Sitting Bull Fizz

Here's an interesting fizz variation from 1892. From The Flowing Bowl, by The Only William (William Schmidt).

Sitting Bull died on December 15, 1890, around the time William would have been working on his book. This is a good drink, so I'm of a mind that this recipe was meant to be a respectful tribute.

From The Flowing Bowl by William Schmidt, 1892

Juice of large lemon, in 1892, would have been about an ounce. Fine sugar would be a (non-bleached, organic) granulated sugar, but a barspoon of simple syrup will allow for better mixing of the drink.

Santa Cruz rum of the day was a generic term for light, golden rums that came from the Virgin Islands. Cruzan is certainly a geographically correct rum choice. For my drink I wanted something golden, with good character - so why not Havana 7?

William worked in the New York area, and since the recipe does not call for bourbon, or "Kentucky whiskey" by name, rye whiskey is a safe choice. My choice,  Rittenhouse Bonded!

Sitting Bull Fizz


1 ounce (30 ml) rye whiskey
1 ounce (30 ml) lemon juice
1/2 ounce (15 ml) golden rum
1 teaspoon (5ml) simple syrup


Shake well with cracked ice, strain into a collins glass and top with soda water. Stir with spoon and serve.

This is fantastically good, especially on a hot day. A dash of angostura bitters really brings the flavors of the drink together nicely.

The Rittenhouse Bonded 100 proof base lends a nice backbone, but at only an ounce it is not overwhelming. The Havana 7 lends a wonderful exotic sweetness to help the simple syrup balance the lemon juice.

All in all, a very nice fizz! Wait, I better have one more quick just to make sure....

Monahan Special

Appearing in the Old Waldorf Bar Days book (1931) and attributed to Mike Monahan, this is basically a Manhattan with Amer Picon substituted for Angostura bitters.

An Old Waldorf Bar Days Recipe

MONAHAN SPECIAL


2 ounces (60 ml) Rye Whiskey
1 ounce (30 ml) Italian Vermouth
1 tsp Amer Picon Bitters


Stir with ice and strain over a fresh cube in a whiskey glass.

Just as with the Manhattan, rye is the whiskey to use here, as rye whiskey was the most prevalent and readily available in the New York Region at the time these drinks were brought about.

The Amer Picon of the day was much stronger, so upping from a few dashes to a tsp to allow the flavor to come through is not a stretch.

Wild Turkey and Punt e Mes always work well together in my opinion, and the addition the Amer Picon, gives an extra herbal hint along with the obvious orange flavor the Picon imparts. (If you cannot get Amer Picon in your market, try Amaro Cio Ciaro as a reasonable substitute - maybe add an orange twist as well). A very nice drink Mr. Monahan.

The Collaboration

Still a big favorite!!!


This is a drink that was created in February of this year through a serendipitous collaboration with a friend, whereby we named off ingredients like a dare, decided on the proportions together, and then we each made one in our own home bar.

The results were jaw droppingly good and the drink has been in regular rotation for both of us for several months now. Up until now I've been keeping it to myself rather greedily - a closely guarded secret, and it's only with said friend's blessings, that I am releasing the recipe now.

It is versatile in its serving requirements, working as equally well as a slow sipper in an old fashioned glass over a large ice cube, as it is served "up" in a cocktail glass as a quick "pick-me-up".

We've played with a few variations, Wild Turkey Rye works best with its big bold spicy rye flavor. The Wormwood bitters add a very nice touch and are worth seeking out, though Angostura will work in a pinch.

The Cocchi's high quinine profile works better than Lillet to provide structure against the Strega/Averna combo, and gives just the right mouth feel to the drink.

The 1/4 ounce of Strega may not seem like much...it is in fact enough to allow the robust character of this spirit to be known in the drink. Also, it somehow allows the more subtle flavors of the liqueur to emerge.

Averna is just the right choice of amari to inject herbal depth and subtle sweetness into the mix, and it balances perfectly Strega's brash character. [Mix these two together over ice on a 2:1 ratio (Averna to Strega), you have an excellent digistif with wonderful balance and depth.]

