La Floridita Daiquiri

As summer comes to a close I wanted to make the La Floridita Daiquiri:

• 2 ounces rum (such as Havana Club from Cuba or Brugal from the Dominican Republic)
• Juice of 1/2 lime (If your limes are small, use the whole thing)
• 1 teaspoon sugar or sugar syrup (increase if too tart)
• 1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur

Blend with crushed ice. Serve in a saucer cocktail or champagne glass. Garnish with lime wheel and a maraschino cherry

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Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch

A variety of one of the oldest known cocktails is Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch:

• 1.5 ounces dark Jamaican rum (Coruba)
• 1.5 ounces Jasper’s Secret Mix

Add to a 10-ounce highball glass filled with cracked ice. Stir vigorously. Top off with more ice. Jasper garnished his with a pineapple spear, an orange slice, and a cocktail cherry. You can also use fresh mint.

The earliest recipe for Planter’s Punch dates from 1908:

The Communist

Here’s another politically named cocktail, The Communist:

• 1.00 ounce gin
• 1.00 ounce orange juice
• 0.50 ounce cherry brandy (Cherry Heering)
• 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice

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

This is another drink recipe saved from obscurity by Dr. Cocktail. The only history he provides is that it came from a 1933 pamphlet titled Cocktail Parade, and all the references I can find to this recipe point right back to Ted Haigh.

The Liberal

Even though I have a lot a gin drinks in the queue, I wanted a whiskey drink so I made The Liberal:

• 0.75 ounce 100-proof Wild Turkey
• 0.75 ounce Italian vermouth (Carpano Antica)
• 3 dashes Torani Amer
• 1 generous dash orange bitters

Stir energetically in an iced mixing glass, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.

I was recently in a cocktail class where the instructor asked for everyone’s favorite cocktail, explaining that his was the Manhattan.

The Georgia Mint Julep

In honor of the Kentucky Derby, I decided to make The Georgia Mint Julep:

• fresh mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• A dash of water
• 2 ounces cognac (or other brandy)
• 1 ounce real peach brandy

Muddle several fresh mint leaves with sugar and a dash of water in a silver julep cup (A double-rocks glass works fine, too). Add the cognac, peach brandy and crushed ice to fill. Stir! Stir! Stir! Insert several more fresh mint leaves between the cup and the mixture, sticking out and pointing heavenward.

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The Jupiter Cocktail

Ever feel like a martini but want something different? Try the Jupiter Cocktail:

• 1.50 ounces gin
• 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
• 1 teaspoon Parfait Amour
• 1 teaspoon orange juice

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

Okay, to be honest, I made this cocktail because I wanted to say “neener, neener – I have Parfait Amour and you don’t”.

(grin)

A couple of the drinks in the book call for it, and on a recent trip to DC I was able to buy some. In the US it is available from Marie Brizard, and it is a curaçao-based liqueur with other floral flavors.

Don the Beachcomber’s Zombie

The Walking Dead may have ended for the season, but the Zombie “lives” on:

• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce gold Puerto Rican rum
• 1 ounce 151-proof Demerara rum (from Guyana)
• 1 ounce white Puerto Rican rum
• 1 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1 ounce passion fruit syrup
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters

Dissolve the brown sugar in the lemon juice. Combine it with everything else in a cocktail shaker with crushed ice. Shake well, and pour all into a collins glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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