being the title of something, but of what is hard to say. Some say that it is after a film of the same name, but the publishing of the drink recipe is the same year the movie came out, so maybe not so much. We take a look at the possibility of it being named after a 1917 musical, and Duffy’s connection to the theater prior to prohibition. PGD has made so many appearances in our podcast, but we never really explored his book and how it came to be. So we discuss the man, the book, the legend and how he might have encountered a whole lot of actors in his days as a bartender. The recipe is as follows: 1 and ½ ounces gin ¾ ounces Swedish Punsch ¾ ounces lime juice ¼ ounce grenadine

The product of a cocktail competition in London, the Golden Dawn is a boozy drink, almost entirely made up of Calvados, Brandy, and Gin. A newspaper article from 1930 mentions that cocktail purists were not happy with this drink winning the competition, simply because of the addition of fruit juice. We delve into the idea of what a cocktail is and isn’t, where the argument may have started, and why anyone really cares. Some point to the origin of the name deriving from a Rodgers & Hammerstein operetta, but it most likely received its name from the orange juice and grenadine giving it the color of a sunrise. Since it would be difficult to tackle the history of sunrises, we explore the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, because Golden Dawn. This spiritualist group largely influenced occultism in the 20th century, had a membership that included a number of well-known people of the time, and was semi-revolutionary for a secret society by allowing women to become members. One of the most notable members was Aleister Crowley, who rose in the ranks quickly, had a falling out with one of the founders of the Golden Dawn, and how the two allegedly engaged in psychic battles for years. So join us as we discuss this pretty cocktail/not cocktail, as well as magic, mysticism, controlling nature, and Crowley’s goth kid poetry. 3/4 oz Calvados 3/4 oz gin 3/4 oz apricot-flavored brandy 3/4 oz orange juice Grenadine

Some say the Brandy Crusta is distinct enough to be considered an entirely different type of drink than a cocktail. Others say it is just a variation on or an evolution of a true cocktail. When it really comes down to it, having this kind of argument is just going to end up with you having a warm drink and a sad face. Going all the way back to the 1840s, this is one of the older drinks we have explored. The basic ingredients of brandy, lemon, lemon peel and the sugar crusted rim seem to stay consistent as time goes on, but the other ingredients start changing almost as soon as it starts showing up in recipe books. Curacao and maraschino liqueur make appearances in different recipes, as does gum syrup and various types of bitters, and hell, throw some fruit in there for good measure! For once, we have a drink that does not have a dispute over who created. With the great majority of information pointing to Joseph Santini out of New Orleans and no one else claiming ownership, we should be done looking at this one, right? Well, exactly where, when, and why he created it depends on the source. We find that a lot of the details on the origin require some parsing and piecing to get closer to the truth. So we dig deeper into Santini and just what he was doing in mid-19th century New Orleans. Was he a bartender? Bar manager? Café owner? Tobaccoist? Wine importer? Yes, probably all of that. And add super-businessman, mason, and reformer who cared a whole lot about New Orleans. We don’t care if it is a cocktail or not, so join us as we try to nail down the origin story of the Brandy Crusta.

This was a fun episode.  The cocktail itself had a fairly ordinary background, so we made the most of it by disparaging passion fruit and spotlighting the UK Bartenders' Guild. The drink itself appears first (and only) in the Cafe Royal cocktail book which for the first time we discuss as part of the drinks compilation project the UK Bartenders' Guild took on in the 1930s. This drink is itself remarkable because it's the only one we've seen that features passion fruit juice and the Cafe Royal cocktail book is equally remarkable because it's the only cocktail recipe book that features passion fruit juice at the time...and it does so 37 times. So we decided to focus on passion fruit since we knew nothing about it. We also sample some real grenadine and orange flower water. The Avenue cocktail contains: 1 oz bourbon 1 oz Calvados 1 oz passion fruit 1 dash of grenadine 1 dash orange flower water Despite the lack of information on this cocktail, it was delicious. The team generally did enjoy this drink, appreciating a break from gin for this fruit forward beverage with a bourbon base. Nicole also pointed out where one could find the Passion of the Christ in the passion fruit flower.

