STIRRED COCKTAILS
As defined in 1806, the original cocktail consisted of a spirit, sugar, bitters, and water. The next year, Frederic Tudor, “the Ice King,” successfully delivered frozen water to Cuba. Sugar production had made rum flow, but the product was rough and lacking. The necessary improvement in quality came after the invention of the continuous column still in 1826 by Aeneas Coffey in Dublin, Ireland. His design allowed not only for the production of more spirit but a lighter one at that.
Around 1848, continuous stills began appearing in Cuba. Modern distilleries were emerging in Havana, Cárdenas, Matanzas, and Santiago de Cuba, but Cuban rums still fell below the estimation of their British and Spanish rivals. Then, in 1862, Facundo Bacardí y Massó pioneered a new style of rum, lighter and drier than the rough spirit that preceded it, by using a continuous still, charcoal filtration, and oak aging. His new process and shrewd marketing began a new era. Other brands, including Havana Club, Matusalem, and Camps, followed. In 1876, Bacardí entered his light rum in an international competition at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and won the gold medal. Cuban rum officially had become the gold standard, quickly differentiating itself from the other players.
It was time to make some drinks.
COCKSPUR & BULL SPECIAL
In 1941, John Morgan, owner of the Cock ’n’ Bull Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and a ginger beer company of the same name, John Martin, president of Heublein Spirits, and Rudolph Kunett, president of Heublein’s Smirnoff division, invented the Moscow Mule at the Chatham Hotel on East 48th Street in Manhattan. Ten years later, a recipe for the Cock ’n’ Bull Special, which uses bourbon as the base spirit, appeared in Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up, published in 1951. For the base of our Cuban-inspired variation, we substitute Cockspur Rum, first produced by a Dutch sailor named Valdemar Hanschell in 1884.
ROCKS GLASS
1 OUNCE COCKSPUR 12 YEAR RUM
¾ OUNCE BÉNÉDICTINE
½ OUNCE COGNAC
¼ OUNCE COINTREAU
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a double rocks glass with big ice. Garnish optionally with an orange twist.
BETWEEN THE SHEETS
In the years before Prohibition, mixing base spirits together was thought to lead to sudden intoxication. Patrick Gavin Duffy—longtime bartender at the Ashland House Hotel in New York City and author of The Official Mixer’s Manual (1934)—asterisked this cocktail, indicating that he didn’t recommend it. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay disagreed, however; this drink was said to be her favorite.
COUPE
1½ OUNCES APPLETON ESTATE V/X RUM
¾ OUNCE LOUIS ROYER FORCE 53 VSOP COGNAC
½ OUNCE COINTREAU
1 BARSPOON LEMON JUICE
1 DASH ANGOSTURA BITTERS
LEMON FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
NOTE
The same year that Long & Smith published Duffy’s Official Mixer’s Manual, Harper issued Millay’s Wine from These Grapes; in “Conscientious Objector,” one of the poems in the book, Millay notes that Death has business in Cuba.
RUM OLD-FASHIONED
The ingredients of the Old-Fashioned first appeared together in print in 1806, earning the drink the distinction of being the first printed recipe for a cocktail. But in the 1870s, as cocktail culture developed and replaced the outdated drink with new libations, the first-born became known as the old-fashioned. For a long, dark period in the history of the Old-Fashioned, cherries, orange slices, club soda, and other nonsense bastardized it—a time that thankfully has passed. Our Rum Old-Fashioned takes inspiration from the granddaddy of cocktails but uses the nuances of rum as the base spirit.
ROCKS GLASS
2½ OUNCES EL DORADO 12 YEAR RUM
¼ OUNCE DEMERARA SYRUP (PAGE 10)
3 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
ORANGE AND LEMON FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with orange and lemon twist.
NOTE
As you will see throughout this book, rum has an uncanny ability to substitute for other spirits, providing compelling variations of classic cocktails. This recipe offers a prime example.
ISLAND LIGHTNING
Laird’s Applejack is an apple brandy made by Laird & Company, the oldest licensed distillery in America. It sometimes goes by the name of Jersey Lightning, and during the colonial period it was used to pay road construction crews in what became the Garden State. Chairman’s Reserve Spiced Rum has notes of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg that partner especially well with the applejack.
PUNCH GLASS
1 OUNCE CHAIRMAN’S RESERVE SPICED RUM
¾ OUNCE LAIRD’S APPLEJACK
¼ OUNCE DEMERARA SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 TEASPOON LEMON JUICE
2 DASHES PEYCHAUD’S BITTERS
ORANGE, APPLE, AND CINNAMON STICK FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a punch glass. Twist an orange rind over the top to expel the oils, and discard. Garnish with an apple slice and a cinnamon stick.
NOTE
Robert Laird served in the Continental Army under George Washington, who once asked him for his recipe for “cyder spirits.” Laird & Company received License No. 1 from the Treasury Department in 1780.
FAIR & WARMER
Based on the 1915 comic play of the same name by Avery Hopwood—one of the early twentieth century’s successful but now largely forgotten playwrights—this cocktail first appeared in Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks. The success of the 1919 silent film adaptation of the play prompted repeat appearances of the cocktail in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) and Patrick Gavin Duffy’s Official Mixer’s Manual (1934). It’s a simple drink, but it clearly has staying power.
COUPE
1½ OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 7 YEAR RUM
1 OUNCE DOLIN ROUGE VERMOUTH
½ OUNCE COINTREAU
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe.
NOTE
In the film version of Fair and Warmer, Billy the banker suspects his wife, Laura, of being unfaithful. When their upstairs neighbors, Jack and Blanny, come down to play cards, Jack reveals to Billy that he tells Blanny that he’s going to the Mystic Shrine whenever he needs to account for his absence. Jack and Laura each leave independently, and Billy and Blanny discuss their mutual suspicions and get drunk. But it all ends happily, of course.
