Do you like cocktails that are named after a 19th century varnish? Then step right up to the bar and order a Japalac Cocktail. That’s right folks, nothing says quenching your thirst like old lacquer! This recipe shows up first and only in Albert Stevens Crockett’s Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931). It was another creation […]
In this episode we take a look at the Brooklyn cocktail, which looks to be the product of Jack Grohusko from the early part of the 20th century. Most cocktails take some wondering and digging and guessing in order to figure out why a bartender gave it a particular name. With the Brooklyn, we go […]
When I first heard the name of this drink, I was puzzled how one could get a cocktail name from a car’s turn signal. Of course, this is another case wherein the “old timey” speak means something totally different from what it means today. Back at the turn of the 20th century, when this drink […]
The story of the Algonquin Cocktail is truly a fascinating, confusing, and possibly widely misattributed one. I had heard this story before and loved learning about Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Roundtable. In 1919 a group of writers, actors and intellectuals began to frequent the Algonquin for lunch every day. They were known as the Algonquin […]
To say that the Sazerac Cocktail is synonymous with New Orleans would probably be an understatement. It is a cultural icon, a sense of pride, and its importance to the city can’t be denied. It also has one hell of a messy history. Really messy. For real, it almost broke us trying to piece it […]
We’re kicking off the series with the cocktail that I think of as THE cocktail of cocktails…the Manhattan. At the front of the show, Mr. Jason Kruse, our researcher, and I sat and discussed what he discovered while tracking down the origins of the Manhattan. First of all, the Manhattan’s claim to fame as the […]