The Fred Collins Fiz on first glance would almost certainly be the sibling drink of Tom and John. This one is kind of a mystery though because the ingredients don’t really match any of the drinks in the Collins family, not even Grandma Rye, Aunt Bourbon, or wacky old Uncle Rum. So then it is a fizz then, right? Because of the fizz in the name? Except it seems to be missing the second “z.” And there isn’t any soda water, which typically makes a fizz a fizz. There isn’t a whole lot to go on with this drink, so we can only assume that this long lost Collins cousin is an impostor cocktail. Still, it is a cocktail. You are lucky I am thirsty Fred Collins! The ingredients are as follows: 2 oz bourbon 0.5 oz simple syrup juice of 1 lemon 2 tsp orange curacao

There isn’t a definitive explanation about how the Ford Cocktail got its name, so we get to do a whole lot of speculation on this cocktail. Dating back to at least 1895, it is a little too early to be named after the Henry of car fame. Luckily, there are so many other Ford options to choose from! Based on the timeframe, we explore Malcolm Webster Ford, a track and field athlete with daddy issues and a tragic end. A descendant of Noah and Daniel Webster, he came from a long line of literary talent. Unfortunately, his bookish family was not very accepting of his great athletic ability, which is the complete opposite of the plots from every 1980s movie. Join us as we take a look at the Ford cocktail. In this episode we are talking horseless carriages, track and field, family friction and fratricide, Henry Ford, Betty Ford, Ford Prefect, and time-traveling Harrison Ford. More Fords than you ever could hope for! The ingredients are as follows: 1 oz Old Tom Gin 1 oz dry vermouth 3 dashes Benedictine 3 dashes orange bitters

I like a cocktail that tells you what it does for you. The Fogcutter lets you know right away, that this drink is going to clear away the cobwebs. How many cocktails can boast that it can make you less foggy? In this episode we take a look at this tropical drink that brings in the titans of tiki, Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber. This mid-20th century cocktail is generally attributed to Vic Bergeron, but saw a good deal of variation on the ingredients as different bartenders gave it their own touch. While tiki drinks might be late in the cocktail game, fogcutters actually go back to around the 1700s. So join us as we go back to a time when booze was your breakfast and your medicine.

The ingredients of The Flying Dutchman cocktail resemble a cold remedy, so I hope you like citrus! Or have a cold. This drink has orange gin, orange juice, lemon juice for extra Vitamin C, and a couple drops of Angostura bitters for color perhaps? Or digestion? Maybe just for fun? We don’t really know, because this cocktail is short on information about why and how it came to be. This one truly may have been a forgotten cocktail. We take a quick gander at the unusual ingredient that is orange gin, but the bulk of this episode is spent covering the legend of The Flying Dutchman. So join us as we talk through the Viking origins of the legend, ghost ships, and the influence on art, literature, poetry, and bartending. 2 ozs orange gin 1/4 orange juice 1/4 lemon juice 3 drops Angostura bitters

This Fish House Punch takes us to all the way back to colonial America and includes stories you probably didn’t learn in elementary school. This punch is truly a monster in a glass, or maybe a goblet, or bowl, or whatever people drank punch out of in the 18th century. Containing nearly all the booze and all the sugar, this surely guaranteed the founding fathers could stay up all night getting trashed while creating a nation. In this episode we discuss the origins of the Fish House Punch in the the social club known as the Schuylkill Fishing Company, AKA the Colony of Schuylkill. We also take a look at other Philadelphia gentleman’s clubs of the time, including the Junto Club founded by Benjamin Franklin. Rumor has it that George Washington allegedly drank so much Fish House Punch once, that he couldn’t write in his diary for three days! THREE WHOLE DAYS?!! Wait, was this a standard for judging how bad your hangover was? The founding fathers were known for running up pretty large tavern bills, especially during election season, but could this story really be true? Join us as we try to figure out if the first Commander-in-Chief was a lightweight, a heavyweight, or just hated writing in his diary. There are variations on the ingredients in this punch, but here is the ingredients used for the tasting: 4 oz Jamaican rum 2 oz brandy 1/2 oz peach brandy 1/2 oz maraschino 2 oz green tea 1 oz lemon juice 1 oz simple syrup champagne