SINKING SPELL
Carthusian monks have been making Chartreuse liqueur in the mountains of the same name near Grenoble in the southeast of France since 1737, following instructions reportedly given to them in a secret manuscript more than a century earlier by François d’Estrées, a military officer. Green and yellow are the most common types, though aged and commemorative variations exist. The herbal notes of the Chartreuse are supported by the J. M. Blanc, one of a few rums that can make a claim to having terroir. The sugarcane used to produce J. M. Blanc grows in a unique microclimate of Martinique’s Mount Pelée, which features volcanic soil and produces a rum that tastes of fresh sugarcane, ripe bananas, and mango with a hint of earthiness.
ROCKS GLASS
2 OUNCES J. M. BLANC RUM
½ OUNCE YELLOW CHARTREUSE
1 BARSPOON CANE SYRUP
2 DASHES ORANGE BITTERS
STAR ANISE FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with a star anise.
NOTE
This cocktail, which acknowledges the French origins of the city of Cienfuegos, takes its name from the eponymous story by Edward Gorey.
CLUB COCKTAIL
The Club Cocktail is a variation on the Manhattan No. 1 from the Savoy Cocktail Book. It’s called the Club Cocktail because it belongs to the club of Manhattan variations that span the spectrum of drinks from the Brooklyn to the Rob Roy. Our version, which of course uses rum instead of whiskey, is also similar to a perfect Manhattan. The play of dry vermouth and sweet vermouth is perfecto!
COUPE
2 OUNCES CHAIRMAN’S RESERVE SPICED RUM
½ OUNCE DOLIN DRY VERMOUTH
½ OUNCE DOLIN ROUGE VERMOUTH
1 DASH ANGOSTURA BITTERS
1 DASH MARASCHINO
BRANDIED CHERRY FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a brandied cherry.
NOTE
In the days before liquor production standards, spices helped make unaged or inferior rums palatable. Sailors used allspice, black pepper, cassia, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, nutmeg, and other spices to cover and mellow the rums they drank.
EL PRESIDENTE
Several bars in Havana claim to have invented El Presidente, although David Wondrich points to American expat Eddie Woelke as its creator. The recipe first appeared in print in a newspaper in 1919, so the president in question would have been Mario García Menocal y Deop, second president of the second republic. Charles Baker called the drink the “Habana Presidente, now known to many, but sound enough in its own right for listing in any spiritual volume. This has long been one of Cuba’s favorite drinks, and every visiting Americano should go to La Florida and get one.”
COUPE
¾ OUNCE DOLIN BLANC VERMOUTH
¾ OUNCE EL DORADO 3 YEAR RUM
¾ OUNCE LA FAVORITE RHUM BLANC
¼ OUNCE CURAÇAO
1 BARSPOON GRENADINE (PAGE 10)
LEMON FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Twist lemon rind over top, and discard.
NOTE
El Presidente was the house cocktail at Club El Chico in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, where America first encountered the rhumba in 1925.
Turn the page for more information about the origin of the cocktail.
LA HISTORIA DEL PRESIDENTE
Prohibition in America prompted a lot of bartenders to head to the Caribbean. German-born Eddie Woelke was one of them. In New York City, he worked at the Hotel Knickerbocker and then the Biltmore Hotel. As Prohibition barreled forward, the owners of the Biltmore Hotel purchased the Hotel Sevilla in Havana, and Woelke migrated south to open the new Sevilla-Biltmore Hotel.
García Menocal y Deop attended the grand opening of the hotel, which in his honor served El Presidente, a combination of rum, French vermouth, and grenadine. Woelke didn’t create El Presidente, but he did popularize it with his celebrity barman status. When Gerardo Machado y Morales (pictured left) became president of Cuba in 1925, Woelke modified El Presidente by adding Curaçao and renaming it Presidente Machado. Over time, Woelke’s Presidente Machado has become the standard recipe for El Presidente.
PAN AMERICAN TRILOGY
Pan American Airways began its storied history by connecting Key West to Havana. The first flight, which carried air mail only, took place on October 19, 1927. Three months later, on January 16, 1928, seven passengers made the first commercial flight from Key West to Havana. Pan American soon became America’s largest international airline, a distinction it held until 1991, but this cocktail celebrates its humble origins.
ROCKS GLASS
1 OUNCE DIPLOMATICO AÑEJO RUM
1 OUNCE LAIRD’S APPLE BRANDY
¼ OUNCE CINNAMON SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¼ OUNCE DEMERARA SYRUP (PAGE 10)
10 DROPS BITTERMENS TIKI BITTERS
1 DASH ABSINTHE
APPLE FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with an apple slice.
NOTE
The drink takes its name from the American Trilogy, a cocktail offered at Little Branch in the West Village and created by Richie Bocatto and Michael Mcilroy. Here rye gives way to rum, cinnamon syrup replaces sugar, and absinthe makes an appearance—all to give an American classic more of a Cuban feel.
FIFTY-FIRST STATE
At the end of the Spanish-American War, America took hold of the last vestiges of the once vast Spanish Empire: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. But this wasn’t the first time that the United States took a political interest in the area. After all, Caribbean molasses and rum had helped fuel the Revolutionary War. In 1917, Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act, which gave American citizenship to all eligible Puerto Ricans. (The Puerto Rican House of Delegates, which saw the law as a way to draft more men into the U.S. Army for America’s imminent role in World War I, unanimously opposed it.) This cocktail was created in honor of Puerto Rico’s 2012 referendum on territorial status, the first time that a majority of voters indicated a preference for full statehood.
ROCKS GLASS
2 OUNCES CHAIRMAN’S AGED RUM
⅜ OUNCE TEMPUS FUGIT CRÈME DE CACAO
1 BARSPOON ALLSPICE DRAM
1 BARSPOON CAMPARI
2 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
2 DASHES ORANGE BITTERS
Build in a mixing glass. Stir, strain, and pour over a large piece of ice in a double rocks glass.
NOTE
Allspice dram, also known as pimento dram, is an allspice-flavored liqueur originally made in Jamaica. Wray and Nephew imported a version until the 1980s. St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram has been available since 2008.
