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.

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.

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.