You would expect the Millionaire Cocktail to be opulent, featuring the finest liquors, a white truffle garnish, served in a solid gold goblet, rimmed with caviar, and a $100 bill for a straw. Or it is all just a trick to get you to drink something that is hardly different than a hundred other cocktails […]
For as many times that we have said that there aren’t a whole lot of Scotch cocktails, we have another one for you! This one also has the name of a person, which sometimes is helpful like the Lucien Gaudin and sometimes unhelpful like the Barbara West. We are somewhere in the middle with The […]
The Lion’s Tail cocktail is one of just many, many recipes originating from the Café Royal Cocktail Book (1937), that never really appeared again until very recently. Most of the ingredients are pretty standard, with the exception of Pimento Liqueur, more commonly known as Allspice Dram nowadays. We discuss this rum-based liqueur’s Caribbean origins, strong […]
First printed in Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up cocktail guide, this drink is not well represented and probably not well liked but nevertheless we did our 82nd episode on it. It first appears nearly simultaneously with the introduction of blue curacao on the market, it’s recipe in Saucier’s book, and a Bols ad for blue curacao […]
Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch is a more contemporary take on an old drink called simply, Planter’s Punch. Resembling punches of the colonial-era, Planter’s Punch appears to have originated in the Caribbean in the early to mid-1800s. Where exactly in the Caribbean is the question, since most references just point to the “West Indies.” The unusual […]
The Jack Rose Cocktail ingredients look like a deconstructed fruit bowl, bringing together Applejack, lemon juice (or sometimes lime juice), and grenadine. Dating back to the early 20th century, Cocktail Bill Boothby appears to have brought it to print, but attributes it to New York bartender R.H. Townes. The name is a bit of a […]
With very few appearances in cocktail books, or really anywhere, it is probably fair to say that the “Have a Heart” cocktail didn’t make much of a splash at all. It seems originate from, and really only appears in Patrick Gavin Duffy’s The Official Mixer’s Manual (1934). The quotation marks allude to it being the […]
Black Liver Project has been focusing primarily on classic cocktails in our endeavors, but with the way craft cocktails are booming right now we want to juxtapose what’s happening now with drinks from the cocktail era (1860-1940) and discuss some of the differences we’re seeing. Because these drinks are completely new there isn’t a lot of […]
Many cocktails got their start in the medicinal realm, and you can often see the transformations over time from cure-all to tasty beverage. So when a drink with a name like the Doctor Cocktail comes along, it is fair to assume that your aches and pains might be relieved from the ingredients. It does have […]
So having done the Mint Julep, what more is there to say about derbies? We take a look at the Derby Cocktail which poses a few problems when trying to talk history about it. First, there are numerous recipes for Derby Cocktails, and none seem to be related to the others. Second, derby could be […]