PRETTY PRINCESS
A tall tale surrounding the origin of the Manhattan cocktail holds that it was created either by or for Jennie Spencer-Churchill, a New York heiress, to celebrate the election of Samuel Tilden as New York’s governor. The only problem with the story is that we know she was in London at the time, about to give birth, later that month, to Winston Churchill. Whatever its true beginning, the Manhattan became an established cocktail by the 1880s, predating other vermouth classics such as the Martinez, martini, Rob Roy, and Bobby Burns. In this variation, rum takes pride of place instead of whiskey as the base spirit.
COUPE
2 OUNCES APPLETON V/X RUM
1 OUNCE ANTICA CARPANO SWEET VERMOUTH
2 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
BRANDIED CHERRY FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a cherry.
NOTE
Vermouth is enjoying a worldwide revival in popularity. But red, sweet, or Italian vermouth—however you describe it—isn’t made from red wine at all. It’s made from a white wine base. The brand we prefer, Antica Carpano, uses a mixture of Piedmont Muscatel and other area white wines, spiced with cinnamon, dates, star anise, and vanilla. (Other sweet vermouths often contain a citrus element, such as orange and/or lemon peel.) As with all fortified wines, always refrigerate after opening.
PUNCHES
Punch existed long before the single-serving cocktail. The first written reference to rum in English appears around 1630. From that point forward, wherever there was rum, there was punch. The word itself derives from the Hindi word panch, which means “five” and indicates the five core ingredients: spirit, water, citrus, sweetener, and spice. From the royal family to ruthless pirates, everyone drank punch. Even Père Jean-Baptiste Labat—a French priest, engineer, and sugar developer—had his own punch recipe.
Punches are meant to be shared communally, so each recipe in this chapter gives two versions: The first is larger, for six people, and meant to be built in a pitcher, stirred briefly on ice, poured into a punch bowl with large chunks of ice and fruit garnish, and ladled into punch glasses. The second version is a single serving, meant to be built in a shaking tin and poured into a glass.
Stirring the large-format version only begins to chill the mixture. Adding fresh ice will dilute it further, but the ice for a punch needs to have a large surface area in order to melt slowly. You can find large-format ice cube trays—spheres or cubes—at most kitchen goods stores or, in a pinch, you can make large blocks from clean surplus takeout containers.
LA IMPERATRIZ
Teresa Cristina de Bourbon, a Spanish princess of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, became empress of Brazil by marrying Emperor Pedro II in 1843. This punch, named for the Brazilian prefecture named for her, honors her Italian heritage with zucca, an aperitif made with rhubarb.
PUNCH BOWL
36 MINT LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
18 LARGE BLACKBERRIES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
3 OUNCES HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
6 OUNCES CHAIRMAN’S RESERVE RUM
6 OUNCES RITTENHOUSE RYE
3 OUNCES ZUCCA
4½ OUNCES LEMON JUICE
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMON FOR GARNISH
In a large pitcher, muddle mint and blackberries in honey syrup. Add remaining ingredients, except sparkling wine. Stir with ice cubes for 20 to 30 seconds. Fine strain through mesh strainer into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with mint, blackberries, and lemon wheels.
SINGLE SERVING
FLUTE
6 MINT LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
3 LARGE BLACKBERRIES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
½ OUNCE HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
1 OUNCE CHAIRMAN’S RESERVE RUM
1 OUNCE RITTENHOUSE RYE
½ OUNCE ZUCCA
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMON FOR GARNISH
Muddle mint and blackberries in honey syrup. Add remaining ingredients except sparkling wine, and shake with ice. Double strain into a flute or Collins glass filled with ice. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish as above.
TWENTY-FIRST AMENDMENT PUNCH
The Eighteenth Amendment, ratified in January 1919 and effective a year later, established Prohibition in the United States. Bacardi, still a Cuban company, tried to pay shareholders in rum before the dissolution of their American holdings, calling it a distribution of “stock.” About $50,000 worth found its way to the Holliswood Hall Inn in the hometown of Supervising Enforcement Officer James Shevlin. “Rum Distribution a Clever Scheme,” screamed a Brooklyn Eagle headline. But the best way to avoid the law was to get out of town. Many American hospitality professionals picked up and headed to Cuba. Ed Donovan from Newark, New Jersey, packed up every piece of his business—chairs, tables, mirrors, hanging sink, and the bar itself—and set it down in Havana. Thankfully, America came to its senses, and the Twenty-First Amendment repealed Prohibition in December 1933. Cheers to that!
PUNCH BOWL
6 OUNCES COGNAC
6 OUNCES SMITH & CROSS RUM
3 OUNCES WHITE WHISKEY
4½ OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES LEMON JUICE
12 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMON, ORANGE, AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with three large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lemon wheels, orange slices, and grapes.
SINGLE SERVING
COLLINS GLASS
1 OUNCE COGNAC
1 OUNCE SMITH & CROSS RUM
½ OUNCE WHITE WHISKEY
¾ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE LEMON JUICE
2 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMON, ORANGE, AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and double strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
ALABAZAM
Leo Engel, an American in London, crafted this punch at the bar of the opulent Criterion Hotel near Piccadilly Circus. The hotel restaurant made a famous appearance a decade later in the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, the title of which matches the color of this drink. The original punch is made with cognac, but we’ve selected a Jamaican rum that mimics the full body and dark fruit notes of a brandy.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES APPLETON ESTATE 12 YEAR RUM
9 OUNCES LILLET ROUGE
3 OUNCES LUXARDO MARASCHINO
6 OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
3 OUNCES LEMON JUICE
12 DASH ANGOSTURA BITTERS
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMONS AND RASPBERRIES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lemon wheels and raspberries.
SINGLE SERVING
FIZZ GLASS
2 OUNCES APPLETON ESTATE 12 YEAR RUM
¾ OUNCES LILLET ROUGE
¼ OUNCE MARASCHINO
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¼ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 DASH ANGOSTURA BITTERS
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMONS AND RASPBERRIES FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice. Strain into a fizz glass filled with ice. Top with dry sparkling wine, and garnish as above.
