The Georgia Mint Julep

In honor of the Kentucky Derby, I decided to make The Georgia Mint Julep:

• fresh mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• A dash of water
• 2 ounces cognac (or other brandy)
• 1 ounce real peach brandy

Muddle several fresh mint leaves with sugar and a dash of water in a silver julep cup (A double-rocks glass works fine, too). Add the cognac, peach brandy and crushed ice to fill. Stir! Stir! Stir! Insert several more fresh mint leaves between the cup and the mixture, sticking out and pointing heavenward.

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The Jupiter Cocktail

Ever feel like a martini but want something different? Try the Jupiter Cocktail:

• 1.50 ounces gin
• 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
• 1 teaspoon Parfait Amour
• 1 teaspoon orange juice

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

Okay, to be honest, I made this cocktail because I wanted to say “neener, neener – I have Parfait Amour and you don’t”.

(grin)

A couple of the drinks in the book call for it, and on a recent trip to DC I was able to buy some. In the US it is available from Marie Brizard, and it is a curaçao-based liqueur with other floral flavors.

Don the Beachcomber’s Zombie

The Walking Dead may have ended for the season, but the Zombie “lives” on:

• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce gold Puerto Rican rum
• 1 ounce 151-proof Demerara rum (from Guyana)
• 1 ounce white Puerto Rican rum
• 1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1 ounce passion fruit syrup
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters

Dissolve the brown sugar in the lemon juice. Combine it with everything else in a cocktail shaker with crushed ice. Shake well, and pour all into a collins glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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The Income Tax Cocktail

In honor of April 15th, The Income Tax Cocktail:

• 1.50 ounces gin
• 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
• 0.75 ounce sweet vermouth
• Juice of 1/4 orange (squeezed right in the shaker)
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

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

The Income Tax cocktail is also known as the “Bronx with Bitters”. Every borough in New York City, except Stanton Island, has a cocktail named after it. The most famous, the Manhattan, is popular even today so it can’t be considered “forgotten”. I quite liked the Brooklyn and so I was looking forward to trying this one (the [Queens Cocktail][2] isn’t in the book but it looks like the Bronx with pineapple juice instead of orange juice).

Twelve Mile Limit

Another cocktail with an interesting name, the Twelve Mile Limit:

• 1.0 ounce white rum (Appleton White Jamaican recommended)
• 0.5 ounce rye whiskey
• 0.5 ounce brandy (Hennessy VS recommended)
• 0.5 ounce grenadine
• 0.5 ounce lemon juice

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

I chose this drink specifically in an attempt to fill out sections of the index that looked a little bare.

The Brooklyn Cocktail

After a rather long day, it was nice to come home to The Brooklyn Cocktail:

• 2.00 ounces rye or bourbon
• 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
• 2 teaspoons Amer Picon
• 2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur

Stir in a mixing glass with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry

There are times when I want a particular type of cocktail. I don’t know if there is a word for it, but these are drinks made up just of spirits (with perhaps a dash or two of bitters) and might be considered “manly” drinks: your Manhattans and your martinis.

The Aviation

One of the first vintage cocktails I ever made was The Aviation:

• 2.50 ounces gin
• 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 2 or 3 dashes maraschino liqueur

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

I first heard about the Aviation last year while watching The Blacklist, an NBC television show. In one episode, Raymond Reddington takes agent Elizabeth Keen to Montreal where he orders an Aviation cocktail for her. The drink they present was a dark blue color, and he remarked “It’s from the ’20s, tastes like spring, doesn’t it?”