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 

    

Arousing your Appetite with Gin...

Gin is one of those very flexible spirits, it can be used successfully in a variety of drink styles, one in which gin excels in is the Aperitif.

An aperitif is an alcoholic beverage used to excite the palate and stimulate the appetite, characteristics of a successful aperitif include bitterness, dryness or a certain level of acidity.

More popular gin based aperitif's include the Martini and the Gin and Tonic although some well known gin classics such as the French 75, Corpse Reviver #2  and the Negroni are also fantastic for this purpose.

The French 75 makes a perfect aperitif, dry Champagne, lemon juice and of course gin. Created sometime before 1919 when the recipe first appeared in print, accredited to a chap named Macgarry and is rumoured to be named after the 75mm Howitzer field gun used by the French during World War One. Broken down this drink is effectively a gin fizz with champagne in place of carbonated water.

I find what often lets the French 75 down is the general perception that because wine is being used to lengthen the drink it is acceptable to skimp on the gin... this of course is nonsense and a good healthy dose of gin is required to do this bubbly beverage justice. I personally love the fresh floral notes of Hendricks in my French 75's and feel as though a thin cucumber garnish does it much more justice than the overly used cocktail cherry, our preffered recipe for the French 75 is as follows;

The French 75

- Hendricks Gin - 30ml

- Lemon Juice - 12.5ml

- Sugar Syrup - 6.25ml

- Champagne - Top up

Thin Cucumber Slice Garnish

French 75

Shake all ingredients (except Champagne, that would get messy) then fine strain in to a champagne coupe or flute, garnish and drink whilst the bubbles can still tickle your nose.

  

The beauty of this drink is the mouth watering dryness it delivers when well balanced, the key is going easy on the sugar syrup especially when using a sweeter gin such as Hendricks, just enough to balance out the lemon whilst still remembering it is still a variation on the sour.

Where as the French 75 is a sparkling member of the sour family gaining it's palate stimulating properties from it's dry citrusy notes the Negroni is a completely different kettle of fish. It hails from the aromatic family of mixed drinks and receives it's ability to stimulate the palate from the bitter notes courtesy of the Campari.

The Negroni is one of those cheeky equal measure libations that is surprisingly well balanced, consisting of gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, three ingredients which blend together perfectly each contributing their own unique flavours, sweetness and bitterness. This is an incredibly complex drink with so many botanical flavours whizzing around, neither the gin, Campari or vermouth take centre stage  but embrace each other perfectly.

It is essential to use a big gin in this drink, something which can stand up and be counted among the other flavours, to this end my go to gin is Tanqueray 47.3%, I find this bold simple, Juniper led gin works wonders in the Negroni. As for the vermouth, Antica Formula is a sensational sweet vermouth, plenty of spice and enough sweetness to balance out the bitterness of the Campari.

The Negroni is a very simple drink and can be easily recreated at home without the need for specific equipment, the recipe is as follows;

The Negroni

Tanqueray 47.3% - 30ml

Antica Formula - 30ml

Campari - 30ml

Orange or Grapefruit zest to garnish.

Add all ingredients to an large whisky tumbler, add ice, stir a little then garnish with an orange zest. 

Another gin based drink perfect as an aperitif is one I discovered in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, the Corpse Reviver #2.

The class of drinks from which the Corpse Reviver #2 hails from were usually intended as morning after pick me up's, originally appearing in Harry Craddock's 1930 edition of The Savoy Cocktail Book where he notes 'four of these taken in quick succession will unrevive the soul again'. Although not conceived for this purpose this drink works perfectly as an aperitif, combining two classic aperitif liquors, Absinthe and Lillet Blanc with lemon juice, Cointreau and of course... Gin.

This drink can be very easily abused by a heavy handed host, make sure all ingredients are accurately measured and you will have a perfectly complex and refreshing pre dinner libation.

The Corpse Reviver #2

Deaths Door Gin - 20ml

 Cointreau - 20ml

Lillet Blanc - 20ml

Lemon juice - 20ml

Absinthe - 2 Dashes

Sunken maraschino cherry to garnish.

Corpse Reviver #2

Shake all ingredients over ice and fine strain in to a cocktail glass. It may make it easier to deliver stringent amounts of absinthe by decanting some into an empty bitters bottle.

All the ingredients shine through in a well made Corpse Reviver #2, the Cointreau, absinthe and Lillet add a pleasurable sweetness but do not over power the zesty lemon juice, allowing the drink to retain it's palate cleansing tartness. Until recently Tanqueray was my go to gin for this drink, however I have recently had the pleasure of sampling Deaths Door Gin. This bold, spicy gin works amazingly well in the Corpse Reviver #2 with the sweet aniseed notes of the fennel perfectly complementing the absinthe.     

The French 75, Negroni and the Corpse Reviver #2 are just three of a whole range of gin based aperitifs, others perfect for this purpose include the Aviation, the White Lady and the Martinez, libations we will be covering very soon...

Photography by Sofia Miranda

We hope you enjoy

Umpleby & Brown