Naked and Famous

As a fan of equal proportion cocktails such as the Last Word, I’m surprised it has taken me so long to try the Naked and Famous.

• 3/4 ounce mezcal
• 3/4 ounce yellow chartreuse
• 3/4 ounce Aperol
• 3/4 ounce lime juice

Shake all ingredients with ice, then strain into a coupe. No garnish.

Invented by Joaquín Simó when he was at Death & Co., it is described as “the bastard child born out of an illicit Oaxacan love affair between the classic Last Word and the Paper Plane”, the latter being another drink I haven’t tried, mainly through an inability to source Nonino Quintessentia amaro.

The Mosquito

I am a big fan of cocktails made with equal proportions of ingredients, such as the Golden Dawn and my signature Last Word, so I was really excited when I learned that Sam Ross had created a series of cocktails with equal proportions. His most famous is probably the Paper Plane, but he also created a group of four, all containing sweetened ginger juice, that became known as the “bug cocktails”. The first is the Mosquito.

Eagle's Dream

Presenting the Eagle’s Dream:

• 1 egg white
• 2 ounces London dry gin
• 1 ounce Creme Yvette or Creme de Violette
• 1 teaspoon simple syrup
• Juice of 1/4 Lemon

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, strain and serve in a cocktail glass with a brandied cocktail cherry

This recipe comes from the 1927 cocktail book Barflies & Cocktails and through the magic of the Internet you can read it.

Twelve Miles Out

When I started making cocktails I was limited by the ingredients I had on hand. Now that I have one of the best stocked liquor cabinets between Atlanta and DC I can make a lot of things.

This drink out of the Prohibition Centennial Edition of Dr. Cocktail’s book is another equal portions drink, so I decided to give it a try.

Eve's Apple

The first cocktail I’ve made out of the Prohibition Centennial Edition is Eve’s Apple.

• 1.5 ounces Applejack
• 1.5 ounces Swedish Punsch
• 1.5 ounce fresh grapefruit juice

Combine equal parts of the ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker, strain, and serve in a cocktail glass.

In the new edition of the book there are a number of additional cocktail recipes, but many don’t have much back story, including this one. When I did a search on “Eve’s Apple Cocktail” I found a lot of references to a drink called the Eve’s Apple Daiquiri and even one from my friends over at Fair Game Beverage Co. but this one was from a 1929 book by Judge Jr.

Peace Train

It took me longer than expected to make this cocktail. I was introduced to the idea of the cocktail while watching the Peacemaker television series by James Gunn.

I really wasn’t expecting much from it, as the Peacemaker character in the Suicide Squad was a singularly unpleasant guy, but I like the shows Gunn makes and I figured I might enjoy this one. I really did, and I gained a new found respect for John Cena, who is much more talented that I used to give him credit.

The Ward 8 Cocktail

I recently took a new job which requires travel, so I’ve been out and about a lot more than in the past few years. One stop took me to Austin, Texas, where I was introduced to the Ward 8 cocktail.

According to Wikipedia, the Ward 8 was invented in 1898 to honor a section of Boston that was key to electing a particular government official. Politics aside, it is a tasty drink.