Milk Punch

Milk in a cocktail? It’s key in Milk Punch:

• 1.0 ounce brandy
• 0.5 ounce dark rum
• 2 teaspoons simple syrup
• 2 dashes vanilla extract
• 4.0 ounces whole milk

Shake the ingredients all together in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Strain into a tumbler half full of shaved ice (Shaved ice was more like snow than crushed ice, but if you pound your ice to smithereens, it’ll be similar enough). Grate or shake some nutmeg on top.

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The Bebbo Cocktail

Named funny and made with honey, it’s The Bebbo Cocktail:

• 1.5 ounces gin
• 1.0 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 0.5 ounce honey
• 2.0 teaspoons orange juice

Stir all the ingredients (except ice) together in a cocktail shaker until the honey dissolves. Add ice, shake, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.

This drink is supposedly similar to the Bee’s Knees cocktail, but instead of the Bebbo they should have called it the Cat’s Pajamas – it’s that good.

The Blue Moon

Having scored some real Creme de Violette, I made The Blue Moon:

• 2.0 ounces gin
• 0.5 ounce Crème Yvette or crème de violette
• 0.5 ounce lemon juice

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

I managed to find some Crème Yvette earlier in this experiment, and I used it in the Aviation. While the taste was fine, I didn’t care for the color. It’s “purple” as in “has a lot of red in it”, versus violet. So when my friend Justin managed to find a source for crème de violette, I was in.

Barbara West Cocktail

Want a sherry-based martini? Try the Barbara West Cocktail:

• 2.0 ounces gin
• 1.0 ounce sherry
• 0.5 ounce lemon juice
• 1 small dash Angostura bitters

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass.

I have no idea why this drink is named what it is. There was a famous Titanic survivor named Barbara West as well as a TV news anchor, but I think the latter Babs would be too young to have inspired a vintage cocktail.

The Alamagoozlum Cocktail

The first cocktail recipe in the book is the Alamagoozlum Cocktail:

• 0.5 egg white
• 2.0 ounces genever gin
• 2.0 ounces water
• 1.5 ounces Jamaican rum
• 1.5 ounces yellow or green Chartreuse
• 1.5 ounces gomme syrup
• 0.5 ounce orange curaçao
• 0.5 ounce Angostura bitters

Shake very, very hard and long in a large iced cocktail shaker and serve tremulously into several previously chilled cocktail glasses.

This is an odd one, and I find it ironic that this cocktail managed to come first in the book, as it perfectly illustrates what a vintage and forgotten cocktail should be. It contains a number of obscure ingredients, which took me some time to assemble. Then I had to wait until I had two other friends around who wanted to try it, ’cause the recipe makes enough for three glasses.

The Mother-In-Law Cocktail

Like bourbon? Have friends who like bourbon? Try the Mother-in-Law Cocktail:

• 1.0 teaspoon Peychaud’s Bitters
• 1.0 teaspoon Angostura Bitters
• 1.0 teaspoon Amer Picon (subsitute Torani Amer)
• 0.5 ounce orange curaçao
• 0.5 maraschino liqueur
• 0.5 ounce simple syrup
• 0.5 ounce maraschino liqueur
• 9.0 ounces bourbon

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into three cocktail glasses.

This is a great drink, but at over three ounces of spirit in each drink, you need friends (real ones, not imaginary) and it helps if they like bourbon.

Crimean Cup à la Marmora

A big punch with a big name is the Crimean Cup à la Marmora:

• 2.0 broad slices of lemon peel
• 1.0 teaspoon sugar
• 0.5 ounce dark Jamaican rum (Myers’s works well)
• 1.0 ounce brandy
• 0.5 maraschino liqueur
• 0.5 ounce Jamaican rum
• 2.0 ounces orgeat syrup
• 0.5 lemon juice
• 4.0 ounces soda water
• 3.0 ounces chilled champagne

In a mixing glass, muddle the lemon peel with the sugar and the dark rum. Add remaining ingredients except the champagne, stir vigorously, and pour into 2 goblets with 2 or 3 large lumps of ice. Divide the champagne between the goblets.

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