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.

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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.

Episode 24: Monkey Gland

  • 2 oz London dry gin

  • 1 oz fresh orange juice

  • .5 oz real grenadine

  • Dash of Absinthe

  • Orange twist

Add the gin, orange juice, & grenadine to a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake until frosty. Add a dash of Absinthe to a chilled coupe or martini glass, and swirl around the glass to “rinse” the glass with the absinthe. Strain the cocktail into the absinthe rinsed glass and garnish with an orange twist.

*notes: The original recipe for the Monkey Gland called for equal parts (1.5 oz each) gin and orange juice, but most modern bartenders prefer this updated version.

The quality of the grenadine you use makes a difference. Real grenadine should have pomegranate juice in the ingredients. If not, don’t use it. You can find it online easily or make your own.

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The Monkey gland was invented sometime at the end of the 1910s and became popular during the Prohibition era.

The name of the drink references a Russian-born French surgeon named Dr. Sergei Voronoff who thought that the sex glands of living organisms held the key to health, vigor, and longevity. During the 1910s and 20s, he performed expensive surgeries to graft the testicles of monkeys onto his patients, promising “a life span of 125 years and an old age of a few months.” His work became world famous, and by 1927 Voronoff had done more than 1,000 procedures on his wealthy patients. In reality, his work did absolutely nothing, and he was finally discredited by the 1940s.

Nevertheless, at the end of the 1910s he and his work were a pop culture phenomenon and the Monkey Gland was invented in either Paris or London in tribute. In 1919, a New York Times story carried the headline, “MONKEY GLAND’ LATEST COCKTAIL”, and it wasn’t long before it became a hit in the United States as well. Beyond Voronoff’s mad scientist reputation, the cocktail may have also become such a hit because it contained a small dash of absinthe, which was banned in much of Europe as well as the U.S. because of it’s supposed (but now debunked) hallucinogenic properties. Many bars still had a few bottles of absinthe left after the ban, and the Monkey Gland used so little that they could make it stretch while still giving the cocktail a forbidden and exciting feeling.

No matter the reason, this gussied up gin and juice is surprisingly delicious!

Episode 10: The Jack Rose

  • 2 ounces Applejack

  • 3/4 ounce grenadine, (be sure the ingredients contain pomegranate)

  • 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice

  • 1 dash aromatic bitters

  • Lemon twist (optional)

Combine applejack, grenadine, lemon juice, and bitters in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake vigorously until frosted. Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass. Squeeze lemon twist over surface of drink, skin-side-out to release fragrant oils. Garnish with twist and enjoy!

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Applejack is considered America’s first spirit. It was originally made by freeze distilling hard apple cider in Colonial America.


The Jack Rose is made with applejack, grenadine, and lemon or lime juice. It was referenced in print as far back as 1905, but was popular in the 1920s and 1930s, notably appearing in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 classic, The Sun Also Rises. It was also a favorite drink of John Steinbeck.

One quick note on grenadine… Don’t use the neon red grenadine you buy at the grocery store for Shirley temples in this recipe. Real grenadine is made from pomegranate juice and tastes totally different. It’s really easy to make it yourself, but these days it’s also easy to find good quality cocktail grenadine online.