Something about a cocktail named The Filmograph sort of screams early 20th century technology. “Folks! Gather around and see the future of moving pictures. Just a dime will introduce you to the wonders of the Filmograph!” We aren’t exactly sure what a Filmograph was, but it must have been something because we now have a drink named after it. With a lack of references to the drink and some vague information about film publications and projection machines, this one left us with a whole bunch of speculation on how it got the name. In this episode we focus on the unusual ingredient of kola tonic, explore its evolution toward being arguably the most famous non-alcoholic beverage, and the history and use of the kola nut. So step right up ladies and gents and marvel at The Filmograph! The ingredients are as follows: 2 oz. of brandy 3/4 oz. of lemon syrup 1/2 oz. of kola tonic

If you do a quick search on the internet you will find any number of websites and blogs mentioning the Fairbank Cocktail, or more accurately, the Fairbanks Cocktail. You will also find that most confidently claim that the drink was named after actor Douglass Fairbanks. Occasionally, the voice of reason comes through and points to U.S. Vice President Charles Fairbanks as the origin for this drink. We here at the Black Liver Project try hard to do our research and present information as accurately as possible. Here is a hint: it doesn’t have anything to do with Douglass Fairbanks. Join us as we explore this drink and get mad at the internet. The focus of the episode is the rise of Charles “Cocktail Charlie” Fairbanks and his political fall, because booze. Teddy Roosevelt has popped up pretty often throughout this podcast, but is featured heavily in this episode. That’s right folks, he killed big game, led the Rough Riders, and was still had time to throw his VP under the temperance bus.   The cocktail ingredients are as follows: 1½ oz Gin ¾ oz Vermouth 2 dashes Crème de Noyaux 2 dashes Orange Bitters This cocktail was so, so pretty.  It was pink and delicate, we all wanted to gently kiss and snuggle it. And then we tasted it. If you like a wet martini, this drink would suit you well, but it is just so shocking because it totally destroys expectations the color suggests. On further consideration, we even wondered if this dissonance was intended as a part of a joke ie that this cocktail is essentially a joke cocktail poking fun at Charles Fairbanks aka Cocktail Charlie.

The East India Cocktail was first noted by Harry Johnson who claimed in his book in 1882 that this was a popular drink in among the British in India. It was hard to find any truth behind this, but it certainly sounds imperialistic. As we dive into East India Cocktail we discuss the long European colonial presence in the East, corporate interests evolving into national interests, as well as mutinies and rebellions. Come join us as we explore why this brandy-based cocktail might have been popular in India, some weird Canadian temperance poetry and the disgusting possibility of maraschino olives. Ewww. (Trademark maraschino olives.) The cocktail ingredients are as follows: 3 oz – brandy 1/2 oz – raspberry syrup 1 dash – Angostura Bitters 1 teaspoon – orange curacao 1 teaspoon – maraschino liqueur

Many cocktails got their start in the medicinal realm, and you can often see the transformations over time from cure-all to tasty beverage. So when a drink with a name like the Doctor Cocktail comes along, it is fair to assume that your aches and pains might be relieved from the ingredients. It does have citrus in it, so the Vitamin C might be warding off that pesky scurvy. Other than that, we don’t have much of an idea of how it got the name. It seems to have originated sometime in the 1920s  and was originally made with gin, Swedish Punsch, and lime or lemon juice. Depending on the recipe you might also have gotten some brandy or even Crème de Menthe in it. Mmm, medicine. This drink really doesn’t show up in many places, but it did make enough of a blip on the radar to be picked up by Trader Vic, who traded the gin for rum and helped it stay alive enough to be talked about by us today. The cocktail ingredients were as follows: 2 oz – Jamaica rum 1 oz – Swedish Punsch 1 oz – fresh lime juice This drink was a huge hit with everyone but me.  It was a mouthful of lime juice with each taste.  I can’t deal with that much lime juice, which is exactly what everyone else said was great about the cocktail.  So if you love lime juice, you will love this cocktail…just be sure to bring your own Swedish Punsch.