The sublime in this recipe is the transformation that takes places when all of these ingredients come together.

With this recipe the whole is most certainly greater than the sum of its parts. How we struck upon this crazily good of a drink on the first try, still makes us chuckle in disbelief. Try it for yourself, I'd love to hear what you think!

The "Collab"(oration)


1 1/2 ounces (45 ml) Wild Turkey 101 Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
3/4 ounce (22 ml) Cocchi Americano
1/2 ounce (15 ml) Averna
1/4 ounce (7 ml) Strega
1-2 good dashes of Cocktail Kingdom's Wormwood Bitters


Stir with ice and strain over a large ice cube, or serve up in a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Radiator

As adopted in the Big Bartender's Book from Johnny Brooks My 35 Years Behind the Bar from 1954.

Radiator

2 ounces (60 ml) rye

2/3 ounce (20 ml) orange curacao

2 dashes Angostura bitters

6 cloves

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The Templeton rye really wowed me in this recipe, (Wild Turkey rye is good here too.) 

The cloves work, they just really work. A very well balanced drink, my hat's off to Johnny for this one!

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 year old

When talking to Eben Freeman last February in Fatty Johnson's about the merits of the Van Winkle family of bourbons, he asked me if I had tried the Van Winkle 13 rye. He said it was the most amazing rye he had tried and worth getting, if one could locate a bottle. I had not heard of it, but from that point on I was determined to  find a bottle.

Availability turned out to be scarce indeed. Lots of online retailers claim to carry, all saying "out of stock" at this point. A few will let you "pre-order" 4-6 months out with a one bottle limit.

It makes sense, the demand for high quality tipple, especially rye, is huge right now. 13 years ago the current resurgence of ryes popularity could hardly have been anticipated.

I had to jump the pond and pay through the nose to acquire my bottle. When I came across one in Gerry's wine shop in London's Soho district, I eagerly shelled out the £69 asking price, the long hunt finally having come to an end.

All of the Van Winkle products are wheat formula bourbons with the exception of the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye Whiskey. Most rye whiskeys are aged around four years. Van Winkle has aged this expression an astounding 13 years. (They even offer a 15yo!)

TASTING NOTES:

I have several bottles lined up that I'd like to post reviews on. How to score spirits on my blog posed a bit of a challenge. Should I use the point system? Starred reviews? A school-like grading scale of A-F?

In the end, I decided I would provide my tasting notes and include any judgments as to a spirits worthiness for recommendation in the final a summary. I will provide notes on the nose, palate, finish and balance as well as a summary describing my overall impressions on how a spirit may be best used (or not used).

There are shades of gray. To rank bottles according to my own standards seems a worthy effort for this forum. I looked around and decided that a 25 x 4 scoring system seemed to best suit me. So each of these four categories will be worth 25 points and I will assign each bottle a two-digit score.

It's also only fair that I recommend a recipe too, hope you enjoy the format.

Tasting based on lot No. B913, made for the UK market.

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13
Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
SCORE: 96 points

NOSE: Sweet with fruit, raisins, a little toffee and maybe a slight citrus note. Nice wood and spicy rye notes as well. Big and heady, possibly a hint of mint or menthol on the finish. As aromatic as a rye gets, 24/25.

PALATE: Oily, smooth and slippery in the mouth. Deep and big with flavors of fig, cherry, cooked fruit, at first until the nose kicks those big rye and wood flavors over the top. Rich, creamy, excellent balance. Considering its very high ABV of 47.8%, extremely smooth and drinkable. 24/25

FINISH: Medium long though stays on the tongue for a long time. Fruit flavors dissipating just slightly before the wood and rye spice. Warm, soft and bourbon-like in its sweetness. 22/25

BALANCE:  Amazing, absolutely in a class of its own. Though my expectations for this bottle were through the roof, I was amazed to find them satisfied if not exceeded. A benchmark rye in terms of taste, character and balance. As perfect a rye as I have ever come across. 24/25

Julian Van Winkle's masterpiece is probably best enjoyed neat. Since this is a cocktail blog though, let me recommend a way to enjoy this as a mixed drink. This rye really works well in the Sazarac, and my first taste of it was in a Sazarac made for me in the China Tang bar in London's Dorchester. 

