Chapter Two: Citrus Never Sleeps

Gimlet

In the late nineteenth century, the British Navy issued all sailors a ration of preserved lime juice to prevent scurvy. The officers, who did not receive the standard rum ration, mixed theirs with their preferred Plymouth gin. The ice came later.

2 1/2 ounces gin (Plymouth or London dry)
1/2 ounce preserved lime juice (Roses or Angostura)

Shake ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass or serve over ice in an old fashioned glass.  Garnish with lime wedge.

Pisco Sour

The national drink of Peru—and Chile (both claim pisco as their own). The Pisco Sour is one of the drinks on the short list to step in when the Mojito falters.

1 1/2 ounces Pisco
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce simple syrup
Several drops of Angostura Bitters
One small egg white

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a small cocktail glass. Garnish with several drops of Angostura Bitters on top of the foam created by the egg whites.

Rum Ramsey

A 1930s creation of Albert Martin, who presided over the Bon Ton Bar on Magazine Street in New Orleans. As Trader Vic wrote in 1946, “His rum cocktails were the finest obtainable . . . his Rum Ramsey is also going to take its place among popular rum drinks that will never die out.” Yes and no: the Bon Ton’s still there and still makes the Rum Ramsey, but that’s pretty much the only place that does.

1 1/2 ounces white Cuban-style rum
1 teaspoon bourbon
1/4 ounce lime juice
1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters

Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Ace of Clubs

A child of the 1930s—and the house cocktail of a Bermuda nightclub of the same name—this twist on the Daiquiri was preserved in the pages of Esquire magazine. The crème de cacao gives it an intriguing depth of flavor without dominating the mix.

2 ounces golden Barbados rum
1/2 ounce white crème de cacao
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 teaspoon rich simple syrup (see page 00)

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Pompadour

Frank Meier presided over the bar at Paris’s Ritz Hotel in the ‘30s, when it was the richest corner of the richest town on Earth. This is one of his, and God bless him for it. The name comes from a long-defunct brand of Pineau des Charentes, a peculiar but tasty tipple made by casking up unfermented wine and new cognac and letting it sit for a few years. If you can’t get the Martinique rum, a medium-weight Jamaican type will work ok, although your Pompadour will lack the peculiar tang a true rhum agricole imparts. For that, you could try a Brazilian cachaça.

1 1/2 ounces St. James Martinique rum (amber)
1 1/2 ounces Pineau des Charentes
1/2 ounce lemon juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

When Rome Burns

New England’s answer to the Daiquiri (as if New England needed one, other than to say “another, please”). This formula hails from Alexander Woolcott, the pudgy, dramatic, croquet-loving, mush-writing, and thoroughly impossible model for Sheridan Whiteside, the Man Who Came to Dinner in George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1941 comedy masterpiece of the same name (they made a movie out of it; see it). This used to be built upon a foundation of  New England rum, but they don’t make that anymore.

2 ounces dark, heavy rum
1/2 ounce lemon juice
2 teaspoons maple syrup

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Both Indies

Lord knows there’s no shortage of good drinks you can make with what you find in even the most unimaginatively stocked liquor store. A halfway-decent brand of bourbon and some bitters and next thing you know you’re sipping an Old-Fashioned; there’s nothing wrong with that. No bitters? Cheap rum and good Coke’ll work just about every time, and there’s nowhere you can’t get Coke (except where you can’t—in which case, rum and Pepsi’ll have to do). But here’s one that you won’t be able to make with what they carry at Bob’s Back Porch Bait and Liquors. If you can get the rum (a uniquely fragrant product from Australia, of all places) and the Falernum (a lightly alcoholic, lightly spicy sweetener from Barbados), it’ll cure any ailment that a good, stiff drink can cure.

2 ounces 115-proof Inner Circle rum
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce Velvet Falernum
1/4 ounce Grand Marnier
To finish: 2 drops Angostura bitters

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass; tip the Angostura bitters over the top.

Mike Romanoff

Mike Romanoff was a complete and total fake. He claimed he was a prince of the Russian royal family. He wasn’t, at all. But he was a character, and he did run Hollywood’s most popular (and his eponymous) restaurant in the Bogart and Bacall era (they were regulars), and his house cocktail was pretty damn tasty. The original recipe was without bitters, but it really does help pull the thing together.

2 ounces vodka
1 teaspoon Cointreau
1 teaspoon apricot brandy
3/4 ounce lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Firebird

This drink was created for a 2004 event held to celebrate the centennial of revolutionary choreographer George Balanchine’s birth. Named after his most famous ballet, it makes prominent use of vodka (he was born in czarist Russia) and kümmel, the caraway-flavored Eastern European liqueur (Gilka is the best brand that’s still imported).

1 1/2 ounces Russian vodka
1/2 ounce cognac
1/2 ounce Gilka kümmel liqueur
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grenadine

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Gimlet

Ryan Demonstrates How To Make a Gimlet

Gimlet
In mixing glass add;
2.5 oz Plymouth Gin
1/2 oz Roses Lime Juice
Add ice and shake
Strain into martini glass
Garnish with lime wheel

Caipiroska

Ryan Demonstrates How To Make a Caipiroska

Caipiroska
Cut half of lime into quarters put into mixing glass
Add 2 spoon fulls of granulated sugar
Muddle well
2 oz Vodka
Add ice and shake
Pour all contents into Old Fashioned glass

Pisco Sour

Ryan Demonstrates How To Make a Pisco Sour

Pisco Sour
In mixing glass;
Strain 1 egg white
1.5 oz of Pisco
3/4 oz Lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
Dry Shake
Add ice shake well
Strain into cocktail glass
Garnish with 4-5 dashes of Peychaud Bitters

Recipes reproduced from “Killer Cocktails” by David Wondrich