PONCHE PIMMS
James Pimm offered a gin-based tonic, containing a secret mixture of herbs and liqueurs, at the London oyster bar that he opened near Buckingham Palace in 1823. That drink became known as Pimm’s No. 1. His company went on to produce five other styles with different bases, Pimm’s No. 4 using rum. The Distillers Company, which later bought the brand, phased out the less popular variants in 1970, including No. 4. This punch reinterprets the Pimm’s No. 4 Cup, a classic summer drink perfect for Caribbean climes.
PUNCH BOWL
18 CUCUMBER SLICES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
36 MINT LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
3 OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR EXTRA DRY RUM
6 OUNCES PIMM’S NO. 1
3 OUNCES BEEFEATER GIN
1½ OUNCES AMARO CIOCIARO
3 OUNCES GRAPEFRUIT JUICE
3 OUNCES LEMON JUICE
6 OUNCES CLUB SODA
GRAPEFRUIT, LEMON, AND RASPBERRIES FOR GARNISH
Muddle cucumber and mint in syrup. Add remaining ingredients except club soda, and stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Fine strain through a mesh strainer into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with club soda, and garnish with mint leaves, cucumber slices, grapefruit slices, lemon wheels, and raspberries.
SINGLE SERVING
BEER GLASS
3 CUCUMBER SLICES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
6 MINT LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR EXTRA DRY RUM
1 OUNCE PIMM’S NO. 1
½ OUNCE BEEFEATER GIN
¼ OUNCE AMARO CIOCIARO
½ OUNCE GRAPEFRUIT JUICE
½ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 OUNCE CLUB SODA
GRAPEFRUIT, LEMON, AND RASPBERRIES FOR GARNISH
Muddle cucumber and mint in syrup. Add remaining ingredients except club soda, shake with ice, and double strain into beer glass. Top and garnish as above.
ERNESTO
This punch interprets the Hemingway Daiquirí (page 118) and adds Fernet Branca, an Italian amaro that provides a bitter, herbal undertone. Making cocktails with Fernet Branca often proves difficult because of its powerful nature, much like this punch’s writerly namesake.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES EL DORADO 3 YEAR RUM
2¼ OUNCES FERNET BRANCA
1½ OUNCES MARASCHINO
4½ OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
4½ OUNCES LIME JUICE
3 OUNCES GRAPEFRUIT JUICE
6 OUNCES RED WINE
ORANGE, LIME, AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with wine, and garnish with orange slices, lime wheels, and grapes.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
2 OUNCES EL DORADO 3 YEAR RUM
⅜ OUNCE FERNET BRANCA
¼ OUNCE MARASCHINO
¾ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¾ OUNCE LIME JUICE
½ OUNCE GRAPEFRUIT JUICE
1 OUNCE RED WINE
ORANGE, LIME, AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except red wine with ice, and strain into a punch glass. Float red wine on top using the underside of a teaspoon held just above the drink’s surface. Garnish as above.
HOTEL NACIONAL
The Hotel Nacional opened in Havana in December 1930 and since then has hosted a bevy of illustrious guests—and a mob summit. At least three great barmen called it home: Eddie Woelke, Fred Kaufman, and Wil Taylor. Cocktail author Charles Baker attributes the Hotel Nacional Special cocktail to Taylor, who, like many others, had managed the bar at the Waldorf-Astoria before Prohibition brought him to Cuba. In 1933, as a battle between Batista and his ousted predecessor, Julio Sanguil y Echarte, raged around the hotel, Taylor continued mixing drinks, which Baker continued to imbibe.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES APPLETON ESTATE 12 YEAR RUM
1½ OUNCES APRICOT BRANDY
3 OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES PINEAPPLE JUICE
3 OUNCES LIME JUICE
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME AND MINT LEAVES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lime wheels and mint leaves.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
2 OUNCES APPLETON ESTATE 12 YEAR RUM
¼ OUNCE APRICOT BRANDY
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE PINEAPPLE JUICE
½ OUNCE LIME JUICE
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME AND MINT LEAVES FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
HAVANA HARBOR SPECIAL
While safeguarding American concerns at the end of the Cuban War of Independence, the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. As a result the United States declared war on Spain to chants of “Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!” The Remember the Maine cocktail first appeared in Charles Baker’s 1939 Gentleman’s Companion. The original doesn’t include lemon juice or simple syrup, added here for freshness.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES CHAIRMAN’S RESERVE RUM
6 OUNCES SWEET VERMOUTH
3 OUNCES CHERRY HEERING
3 OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
4½ OUNCES LEMON JUICE
12 DASHES ABSINTHE
12 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
6 OUNCES CLUB SODA
LEMON, ORANGE, AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except club soda with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with club soda, and garnish with lemon wheels, orange slices, and grapes.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
2 OUNCES CHAIRMAN’S RESERVE RUM
1 OUNCE SWEET VERMOUTH
½ OUNCE CHERRY HEERING
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
2 DASHES ABSINTHE
2 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
1 OUNCE CLUB SODA
LEMON, ORANGE, AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except club soda with ice, and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
LAFAYETTE
Created in the midst of an Indian summer, this drink takes its name from a town near Syracuse, New York, known for its apple orchards. Drink it on the last day of summer.
PUNCH BOWL
6 OUNCES BEEFEATER GIN
6 OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR EXTRA DRY RUM
4½ OUNCES GINGER SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES GREEN APPLE JUICE
4½ OUNCES LEMON JUICE
12 DASHES PEYCHAUD’S BITTERS
6 OUNCES CLUB SODA
APPLE AND LEMON FOR GARNISH
Stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with club soda, and garnish with apple slices and lemon wheels.
