The Fred Collins Fiz

Tarus Bourbon, Liqueurs

With lemonade from England I was finally able to make the Fred Collins Fiz:

  • 2.0 ounces bourbon or rye whiskey
  • 0.5 ounce simple syrup
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1 teaspoon orange curaçao
  • 6.0 ounces lemonade

Mix the bourbon, simple syrup, and lemon juice in an iced cocktail shaker and shake. Strain into a large bar glass that is half filled with shaved (or finely crushed) ice. Add the curaçao. Pour the lemonade into a collins glass and port the contents of the bar glass into it.

I was very unhappy when I returned from a trip to the UK and realized this drink requires British “lemonade”, which is a fizzy lemon flavored soda sort of like Sprite. I, of course, didn’t get any.

I was lucky that my friend Jeff was going through there, so he picked me up a liter from Tesco’s, and it is hard to get more British than that.

This is a mighty tasty libation. Autumn is in full swing here, and while I would enjoy this drink on any day it would be especially good in the heat of summer. This is a cocktail in the vein of all things “Collins” but I do prefer it with whiskey.

If you can’t find British-style lemonade, there is a shortcut you can take. If you can get it, find the Canada Dry soft drink called Wink. Then just mix it between 3:1 to 4:1 with your favorite whiskey. It’s not quite as good as this recipe, but it will surely do.

Rating: 5/5

Notes: I used Maker’s Mark 46 along with Senior Orange Curaçao.

The Amarosa Cocktail

Tarus Gin, Liqueurs, Stars - 1, Stars - 2

From halfway around the world comes The Amarosa Cocktail:

  • 1.0 ounce Amaro Cora
  • 1.0 ounce gin
  • 1.0 ounce kirschwasser

Stir well and enthusiastically. Strain into a stemmed glass of your choice, but use something pretty, because this cocktail has a very pretty color. Twist a small lemon peel directly over the drink and drop it in.

Okay, I’m not a huge fan of amaro. I just find it to bitter, and while I love what it can do in a cocktail, I was very worried about drinking an amaro-centric libation.

My fears were realized.

First off, there are lots of amaros, but Amaro Cora is no longer made. My friend Antonio was able to find a bottle on Italian eBay and he brought it to me when we were last together. I really appreciate the effort he put into my hobby,

Second, as far as amaros go, Amaro Cora is delightful. It is very fruity and almost sweet, without the overwhelming herbal bitterness of some. But I didn’t like the Amarosa Cocktail at all.

The recipe comes from the Café Royal Cocktail Book. It was originally published with different measurements from Dr. Cocktail’s version:

  • 2.0 ounces Amaro Cora
  • 0.5 ounce gin
  • 0.5 ounce kirschwasser

so I made it that way as well. It was better (I could drink it) but it wasn’t a favorite.

Rating: 1/5 (Vintage Cocktails) and (2/5) Café Royal Cocktail Book

Notes: I went with Plymouth Gin and Clear Creek Distillery’s kirschwasser.

The Filmograph Cocktail

Tarus Brandy/Vermouth/Wine, Stars - 4

The successful search for another odd ingredient resulted in The Filmograph Cocktail:

  • 2.00 ounces brandy
  • 0.75 ounce lemon syrup (substitute fresh lemon juice unless you like to drink maple syrup out of the can.)
  • 0.50 ounce kola tonic

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

The odd ingredient here is the kola tonic, a staple of South African drinking. The resource guide in the book recommends Rose’s Kola Tonic, which is apparently very common in Canada. I didn’t think it would be that hard to get, since Rose’s Lime Juice is readily available even in my small town, but I was wrong.

When a Canadian friend of mine was heading home for a visit, I asked him to get me a bottle. He looked but couldn’t find it, but he promised to get it on the next trip. When that trip came and went without kola tonic, it dawned on my that we might have had a failure in communication.

It turns out that he was looking for Clayton’s Kola Tonic, which happens to be the first hit when you search for “kola tonic” on the web. This is a much rarer item, I assume, than Rose’s Kola Tonic, which is why he was having trouble finding it. It’s made in the West Indies and appears to be the original kola tonic.

Now my usual “booze mules” bring me stuff when they visit from Orlando, Florida, and there is a Clayton’s retailer there. They were able to score me some Clayton’s Kola Tonic and thus I was able to make this drink.

It’s good. The kola tonic is a little unusual as it is bright orange and has a spicy taste that is reminiscent of Tiki drinks. There are hints of the flavors of sodas like Coca-Cola, but it is much different. Andrea even liked this one. I did use some simple syrup along with fresh lemon juice to make the drink slightly sweeter.

Rating: 4/5

Notes: I used Martell Cognac for the brandy.

