Episode 45: Early Colonial Rum Punch

Makes about Four 5oz servings

• 1 cup green tea (hot)

• ¼ cup jaggery or other dark raw sugar (demerara or muscovado)

• ¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice

• 1 cup aged Jamaican or Caribbean rum

• Fresh grated nutmeg

In a bowl or pitcher, pour tea over sugar and stir to dissolve. If using jaggery, you may need to break it up with a muddler in the liquid to help it dissolve faster. Stir in the lime juice and rum and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Ladle or pour into punch glasses and grate a bit of fresh nutmeg over the top before serving.

Alcoholic Punch was still in its infancy in the 1670s, so recipes from that era are hard to come by. This recipe is not exactly an “authentic” Colonial American punch recipe, but rather a twist on a 1668 recipe shared in David Wondrich’s book, “Punch”. The oldest recipe included, it predates the popularity of oleo saccharum. Instead, it simply calls for lime juice but no zest.

This recipe was written down in England and contains several Indian & Indonesian ingredients that would have been hard to come by in early colonial America, so to try to approximate a punch similar to what might have been consumed in America in the 1670s, some substitutions and tweaks to this recipe were necessary.  

In place of Batavia Arrack, dark Caribbean rum is used instead. A raw sugar called jaggery is used to try to recreate the dark, raw, funky flavor of colonial era loaf sugar. Raw sugars such as demerara, muscovado, or “Sugar in the Raw” could be used in its place.

 For authenticity’s sake, the recipe is not served with ice, but keeping it cold in the refrigerator is fine. The recipe has also been scaled down for a smaller serving size but could easily be scaled back up. For more information, please listen to Minisode 40 on the history of punch.

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Episode 41: Ward Eight

• 2 ounces rye whiskey

• 1/2 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• 1/2 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed

• 1/2 ounce (real) grenadine *see note

• Garnish: maraschino cherries and an orange slice

Add the rye whiskey, lemon and orange juices and grenadine to a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a tall glass with ice and garnish with cherries and an orange slice

*note: Real pomegranate-based grenadine has a much nicer flavor than the bright red sugar syrup from the supermarket.

The origin stories for many historic cocktails can be sometimes be difficult to trace or confirm, but the Ward Eight isn’t one of those cocktails.

The Ward Eight is one of, if not the, most popular cocktail ever created in Boston, Massachusetts. It was conceived in 1898 at the Locke-Ober Café to celebrate the election of Martin M. Lomasney to the state legislature. Lomasney was a politician who wielded considerable power in Boston for 40 years, serving as a state senator and representative, as well as a political “boss” in the city’s eighth ward (hence the name). Some stories point out that it’s odd that Lomasney was so sure of he’d win before election day that he had the bar create a new cocktail just for his victory party. Rumor has it he had fixed the election.

We’ll never know for sure, but we do know that the Ward Eight is essentially just a riff on a rye Whiskey Sour sans egg white. You substitute some of the lemon juice for orange juice and swap out the simple syrup for grenadine.

While we do know when and where this cocktail was invented, the recipe itself wasn’t actually written down at the time, so the exact recipe is disputed and there are some variations on it. The most popular recipe is a mix of rye whiskey, lemon and orange juices, and grenadine. Most recipes out there seem to be very similar but some omit the orange juice.

Many modern bartenders today will serve this straight up in a chilled coupe or cocktail glass, but when it was first invented it would have been served over ice in a tall Collins glass.

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Episode 30: The White Russian

• 2 oz vodka

• 2 oz khalua

• 2 oz light cream or half & half

Pour vodka and khalua over ice in a rocks glass & stir. Gently pour the cream over the top. You can stir in the cream to combine everything, but I think it looks nicer if you keep the layer of cream separate on top and let the drinker stir it together themselves.

The recipe for the White Russian first appeared in print in the Oakland Tribune in 1965. The recipe was simple, it called for, “1oz. each Southern, vodka, cream”. “Southern” was short for “Coffee Southern”, which was a popular brand of coffee liqueur that used to be made by Southern Comfort. It’s not around anymore so most people use Khalua today.

The funny thing about the name of the White Russian is that the recipe doesn’t come from Russia and there’s nothing particularly Russian about it. It turns out though, that before the 1950s, vodka wasn’t very popular in the US, and at one point it was considered a strange, foreign spirit that was only consumed in Russia. When people outside Russia first started drinking it, they gave vodka based cocktails names that had the word Russia in them, or at least a nod to Russia, like the Moscow Mule.

It took a few years after the recipe was first published to really take off, but by the 70s, the White Russian was everywhere. It’s strong, easy to make, and easy to drink, and people in the 70s loved it. After the 70s though, popularity fizzled and it almost disappeared until 1998 when The Big Lebowski came out and made it popular again.