The Sazerac is one of American's oldest cocktails, and there is no dispute that this is a New Orleans based creation. I'm not sure I want to dig into full history of the Sazerac here to be frank, as it is a disputed and tangled story.

It most likely hails to around the 1850's and was originally made with cognac. Sometime around the phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800's when cognac became practically unobtainable, the switch to whiskey occurred. 

Historians agree that early recipes calling for "whiskey" referred to rye whiskey, since rye was the prevalent whiskey of the time in the area.

In the early 1800's, Dr. Peychaud owned a popular drug store in New Orleans and created his special formula of aromatic bitters as a health tonic, at which time it was a popular addition to cognac. 

You can possibly make a decent Sazerac without having true absinthe by substituting a little Absinte, Herbsaint, a mix of Pernod and green Chartreuse or the like and get decent results. 

The histories of the Sazerac and Peychaud's bitters have become intertwined. If you do not have Peychaud's though, don't even try making this one. Luckily Peychaud's bitters are not that hard to find these days.

SAZERAC

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 ounces (75 ml) rye whiskey

1 sugar cube

2 dashes Peychaud's bitters

1 dash Angostura bitters (optional)

absinthe

lemon peel

INSTRUCTIONS:

Take two old fashioned glasses. Fill one with crushed ice and set aside. In the second glass, place the sugar cube in the bottom, dash the bitters onto the cube and muddle the cube well. Add the rye, and stir well. Add several small ice cubes and stir again. Dump out the ice from the first glass, rinse that glass with absinthe (or spray interior with atomizer) and strain drink from the second glass into the empty absinthe rinsed glass. Take a swath of lemon peel, squeeze over top and rub the rim of the glass - discard or drop into glass depending on preference. Enjoy!

The Sazerac is a classic among classics. A "secret handshake drink" among cocktail geeks. A New Orleans institution. All for good reason, it is an amazingly good way to showcase a great rye whiskey. Whether you go for the Sazerac 18 rye or the Van Winkle 13 or 15, it is hard to go wrong using the best bottle available for this recipe.

Rittenhouse bonded, Wild Turkey 101 rye or even the Sazerac 6 year rye will all make a good Sazerac. 

Thanks to the Buffalo Trace group, we now have some amazing aged ryes on the market to make a great Sazerac with. How lucky are we, right?

The Monster Mash

I saw some very well deserved Midori bashing on Twitter today. As usual, it was in the context of being suggested alongside its usual "isle-mates"; green apple "pucker", margarita mix, vodka  and other such nonsense.

Suntory could use some support right now, and Midori is actually a high-quality liqueur.

Midori's (ahem...again I must say, "very well deserved") 1970's reputation aside...it does not take much of the stuff to flavor a drink, and when your mix can actually temper this beast - it is of very good value and utility.

Along with more good news that I caught on Twitter today regarding the eminent return of the gentian-cult favorite "Suze" to the U.S. market - I knew it must be time to post this drink.

The "Monster Mash" has been an occasional part of my rotation for several months now. It is a combination of rye whiskey, Suze and Midori. I know that the mix sounds bizarre, it really works for me though. I hope you find it to your liking as well.

I have found that robust ryes like "Wild Turkey Rye 101" holds up best here. It's quick and easy, and sometimes they go down well...really, really well.

The Monster Mash


1 1/2 ounces (45 ml) Rye Whiskey
1 ounce (30 ml) Suze
1/2 ounce (22 ml) Midori
* 1-2 dashes rhubarb bitters (optional)


Build in glass over large ice cube, stir and enjoy.

Brooklyn

The Brooklyn cocktail comes from a very rare 1908 title by Jacob Abraham Grohusko entitled Jack's Manual.

