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.

Forgotten Cocktail #1

I used to travel a lot, and perhaps one day I will again, and in every new town I would often seek out a cocktail bar.

Looking at the menu, I’d try to pick out something that matched my mood at the time and often something I had never had before. If it was really good, I’d ask the bartender for the recipe, which I would write down on whatever scrap of paper I happened to have handy.

Balalaika

I’m reading the wonderful Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami and I came across this cocktail description:

A Balalaika is made with one part each of vodka, Cointreau, and lemon juice. A simple concoction, but unless it’s as bitingly freezing as the North Pole, it doesn’t taste good. If somebody who doesn’t have the right touch mixes it, it ends up tasting diluted, watery. This Balalaika was amazingly delicious, with an almost perfect bite to it.

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