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Episode 28: The Gin Rickey

• 2 oz gin

• ½ oz fresh lime juice

• ¼ oz simple syrup (optional) *see note

• Club soda

• Garnish: lime wheels & twist

Fill a highball glass with ice. Add gin & lime juice (& simple syrup if desired). Stir & top with soda water. Garnish with lime wheels and/or a lime twist.

*note: The original recipe doesn’t call for simple syrup, but modern bartenders have found that a touch of sweetness can help bring out the flavor of the lime juice. We tried it both ways and liked preferred it with the syrup.

The Gin Rickey is one of the few classic cocktails with a clear and well documented origin story.

The first version, made with bourbon, was invented by bartender George A. Williamson around 1880 at Shoomaker’s Bar in DC. It was named after a democratic lobbyist named Colonel Joseph Kyle Rickey (better known as Joe Rickey).

Rickey didn’t like sweet drinks, and usually liked to drink bourbon combined with carbonated water. One day, he asked the bartender at Shoomaker’s to add some lime to his highball, and the Bourbon Rickey was born. Joe Rickey actually purchased the bar in 1883 & went on to become a major lime importer.

The Rickey took off, and before long people were customizing the drink to their liking, substituting other liquors for the bourbon. In 1882 the Gin Rickey first appeared in print, and has been a huge hit ever since. The gin version quickly became more popular than the original bourbon version, and by the 1910s & 20s it was everywhere. In fact, it was even mentioned in the 1925 classic, “The Great Gatsby,” when Tom Buchanan served his guests a platter of Rickeys.

In 2011, more than a century after its creation, the Rickey was declared Washington D.C.’s official cocktail.

Many confuse the Rickey with the Collins cocktail, but the Collins is made with lemon juice instead of lime, and always contains sugar or simple syrup.

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Episode 22: National Guard Seventh Regiment Punch

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• 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar *see notes

• ½ oz lemon juice  

• 2 oz Brandy (preferably Cognac)

• 2 oz Catawba wine OR dry rosé wine **see notes

• 1 teaspoon raspberry syrup (recipe below)

• ¼ oz Jamaican rum (optional)

• Garnish: orange, pineapple, fresh berries 

Stir sugar and lemon juice together in a bar glass or rocks glass. 
Add brandy, wine, and raspberry syrup and fill the glass with ice (shaved or crushed preferable) 
Shake well and pour back into glass. 

Top with dark rum and garnish with fruit. Serve with a straw. 

NOTES:
* The original recipe calls for 2 teaspoons, but we found the cocktail far too sweet and much preferred it with only 1 teaspoon after some testing
** The original recipe called for a very sweet wine made from Catawba grapes. If you can’t find Catawba wine, Niagara or Concord grape wine will be very similar, or you could use any sweet white or rosé wine you like. However, we found this punch was far too sweet and much preferred it made with a dry rosé instead.

Raspberry Syrup

• 2 cups of demerara sugar

• 1 cup of water

• 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Stir sugar and water over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Add raspberries stirring until the berries form a pulp. Strain into a jar and refrigerate. Over time, the pectin will rise to the surface and can be skimmed off.

The “National Guard Seventh Regiment Punch”  was probably around before the 1860s but we don’t know the actual origins. We just know that the recipe was published by Jerry Thomas in 1862.

This drink is named after NYC’s seventh regiment, which used to be the only regiment that made up the national guard at one point in history. They were known as a “silk stocking” regiment, meaning they were mostly made up of fancy fifth avenue blue blood types. 

During the civil war they were on their way to go fight at Gettysburg, but NYC’s draft riots broke out and they were called back. Fighting draft rioters in NYC was actually the only combat they ever saw during the entire civil war. 

This is one of the more unique cocktails we’ve ever had. The original recipe called for a very sweet wine made from Catawba grapes. If you can’t find Catawba wine, Niagara or Concord grape wine will have a very similar flavor, but you could use any sweet white or rosé wine that you like. However, we found this punch to be far too sweet for modern tastes, and much preferred it when we tried a version made with a dry rosé instead. A later reprint of Thomas’ book called for Sherry. 

Catawba grapes are a hybrid of wild grapes native to the East Coast crossed with European wine grapes. Catawba wine can be a bit hard to find today, but 200 years ago it was everywhere in the US. In fact, Jerry Thomas’ book actually has several recipes that feature it. The flavor of Catawba wine is sweet and distinctly grape-y, tasting more like Concord grape juice than wine. Posh wine snobs refer to this flavor as “foxy” and say that it also has a wild, musky, animal smell, but we just tasted juice box.

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Episode 19: The Brandy Smash

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• 1 teaspoon superfine sugar

• 2 teaspoons water

• 2 small sprigs of mint

• 2 oz brandy

• Mint, orange, & berries for garnish (optional) 

Swirl sugar and water together in the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
Add mint, brandy, and ice, & shake vigorously until frosty.
Fill a rocks glass to the top with finely crushed ice and strain cocktail into the glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint, an orange slice, and fresh berries if in season.