SINGLE SERVING
BEER GLASS
1 OUNCE BEEFEATER GIN
1 OUNCE FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR EXTRA DRY RUM
¾ OUNCE GINGER SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE GREEN APPLE JUICE
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
2 DASHES PEYCHAUD’S BITTERS
1 OUNCE CLUB SODA
APPLE AND LEMON FOR GARNISH
Shake with ice, and strain into a beer glass. Top and garnish as above.
RUBY STAR PUNCH
The grapefruit bitters in this punch—named for a rare type of ruby similar in color—pull citrus notes from and enhance the rhubarb notes of the zucca amaro, while the aged rum balances the rest of the drink.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES MOUNT GAY ECLIPSE RUM
3 OUNCES ZUCCA
4½ OUNCES RHUBARB SYRUP (PAGE 11)
4½ OUNCES LIME JUICE
4½ OUNCES ORANGE JUICE
1 OUNCE RHUM CLÉMENT CRÉOLE SHRUBB
12 DASHES GRAPEFRUIT BITTERS
ORANGE AND LIME FOR GARNISH
Stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with orange slices and lime wheels.
Rhum Clément Créole Shrubb is a liqueur made from white and aged rums and flavored with Caribbean spices and orange peel. If you can’t find Créole Shrubb, substitute with orange curaçao.
SINGLE SERVING
ROCKS GLASS
2 OUNCES MOUNT GAY ECLIPSE RUM
½ OUNCE ZUCCA
¾ OUNCE RHUBARB SYRUP (PAGE 11)
¾ OUNCE LIME JUICE
¾ OUNCE ORANGE JUICE
1 TEASPOON RHUM CLÉMENT CRÉOLE SHRUBB
2 DASHES GRAPEFRUIT BITTERS
ORANGE AND LIME FOR GARNISH
Shake with ice, and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish as above.
HONEY BADGER
The honey badger is a feisty animal, and so is this drink. The jalapeños in the hot honey syrup give it kick, but you can always adjust the heat level to taste. The honey badger don’t care.
PUNCH BOWL
9 OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR RUM
6 OUNCES LAIRD’S APPLEJACK
3 OUNCES HOT HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
3 OUNCES PASSION FRUIT SYRUP (PAGE 11)
4½ OUNCES LIME JUICE
APPLE AND JALAPEÑO FOR GARNISH
Stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with apple slices and jalapeño wheels.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
1½ OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR RUM
1 OUNCE LAIRD’S APPLEJACK
½ OUNCE HOT HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
½ OUNCE PASSION FRUIT SYRUP (PAGE 11)
¾ OUNCE LIME JUICE
APPLE AND JALAPEÑO FOR GARNISH
Shake with ice, and strain into a punch glass. Garnish as above.
FUNKY OLD MAN FROM MARTINIQUE
This punch recipe pays homage to the Old Cuban by Audrey Saunders (page 99) and excellently showcases the unique flavors of agricole rhum: The sweet grassiness shines, gently enhanced by the other ingredients.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES LA FAVORITE AMBRE OR VIEUX RHUM
4½ OUNCES CANE SYRUP
6 OUNCES LIME JUICE
18 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME AND MINT LEAVES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds, and strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lime wheels and mint leaves.
SINGLE SERVING
COLLINS GLASS
2 OUNCES LA FAVORITE AMBRE OR VIEUX RHUM
¾ OUNCES CANE SYRUP
1 OUNCE LIME JUICE
3 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME AND MINT LEAVES FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
ANCHOR PUNCH
Muhammad Ali used the anchor punch to knock out Sonny Liston in the first round of their 1965 rematch. Now you can drink like the champ.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES SAILOR JERRY RUM
4½ OUNCES APRICOT BRANDY
4½ OUNCES GINGER SYRUP (PAGE 10)
4½ OUNCES GUAVA PUREE
4½ OUNCES LIME JUICE
LIME, ORANGE, AND FRESH NUTMEG FOR GARNISH
Stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with lime wheels, orange slices, and freshly grated nutmeg.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
2 OUNCES SAILOR JERRY RUM
¾ OUNCES APRICOT BRANDY
¾ OUNCES GINGER SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¾ OUNCES GUAVA PUREE
¾ OUNCES LIME JUICE
LIME, ORANGE, AND FRESH NUTMEG FOR GARNISH
Shake with ice, and strain into a punch glass. Garnish as above.
GUN CLUB PUNCH
Ernest Hemingway isn’t the only author who enjoyed hunting from time to time. This classic comes from Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide (1972) and is meant to be served in a decorative green mug in the shape of a shotgun shell.
PUNCH BOWL
6 OUNCES HAMILTON JAMAICAN RUM
6 OUNCES WHITE CUBAN RUM OR EL DORADO 3 YEAR RUM
3 OUNCES DRY CURAÇAO
2¼ OUNCES POMEGRANATE MOLASSES
1½ OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES PINEAPPLE JUICE
4½ OUNCES LIME JUICE
PINEAPPLE FOR GARNISH
Stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with pineapple slices.
The original recipe called for grenadine instead of pomegranate syrup, but the latter, which you can find at larger grocery stores, has a more intense pomegranate flavor that benefits the drink.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
1 OUNCE HAMILTON JAMAICAN RUM
1 OUNCE WHITE CUBAN RUM OR EL DORADO 3 YEAR RUM
½ OUNCE DRY CURAÇAO
⅜ OUNCE POMEGRANATE MOLASSES
¼ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE PINEAPPLE JUICE
¾ OUNCE LIME JUICE
PINEAPPLE FOR GARNISH
Shake with ice, and strain into a punch glass. Garnish as above.
GREEN SLIPPER PUNCH
When the first buds of greenery start to show after a long, hard winter, it’s time for a Green Slipper. The apple, mint, and cucumber provide a ménage of freshness, which the sweetness of the St. Germain enhances with floral notes. This cocktail brims with springtime hopes.
