Boston cocktails – old

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.

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.