The Diki-Diki cocktail sounds just dirty enough to make the 12 year-old boy in you giggle. Grow up! This is a sophisticated podcast. Hee-hee, it sounds like dick. The ingredients are definitely not the usual suspects, featuring the infrequently used grapefruit juice, the Normandy-based apple brandy, Calvados, and finally Swedish Punsch, an arrack-based liqueur. Wait a minute. No gin? No whiskey? No bitters? What kind of a cocktail is this? Unlike most of the cocktails we have covered, we know the exact origins of the cocktail AND its name! In his 1922 book, Cocktails: How to Mix Them, bartender Robert Vermeire, claims that he created it at the Embassy Club in February of 1922, and named it after the king of a Philippine island. I love it when the information is right there. During the 1920s, King Panglima Diki-Diki, was going public in his search for a bride. What made this newsworthy was that he apparently was under 40 inches tall and weighed around 25 lbs, and he found a bride of similar stature on a neighboring island. Join us as we explore this cocktail, King Diki-Diki, and a little bit of Robert Vermeire’s life. The ingredients are as follows: 1.5 oz Calvados 1/2 oz Swedish Punsch 3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice We were excited to try this cocktail. The ingredients seemed so exotic and special. We really wanted to like it. But it just was not to be. As Kevin said, “It was not greater than the sum of its parts.” Nevertheless, I’m glad to have become acquainted with the Diki Diki and the story of its origins.

So having done the Mint Julep, what more is there to say about derbies? We take a look at the Derby Cocktail which poses a few problems when trying to talk history about it. First, there are numerous recipes for Derby Cocktails, and none seem to be related to the others. Second, derby could be referring to any number of things like the Kentucky Derby, derby races, derby hats, Derby, England, or the Derby restaurant. So which is it? All and none! The many derbies generally have a common source though in Mr. Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby. He arranged with his chums an annual horse race, and a flip of a coin determined the name. But further investigation into the father of the modern derby revealed steamy courtly intrigues in the lives of 18th century English nobility involving illicit affairs and false gardeners. Due to the popularity of derbies at the time, it is possible that different versions were created independently in honor of horse racing. Maybe the recipes in print became more well-known, beating out the others. There has to be a winner though, so this is the version we tried: 1 oz bourbon 1/2 oz sweet vermouth 1/2 oz orange curaçao 3/4 oz fresh lime juice This cocktail was definitely one of the more challenging ones for me to enjoy.  Kevin and Rachel, both fans of bourbon and lime, thought this cocktail was wonderful. The lime juice was simply too overpowering; all I tasted was lime and for me that is not a good thing.  But I have to admit, trying it gave me a sense of how much citrus juice was appropriate for drinks of that time.

The Delicious Sour. I like a cocktail that tells you all you need to know right in the name. Sours are a family of cocktail going back a long way, with notable features of putting a lime or lemon peel in the glass and an egg white. We also dive into the life of William “The Only William” Schmidt, a bartender who some call the “godfather of mixology.” Acrobatic bartending feats, cranking out on-the-fly cocktails on a near daily basis, and creating cocktails with ten or more ingredients may have earned William this posthumous title. His recipe books are filled with hundreds of recipes and apparently there are tons more that never even made it to print. Join us this episode where we discuss this prolific proto-mixologist and one of his creations. We also talk Applejack, a colonial American apple brandy with an interesting method of creation and some history of its own. The ingredients in the drink are as follows:   2 oz Applejack 2 oz Peach Brandy 1 oz fresh lime juice 1 barspoon sugar 1 egg white Splash of soda

The Whiskey Sour is, er, well, whiskey with sour stuff in it. Sooo, good-bye? Just kidding, when there is nothing to talk about, we make something to talk about. This is another really, really old cocktail that is simple and has stayed relatively consistent with the ingredients until current day. It is definitely not the first sour out there, but it appears to have won the survival of the sour fittest contest against the brandy and gin sours. Join us as we explore this staple of the cocktail world. We discuss sour things, whiskey things, and how bourbon sour was some kind of weird political insult. The recipe is: 2 ounces of bourbon or rye whiskey 1 ounce of fresh lemon juice ¾ ounce of simple syrup Soda water