PUNCH BOWL
36 MINT LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
18 APPLE SLICES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
18 CUCUMBER SLICES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
6 OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR EXTRA DRY RUM
3 OUNCES ST. GERMAIN
4½ OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES LIME JUICE
CUCUMBER, GREEN APPLE, AND MINT LEAVES FOR GARNISH
Blend all ingredients in a countertop blender for 20 to 30 seconds. Fine strain through a mesh strainer into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with cucumber slices, green apple slices, and mint.
SINGLE SERVING
COLLINS GLASS
6 MINT LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
3 GREEN APPLE SLICES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
3 CUCUMBER SLICES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
¾ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
2 OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 4 YEAR EXTRA DRY RUM
½ OUNCE ST. GERMAIN
1 OUNCE LIME JUICE
Blend all ingredients, and double strain into a punch glass or small Collins glass filled with ice. Garnish with additional apple slices and mint.
PONCHE POR AVION
Hot honey and agricole rhum spice up this Caribbean take on the Airmail cocktail (page 86). Barbancourt Blanc is very aromatic with strong vanilla notes that easily complement and round out the spicy honey.
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES BARBANCOURT BLANC RUM
4½ OUNCES HOT HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
4½ OUNCES LIME JUICE
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME, JALAPEÑO, AND MINT LEAVES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lime wheels, jalapeños wheels, and mint leaves.
SINGLE SERVING
FLUTE
2 OUNCES BARBANCOURT BLANC
¾ OUNCES HOT HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
¾ OUNCES LIME JUICE
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME, JALAPEÑO, AND MINT LEAVES FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and strain into a flute. Top and garnish as above.
PEACH JAM PUNCH
Preserves have long been used to capture and maintain seasonal flavors for later enjoyment. With this botanical-forward recipe, summer’s just a sip away. The J. M. Blanc, a light agricole rhum, pairs nicely with the rose and cucumber notes of Hendrick’s gin.
PUNCH BOWL
6 OUNCES J. M. BLANC RHUM
4½ OUNCES HENDRICK’S GIN
3 OUNCES PEACH BRANDY
3 OUNCES LEMON JUICE
6 TEASPOONS PEACH JAM
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
CUCUMBER FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with cucumber slices.
SINGLE SERVING
COLLINS GLASS
1 OUNCE J. M. BLANC RHUM
¾ OUNCE HENDRICK’S GIN
½ OUNCE PEACH BRANDY
½ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 TEASPOON PEACH JAM
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
CUCUMBER FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
CARIBBEAN FISH HOUSE PUNCH
Fish House Punch dates back to 1732 in Philadelphia, where members of the first angling club in the British North American colonies partook of a bowl or two. George Washington, born that same year, later enjoyed it as well. After one encounter with the punch, it’s said that he couldn’t make an entry in his diary for the next three days.
PUNCH BOWL
6 OUNCES COGNAC
4½ OUNCES SMITH & CROSS RUM
3 OUNCES PEACH BRANDY
1½ OUNCE MARASCHINO
3 OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
4½ OUNCES LEMON JUICE
LEMON AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with lemon wheels and grapes.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
1 OUNCE COGNAC
¾ OUNCE SMITH & CROSS RUM
½ OUNCE PEACH BRANDY
¼ OUNCE MARASCHINO
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
LEMON AND GRAPES FOR GARNISH
Shake with ice, and strain into a punch glass. Garnish as above.
Capacious goblet! stor’d with all delight,
Sweet to the Tast, and pleasing to the Sight;
Where Nutmegs, Lemons, and the Jolly Toast,
Scatter’d like wrecks o’th merry Ocean float.
—ANNE FINCH, FROM “VERSES ON A PUNCH-BOWL” (1701)
MASALA MANGO PANCH
In addition to West African slaves, the British, Dutch, and French transported Indian laborers to the Caribbean, and Cuba has a population of more than 30,000 Indo-Caribbeans, as their descendants are known today. The inspiration for this drink came from a snack of mangoes covered with chili and salt spotted along the boardwalk of Brighton Beach in New York City, and the recipe returns the word “punch” to its flavorful roots.
PUNCH BOWL
6 OUNCES FLOR DE CAÑA 7 YEAR RUM
4½ OUNCES APPLETON ESTATE V/X RUM
6 OUNCES MANGO PUREE
4½ OUNCES CHILI SYRUP (PAGE 10)
3 OUNCES LIME JUICE
¾ TEASPOON CURRY POWDER
LIME FOR GARNISH
Stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with lime wheels.
SINGLE SERVING
PUNCH GLASS
1 OUNCE FLOR DE CAÑA 7 YEAR RUM
¾ OUNCE APPLETON ESTATE V/X RUM
1 OUNCE MANGO PUREE
¾ OUNCE CHILI SYRUP (PAGE 10)
½ OUNCE LIME JUICE
1 PINCH CURRY POWDER
LIME FOR GARNISH
Shake with ice, and strain into a punch glass. Garnish as above.
You know from Eastern India came
The skill of making punch as did the name.
And as the name consists of letters five,
By five ingredients is it kept alive.
To purest water sugar must be joined,
With these the grateful acid is combined.
Some any sours they get contented use,
But men of taste do that from Tagus choose.
When now these three are mixed with care
Then added be of spirit a small share.
And that you may the drink quite perfect see,
Atop the musky nut must grated be.
—SAMUEL MATHER IN A NOTE TO CHARLES FRANKLAND (1757)
VESPERONE PUNCH
The end-of-summer blackberries and autumnal sage restrain the heavy-hitting rum, rye, and chartreuse in this drink.
PUNCH BOWL
24 BLACKBERRIES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
12 SAGE LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
3 OUNCES AGAVE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES RON ZACAPA
6 OUNCES RYE
3 OUNCES GREEN CHARTREUSE
3 OUNCES LIME JUICE
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME FOR GARNISH
Muddle sage and blackberries in the syrup. Add remaining ingredients except sparkling wine, and stir with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Fine strain through a mesh strainer into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lime and additional sage leaves and blackberries.
