Favorite 1920s Cocktails?

[clubwitsend]

Hello Everyone!

I'm throwing the first of my monthly 1920s/30s clubs here in NYC this month (its called Wit's End...the info is in my signature)....but part of the appeal is going to be cocktails! We're creating a signature cocktail called the Wit's End...but we also wanted to offer 2 other period drinks at each night...with new ones each month.

I'm curious to know- what are your favorite 1920s cocktails? And what would you like to see most at something like this??? I'm going to have to check with the bar on the availability to do things like fizzes or flips, but I'm keeping fingers crossed that eggs will be available. Heehee!

Thanks, everyone!

Diane

 

[just_me]

This might have what you're looking for.

http://www.mixdrinx.com/recipes/Classic-Cocktails/

 

[clubwitsend]

You know, I've seen that page before...we actually have a lot of old timey bartending books and references...but I'm interested in what are peoples real preferences? Are there more whiskey drinkers than gin? More rum than brandy? I'm curious!

We'll have a lot of cocktails to choose from, but we also want to offer a variety to please!

 

[LordJohnRoxton]

I'm partial to the French Seventy-five (also called the Seventy-five Cocktail... or Soixante Quinze for the French speakers out there) not necessarily 20's, but close enough. First concocted by Raoul Lufbery during the Great War and popularized by the Stork Club. A personal favourite.... and my test of a bar's quality and a bartender's knowledge and skill.

 

[clubwitsend]

I'm partial to the French Seventy-five (also called the Seventy-five Cocktail... or Soixante Quinze for the French speakers out there) not necessarily 20's, but close enough. First concocted by Raoul Lufbery during the Great War and popularized by the Stork Club. A personal favourite.... and my test of a bar's quality and a bartender's knowledge and skill.

Ooh, great drink! I love a slight modification of it that uses apricot liqueur in place of the sugar/syrup...a Champagne Apricato. Both delicious!! Thanks!

 

[LordJohnRoxton]

I am always happy to spread the knowledge of that particular cocktail about!

Enjoy!

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Champage Charlie" 1 oz Apricot Brandy in a flute topped up with Fizz

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Not a cocktail, and banned here throughout the '20s (the drink, not Max the bartender). Still, what the heck:

 

[clubwitsend]

Its great that everyone loves champagne as much as I do! Heehee!

Those photos really make me wish I liked absinthe!

Don and I will be seeing Max on Sunday for sure! When he mentioned him today, I told him that you said something about him earlier! What a small world!

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Hmmmm.....what would be my choice of drink?

Vintage Cocktail, the classic New Orleans Sazerac.

A few nice vintage books reprinted here:

http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/


Marc, actually the U. S. absinthe ban was pre-prohibition, signed in 1912.

A pre-prohibition American Absinthe bottle now on display at the New Orleans absinthe museum:

 

[Succotash]

I must agree with you. I am from the city where the Sazerac came to be. Drinking it feels very special when you're drinking it in New Orleans.

 

[CigarMan]

Can't ever go wrong with a gin and tonic.

 

[ortega76]

Always a fan of the Side Car.

Cognac – 1½ ounces
Cointreau (triple sec) –¾ ounces
Fresh Lemon Juice – ¾ ounces
Shake with cracked ice; strain into frosted cocktail glass rimmed with sugar and serve.

 

[clubwitsend]

sazeracs are my co-host's favorite cocktails!

 

[RondoHatton]

Sterno strained through a slice of white bread.
Chase with a couple of huffs of oven gas bubbled up through powdered milk.

 

[Warbaby]

Sterno strained through a slice of white bread.
Chase with a couple of huffs of oven gas bubbled up through powdered milk.

No, no, no - that'll make you sick as a dog. Y'gotta strain it through the whole loaf lengthwise.

And thanks for the tip about the oven gas...

 

[HadleyH]

1920s cocktails

Orange Blossoms were popular in the 20s. Prohibition champagne wasnt bad either.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Always a fan of the Side Car....strain into frosted cocktail glass rimmed with sugar and serve.

Oh merde! Here we go again...

 

[FedoraGent]

Mocambo

This has always been a favorite of mine. I hope that you will enjoy it as well.

Mocambo:

2 jig white rum
1 jig Dry gin
2 jig Pineapple Juice

FG

 

[Mojito]

Louise Brooks mentioned drinking Bacardi Cocktails, although I'm not hugely fond of them:

1/4 lemon or lime juice
1/4 Grenadine
1/2 Bacardi Rum
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass

There's the White Lady (bearing mind that the original version used white Creme de Menthe, until gin replaced it in 1929):
1/4 Lemon
1/4 Cointreau
1/2 Gin
Shake with ice
Some versions add egg white

The Pink Lady...this one later became bastardised in the 60s with the addition of cream, but the earlier recipe was along the lines of:

white of 1 egg
1 oz Grenadine
1 oz Gin

A Boxcar is similar, with the addition of Cointreau or Triple Sec

I don't mind a Gin-and-It - it reminds me of a merchant mariner I researched who mentioned drinking in the 1930s (the drink is much older, though - it might even lay claim to being an earlier Martini). It's a 50/50 gin and sweet vermout mix.

Maiden's Prayer is another one:

1/8 orange juice
1/8 lemon juice
3/8 Cointreau
3/8 Dry Gin
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass

The Singapore Sling was around - but the early version, not the later one with more elaborate ingredients.