This week’s poem on Slate, by Dean Young

Ode to Hangover

Hangover, you drive me into the yard
to dig holes as a way of working through you
as one might work through a sorry childhood
by riding the forbidden amusement park rides
as a grown-up until puking. Alas, I feel like
something spit out by a duck, a duck
other ducks are ashamed of when I only
tried to protect myself by projecting myself
on hilarity’s big screen at the party
where one nitwit reminisced about the 39¢
a pound chicken of his youth and another said,
Don’t go to Italy in June, no one goes to Italy in June. […]

Read the rest of the poem here.

(thanks Bob)

Tags: General by Paul
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Okay. Maybe that whole idea of “Perfect Balance” had some element of wishful thinking about it. As I mentioned when I first approached the Golden Dawn, the idea of a cocktail composed of equal parts–five of them, at that–was compelling and, ultimately, irresistible.

But as a couple of folks noted in the comments, as intriguing as this recipe from Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails may be, the result is still quite sweet. Too sweet, some would–and did–say, and after thinking about it further, I’ve grudgingly come to the same conclusion.

But all is not lost with the Golden Dawn; a quick survey of the bookshelf shows two similar cocktails of the same name, both of which are worth investigating*. Both recipes come from Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up, an excellent (and risque) cocktail manual from 1951. Each drink was an award-winner in its day, and both eliminate Cointreau from the mix, which results in a much less sweet drink (though it does obliterate that five-part harmony that originally caught my attention).

Golden Dawn (version #2)
created at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London, and recipient of the top prize at the International Cocktail Competition in 1930

• 1/4 gin
• 1/4 Calvados / applejack
• 1/4 orange juice
• 1/4 apricot brandy

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass; garnish with a cherry and drizzle a dash of grenadine into the bottom of the glass.

Golden Dawn (version #3)
created by Walter Madigan, beverage editor for the Hotel Gazette; runner-up, International Cocktail Contest, 1939

• 2 parts gin
• 1 part orange juice
• 1 part apricot brandy
• dash grenadine

Shake & strain into chilled cocktail glass

Removing the Cointreau really tones down the drink’s sweetness; personally, I prefer version #2, as the Calvados adds some extra complexity to the drink. Keep in mind, though, that orange juice really lacks the sharp tartness of lemon or lime, so even with the reduced liqueur, the Golden Dawn will always have an element of sweetness about it–it’s simply in the drink’s nature. (Your choice of orange and grenadine type will also affect the drink’s sweetness–even when using dashes, a homemade grenadine results in drinks remarkably less cloying than those made with a commercial brand like Rose’s.)

So if you’re still brushing your teeth from the first encounter with the Golden Dawn, one of these variations may suit your needs. If not, well…we gave it an honest try.

* Bottoms Up also lists a third Golden Dawn recipe, this one not even remotely like the others:

1/2 jigger lime juice
1 jigger orange juice
1/2 jigger Jamaica rum
1 jigger bourbon
1 teaspoon sugar
Ice

Place in electric mixer; strain into hollow-stemmed champagne glass which has teaspoon grenadine in bottom of stem.

Tags: Calvados, Drinks, Gin by Paul
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A sample cocktail from George J. Kappeler’s Modern American Drinks. I don’t know if this is a Kappeler original, and I haven’t checked to see if it’s in other cocktail manuals, but this one caught my eye as something period-appropriate, with the added benefit that I happen to have the ingredients on hand.

Here’s Kappeler’s wording on the recipe, followed by my recipe (in my usual format):

Fill a mixing-glass half-full fine ice, add two dashes gum-syrup, three dashes Peyschaud [sic] or Angostura bitters, one-half jigger apple brandy, one-half jigger Italian vermouth. Mix, strain into cocktail-glass, twist small piece lemon-peel on top.

And my preparation:

Star Cocktail

• 1 ounce apple brandy (I used Laird’s Applejack)
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• 3 dashes Peychaud’s or Angostura bitters (I used Peychaud’s)
  
• 2 dashes gum syrup

Stir with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass; garnish with lemon twist.

A couple of notes: first, at the beginning of the book’s recipe section, Kappeler defines a jigger as holding two ounces–this is different from the contemporary definition, in which a jigger contains one and one-half ounces–hence the measurements in my recipe.

Second, Kappeler calls for apple brandy–I assume that in 1895, the type of apple brandy he’d most readily have on hand would be domestic (ie, not Calvados), and quite possibly Laird’s (as they were certainly in production during that time). While Laird’s applejack is not currently a “pure” apple brandy, as it contains a substantial portion of neutral grain spirits, in 1895 it was still composed purely of apple distillate, and it’s the closest thing I have on hand to a domestic apple brandy. Should you have access to Laird’s bonded apple brandy, you should certainly use it in this drink (it’d probably be nice with a Calvados, too).

The Star is a very gentle cocktail, with the slight bitterness of the vermouth nicely touched by the fullness of the Peychaud’s. I think the applejack fades into the background a bit too much–all the more reason to break out the real apple brandy deal when giving this one a try.

Tags: Applejack, Books, Calvados, Drinks, Vermouth by Paul
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A good drink at the proper time
has a welcome in every clime.

I’ve been collecting bartending manuals for a few years now, and for the most part I’ve managed to obtain either originals or reprints of some of the most influential and sought-after books on the topic. Still, there are a few major works that are very hard to find, and even when a stray copy turns up on eBay or Alibris, the price is frequently so outrageous that I can’t even consider buying it (today, for example, I saw several copies of David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks listed on bookfinder.com. Starting price? About $150.)

So it’s all the more satisfying when the odd reasonably priced original of a vintage, influential book appears out of the blue. Such is the case with the latest addition to my library, an original copy of George Kappeler’s Modern American Drinks from 1895.

I’ve read about Kappeler’s book for years–David Wondrich and Robert Hess have referred to it as the first printed reference for the Old Fashioned, and Ted Haigh mentioned it in Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails as the original reference for the Widow’s Kiss.

There’s no fluff or nonsense from Kappeler–this book is all drinks with no commentary or editorializing, from Absinthe, California-style and the Bosom Caresser to the Star Cocktail, the Whiskey Fix and the White Plush (though he does append a somewhat out-of-place chapter on “Frozen Beverages such as Water Ices, Sherbets, and Frozen Punches”).

I’ve only started flipping through the book, but I can see already why it has caught the interest of drink historians. With its many references to old Tom gin, pepsin bitters, calasaya and Horsford acid phosphate, Modern American Drinks illuminates a particular period in the evolution of the American cocktail.

Tags: Books by Paul
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As folks continue to follow the link over from the old Blogspot site, I thought I should mention recent developments that will help regular readers keep up to date with upcoming posts.

• for those who like their content syndicated, I now offer an assortment of RSS feeds through Feedburner. To find out more and sign up, follow this link.
• prefer good old-fashioned e-mail updates? No problem–click right here to subscribe to Cocktail Chronicles updates from Feedblitz.
• (or, you can just bookmark this page and come back from time to time. I’m glad for the company.)

Tags: General by Paul
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