Milk Punch

Milk in a cocktail? It’s key in Milk Punch:

• 1.0 ounce brandy
• 0.5 ounce dark rum
• 2 teaspoons simple syrup
• 2 dashes vanilla extract
• 4.0 ounces whole milk

Shake the ingredients all together in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Strain into a tumbler half full of shaved ice (Shaved ice was more like snow than crushed ice, but if you pound your ice to smithereens, it’ll be similar enough). Grate or shake some nutmeg on top.

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Barbara West Cocktail

Want a sherry-based martini? Try the Barbara West Cocktail:

• 2.0 ounces gin
• 1.0 ounce sherry
• 0.5 ounce lemon juice
• 1 small dash Angostura bitters

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

I have no idea why this drink is named what it is. There was a famous Titanic survivor named Barbara West as well as a TV news anchor, but I think the latter Babs would be too young to have inspired a vintage cocktail.

Crimean Cup à la Marmora

A big punch with a big name is the Crimean Cup à la Marmora:

• 2.0 broad slices of lemon peel
• 1.0 teaspoon sugar
• 0.5 ounce dark Jamaican rum (Myers’s works well)
• 1.0 ounce brandy
• 0.5 maraschino liqueur
• 0.5 ounce Jamaican rum
• 2.0 ounces orgeat syrup
• 0.5 lemon juice
• 4.0 ounces soda water
• 3.0 ounces chilled champagne

In a mixing glass, muddle the lemon peel with the sugar and the dark rum. Add remaining ingredients except the champagne, stir vigorously, and pour into 2 goblets with 2 or 3 large lumps of ice. Divide the champagne between the goblets.

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French 95

The nicest thing to happen between France and the US since the Statue of Liberty – the French 95:

• 2.00 ounces Buffalo Trace bourbon
• 0.75 ounce lemon juice
• 0.50 ounce cane sugar syrup
• Dry champagne

Short shake all the ingredients (except the champagne) with three ice cubes, then strain into a fizz glass with two ice cubes. Top with champagne. No garnish.

I came across this recipe in the Death & Co. book when I was making the French 75 for a New Year’s party. I have a friend who really likes bourbon so I decided to make this for him.

The French 75

It’s time for champagne, and that means the French 75:

• 2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons sugar or 1 teaspoon simple syrup
• champagne

Shake all but the champagne in an iced cocktail shaker. Pour into a tall glass (a collins glass, a zombie glass or a champagne flute will do – the latter preferred). Top with champagne. Stir gently and garnish with a long, thin lemon spiral and a cocktail cherry.

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The Pendennis Cocktail

Named after a private club in Kentucky, here is the Pendennis Cocktail:

• 2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce apricot (some say peach) brandy
• 2-3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice

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

This drink caught my eye because I recent received a postcard from my friend Jonathan in England:

The word “Pendennis” seems slightly naughty to me, but in addition to the castle, it is also the title of a 19th century novel from which the club got its name. Dr. Cocktail states that the club is often erroneously credited with creating the Old Fashioned and while I trust his judgment on these things I am not sure who did actually call it the “Old Fashioned” first. I think it was just that it was one of the first whiskey cocktails so as time when on people just referred to it as an “old-fashioned whiskey cocktail” and then shortened it.

Vieux Carré Cocktail

Shaken, not stirred, it’s the Vieux Carré Cocktail:

• 1.00 ounce rye whiskey
• 1.00 ounce cognac
• 1.00 ounce sweet vermouth
• 1/2 teaspoon Benedictine
• 2 dashes Angostur Bitters
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain onto fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Normally, drinks that just contain spirits are stirred, drink that contain fruit juice are shaken, and drinks that contain egg are ♬ shaken like you just don’t care ♬.