Jack's Manual, J.A. Grohusko, 1908

The drink's merit is obviously endorsed by how quickly the recipe spread, and it's continued popularity to this day...well...maybe I shouldn't be that hard on it. In fact, this drink, though it has had its followers, was never that popular of a Manhattan variation and it shows up only here and there over the years.

Since this recipe is a personal favorite, I'm going to go into a little more depth with this one. I'll feature the  Jack's Manual recipe later as the base for my recommended recipe, so let's start with Jacques Straub's 1914 recipe in Drinks (once thought to be the earliest recipe) and work up from there, checking in on the recipe here and there as it has aged.

Drinks, Jacques Straub, 1914

Next we'll check in on Harry & Wynn's Barflies & Cocktails version from 1927:

Barflies & Cocktails, Harry & Wynn, 1927

In 1930 it makes an appearance in The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock:

Brooklyn Cocktail (Savoy 1930)

1 dash Amer Picon

1 dash Maraschino

2/3 Canadian Club whiskey

1/3 French vermouth.

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

(I guess Straub lifted this one from Jack's Manual as it does not appear in 1931's Old Waldorf Bar Days...the Brooklyn apparently not having been popular enough with that crowd for its inclusion.)

It was included in the original UKBG from 1934:

Approved Drinks United Kingdom Bartender's Guide, 1934

Frank Meier took a stab at it in 1936 in The Artistry of Mixing Drinks, interesting for a Paris bartender to leave out the Amer Picon!

 Artistry of Mixing Drinks, Frank Meier, 1936

Billy Tarling made sure to include in his 1937 update of the UKBG:

Cafe Royal Cocktail Book, W.J. Tarling, 1937

By 1948, Embury's take indicates that the Brooklyn's popularity had obviously begun to fade.

The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, Embury, 1948

It appears in a few modern books, though not many. Robert Hess changed the dry vermouth to sweet in his 2008 title Essential Bartender's Guide. Though I'm sure it would work, I think it would technically be a "Sweet Brooklyn". Mr. Boston's also lists their recipe with sweet vermouth.

Most of the recipes though time call for a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of rye to vermouth. Ted Haigh in "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" includes a recipe with dry vermouth, but his adaptation calls for using 2 oz of rye and only 3/4 oz of dry vermouth, using enough vermouth I suppose to make it a Brooklyn - but we're getting further away from this drink's roots.

Rye and dry vermouth...apparently not the most popular mix! That's really what this drink is all about though. If you are not into the base spirits, then this drink is likely going to fall flat for you.

If you are lucky enough to have a bottle of real Amer Picon, then you can make a real Brooklyn. At only 1 dash though, its flavor is really in the background.

A century ago when these recipes were written, Amer Picon was made stronger than it is now. So you can add more of it if you like, and remain true to the original creations, which is why the amount of Amer Picon in my recommended recipe below is larger than the amount of maraschino liqueur.

So, ready to try one? Let's see where it all began and look at the Jack's Manual recipe from 1908:

Jack's Manual, J.A. Grohusko, 1908

Brooklyn Cocktail

1.5 ounces (45 ml) Wild Turkey 101 Rye Whiskey
1.5 ounces (45 ml) Cocchi Americano
3/4 tsp (3.75 ml) Amer Picon
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur


Stir and strain into cocktail glass, garnish with an orange twist.


I'm going to follow suit here with previous authors through time by making a few slight adjustments to make this drink more to my liking - while trying to stay as true to the 1908 original version as possible.

I'm not sure what the flavor profile of "Ballor" was, but I did some experimenting to help me dial in my own preferred ingredients.

I've enjoyed this drink many times on its own, but here was a chance to make a batch for side-by-side comparisons.

I started by making this recipe with Noilly Pratt, Lillet Blanc and Cocchi Americano against Rittenhouse bonded.

