The Amarosa Cocktail

From halfway around the world comes The Amarosa Cocktail:

• 1.0 ounce Amaro Cora
• 1.0 ounce gin
• 1.0 ounce kirschwasser

Stir well and enthusiastically. Strain into a stemmed glass of your choice, but use something pretty, because this cocktail has a very pretty color. Twist a small lemon peel directly over the drink and drop it in.

Okay, I’m not a huge fan of amaro. I just find it to bitter, and while I love what it can do in a cocktail, I was very worried about drinking an amaro-centric libation.

The Filmograph Cocktail

The successful search for another odd ingredient resulted in The Filmograph Cocktail:

• 2.00 ounces brandy
• 0.75 ounce lemon syrup (substitute fresh lemon juice unless you like to drink maple syrup out of the can.)
• 0.50 ounce kola tonic

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

The odd ingredient here is the kola tonic, a staple of South African drinking. The resource guide in the book recommends Rose’s Kola Tonic, which is apparently very common in Canada. I didn’t think it would be that hard to get, since Rose’s Lime Juice is readily available even in my small town, but I was wrong.

The Flying Dutchman

Featuring another obscure ingredient, here is The Flying Dutchman:

• 2 ounces orange gin
• Juice of ¼ orange
• Juice of ¼ lime
• 3 drops Angostura bitters

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

This drink, from a 1950’s Dutch cocktail book, calls for orange gin. Now gin and fruit juice just go together (as the poet Snoop Dogg pointed out so long ago) so it seems logical that it would be used to create a flavored gin, but at first I was a little hesitant to try this drink because of a bad mental association with flavored vodkas.

Jasper’s Rum Punch

Here is another summer cocktail, Jasper’s Rum Punch:

• 1.5 ounces Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
• 1.5 ounces Jasper’s Secret Mix

Stir with cracked ice in an 8-ounce highball glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Okay, so this doesn’t seem much different than Jasper’s Planter’s Punch – the only change is a different rum. But, man does it really change the flavor.

I like the Planter’s Punch but I loved this drink. Even though you are drinking 126-proof spirit, Jasper’s mix mellows it out and I could drink a pitcher of this stuff.

Leatherneck Cocktail

Did you say you wanted a blue drink? Try the Leatherneck Cocktail:

• 2.00 ounces blended whiskey (Crown Royal recommended)
• 0.75 ounce blue curaçao
• 0.50 ounce fresh lime juice

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Okay, I don’t like blue curaçao. Curaçao is supposed to be a colorless spirit, but it is often dyed blue to add a weird color to drinks. Seriously, there is no blue food so there should be no blue drinks.

La Floridita Daiquiri

As summer comes to a close I wanted to make the La Floridita Daiquiri:

• 2 ounces rum (such as Havana Club from Cuba or Brugal from the Dominican Republic)
• Juice of 1/2 lime (If your limes are small, use the whole thing)
• 1 teaspoon sugar or sugar syrup (increase if too tart)
• 1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur

Blend with crushed ice. Serve in a saucer cocktail or champagne glass. Garnish with lime wheel and a maraschino cherry

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Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch

A variety of one of the oldest known cocktails is Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch:

• 1.5 ounces dark Jamaican rum (Coruba)
• 1.5 ounces Jasper’s Secret Mix

Add to a 10-ounce highball glass filled with cracked ice. Stir vigorously. Top off with more ice. Jasper garnished his with a pineapple spear, an orange slice, and a cocktail cherry. You can also use fresh mint.

The earliest recipe for Planter’s Punch dates from 1908: