The Soother

Aptly named, it’s The Soother:

• 1.0 ounce cognac
• 1.0 ounce Jamaican rum (Coruba recommended)
• 0.5 ounce orange curaçao
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 teaspoon apple juice
• 1/2 teaspoon simply syrup (or Agave Nectar)

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a goblet. Garnish with a fancy lemon twist.

There is a lot going on in this drink. It’s listed in a book called Old Waldorf Bar Days from 1931, but it wasn’t listed in the cocktail section but instead in one called “Fancy Potations & Otherwise”. In any case, it is tasty.

Curaçao Punch

A old one from 1882, it’s Curaçao Punch:

• 0.5 tablespoon sugar (alter to taste)
• 2 or 3 dashes of fresh lemon juice
• 1.0 ounce soda water
• 1.0 ounce brandy (Martell cognac specified)
• 2.0 ounces orange curaçao
• 1.0 ounce Jamaican rum (full-bodied specified)

In a bar glass or goblet, combine the sugar, lemon juice, and soda water. Dissolve the sugar, and fill a glass with finely shaved or thoroughly crushed ice. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir well, and ornament as Liberace might with all the fruit at your disposal.

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Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail

A rum drink with a long name, it’s the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail:

• 2.00 ounces Barbados Rum
• 0.75 ounce lime juice
• 2 dashes Cointreau
• 2 teaspoons Falernum

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

Just like gin and lemon are meant for each other, a similar thing can be said for rum and lime.

The big addition to the Royal Bermuda is Falernum. Falernum is a sweet syrup that has a slightly spicy flavor, but nothing like the Allspice Dram in drinks like the Lion’s Tail. It’s named after a British club established in 1844.

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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The Alamagoozlum Cocktail

The first cocktail recipe in the book is the Alamagoozlum Cocktail:

• 0.5 egg white
• 2.0 ounces genever gin
• 2.0 ounces water
• 1.5 ounces Jamaican rum
• 1.5 ounces yellow or green Chartreuse
• 1.5 ounces gomme syrup
• 0.5 ounce orange curaçao
• 0.5 ounce Angostura bitters

Shake very, very hard and long in a large iced cocktail shaker and serve tremulously into several previously chilled cocktail glasses.

This is an odd one, and I find it ironic that this cocktail managed to come first in the book, as it perfectly illustrates what a vintage and forgotten cocktail should be. It contains a number of obscure ingredients, which took me some time to assemble. Then I had to wait until I had two other friends around who wanted to try it, ’cause the recipe makes enough for three glasses.

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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Doctor Cocktail

Not to be confused with the author, here is the Doctor Cocktail:

• 2 ounces Jamaican rum
• 1 ounce Swedish Punsch
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice

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

Salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, rum and lime – some things just go together. Such is the case with the Doctor Cocktail.

This is a tribute to rum and lime. The drink has only three ingredients – those two with the addition of the rum-like Swedish Punsch.