Mamie Taylor

Record high temperatures in December call for the Mamie Taylor:

• 2 ounces Scotch
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• Spicy ginger ale or ginger beer (Blenheim’s #3 ginger ale recommended)

Pour the Scotch and lime juice into an ice-filled 8-ounce highball glass and fill with ginger ale. Stir and garnish with a lime wedge.

Ginger ale, lime and a spirit is known by many names. If you use vodka, it’s a Moscow Mule. With rum it’s a Dark and Stormy. Use tequila and it’s a Mexican Mule.

Blue Paradise

Featuring two obscure ingredients, here is the Blue Paradise:

• 2 ounces cognac
• 1 ounce Dubonnet Rouge
• 4 dashes Parfait Amour

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

This cocktail features both Dubonnet Rouge, which I was introduced to in Arnaud’s Special Cocktail and Parfait Amour, which was used in the Jupiter Cocktail. While this drink was invented in the late 1940s in Brussels, which is kind of modern, the use of these ingredients qualifies it as a vintage cocktail, and it is definitely forgotten.

Arnaud’s Special Cocktail

From Arnaud’s Restaurant in New Orleans comes Arnaud’s Special Cocktail:

• 2 ounces Scotch
• 1 ounce Dubonnet Rouge
• 3 dashes oranges bitters

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

This cocktail features an obscure apéritif called Dubonnet Rouge. I’ve been waiting to make cocktails with it since I’ve been running low on room in the refrigerator, and like vermouth I assume it should be kept chilled.

Diki-Diki Cocktail

A drink with a Tiki name, the Diki-Diki Cocktail:

• 1.50 ounces Calvados
• 0.50 ounce Swedish Punsch
• 0.75 ounce grapefruit juice

Shake well with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass.

While this drink sounds like it would be part of the Tiki tradition, it isn’t. Those drinks tend to be sweet and rather strong, while this is a nice, simple cocktail.

The main spirit, Calvados, is an apple brandy which is offset by the spicy rum-like flavor of the Swedish Punsch. I used fresh grapefruit juice which lessens the sweetness of the Calvados just a bit.

Leatherneck Cocktail

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.

The Ford Cocktail

Famous before Henry was, here is The Ford Cocktail:

• 1 ounce Old Tom Gin (Hayman’s Old Tom Gin recommended)
• 1 ounce dry vermouth
• 3 dashes Bénédictine
• 3 dashes orange bitters

Stir well with finely cracked ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Okay, to be honest, I wasn’t in the mood for a gin drink when I made this, but I have a small amount of OCD and I wanted to remove the last place in the index where I had three untried recipes in a row.

Pegu Club Cocktail

Gin and citrus go well together, like in the Pegu Club Cocktail:

• 1.50 ounces gin
• 0.50 ounce Cointreau
• 0.75 ounce fresh lime juice
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

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

I decided to make this cocktail simply because it is referenced in another recipe that I plan to make next. It’s hot here at the moment so anything cold with “gin and juice” is welcome.