Lost and Found

My mother was never keen on throwing things away, I was always informed the moment she would it would jump right back in fashion. Truth is, given enough time, everything will some day come back in to vogue with a renewed lease of life and on that day we are all left wondering why this fashion ever died out in the first place. The cocktail world is currently enjoying a resurgence in vintage drinks, classic cocktails made in authentic ways using traditional ingredients and methods are taking the bar world by storm!

Unfortunately my mothers advice never reached the ears of the bartenders of old, leaving many classic libations unrecorded in modern bartender manuals, as a result many beautiful cocktails were left untouched and unappreciated.

Ted Haigh did a sterling job in his book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails researching and bringing these lost drinks back to bartenders and booze aficionados alike, this post will explore some of the absolute gems given a new breath of life by this spectacular publication.

The first drink I wanted to explore was one recorded in Charles H. Baker's 1939 edition of The Gentleman's Companion, The Alamagoozlum Cocktail.

This drink has a rather intense list of specific ingredients making it difficult to reproduce at most home bars and also making it guaranteed to annoy any bartender, especially if like me you decided to order it in the middle of a Friday night service. Having said this, rumour has it Will at Hyde & Co is rather fond of such behaviour, so pop down and see him for an Alamagoozlum when you've got the time...

The Alamagoozlum photographed
by Sofia Miranda

The Alamagoozlum Cocktail

Bols Genever 30ml

Still Mineral Water 30ml 

Appletons Rum V/X 22.5ml

Green Chartreuse 22.5ml

Simple Syrup 22.5ml

Cointreau 7.25ml

Angustora Aromatic Bitters 7.25ml

Egg White 1/2 

The key to this drink is dilution, dry shake first to emulsify the egg white, then take the largest shaker you have, fill it up with ice an give it a very hard and extremely long shake before fine straining it in to a coupe large enough to contain this beastie.

At first glance the drink is slightly reminiscent of a latte, a pleasant coffee colour from the heavy measure of Angostura bitters and a wonderful foam from the egg white. The egg white does a great job at combining the diverse range of flavours whilst giving the drink an exceptionally smooth mouth feel. On the palate the malty notes of the genever shine through immediately which are followed by sweet, honeyed caramel notes from the rum and an aromatic spicy finish of cloves and cinnamon courtesy of the Chartreuse and the Angostura.

All in all a rather tasty and charming drink, more on the sweet of the spectrum, a perfect digestif.

The next beverage of particular interest is The Twentieth Century Cocktail. First recorded in the Cafe Royal Bar Book of 1937, and named after a super modern streamline train from New York to Chicargo that was unveiled that year.

This is an extraordinary libation using a diverse range of contrasting ingredients, our good friend gin, Lillet Blanc, lemon juice and Creme de Cacao blanc. The first three ingredients are fairly standard ingredients often mixed with gin, indeed without the Creme de Cacao it looks remarkably similar to the Corpse Reviver No.2. The cacao was what made this drink appeal to me when I first read about it and is what sets it apart from the hundreds of gin cocktails which have come and gone over the years.

The Twentieth Century Cocktail  

Tanqueray - 50ml

Lillet Blanc - 20ml

Lemon Juice - 20ml

Creme de Cacao Blanc - 15ml

Shake over ice and strain in to  chilled cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon zest.

A very light and refreshing beverage with that lovely juniper and citrus combination upfront, the surprise comes at the back of the plate when a wonderful sweet chocolate note coats the mouth, refreshing citrusy chocolate, what a novel idea. If the cocoa notes are too over powering cut down on it a little, after all it's not just the Martini which can be tailored to the individuals palate.  

The final drink i wanted to cover for this post is potentially one of the coolest named vintage drinks, the  Satan's Whiskers Cocktail! Although a gin based libation this particular cocktail is rather light on the gin, sharing centre stage with fresh orange juice, dry and sweet vermouth, orange liqueur and orange bitters. The Satan's Whiskers can be served either straight (with Grand Marnier) or curled (with orange curacao), personally I prefer a Curled Satan's Whiskers using Cointreau as I find the flavour of Grand Marnier a little over powering. As for my gin of choice, I was looking for a nice big, bold gin, ironically Deaths Door Gin works rather well.

Satan's Whiskers Cocktail (Curled)

  

Deaths Door Gin - 20ml

Noilley Prat Dry Vermouth - 20ml

Punt e Mes Sweet Vermouth - 20ml

Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice - 20ml

Cointreau - 10ml

Orange Bitters - 5ml

Shake all ingredients over ice and fine strain in a champagne coupe, garnish with a lovely curled orange zest twist. 

