The Negroni

Beautiful and bitter, it’s The Negroni:

• 1 ounce gin or vodka
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• 1 ounce Campari Stir vigorously in an iced mixing glass. Strain into a small cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange slice.

The first time I went to Italy (many years ago), my friend Antonio took me to a bar in Naples. All of the beautiful people were standing around looking beautiful with lovely sparkling red drinks in their hands. To me it looked like fizzy cherry Kool-Aid, and I asked about it. I was told it was “Campari and soda” and I ordered one.

Philadelphia Fish House Punch (Original Version)

The Original Philadelphia Fish House Punch:

• 0.33 pint lemon juice
• 0.75 pound sugar
• 1.00 pint mixture*
• 2.50 pints cold water

For the mixture:

• 0.25 pint real peach brandy
• 0.50 pint cognac
• 0.25 pint Jamaican rum Stir together in a bowl with ice.

People who like cocktails seem to hold punches in high regard. Heck, there is even an entire book dedicated to them.

I’m a fan, and I kind of wish there was a place near me that still carried on the punch tradition. In the earliest days of cocktails you were not likely to get a made to order drink for yourself. Instead, you would be served a drink out of a communal punch bowl. I’ve been to one place, the Rum Club in Portland, that still does that but it is rare.

Wild Irish Rose

My first cocktail by Dead Rabbit, the Wild Irish Rose:

• 0.75 ounce Pomegranate Syrup
• 1.00 ounce Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey
• 1.00 ounce Laird’s Applejack Bonded Proof
• 1.00 ounce Pama Pomegranate Liqueur
• 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 3 dashes Bittermens Burlesque Bitters
• 3 dashes Pernod Absinthe
• 1 large egg white

Pre-chill a punch glass. Add all the ingredients to a shaker. Fill with ice and shake. Strain into the punch glass.

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Pomegranate Syrup

For Pomegranate Syrup:

• 1 cup pomegranate juice
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cups water

Add the juice, sugar, and water to a medium saucepan over medium heat, but do not boil. Slowly stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from heat. Use a funnel to pour into bottles. The syrup will keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Knickerbocker à la Madame

For something truly vintage and rare, have a Knickerbocker à la Madame:

• 0.50 pint lemon water ice
• 0.50 pint sherry or Madeira
• 1.00 750ml bottle seltzer water
• 0.25 pint shaved ice

Mix the lemon water ice, sherry and seltzer in a soda-water glass. Add the shaved ice.

It definitely qualifies as vintage, as it comes from the book Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks by William Terrington, published in 1869. And through the magic of the Internet, you can actually read the recipe as it was published.

Lemon Water Ice

For Lemon Water Ice:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• zest from 2 lemons

Combine water and sugar and heat until sugar is dissolved to make a simple syrup. Let cool to room temperature, then add the lemon juice and zest. Chill and then process in an ice cream maker.

While this is pretty simple to make in an [ice cream maker][1], if you don’t have one you can place it in the freezer and stir every half hour or so until it becomes slushy. Tasty even outside of cocktails.

Rusty Nail

Like Smoky Scotch? Have a Rusty Nail:

• 2 ounces good smoky Scotch
• 1 ounce Drambuie

Combine in a small rocks glass on a couple of lumps of ice and swizzle. Garnish with a lemon twist.

I don’t like peaty Scotches. I’m not saying they are bad, it’s just that I don’t care for them. I know that some people seek them out, which has resulted in high peat bottlings such as the Peat Monster, but they just aren’t my thing. De gustibus non est disputandum.