The Flying Dutchman

Tarus Gin

Featuring another obscure ingredient, here is The Flying Dutchman:

  • 2 ounces orange gin
  • Juice of ¼ orange
  • Juice of ¼ lime
  • 3 drops Angostura bitters

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

This drink, from a 1950’s Dutch cocktail book, calls for orange gin. Now gin and fruit juice just go together (as the poet Snoop Dogg pointed out so long ago) so it seems logical that it would be used to create a flavored gin, but at first I was a little hesitant to try this drink because of a bad mental association with flavored vodkas.

I’m not a fan a vodka, simply because in its natural state it is supposed to be flavorless. I like the taste of spirits and I drink to enjoy that and not to get intoxicated. I recently read that there were over 400 varieties of flavored vodka, simply because you have to do something to make it interesting.

Gin, on the other hand, has a natural flavor profile, although that can vary (a lot). Once I decided to make this drink, my next quest was to find orange gin.

The book recommends Seagram’s Twisted Gin. While Twisted Gin is still made, in flavors such as apple, melon, red berry and lime, orange is no longer available (and I really, really can’t imagine why). Gordon’s made an orange gin up until 1988. I asked Dr. Cocktail on Twitter, and he suggested to make your own:

Still, for me there is the thrill of the hunt, so I was determined to find a bespoke orange gin. I finally found Williams Chase Seville Orange Gin in the UK, and ordered a bottle, and thus was finally able to make this cocktail.

Heh, it’s just okay. Now, I liked the gin, and I enjoyed the drink, but it is just not something I’d seek out. I hate recipes with “juice of one quarter orange” since that is such an imprecise measure. For this cocktail I used slightly more than a quarter ounce of orange juice and slightly less than a quarter ounce of lemon juice, and I think I over-poured the bitters. I’ll be using the gin again, however.

Rating: 3/5

Notes: I got the orange gin from a website called The Whisky Exchange.

Jasper’s Rum Punch

Tarus Rum, Stars - 5

Here is another summer cocktail, Jasper’s Rum Punch:

Stir with cracked ice in an 8-ounce highball glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Okay, so this doesn’t seem much different than Jasper’s Planter’s Punch – the only change is a different rum. But, man does it really change the flavor.

I like the Planter’s Punch but I loved this drink. Even though you are drinking 126-proof spirit, Jasper’s mix mellows it out and I could drink a pitcher of this stuff.

I’m not suggesting that would be a good idea, but …

Andrea didn’t care for it. She thought it was too strong, but if you like a little bite in your cocktails you’ll like this one.

Rating: 5/5

Notes: You can’t get Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum in North Carolina, but I am blessed to have some good friends in Florida who are willing to mule it up here from Total Wine & More.

Leatherneck Cocktail

Tarus Liqueurs, Stars - 2, Stars - 3, Whiskey

Did you say you wanted a blue drink? Try the Leatherneck Cocktail:

  • 2.00 ounces blended whiskey (Crown Royal recommended)
  • 0.75 ounce blue curaçao
  • 0.50 ounce fresh lime juice

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Okay, I don’t like blue curaçao. Curaçao is supposed to be a colorless spirit, but it is often dyed blue to add a weird color to drinks. Seriously, there is no blue food so there should be no blue drinks.

But as I am determined to make as many of these recipes as I can, I went ahead and made this one.

According to Dr. Cocktail, this drink was invented by a journalist and former Marine named Frank Farrell (I think this is his obit, which doesn’t mention the cocktail). Besides the blue curaçao, the other thing it has going against it is the use of blended whiskey. Now I don’t, personally, have much against blended whiskey but I don’t use it often in cocktails. I live in the Southern United States where it gets hot, and instead of a “gin and tonic” I will more often go for a “Seven and Seven” (Seagram’s 7 Crown and 7-Up soda) or better yet, a “Seven and Wink“.

As I went into tasting this drink thinking I would hate it, there should be no surprise that I didn’t care for it much. But, it dawned on me that all it really needed was a little sweetening, so I added a squirt (about 0.25 ounce) of simple syrup that I keep in a squeeze bottle. Then it was a decent cocktail. So, if you just have to have a blue cocktail, try it out.

Rating: 3/5, 2/5 if you leave off the simple syrup.

Notes: Dr. Cocktail suggested you use a “dusty old bottle of Crown Royal” which I happened to have, although Canadian Club or Seagram’s 7 Crown should work. For the blue curaçao I used Bols. My go-to brand is Señor Curaçao but I wasn’t about to pay three times as much for the blue food coloring. Bols is a decent curaçao, and it’s very, very blue.

La Floridita Daiquiri

Tarus Liqueurs, Rum, Stars - 4

As summer comes to a close I wanted to make the La Floridita Daiquiri:

  • 2 ounces rum (such as Havana Club from Cuba or Brugal from the Dominican Republic)
  • Juice of 1/2 lime (If your limes are small, use the whole thing)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar or sugar syrup (increase if too tart)
  • 1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur

Blend with crushed ice. Serve in a saucer cocktail or champagne glass. Garnish with lime wheel and a maraschino cherry

Ah, the daiquiri – hard to spell but easy to drink. This is the frozen concoction Hemingway would drink at the La Florida Bar in Havana, Cuba. A favorite of the locals, they would refer to it at the “La Floridita” as a sign of affection.