The Noilly was of course the driest of the bunch.  Though I had a better sense of the Rittenhouse with this combo than the others, and liked how it allowed the rye's flavors to shine through the mix. The Noilly's flavors managed to hold up well to my "generous" dashes of the Maraschino and Amer Picon. This combo is perfectly enjoyable. Especially if you have developed a taste for dry vermouth, as its flavor comes through well in this variation.

I would recommend Lillet blanc for the wine lovers out there, as the sauvignon blanc and semillon grapes in Lillet's base show up nicely here. It was a a mid-point between the Noilly Prat & Cocchi in terms of dryness.

The Cocchi was like a big wet kiss after trying the first two. Round & luscious with even more of a silky mouth feel than the Lillet, here was a very drinkable variation. Cocchi is not always my favorite choice, it is a little "off" in many combos for my palate. As with many bottles worth having though, when it works, it works really well!

(Cocchi Americano is blend of Moscato d'Asti, the roots of gentian flowers, cinchona bark and a secret blend of botanicals. It's known to be the truest recipe to the original Kina Lillet available on the market today.)

The fourth in the lineup was made with Wild Turkey 101 rye and Cocchi Americano.

Here was the mix I was after. It was the most "Manhattan-ish" of the lot. The Wild Turkey rye's bigger oak profile worked well to tame the Cocchi down for a nice balance. In turn, the Cocchi smoothed out the rough edges of the whiskey, while retaining its bitter, citrusy profile without overpowering the whiskey to the point that it had with the Rittenhouse. The flavors of the Maraschino and Amer Picon come through as well, but are not overpowering. There was something new here as well, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, which is always the hallmark of a great cocktail.

The Wild Turkey/Chocchi on a 1:1 ratio was how my palate found the Brooklyn best to its liking, but these were all enjoyable combinations. I guess that's why the Brooklyn is a favorite of mine and many others - it's a flexible drink that offers many different experiences. Including hopefully, a favorite combination for you as well.

Blue Collar Cocktail

Lots of fancy egg drinks this month. Time to roll up the sleeves and get back to work with something a little more appropriate for a "Monday".

The blue collar was one of my first "new" favorites, and still a favorite "modern" recipe of mine. It is dark and stirred, but the orange flavors from the bitters and Amaro Cio Ciaro, along with the cherry from the Maraschino and subtle florals from the moderate amount of carpano, really lighten this drink up to something more in the "medium and stirred" range. It seems to me almost more like a sweet martini than a rye based cocktail.

The "Blue Collar" was created by Michael Madrusan, when he was working at "Milk and Honey" in New York City. Michael was also a well known bartender at "Little Branch", before moving to Australia a little over a year ago. (Michael will soon be opening a new bar called "Everleigh" in Melbourne...if you find yourself in Melbourne, look it up!)

THE BLUE COLLAR


2 ounces (60 ml) Sazarac Rye
1/2 ounce (15 ml) Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
3/8 ounce (11ml) Maraschino Liqueur
3/8 ounce (11 ml) Amaro Cio Ciaro
1 dash Orange Bitters


Stir and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

London Cocktail

This recipe is from Hugo R. Ensslin's "Recipes for Mixed Drinks" (1917).

Another recipe in the "flip" family, this one with Rye whiskey, Orgeat, and orange flower water.

Hugo's recipe:

London Cocktail


1 jigger Rye Whiskey
3/4 jigger Orgeat syrup
2 dashes Orange Flower Water
1 Egg


Shake well in a mixing glass with crushed ice, strain and serve with nutmeg on top.

My adaptation

London Flip


2 ounces (60 ml) Rittenhouse Rye
1 ounce (30 ml) Trader Tiki Orgeat syrup
1/8 ounce (4 ml) Orange Flower Water
1 fresh laid egg


Shake ingredients once without ice, then once with. Strain into a Collins glass. Grate fresh nutmeg over top.