The Brandy Smash is a classic cocktail that is so classic that it saw its heyday before the Civil War. Though it was likely created sometime in the 1830s, the 'smash' was at its peak in the 1850s, eclipsing even the Sherry Cobbler in popularity.

Made from mint, sugar, and strong spirits, the smash is often compared to the julep because they were both created around the same time, and while the methods are different, the flavor is really similar. Today they’re most often made with bourbon or rye whiskey, but in the mid 19th century they were usually made with brandy. Gin was also used sometimes.

The use of the cocktail shaker rather than a muddler is what sets the Julep and the Smash apart from one another. The cocktail shaker was a relatively new invention and it didn’t take long for bartenders to realize they could skip muddling and just shake the mint into the drink. Vigorous shaking smashes up the mint leaves, which is probably how the drink got its name. The Smash was also sometimes called a Smasher or a Smash-up.

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Episode 18: The Whiskey Highball

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• 2 oz Bourbon or Rye Whiskey

• 4 to 6 oz Soda Water

• Ice

• Lemon garnish (optional)

Fill a highball glass (8-10oz tall narrow glass) with ice. Pour whiskey over ice and top off with soda water. Some recipes insist stirring can squelch the bubbles in the soda, so there’s no need.

Garnish with a lemon wheel, wedge, or curl if desired.

This is probably the simplest and easiest cocktail we’ve ever made on the show, but that doesn’t mean this drink doesn’t have a rich and storied past.

Historian Jessica Norris says that “Most folks agree that the Highball started out as a sparkling brandy cocktail with the English gentry in the 1790s, when Johann Jacob Schweppe had just set up his first soda shop in London.”
Some say a bartender named Patrick Gavin Duffy was likely the one who brought the drink to the U.S. in 1895 in the form of a scotch and soda.

As for the name of this simple classic drink, one origin story claims it came from 19th century English golf club bars, where “ball” meant “whiskey” and “high” referred to the tall glass it was served in.
Other people say it may have come from nineteenth century railroad signals. On American railroads, if a globe or ball was raised up high on a signal post, it meant “clear track ahead” and showed the conductor that the train could pass through without stopping. As dining cars started serving cocktails in tall glasses, they adapted the “high ball” signal and attached it to this classic beverage.

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Episode 17: The Martinez

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• 2 oz Old Tom Gin

• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth

• ¼ oz Maraschino Liqueur (we used Luxardo)

• 2 dashes aromatic bitters

• Orange or lemon twist for garnish

Combine all ingredients (other than garnish) in a mixing glass. Add plenty of ice and stir well to chill. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass and garnish.

The Martinez cocktail is considered to be the precursor to the modern Martini. It was originally created as a gin-based spin on the Manhattan, and it tastes much more like a Manhattan than a Martini.

Old Tom gin is best to use because it has a sweeter and richer flavor than London dry gin and pairs better with the sweet vermouth and luxardo liqueur.

There is some debate about the cocktail’s origins, but most people agree it was invented in the 1880s in Northern California.
Some say Jerry Thomas invented the drink in San Francisco for a customer who was traveling to Martinez California. His recipe wasn’t officially published until 1887 though, so the cocktail is often credited to another famous barman named O. H. Byron. His recipe for the Martinez was published in 1884 with the simple instructions, "Same as Manhattan, only you substitute gin for whisky."
The city of Martinez however, claims that another local bartender invented the drink there.

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Episode 15: The Classic Daiquiri

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• 3 oz. white rum

• 1 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

• 3/4 oz. simple syrup (1:1) *see note

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake well to chill and strain into a chilled cocktail or coupe glass.
Garnish with a lime wheel, wedge, or curl if desired.

note: to make simple syrup heat equal parts sugar and water until sugar is completely dissolved. Cool before use.

The daiquiri is said to have been invented in Cuba around the turn of the 20th century by an American mining engineer named Jennings Cox.

They became popular in the United States during and just after WWII because rum was cheap and easy to find, while whiskey was rationed for the troops.

Daiquiri’s are also said to have been JFK’s favorite drink. He’s reported to have celebrated with a daiquiri when he won the election, and Jackie Kennedy is said to have trained the white house staff to make daiquiris just the way they liked them. 

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Episode 8 - Classic Manhattan

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• 2 ounces rye whiskey (or bourbon if preferred)

• 1 ounce sweet vermouth

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

• Luxardo maraschino cherries, for garnish

Combine whiskey, vermouth, & bitters with plenty of ice in a mixing glass. Stir well until frosty cold and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with maraschino cherries.

Interesting fact: History suggests that the Manhattan cocktail was created at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, specifically for a banquet in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The success of the banquet is said to have made the drink fashionable.

However, there are prior references to similar cocktail recipes called "Manhattan" and served in the New York City area. One account says it may have been invented in the 1860s at a bar on Broadway near Houston Street.

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