Boston Cocktails
Here’s a list of old cocktails that either originated in Boston or have ‘Boston’ in their name. Thanks to Old Mr. Medford (aka Brother Cleve) for scouring his cocktail book library for the earliest recipes for many of these drinks, which show up in a few books other than the ones listed. Note that Cleve made slight adaptations to some recipes, including updating the powdered sugar to simple syrup.
From Boothby’s World Drinks And How To Mix Them (1934) Available as a Ross Bolton reprint.
Old Cocktails
Boston Club
1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz Italian vermouth
1/2 oz lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish w/pickled onion.
Bostonian
1 1/2 oz gin
1/4 oz Italian vermouth
1 tbsp sweet & sour syrup
1/2 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice
mint leaves
Crush mint and muddle with juice and syrup. Add liquor, shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Boston Flip
1 oz whiskey
1 oz Madeira
1 tbsp simple syrup
1/2 yolk of 1 egg
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Grate nutmeg over drink.
From Old Mr. Boston Deluxe Bartender’s Guide (6th edition, 1946. Could be in earlier ones; 1st ed. is 1935)
Boston Cocktail
3/4 oz dry gin
3/4 oz apricot nectar liqueur
1/4 oz grenadine
1/4 oz lemon juice
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Boston Cooler
2 or 3 oz rum
1/4 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
soda water or ginger ale
Shake first three ingredients with ice and pour into 12-oz collins glass. Fill with club soda or ginger ale, insert spiral of orange or lemon peel (or both) and dangle end over rim of glass. (In The Fine Art Of Mixing Drinks, David Embury says “A cooler is a Horse’s Neck with a kick.”)
Boston Sidecar
3/4 oz brandy
3/4 oz white rum
3/4 oz triple sec
1/2 oz lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. This drink is also better known as Between the Sheets.
Boston Sour
2 oz rye or bourbon
1 egg white
1/4 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
Shake with ice and pour into 8-oz collins glass. Fill with seltzer water, decorate with lemon slice and cherry.
From Burke’s Complete Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes (1936) Available as a Ross Bolton reprint.
Boston Special
1 oz brandy
1/2 oz French vermouth
1/2 oz Italian vermouth
3 dashes curaçao
2 dashes absinthe
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Ward Eight
The most famous old Boston cocktail.
2 oz rye whiskey (if you can’t find rye, use bourbon)
3/4 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2 oz real pomegranate grenadine*
Shake all ingredients very well over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
* Real Pomegranate Grenadine
2 parts Wonderful POM pomegranate juice
1 part sugar
orange flower water
Heat the POM and the sugar in a saucepan until boiling, then turn the heat down and let the mixture simmer gently for 5-15 minutes. Let mixture cool, then pour into a sealed container. Add just a drop or two (literally — the stuff is strong) of orange flower water and store in fridge. If you want to keep the grenadine around for more than a week, add a little high-proof vodka as a preservative. You can also freeze the grenadine.
Here’s a list of new cocktails that either originated in Boston or have ‘Boston’ in their name. This list is a work in progress. As soon as I get wind of a newly invented Boston cocktail whose recipe is worth writing down, I’ll add it on.
New cocktails
Can-Can
From the Boston chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails)
5 sour cherries
1 oz yellow Chartreuse
1/4 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
sparkling wine
Muddle the sour cherries in a mixing glass. Add the Chartreuse, grapefruit juice and bitters. Shake with ice and strain into a flute. Top with sparkling wine.
Copenhagen
From Ben Sandrof of No. 9 Park
1 1/2 oz Fighting Cock Kentucky Bourbon
1 1/2 oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur
1/2 oz Gammel Dansk (a type of bitters)
Stir all ingredients well over ice and serve straight up in a heavy-bottomed rocks glass.
Flapper Jane
From LUPEC Boston
1 3/4 oz Plymouth gin
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
3/4 oz Wu Wei tea-infused simple syrup*
dash of Peychaud’s bitters
Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
*Wu Wei tea-infused simple syrup: heat 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and 1 tbsp Wu Wei tea in a saucepan until all the sugar dissolves. Pour into a container and let cool. Store in fridge.
Flowers for Murphy
From Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli of Eastern Standard
1 1/2 oz London dry gin
3/4 oz simple syrup
3/4 oz fresh lime and grapefruit juice (equal parts)
1/4 oz green Chartreuse
Shake ingredients over ice, strain into a champagne glass and top with bubbly and a small mint leaf.
Foglia Noce (Walnut Leaves)
From John Gertsen of No. 9 Park
2 1/2 oz applejack
1 oz Nocino (walnut liqueur)
2 dashes Fee Brother’s Whisky Barrel Aged Bitters
Stir with lump ice, strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass and finish with oil of orange peel.
Fort Washington Flip
From Misty Kalkofen of Green Street
1 1/2 oz applejack
3/4 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz maple syrup
1 fresh egg
Shake (and shake and shake) and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with grated nutmeg.
Irma La Douce
From LUPEC Boston
1 1/2 oz Hendrick’s gin
1/2 oz green Chartreuse
1/2 oz fresh cucumber puree (peel and blend cucumber, then pass through a sieve)
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz grapefruit juice
1/4 oz simple syrup
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of cucumber. (Don’t want to make a puree? If you’re making this cocktail for one or just a few guests, you can just muddle a few slices of peeled cucumber in a shaker.)
Jaguar
From Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli of Eastern Standard
1 1/2 oz blanco tequila
3/4 oz Amer Picon
3/4 oz green Chartreuse
3 dashes Fee Brothers orange bitters
Stir well over ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with flamed orange peel.
Maharaja’s Revenge
From Brother Cleve
2 oz Old Monk rum
1 oz apricot brandy
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Note: Old Monk is an Indian rum with a unique, smoky flavor, so no substitutes.
Moto Guzzi
From John Gertsen of No. 9 Park
Equal parts:
Punt e Mes
Booker’s bourbon
Stir gently but thoroughly. Strain into pre-chilled rocks glass without too much fanfare.
Ninth Ward
From Brother Cleve
1 1/2 oz Bulleit bourbon
1/2 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur
3/4 oz Fee Brothers falernum syrup
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Shake well with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
Red Rot Cocktail
From Misty Kalkofen of Green Street and Lauren Clark of drinkboston
1 1/2 oz London dry gin
1/2 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1/2 oz Cherry Heering
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
Two dashes Peychaud’s bitters.
Shake vigorously with ice and strain into a champagne saucer or cocktail glass.
Shiver
From Rob Kraemer of Chez Henri
1 1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Eau de Vie of Douglas Fir
1 1/2 oz grapefruit
Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into cocktail glass (straight up or over crushed ice as desired). Garnish with an orange twist.
