Sloeberry


May 24, 2013 (Day 15) – Sloeberry Not all classic cocktails are unnecessarily complex. Sometimes its as simple as modifying the base spirit by tinge. The Sloeberry takes the base of sloe gin and adjusts it with a few tiny dashes of bitters to modify the flavors. Sloeberry 1 oz sloe gin 1 dash Angostura […]

Perfect Manhattan


May 23, 2013 (Day 14) – Perfect Martini My first experience with the Perfect Manhattan, truthfully, comes from The Simpsons. More specifically the third season episode “Bar the Murderer” where Bart becomes a bartender for the mafia. They ask him for a Perfect Manhattan. Perfect Manhattan  2 oz rye 1 oz dry vermouth 1 oz sweet […]

Racquet Club


May 22, 2013 (Day 13) – Racquet Club There’s an honesty in classic cocktails. And when I say there’s an honesty, I mean there usually isn’t much complexity in the ingredient list. That, and they really, really freakin’ liked their gin and bitters. Take, for instance, the Racquet Club. Racquet Club 2 oz Plymoth Gin […]

Orange Blossom Cocktail


May 21, 2013 (Day 12) – Orange Blossom Cocktail Today is our lovely executive editor’s birthday! As such we figured we’d dig deep back into a 1932 tome for some classic gin cocktails, seeing as gin is her favorite libation. This one comes from the 1932 cocktail book Shake ‘Em Up. Orange Blossom Cocktail 1.5 […]

Brain-Duster


May 20, 2013 (Day 11) – Brain-Duster We return to the Professor’s book for this beast of a cocktail that has what has to be considered probably the most accurate name in the history of cocktails. It’s called a Brain-Duster and it makes me think of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. Its effects are similar to having […]

Savoy Hotel Rickey


May 19, 2013 (Day 10) – Savoy Hotel Rickey This Sunday we head across the pond to build a Rickey created back in the late 1800s and named for the Savoy Hotel in London that started it all. Now, all honesty this doesn’t come from the massively famous Savoy Hotel Cocktail book. This is actually the […]

Blackthorn Cocktail


May 18, 2013 (Day 9) – Blackthorn Cocktail Pre-Prohibition cocktails and post-Prohibition cocktails tend to share a lot of similarities. Whereas the development of cocktail recipes seems to outpace a good number of other culinary crafts, those few decades with nothing but speakeasies seems to have somewhat stunted the creation of a new generation of […]

Amaranth Cocktail


May 17, 2013 (Day 8) – Amaranth Cocktail One thing about scouring these classic cocktails is you realize something – the majority of cocktails from the late 1800s use basically two spirits – whiskey and gin. Now, what’s cool about this is that it does actually specify what kind of whiskey and gin (why yes, […]

Jockey Club


May 11, 2013 (Day 3) – Jockey Club I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of people today about a local project I’m involved with that’s dedicated to purchasing and restoring a historical movie theater in my hometown’s downtown area. It was actually the site of the first-ever movie premiere outside of Hollywood. […]