But, you might be asking yourself, I can get daiquiris anywhere, they are hardly vintage. Well, true, today almost any rum drink can be called a daiquiri, but this recipe goes back to the drink’s roots: rum, sugar and limes.

Dr. Cocktail dedicates four pages to this cocktail, tracing the history of it from two copper mine engineers in Cuba up through Hemingway and beyond. There was some confusion of whether or not to use lemon or limes (limes, of course) and there are references that suggest the daiquiri Hemingway drank also included grapefruit juice. A quick web search turns up versions with Crème de Cacao, sweet vermouth and even grenadine. This is the exact recipe from the 1934 Bar La Florida Cocktails guide.

This is a tasty drink. I wasn’t able to get the thick frozen consistency of the picture in the book, which looks more like a slushy. I’m not sure if I should have chilled the ingredients before blending or that my Vitamix is just too strong. It still had bits of ice though and was more than refreshing.

I asked Dr. Cocktail how much ice to use, and he suggested a Sazerac glassful, which is the size of a small Old Fashioned glass.

Rating: 4/5

Notes: I used contraband (maybe not for long) Havana Club 7 Años rum and Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur.

Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch

Tarus Ingredients, Rum, Stars - 4

A variety of one of the oldest known cocktails is Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch:

Add to a 10-ounce highball glass filled with cracked ice. Stir vigorously. Top off with more ice. Jasper garnished his with a pineapple spear, an orange slice, and a cocktail cherry. You can also use fresh mint.

The earliest recipe for Planter’s Punch dates from 1908:

    This recipe I give to thee,
    Dear brother in the heat.
    Take two of sour (lime let it be)
    To one and a half of sweet,
    Of Old Jamaica pour three strong,
    And add four parts of weak.
    Then mix and drink. I do no wrong--
    I know whereof I speak.

Dr. Cocktail was not a fan of Planter’s Punch until he came across this one given to him by Steve Remsberg. It originates from the Bay Roc Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and a man named Jasper LaFranc.

Punches were some of the earliest cocktails made, and they tended to be rum based, since that was the main spirit available in the early United States. This is a great example, as it isn’t overly sweet. You can definitely taste the spirit and the bitters. For Andrea, who prefers a sweeter drink, I added a quarter ounce of simple syrup and she liked hers as well.

Rating: 4/5

Notes: Coruba rum? Man, that’s a confusing one. There’s the Coruba from the Rum Company with a New Zealand website. There’s the one from Gruppo Campari that looks the same. And none of my usual outlets carry it. So I went with Myers’s dark rum, which I could find.

Jasper’s Secret Mix

Tarus Ingredients

Required for Jasper’s cocktails, this is the “secret” mix that makes these rum drinks so special.

  • Juice of 12 limes
  • 1.50 cups sugar
  • 1.25 ounces Angostura Bitters
  • 0.50 whole nutmeg, grated

Stir the ingredients together in a mixing vessel until the sugar dissolves. Let steep in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

I used a Ball jar to mix and store this ingredient. That way I can easily just shake it when I’m ready to make a drink.

The Modernista

Tarus Absinthe/Pastis, Liqueurs, Scotch, Stars - 2

Another rare Scotch-based cocktail, The Modernista:

  • 2.0 ounces Scotch
  • 0.5 ounce dark Jamaican rum
  • 1 teaspoon absinthe or pastis (Pernod, Herbsaint and Ricard all work.)
  • 0.5 ounce Swedish Punsch
  • 0.5 ounce fresh lemon juice
  • 2 dashes orange bitters

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Add a lemon twist.

This is Dr. Cocktail’s name for The Modern cocktail, and the references I’ve found in the intertoobz all have Scotch, pastis or absinthe, and orange bitters in common, but in vastly different proportions. A couple include sloe gin. The drink is supposed to have originated just after the turn of the century (1900, not 2000), hence the name.

At first, I didn’t much care for it. I think I may have over-poured the pastis, but even if I’d managed to nail it I think the liquorice flavor dominates this drink too much. If I made it again, I’d probably cut the pastis in half to half a teaspoon or maybe just two or three goodly dashes.

As I’ve found from many of these cocktails, I tend to warm to the drink the more I taste of it, and this was no exception, but I doubt I would make it again. The book refers to it as “a sophisticated, if challenging, beverage” and I probably just wasn’t up to the challenge.

Rating: 2/5

Notes: I tend to use The Famous Grouse, a blended Scotch, in my Scotch-based cocktails. For the dark Jamaican rum I went with Myers’s Dark Rum. I was introduced to pastis and water in France, and my go-to brand is Ricard. I used Kronan Swedish Punsch and Stirrings Blood Orange bitters. Quite the chemistry set, this one.