I had a couple at work who only wanted floral drinks. For their second round, one of them wanted a flowery version of a De La Louisiane. I originally doubled up the rye whiskey (at work we use equal parts with the sweet vermouth and Benedictine but with a 110° rye) and swapped out the sweet vermouth for St. Germain. That swap and adjustment was not only a bit sweet, but a bit too bright. I added in some of the vermouth in the form of Punt e Mes especially given how well it works with elderflower in the Maximilian Affair, and that solidified the combination. For a name, I later dubbed this one the Fleur Carré when I made it at home.

A guest at Drink wanted a gin cocktail but described a Penicillin. Therefore, I made it as such with a London Dry in the mix and a Genever as the float (albeit more hefty than the smoky Scotch amount in the original). They enjoyed it so much that I made one that night when I got home. For a name, I searched around for a Dutch-themed antibiotic with little to show for my efforts, so I dubbed this one the Erasmus after a famous Dutch philosopher.

Winter 2022 menu

Winter 2022 menu

The “Studebaker” was published in 1940 by Spanish bartender Pedro Talavera in his drinks manual “Los Secretos del Cocktail” (The Secrets of the Cocktail). It appeared in a section toward the end of the book called “Sportsmen’s,” which consisted of a number of cocktails named after various auto manufacturers and a few ocean liners of the time. There appear to be no thematic links between the ingredients and the Studebaker company or its cars, though Studebakers were sold in Spain and there is even a large Studebaker mural advertisement dating to the 1920s still extant in Seville. It does not appear that the “Studebaker” cocktail was ever popular in Spain or elsewhere, and its only known mention is in Talavera’s book.

In memory of a Naval Academy graduate whose life was sometimes thorny.

I was inspired by the Green Chartreuse-Curaçao combination from the Knight (in David Embury's 1948 book) to take it in a Manhattan direction. I opted for the rye-mezcal split spirit to not only bring in complexity, and I find that agave spirits work amazingly well with Green Chartreuse. My first attempt was with Punt e Mes akin to a Greenpoint or Redhook, but its added depth muddied up the flavors. I remade the drink with regular sweet vermouth and was quite pleased. For a name, I dubbed this one the Broadway Nights given the Knight and the Manhattan influences; Broadway Nights is the name of a 1927 movie featuring Barbara Stanwyck.

While bartending at Drink in Boston, I had a guest that asked for a riff on an Amaretto Sour. My mind immediately went to Jeffrey Morgenthaler's The Best Amaretto Sour in the World recipe as a starting point. My problem with Amaretto Sours for me is that they are too driven by amaretto even with a high proof spirit backbone, so I split it with Averna since it seemed like it would have a complementary flavor profile yet drive the balance in a more caramel-herbal direction. While I have never made one of Morgenthaler's Amaretto Sours for myself, I have made Brad Parson's Amaro Sour that was inspired by it, and this recipe is a hybrid of the two. Since I always keep a bottle of Plantation OFTD Rum nearby my bar station for tropical drinks, I used this as the high proof structure in my mashup. My guests have returned and asked for this Amaretto Sour riff again, so I know that it has hit its mark.

First shows up in Hugo Ensslin's 1917 as "Brain Storm" as well as in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book as "Brainstorm" which is the more common rendering. Older recipes calls for two dashes each of Bénédictine and French vermouth and most modern recipes call for ½ oz each (since a dash during these period is often quite ambiguous and typically larger).