The Curacao Punch is generally attributed to Harry Johnson, and if you spell it the correct way of “Curacao” it is the earliest it shows up in a recipe book. However, if you spell it “Curacoa” then Jerry Thomas printed it first in his recipe book. I thought he might have just spelled it wrong, but mentions of “Curacoa Punch” show up in newspapers and books as early as the 1830s, and a recipe shows up in a periodical from the 1840s. In our experience, it probably was around even before this. With nearly 100 years of existence and continuous appearances in cocktail recipe books through the 1910s, this seems like a drink that would withstand prohibition. It just sort of disappears though, and not for a lack of curacao or an interest in using it in cocktails. We try to take some guesses as to why Curacao Punch became a forgotten cocktail, but it might just remain a mystery. During the period of history when the Spanish led the world in ranging the high seas, and staking claims all over the Caribbean, they discovered a tiny island they named Curacao. In 1499 they brought Valencia oranges with them to plant on this idyllic spot. Unfortunately the climate and volcanic soil on the island grew fruit that was utterly horrible and inedible. The Spanish left it to the Dutch to discover that the peels of these oranges, called laraha by the locals, were loaded with aromatic oils and they did what anybody does with fruits that are inedible…they made booze. Clever Dutch. Curacao Punch contains: 1/2 tablespoon sugar 2 or 3 dashes fresh lemon juice 1 ounce soda water 1 ounce brandy 2 ounce orange curacao 1 ounce Jamaican rum This drink was strange. To me it kind of tasted like plastic, though not terribly so. I’m sure it seems odd to say that something that tasted like plastic was delicious, but it was, and the flavors were complex enough that it created an entirely new sensation as a mixture.  All of us tasters thought it was fine, not amazing.

As we proceed with the forgotten cocktails, I’ve noticed that it’s more difficult to squeeze the interesting background out of them. Often it’s just a couple of words smashed together and attributed to a new recipe. In this episode’s cocktail it’s an attribution made in honor of a personality that I consider less than the cocktail inventor. The cocktail is named after the Italian-Sardinian general of the Crimean War. He was a dashing European fellow, Alfonso Ferrero Marmora, climbing the ladder of prestige through his political career in Europe by saving dignitaries from angry mobs, serving various political posts in other countries and leading an army in a strange little war. A French chef from England hoisted a glass of this beverage in the man’s honor. Alexis Soyer left France before his career really took off, but when he arrived in London, there was no stopping him.  He quickly gained employment as a chef in a prestigious restaurant where he immediately began implementing innovations that set the establishment apart from all others, including temperature controlled ovens, gas ovens and water cooled refrigerators. He’s responsible for setting up the first soup kitchens ever in response to the Irish Famine and the proceeds of his book when toward hunger relief. He was a leader in innovation and charitable contributions. As a personality he demonstrated the reason why every group of friends should have a chef in their midst. After an evening of drinking, he would invite his friends to a cellar restaurant called the Cave of Harmony where he would make them a greasy feast of comfort food at 2 am. He was also remarkable in his outrageous outfits and his tendency to sing and dance when the mood took him.  He was popular, compassionate, motivated and full of life. Then the Crimean War began. The Crimean War, as I have learned, was a bit of a strange scene. Since Napoleon’s bid for empire in the early 19th century, warfare just wasn’t the same as it had been for millennia. The established methodologies had been shaken up and new technologies were also changing how humans were fighting throughout the 19th century. The Crimean War was the first war since all of the new developments and countries throughout Europe were eager to try out their new toys and strategies. It was an experimental war. Alexis Soyer had been developing technologies and strategies to aid in maintaining supply lines and allowing soldiers to prepare and eat food while in the field. The Crimean War was an event where he could try out some of his ideas too.  It was during this conflict that Mssr. Soyer became familiar with Marmora and so named a punch he created after the man. This is what Michael made us at the Brixton.  The ingredients were as follows: 2 slices lemon peel 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 oz dark Jamaican rum 1 oz brandy 1/2 oz maraschino liqueur 1/2 oz white Jamaican rum 2 oz orgeat syrup 1/2 oz lemon juice 4 oz soda water 3 oz chilled champagne This is one of the best drinks we have had since we started the project.  It was sweet, but still approachable, being light with many flavors of cherry and citrus interplaying with the effervescence. Michael needed some extra hands to craft this one for us because of its complexity, but we all agreed it was simply fucking amazing. Rachel was scheming for ways to make this one at home. All in all, this was the epitome of why I enjoy this project. The drink was fun to learn about and created a window into the past I had not known before. It was fun to make with ten ingredients and numerous steps, it challenged the bar staff but only enough to keep it fun. And, even though whether I like the cocktail is the least of interest to me, it was a delight to drink. This drink will be hard to top as we continue.