A lovely zesty orange nose on this drink, with huge citrusy orange notes with a rather bitter finish from the vermouth and heavy use of bitters, a drink for those with a more adult palate accustomed to bitter flavours.

Well I hope you enjoy rediscovering these once lost, luscious libations. These are only a taster of the spectacular selection Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails has to offer, if you like what you see I would certainly recommend the book.

Umpleby & Brown 

    

Have you seen Tom Collins?

The Tom Collins is a very simple yet extremely moorish sparkling gin libation, one which has well and truly stood the test of time. It was first published in Jerry Thomas' 'The Bartenders Guide' in 1876 and is a very simply drink, essentially a gin and sparkling lemonade. Despite it's simplicity it has undergone a lot of change over the years due to styles of gin going out of fashion and substitutes being sought, to this end there is much debate as to which style of gin should be used in this drink...

Just to clarify, when I say which gin 'should' be used in this drink i'm not presuming to pinpoint an exact brand which must be used, after all that would abuse the freedom and creativity which allows bartenders to flourish, I am merely attempting to pinpoint the style of gin which would have been used to craft the original Tom Collins.

In the recent past a wide variety of gin's have been used to craft this drink, Plymouth, Tanqueray and Beefeater all make a fantastic Tom Collins with big bold flavours, G'Vine Floraison also makes a rather cheeky and pleasant Tom Collins, although now some classic styles of gin are making a comeback and fighting for a place as the correct style to be used when recreating this classic beverage

Old Tom is one of these classic styles of gin which has recently come back in to vogue, this sweetened style of gin, is a throw back to the 18th century when the base spirit used as a canvas for gin had a lot of impurities which were evident in the final product. This style of gin was either sweetened with sugar, or at times when sugar was at a premium distilled with sweeter, more pungent botanicals to mask the unpleasant impurities. One of the pioneering brands in the revival of Old Tom Gin is Haymans Old Tom. It is widely believed that the Collins is a category of drinks of which the Tom Collins is a twist using Old Tom Gin, if you ordered a Tom Collins in a bar now days you, would probably be served a little something like this;

Tom Collins (Old Tom)

Haymans Old Tom Gin - 60ml

Lemon Juice - 25ml

Simple Syrup - 10ml

Soda Water - Top

Very simply shake the first three ingredients over ice, strain over fresh, cubed ice and top with soda, garnish with a lemon wedge.

This style of Tom Collins is delightful, a refreshing classic lemonade fortified with gin, the botanical notes shine through beautifully, a charming easy to drink libation perfect for the summer months. It is however not as true to the original as some may believe... 

The origins of the Tom Collins can be traced back to the Tom Collins hoax of 1874, where some rascal spread word across New York of some fellow by the name of Tom Collins slandering people left, right and centre.

The practical joke is recorded to go a little something like this, the rascal in question approaches a group in a bar, turns to one upstanding gentleman among their number and enquires whether they had 'seen Tom Collins?' The practical joker then continues to inform the person that Tom Collins had been talking about them in a very rough manner, saying things which are rather calculated to induce people in to thinking there is nothing they wouldn't steal short of a red hot stove... the rascal would then inform the gentlemen of where Tom Collins could be found and the chase would begin! 

The joke got  to such heights that groups of people, all wronged by this mysterious Tom Collins would travel from bar to bar in search of him, news papers of the time were even in on the joke publishing fake sightings of Tom around the city. It is believed that one cheeky bartender tired of people storming in to his saloon asking after Tom Collins decided to furnish these angry gentlemen with a libation of the same name and the Tom Collins was born! This claim can be substantiated over that of the use of Old Tom gin by looking at the book in which it first appeared, Jerry Thomas lists the Tom Collins as a catagory of drinks providing a recipe for one made with Whisky, Brandy and of course Gin.

So if it isn't named after Old Tom gin, what gin does one use? Considering the company the gin Tom Collins holds, namely Whisky and Brandy and taking in to account Hollands gin, aka Genever was imported in to the states at six times the amount of London gin, one would be wise to concede this full bodied Dutch style of gin would have been used in the original Tom Collins, a libation which would look a little something like this;

 Tom Collins (Genever)

Bokma Genever - 60ml

Lemon Juice - 25ml

Simple Syrup - 12,5ml

Soda - Top

Once again very simply shake the first three ingredients over ice, strain over fresh, cubed ice and top with soda, garnish with a lemon wedge.

A Tom Collins made with genever is certainly a different kettle of fish, the malty character of the spirit shines through, the drink itself has somewhat of a pleasantly oily mouthfeel, still refreshing but not as clean and crisp as one containing old tom gin.

We Hope You Enjoy

Umpleby & Brown