SINGLE SERVING
COLLINS GLASS
4 BLACKBERRIES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
2 SAGE LEAVES, PLUS EXTRA FOR GARNISH
½ OUNCE AGAVE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE RON ZACAPA
1 OUNCE RYE WHISKEY
½ OUNCE GREEN CHARTREUSE
½ OUNCE LIME JUICE
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME FOR GARNISH
Muddle sage and blackberries in syrup. Add remaining ingredients except sparkling wine, and shake with ice. Double strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
OLD NAVY PUNCH
English sailors started receiving rum rations in 1655. Clean drinking water was either hard to find or hard to maintain. Beer lost its flavor and went flat. French brandy and Spanish wine worked but were expensive or hard to obtain. Rum, however, was plentiful. In 1769, the Society of West India Merchants organized and published a booklet about the health benefits of drinking rum. Within a decade, the Naval Provisioning Office was replacing brandy with rum in ship stores, and the Royal Navy didn’t abolish rum rations completely until July 31, 1970, known as Black Tot Day. Altered and modified over the centuries, the recipe for Navy Punch exists in countless variations. This is the version we prefer.
PUNCH BOWL
4½ OUNCES COGNAC
3 OUNCES HAMILTON 151 RUM
3 OUNCES PEACH BRANDY
3 OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
4½ OUNCES LEMON JUICE
3 OUNCES ORANGE JUICE
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMON AND ORANGE FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lemon wheels and orange slices.
SINGLE SERVING
¾ OUNCE COGNAC
½ OUNCE HAMILTON 151 RUM
½ OUNCE PEACH BRANDY
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
½ OUNCE ORANGE JUICE
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
LEMON AND ORANGE FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
There’s nought, no doubt, so much the spirit calms
As rum and true religion: thus it was,
Some plunder’d, some drank spirits, some sung psalms,
The high wind made the treble, and as bas
The hoarse harsh waves kept time; fright cured the qualms
Of all the luckless landsmen’s sea-sick maws:
Strange sounds of wailing, blasphemy, devotion,
Clamour’d in chorus to the roaring ocean.
—LORD BYRON, DON JUAN (1819)
PIRATES & THE PUNCH BOWL
Just as punch was all the rage for the English aristocracy, so was it the drink of choice for upwardly mobile pirates. The bandits of the sea often chose their commanders under the influence of punch. One such commander was Welshman John Roberts—but Roberts himself rarely drank and found himself an unwilling participant in piracy when the ship he was on was captured and its new overlord recognized Roberts’s navigational skills. The punch bowl may have helped Roberts rise to commander, but his first course of action was to ban drinking below decks at night. His crew understandably chafed at the move. Why take orders from a man who didn’t even drink? Roberts had a hard time retaining authority over his crew. He needed a rum-soaked alter ego to control them. Thus he became Bartholomew Roberts, a finely dressed man who shot dead anyone who dared insult him. He came to power by the punch bowl, and by the punch bowl he fell. In February 1722, the HMS Swallow, encountering Roberts’s fleet of three off Cape Lopez in Gabon, chased and eventually captured one of the ships. Returning to port, the captain of the Swallow spotted Roberts’s ship, the Royal Fortune. The pirates had captured another ship in the meantime and were deep in their cups in celebration. They didn’t stand a chance. Roberts was killed by grapeshot while standing on deck, marking an end to the golden age of piracy.
’TI PUNCH
Traveling the Caribbean on assignment for Harper’s magazine, reporter Lafcadio Hearn discovered ’Ti Punch on Martinique in 1887. It’s important to use agricole rhum to provide character and to help differentiate this punch from a Planter’s Punch (page 80). This drink has always been served single-style, so no communal recipe. If you do want to serve it to a group, make it in individual glasses. But drink this cocktail in one shot in the morning. Seriously, that’s the tradition.
ROCKS GLASS
2½ OUNCES WHITE RHUM AGRICOLE
¼ OUNCE CANE SYRUP
⅜ OUNCE LIME JUICE
Combine all ingredients, including the lime shell(s), over cracked ice in a double rocks glass, and stir.
NOTE
To make a ’Ti Punch properly, cut the end of a lime into a disk (or butt, as we say), and squeeze the juice into the drink. Adding the shell/butt imparts oils from the rind into the flavor profile. Then bottoms up!
REGENT’S PUNCH
Medical historians have surmised that King George III of Britain suffered from porphyria, which plunged him into his infamous madness. In his stead, his eldest son, Prince George Augustus, served as regent, although the prime minister did most of the actual governing. That left the prince regent with plenty of time to indulge his favorite pastimes: women and punch. A Mr. Madison, his maître d’, created this recipe, although the exact proportions are unclear because so many different people made it so many different times to satisfy the prince’s enormous thirst.
PUNCH BOWL
3 OUNCES BATAVIA ARRACK
3 OUNCES COGNAC
3 OUNCES CURAÇAO
3 OUNCES SMITH & CROSS RUM
4½ OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
3 OUNCES GREEN TEA CACHAÇA (PAGE 10)
4½ OUNCES LEMON JUICE
1½ OUNCES PINEAPPLE JUICE
6 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
6 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
ORANGE AND LEMON FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with orange slices and lemon wheels.
For this recipe, we recommend that you use Mãe de Ouro for the green tea–infused cachaça.
SINGLE SERVING
COLLINS GLASS
½ OUNCE BATAVIA ARRACK
½ OUNCE COGNAC
½ OUNCE CURAÇAO
½ OUNCE SMITH & CROSS RUM
¾ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
½ OUNCE GREEN TEA CACHAÇA (PAGE 10)
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
¼ OUNCE PINEAPPLE JUICE
1 DASH ANGOSTURA BITTERS
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
ORANGE AND LEMON FOR GARNISH
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top and garnish as above.
PLANTER’S PUNCH
In 1845 West Indian planters drank a version made with guava jelly, Madeira, green tea, and cognac. In 1900, a Baltimore journalist tried the Planter's Punch in Jamaica—just one hundred miles south of Cuba—and later called it “a drink that I have esteemed highly ever since.” This drink is usually served single-style, so the communal recipe comes second.