We are going to go out on a limb and say that the Communist Cocktail is probably named after Communists. Nothing states it definitively, but…Communist. This drink calls for Cherry Bounce in the original recipe, an old cordial made from sour cherries, the pits, sugar and spices. Cherry Bounce: the 19th century’s answer to Kool-Aid! It is a relative of Cherry Brandy, and Cherry Heering, used in most recipes now. The red color of Cherry Bounce or Cherry Heering is probably the reason it ended up with the name that it did, since when mixed it becomes a brownish-orange. Would this be a…Red Herring? There isn’t a whole lot to go on with this drink other than it seems like another one-off from a book/pamphlet of cocktails called Cocktail Parade (1933). The pictures from this publication are enough to draw conclusions about the creation of the drink and who was drinking it though. The drawing paired with the drink takes us into a discussion of images of communists throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ridiculous stereotypes of dark, mustachioed, immigrants scheming to overthrow capitalism with their cartoon bombs. We explore communism throughout time and space from communal experiments to labor movements to Bolsheviks to attempts to end prohibition by associating it with the communist behavior. This one is chock-full of revolution, class, immigration, and even a little bit of Genghis Khan for good measure. The ingredients are: 1 oz gin 1 oz fresh squeezed orange juice 1/2 oz cherry brandy (Cherry Heering) 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice Despite the reliance on citrus I really liked this drink. Tasting the Cherry Heering alone I knew I would. The sour from the citrus is really offset by the thick, cherry sweet coming through. It was good; it wasn’t amazing but I did enjoy it and would be happy to have it again.

In this episode we take a look at the Brooklyn cocktail, which looks to be the product of Jack Grohusko from the early part of the 20th century. Most cocktails take some wondering and digging and guessing in order to figure out why a bartender gave it a particular name. With the Brooklyn, we go out on a limb here and say that it is probably named after the borough in New York. Sometimes it is not worth overthinking. There is no indication as to why it is called the Brooklyn though. Was this a sister drink of the Manhattan and the Bronx and part of a trend? Was it created in Brooklyn? Or was this another one-off cocktail requested by some random patron that got thrown into a recipe book? With a whole big lack of information on this one, we discuss the gentleman’s trade that was being a bartender in the cocktail era. With many recipe books working as trade manuals of sorts, they often laid out the appropriate behavior for a barman when slinging drinks. Spoiler: There was a lot less chatting and a whole lot more crisp white shirts back in the day. Join us as a dive into another cocktail with an obvious reference, but a mysterious origin. 2 ounces rye or other whiskey1 ounce dry vermouth1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur1/4 ounce Amer Picon

The Blue Paradise, like many cocktails with blue in the name, is not blue. The ingredients must be blue then, right? Nope, purple, red and brown and we can pretty much guarantee that the mixing of these colors do not make blue either. This non-blue drink is credited to a Belgian bartender by the name of Emil Bauwens, of Bar Saint-James in Brussels, showing up first in the cocktail book Livre de Cocktails (1949) and really nowhere else. A name like Blue Paradise conjures images of beaches, palm trees, and tiki drinks with little umbrellas. The ingredients, however, don't lend itself to something you would drink out of a pineapple. These ingredients do break away from the many, many, many gin plus another ingredient cocktails that dominate recipe books. Outside of the cognac, there are two pretty uncommon ingredients for cocktails in Dubonnet Rouge and Parfait d'Amour. Dubonnet Rouge is an apertif with a deep red color and a wine base. Parfait d'Amour, a purple liqueur of Dutch origins with a Curacao base and flowery ingredients, stands out as the most unusual of the ingredients. It may look like melted grape popsicles, but the taste is probably closer to eating rose petals. Unfortunately, the color and ingredients don't give any hints to the origin of the name, and there is really no other indication. Only Bauwens could really explain how it came to be. Join us as we discuss this enigmatically-named cocktail that digs up a libretto with the same name and the possibility that Henry the IV used Parfait d'Amour to seduce women. We also pose the question: Were dyes being put in liqueurs to make sure people weren't accidentally drinking the wrong clear liquid?   Here are the drink ingredients: 2 oz – cognac (we used Remy Martin) 1 oz – Dubbonet Rouge 4 dashes – Parfait Amour We tried the parfait amour initially by itself...because that's how we do.  Kevin remarked that it tasted like Goo Gone smells, a popular adhesive solvent. I thought it was mostly and non-commitally interesting; not terrible but not amazing. I loved trying it though, I haven't tried anything like it so far. The cocktail itself was likewise interesting. We weren't bowled over and I found the Dubonnet dominated the flavor of the drink. My overall impression was kind of a synthetic vinyly taste, and I know that sounds bad, but knowing that it isn't actually some kind of liquid polymer makes the beverage interesting as I tried to pull out all of the flavors gathered together in one glass. We all agreed it was not a go to cocktail but fun nevertheless to try and discuss.

