Vintage Cocktails #15: The Brandy Crusta

The Brandy Crusta. Perhaps one of the most important cocktails of the late 1800 to early 1900′s. This family of cocktails, a fancy version of the venerable cocktail formulation of sugar, spirits, bitters, and water, eventually faded into obscurity in favor of simpler drinks.  However, from the Brandy Crusta we were given the Sidecar, and from the Sidecar we were given the Margarita, one of the most popular cocktails worldwide.

The recipe as follows taken from Jerry Thomas’s Bartender’s Guide (1862)

Brandy Crusta
1 lemon
1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
Sugar
2 oz Cognac
1 tsp Orange Curacao
1 dash Boker’s Bitters

• Cut the lemon in half
• Pare the full peel off half and squeeze juice from lemon
• Moisten glass rim with juice and rim with sugar
• Insert the lemon peel into the glass
• Mix the liquors in a cocktail shaker of ice.  Shake and strain into the prepared glass
• Add 1 small lump of ice, and serve.

Since Boker’s Bitters has been unavailable for many years, Angostura or Orange bitters may be used.

Vintage Cocktails #14: The Derby Cocktail

Before baseball, basketball, or football, there were 2 great sports in the United States.  One was boxing, a game of wit, skill and physical strength.  The other was the track.  The races were where the otherwise upstanding gentlemen would gamble away their hard earned (sometimes easily earned) cash, and celebrate amongst themselves with drinks and cigars.  And while the Mint Julep has become the official cocktail of the Kentucky Derby, there were other forgotten cocktails named after races and their winners.  The Derby cocktail was one of them.  Trader Vic in his Bartender’s Guide (1947) lists three variations of the Derby.  I will list all three for reference, but the first one is found in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.

The Derby
1 oz Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Orange Curacao
3/4 oz Lime Juice

I found the Derby to be an astounding cocktail. Well served before a meal as an apertif, the drink has a fruity sweet first sip which gives way to the bourbon and finishes with an astringently sour finish.

The Derby (#2)
1 1/2 oz Gin
2 dashes Peach Bitters
1 sprig Mint

The Derby (#3)
1 oz Brandy
2 dashes Curacao
2 dashes Pineapple syrup
1 dash Orange Bitters

Vintage Cocktails #13: The East India Cocktail

This next cocktail is an interesting one, in that there is some confusion around the name and ingredients of this very old drink. First appearing in the New and Improved Bartenders’ Manual (1882), the original recipe calls for the use of pineapple syrup. Some recipes also called for chunks of pineapple to be added. By the 1930′s the drink had dropped the maraschino as evidenced by The Savoy Cocktail Book. Also found in the Savoy, is a drink called the East Indian Cocktail, which contains sherry and vermouth, and later drops the “n” and becomes another version of the East India Cocktail. Shown below is the original recipe as credited to Harry Johnson, with the substitution of raspberry syrup for the pineapple syrup.

East India Cocktail
3 oz Brandy
1/2 oz Raspberry Syrup
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1 Tsp Orange Curacao
1 Tsp Maraschino Liqueur

Obviously this is a strong drink, and is simply a dressed up spirit, so the quality of the spirit will reflect on the quality of the drink. I chose Hennessy for my brandy as I feel it is a dryer spirit than some others and would pair better with the raspberry and curacao. It makes for an enjoyable cocktail and the raspberry pairs nicely with the brandy. I will try the original recipe with the pineapple, but I think the raspberry will remain preferable to me.

Vintage Cocktails #12: The Communist Cocktail

The Communist Cocktail
1 oz London Dry Gin
1 oz Orange Juice
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Cherry Heering

To me this was simply a good drink, not great. I enjoyed it to be sure, but it just did not wow me. I guess that’s ok, not every drink can be a love or a hate, there have to be some in the middle ground. The orange juice provides the backbone to this drink in my opinion. Perhaps if I had used fresh squeezed orange it might have been better, but nonetheless I tried. The gin plays a nice aromatic role in the beginnings of the drink followed up by the cherry heering on the finish. The lemon juice definitely keeps the drink in balance by tempering the sweet flavors of the orange and cherry heering.