Sherry Cobbler

The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain, 1869

1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar

2 orange slices

3½ oz. Amontillado or Oloroso sherry

1 sprig of fresh mint, for garnish

Place the sugar and orange slices in a cocktail shaker and muddle.

Add ice and the sherry and shake until chilled.

Fill a tin cup with crushed ice and strain the cocktail over it.

Garnish with the mint and enjoy.

“Well, then, give us a sherry cobbler.”

Twain and the others try again, but to no avail. The Sherry Cobbler sounds like a dessert, but it’s really a simple drink dating from the nineteenth century. It is usually made with dry sherry, citrus, and syrup, served over ice. In any case, by the 1860s it had definitely been around long enough that any respectable bartender should have been expected to be familiar with it.