The Coffee Cocktail is unusual in that it does not contain any coffee in it, and if you go by the strict rules of what makes a cocktail, it isn’t that either. Jerry Thomas, who seems to be the first person to write the recipe down, calls it a “misnomer” because of the lack of coffee and bitters. He attributes the name to an appearance that sure looks a hell of a lot like coffee, and this seems to be backed up by others sources. Could the name also be a reference a cocktail you drink in the morning to get you going? Some people thought so, but with brandy and port, it doesn’t sound like something would do anything but make you take a nap. As time goes on the Coffee Cocktail starts ending up with added ingredients, including coffee once you get into the 1950s and 1960s. I guess people started feeling that if you are going to call it a Coffee Cocktail, it should have some in it. We also take a look at drink that actually had some coffee in it, and how it was used to keep soldiers on guard alert. Join us as we explore this liar of a cocktail that isn’t really a cocktail and has no coffee in it. Here are the ingredients:1 oz Brandy1 egg2-3 oz Ruby Port1 tsp Sugar There is a level in which I’m glad this drink contained no coffee. Coffee is a big, unsubtle flavor that can bully most other flavors into submission and I never find coffee (even iced coffee) refreshing. It’s a beverage with a lot of weight, so an actual coffee cocktail isn’t a “go to” beverage for me. Notice, however, that this drink also contains a FULL egg; not just the white. That fact would alarm most people setting them on their heels. In American culture, eggs are always cooked unless you are a boxer in training (the scene in Rocky where he drinks raw eggs is a solid part of our cultural identity at this point). Upon sampling this we agreed this was not a favorite, but it did not alarm Kevin and I so much. Rachel admitted to it making her want to vomit; the raw egginess was a bit much for her palate. The flavor itself was heavy relying upon the sweet character of the port. And as Jay and I discussed at the beginning of the episode, it had kind of an older world quality. All in all, I’m glad to have tried it. It’s another piece of history whose flavors and ingredients have passed away through time, left behind with the scrapple and headcheese from our ancestors dinner tables. It’s easy to understand its forgotten nature.

The Chatham Hotel Special is pretty mysterious because it is not altogether clear where the recipe for this cocktail even came from. We had a hard time even finding any mentions of this drink anywhere, so it made it a little difficult to discuss something that doesn't seem like it really exists. But that didn't stop us from talking about this cocktail that resembles a heavy dessert. There isn't a tremendous amount of information on the history of the hotel either. We had a name of a place at least, so we took a look at this New York hotel that might have been overshadowed by other fancier hotels of the time. In our research we found that the hotel got in a little trouble serving during dry periods of prohibition, was somehow in a legal suit with Bacardi, and most interestingly might have been the home to the first Moscow Mule. Join us as we try to figure out more about the Chatham Hotel Special, which doesn't seem to be all that special. The drink itself was definitely more on the fluffy side, using cream and chocolate liqueur. 1 1/2 oz brandy 1/2 oz ruby port 1/2 oz cream 1 dash dark creme de cacao I would also like to add that this episode features a little more of Michael Donnelly, our Brixton bartender, working his magic and talking about how the ingredients are working together in this cocktail.  Thank you Michael!

We made it to 50 classic cocktails!! Listen in as Cameron, Rachel and Kevin enjoy a basic mixed drink from the American Colonial era, including an exciting tale about Ethan Allen...and no it has nothing to do with furniture.