Hugo actually calls for 1.5 ounces (45 ml) Orgeat, but I toned it down to a more sensible one ounce. If you want a sweeter flip, go for the full measure. The orgeat/orange flower water combo is nice, not overpowering at all. It provides a nice balance for the 100 proof rye making it seem more like an 80 proof brandy. I haven't tried this with the Wild Turkey 101 Rye yet but I imagine it would also be good here.

Sweet & Vicious

This recipe is from Masson & Boehm's modern wad o' drinks "The Big Bartender's Book".

With over 1000 authoritative recipes it's a great book to simply open eyes closed and point to a page. It rarely takes me more than a few tries to land on something that looks really good.

The "Sweet & Vicious" is accredited to one "Alexander Day, New York", (of Death & Company fame).

One sip of this concoction and I was transported back to the famed NYC watering hole. Here's an easy, modern classic, that I hope you will enjoy.

The Sweet & Vicious

2 ounces (60 ml) rye
1/2 ounce (15 ml) dry vermouth
1/2 oz (15ml) Amaro Nonino
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 slices Fuji apple

Lightly muddle apple in the base of a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients, ice and stir. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with thin slice of Fuji apple.

Even lightly muddling, you may want to use an additional fine mesh strainer as you pour from the mixing glass into the cocktail glass. This is to remove any apple pulp and keep your drink nice and clear.

I used Wild Turkey 101 Rye for it's nice nutty characteristics and Noilly Prat for the dry vermouth because I prefer Noilly over the other French dry vermouths that I have tried and...well, I just don't go through much dry vermouth, so it's the only one I keep on hand. If I get small bottles I usually go through it before it goes bad, as long as I keep it refrigerated. (Always use fresh vermouth!)

I'll sometimes use Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano in place of a dry vermouth in a recipe, but not here. The Noilly is just right. No, I wouldn't change a thing here. This one is very good, enjoy.

Fourth Regiment Cocktail

Here's another recipe from Straub's 1914 book "Drinks". When I came across the "Fourth Regiment Cocktail" browsing this book, it sounded familiar.

I did a little digging and found that this has become a popular drink with many of today's top bartenders. It's shown up on many high profile cocktail menu's from coast to coast, and for good reason. It's a very good recipe!

Other recipes for the fourth regiment specify rye whiskey, so I went with the Rittenhouse bonded 100-proof straight rye whisky, which always pairs well with the antica vermouth.

I thought about using "Punt E Mes" for the vermouth, but did not want the quinine flavors here. With all the bitters used in the recipe, I opted for the "Carpano Antica" instead for it's rounder, sweeter, and more herbaceous qualities.

To be honest, I do prefer the antica formula in most drinks that call for aged spirits. It's not for every recipe, every once and a while it surprises me and just does not work. For those drinks the "Punt E Mes" usually makes the perfect alternative.

I used Angostura bitters along with Scrappy's Orange and Celery bitters. I think the real success of this drink, is that it calls for "Celery Bitters".

These bitters are a rarely used in the old books, and have been recently resurrected by many different manufacturers. Since this is one of the few cocktail recipes that call for celery bitters, and that actually sounds good, I can see why it was latched onto.

This drink is commonly attributed to a 1931, though Robert Hess (Drinkboy.com) dates it to 1889. The recipe below is from 1914 and calls for lemon peel and Angostura bitters. Earlier versions are said to call for Peychaud's bitters and lime.

Fourth Regiment Cocktail (Straub, 1914)
1 dash orange bitters.
1 dash Angostura bitters.
1 dash celery bitters.
1/2 jigger (1 ounce) whiskey.
1/2 jigger (1 ounce) Italian Vermouth.
Piece of lemon peel. Shake.

Normally I'd say that since Jacques told you to stir when he wanted you to stir, and since this one says shake, that you should go ahead and shake away. I did shake this one first time out and it was good, but I really didn't get any of the flavors from the bitters.

The instructions to shake must have been a typo!

So I reverted to the more common instructions for these ingredients and stirred. Now here's a drink worth writing about! The celery bitters came out but did not overpower (as they easily do) rather, they provide a nice earthy, savory note. The 1:1 ratio of rye to vermouth is really sweet compared to a Manhattan, but the bitters and citrus oils balance that sweetness nicely.

