The Income Tax Cocktail

In honor of April 15th, The Income Tax Cocktail:

• 1.50 ounces gin
• 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
• 0.75 ounce sweet vermouth
• Juice of 1/4 orange (squeezed right in the shaker)
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

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

The Income Tax cocktail is also known as the “Bronx with Bitters”. Every borough in New York City, except Stanton Island, has a cocktail named after it. The most famous, the Manhattan, is popular even today so it can’t be considered “forgotten”. I quite liked the Brooklyn and so I was looking forward to trying this one (the [Queens Cocktail][2] isn’t in the book but it looks like the Bronx with pineapple juice instead of orange juice).

The Brooklyn Cocktail

After a rather long day, it was nice to come home to The Brooklyn Cocktail:

• 2.00 ounces rye or bourbon
• 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
• 2 teaspoons Amer Picon
• 2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur

Stir in a mixing glass with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry

There are times when I want a particular type of cocktail. I don’t know if there is a word for it, but these are drinks made up just of spirits (with perhaps a dash or two of bitters) and might be considered “manly” drinks: your Manhattans and your martinis.

The Aviation

One of the first vintage cocktails I ever made was The Aviation:

• 2.50 ounces gin
• 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 2 or 3 dashes maraschino liqueur

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

I first heard about the Aviation last year while watching The Blacklist, an NBC television show. In one episode, Raymond Reddington takes agent Elizabeth Keen to Montreal where he orders an Aviation cocktail for her. The drink they present was a dark blue color, and he remarked “It’s from the ’20s, tastes like spring, doesn’t it?”

The Japalac Cocktail

Just because it looked pretty in the picture, I decided to make the Japalac Cocktail:

• Juice of 1/4 orange
• 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
• 0.75 ounce rye whiskey
• 1 teaspoon raspberry syrup

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

I liked this drink. It is slightly sweet due to the syrup but it complements the rye well.

The Millionaire

The one time this phrase may actually work, “Bartender, make me a Millionaire”:

• 1.50 ounces Myers’s Original Dark Rum
• 0.75 ounce sloe gin
• 0.75 ounce apricot brandy
• juice of one fresh lime (1 to 1.5 ounces)

Shake vigorously in an iced cocktail shaker. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Okay, so I stole that line from Dr. Cocktail, and while he ended his recipe with it, I decided to use it at the beginning, so they are as different as a Martini and a Gibson.

Golden Dawn

After the Calvados Cocktail it seemed logical to explore the cocktail it was compared to, the Golden Dawn:

• 0.75 ounce (or 1.0 ounces) Calvados
• 0.75 ounce (or 1.0 ounces) dry gin
• 0.75 ounce (or 0.5 ounce) apricot brandy (Marie Brizard Apry)
• 0.75 ounce (or 0.5 ounce) orange juice
• Pomegranate grenadine

Combine all ingredients except the pomegranate grenadine and shake like crazy in an iced cocktail shaker; strain into a cocktail glass. Drop a stemless cherry with no pick into the drink as a garnish. Dribble a little real pomegranate grenadine through the drink. Do not stir.

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The Calvados Cocktail

Usually cocktails call for a dash or two of bitters, and not the large amount as in the Calvados Cocktail:

• 1.50 ounces Calvados
• 1.50 ounce orange juice
• 0.75 ounce Cointreau
• 0.75 ounce orange bitters

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Add an orange wheel to garnish.

I was introduced to Calvados through this book, as I had never heard of it before. It’s a “revered apple brandy from France” and a number of vintage cocktails call for it. Dr. Cocktail states that this cocktail was forgotten was due to the disappearance of orange bitters, but now that they have been rediscovered I have a couple of types in my collection. I bought a bottle of Stirrings Blood Orange Bitters to make Amer Picon and so I had plenty on hand for the 3/4 of a ounce this drink requires.