To get that citrus oil balance, squeeze a lemon peel into the mixing glass over the other ingredients, drop it in and stir well. Then add lime peel for the garnish.

Cockpit Cocktail

From the 1927 publication "Barflies and Cocktails" by "Harry & Wynn".

This recipe appears in the back section of the book, basically a "shout out" to members of the "I.B.F." (International Bar Flies) and their favorite drinks. The recipe is described as follows:

Ferdy Touhy, author of "The Cockpit of Peace," a lively collection of post-war chronicles with a boulevard background, believes in 1/6 Irish Whiskey, 1/6 Rye Whiskey, 1/3 Italian Vermouth, 1/3 French Vermouth. Try a "Cockpit' and you'll get cockeyed.


In addition to writing a few books on WWI, Ferdinand "Ferdy" Touhy was a Paris correspondent for "The New York World". A sharp wit, in 1923 he composed a popular song about the Fourth Assembly of the League of Nations: "THE SONG OF THE COUNCIL".

"Yes, we'll have no decisions, We'll have no decisions today— Our League of Nations Exists on foundations Of dodging, debates and delay. So with Europe dissolving We sit resolving That yes, we'll have no decisions, We'll have no decisions today—"

(Great satire has a timeless quality, don't you think?)

Here's Touhy's signature drink, the "Cockpit":

The Cockpit

1/2 oz Irish Whisky
1/2 oz Rye Whiskey
1 oz Italian Vermouth
1 oz French Vermouth

Stir and strain into a cocktail glass.

A dash of Angostura bitters and a lemon twist really bring out the flavors here nicely.

The Habitant

A recipe adopted from Ted Saucier's 1951 publication "Bottom's Up", as it appears in  "The Big Bartenders Manual" by Masson & Boehm. 

The Habitant

This Canadian cocktail is credited to "Larry Dennis, Seignory Club, The Log Chateau, Quebec"

"The Seigniory Club"

The exclusive private retreat of the "Seigniory Club" took its name from the French land grant system. "Seigniory" is the anglicized version of the French seigneurie.  The club was only open to an elite membership for its first 40 years of operation. Among Canadian members during this period was former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson; and non-Canadian members included Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, Prince Ranier and Princess Grace of Monaco. Among the many titled visitors was the Prince of Wales who revisited when he became the Duke of Windsor.

Château Montebello - home to the "Seignory Club" -  in 1930

"Habitant" is a word originally used in the early years of "New France" to designate any French colonists permanently resident in Canada.

I  heard about this one recently from a friend, and I was curious to find out if maple syrup was better in a cocktail than it sounded. 

It did sound odd, but I had just read that drinks sweetened with maple syrup would be among the "Top 11 trends of 2011" in a recent blog by Kara Newman, so I was curious. 

The Habitant is a seductively good cocktail. The spicy rye and sour lemon notes are here, and in good balance with the sweet to make it an excellent "sour" cocktail. Using maple syrup and Angostura bitters to provide that balance, this becomes a complex and warming libation. 

The maple flavors fall way back and are hard to pin down, yet still there. I love the way this one stays with you too, like a warming fire in your belly. It's easy to imagine this being a favorite in any crowd, let alone the uber elite and exclusive group credited here.

The Habitant

Ingredients
1.5 oz (45ml) rye
1 oz    (30ml) lemon juice
2 tsp.  (10ml) maple syrup

1 dash Angostura bitters

Instructions
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

The Compass

A recipe adopted from Johnny Brooks' 1954 publication "My 35 years behind the bar", as it appears in  "The Big Bartenders Manual" by Masson & Boehm

The Compass

The Compass

Ingredients

1.5 oz (45ml) rye
3/4 oz (22ml) Benedictine
3/4 oz (22ml) sweet vermouth

Instructions

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.


I found that a dash of (Angostura) orange bitters was necessary to bring out the flavors in this drink.