SWIZZLE GLASS
2 OUNCES APPLETON 12 YEAR RUM
¾ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE LIME JUICE
1 DASH CURAÇAO
1 DASH ANGOSTURA BITTERS, PLUS EXTRA TO SERVE
1 DASH GRENADINE (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE CLUB SODA
ORANGE AND CHERRY FOR GARNISH
Whip shake all ingredients except club soda with crushed ice. Strain into a swizzle or Collins glass filled with ice cubes. Top with club soda and bitters to taste, and garnish with an orange slice and brandied or fresh cherry.
COMMUNAL SERVING
PUNCH BOWL
12 OUNCES APPLETON 12 YEAR RUM
4½ OUNCES SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES LIME JUICE
1 OUNCE CURAÇAO
6 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS, PLUS EXTRA TO SERVE
1 OUNCE GRENADINE (PAGE 10)
6 OUNCES CLUB SODA
LIME, ORANGE, AND CHERRIES FOR GARNISH
Stir all ingredients except club soda with ice cubes in a large pitcher for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Top as above, and garnish with lime wheels, orange slices, and brandied or fresh cherries.
FLIPS & FIZZES
All flips contain egg, which provides distinctive body to a cocktail. (See the description of a loggerhead flip on page 101.) How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas was the first bar book to include a flip, and Thomas notes that the “essential in flips of all sorts is to produce the smoothness by repeated pouring back and forward between two vessels and beating up the eggs well.” All fizzes contain carbonation of some kind for effervescence. Some fizzes contain egg but not all of them. The addition of egg white makes a silver fizz. The addition of an egg yolk makes a golden fizz. The addition of a whole egg results in a royal fizz. If you use sparkling wine instead of carbonated water, you get a diamond fizz. Got it? Good.
PLATANO DOMINICANO
What grows together goes together. This cocktail exemplifies that culinary decree by pairing rum, coffee, and banana. (The hint of coffee in the cocktail gives it that extra caffeinated kick.) Our inspiration came from Sasha Petraske of Milk & Honey in New York City, who created the Dominicana cocktail, itself a Caribbean variant of the White Russian.
COUPE
2 OUNCES HEAVY CREAM, PLUS EXTRA TO TOP
2 OUNCES BRUGAL EXTRA VIEJO RUM
¾ OUNCE GALLIANO RISTRETTO LIQUEUR
¼ OUNCE GIFFARD BANANE DU BRÉSIL
Dry shake the cream to whip. Stir remaining ingredients over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Top with the whipped cream.
NOTE
Ristretto, which means “restricted” in Italian, describes a short shot of espresso, and the Italians put their espresso knowledge to good use in one of the ingredients in this cocktail. Galliano Ristretto is an espresso liqueur—not to be confused with coffee liqueur. Blending two beans, Robusta and Arabica, it tastes bitter, strong, creamy, and sweet all at the same time.
AIRMAIL
The first instance of the Airmail cocktail appeared in Esquire magazine’s 1949 edition of Handbook for Hosts. This version is a rummier French “75”—think of it as a Cuban 98 that pays homage to that first Pan American flight in October 1927 carrying mail from Key West to Havana (page 36). The honey syrup plays nicely with the notes of banana and orange blossom in the Appleton V/X.
FLUTE
1 OUNCE APPLETON ESTATE V/X RUM
½ OUNCE HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
½ OUNCE LIME JUICE
3 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
LIME FOR GARNISH
Shake rum, syrup, and lime juice with ice, and strain into a flute. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lime.
NOTE
Honey might seem like a relatively simple ingredient, but in America alone there are around 300 different varieties. Clover honey predominates, but do a little legwork and you’ll discover many other options. In California, Florida, and Texas, you’ll often find orange blossom honey, which uses a combination of several different citruses, primarily orange flower. Blueberry honey appears throughout New England and Michigan, and eucalyptus honey, if you can find it, has a slightly astringent aftertaste. Using one of these different types of honey will change the flavor profile of your cocktail. It’s a great way to put your own stamp on a drink.
GOLDEN RAISIN FIZZ
The inspiration for this cocktail came from rum raisin ice cream on a tropical summer day. This golden fizz pulls vanilla notes from the Galliano, and the raisin-infused rum imparts the tangy richness of the dried fruit. The historical pairing of rum and raisins begins not in Cuba or even Spain but in Sicily and with a different alcohol altogether. Málaga gelato—named for the Spanish source of the grapes—originally was made with wine-soaked raisins. Rum raisin ice cream first gained popularity in America in the 1930s, reaching its peak in the 1980s with the Häagen-Dazs version.
FIZZ GLASS
2 OUNCES RAISIN-INFUSED RUM (PAGE 11)
¼ OUNCE GALLIANO
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 TEASPOON SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK
1 EGG YOLK
1 OUNCE CLUB SODA
RUM-SOAKED RAISINS FOR GARNISH
Dry shake all ingredients except club soda, then shake again with ice. Strain into a fizz glass with ice. Top with club soda, and garnish with rum-soaked raisins.
NOTE
For this recipe, we recommend that you use Mount Gay Eclipse for the raisin-infused rum.
IMPERIAL FIZZ
Rum and rye are the only two R’s you need. Despite their convenient alliteration—or perhaps because of it—rum and rye really are a classic spirit pairing. This drink appeared in Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks. The spicy Rittenhouse Rye balances the banana- and orange-forward Appleton V/X. Both spirits convey a lot of heat that the egg white tempers on the palate.
COLLINS GLASS
1 OUNCE APPLETON V/X RUM
1 OUNCE RITTENHOUSE RYE
¾ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 EGG WHITE
ORANGE FOR GARNISH
Dry shake all ingredients, then shake again with ice. Pour into a fizz glass or small Collins glass, and garnish with an orange twist.
“A Fizz, you see, was what a sporting man would moisten the clay with directly upon arising—an eye-opener, corpse-reviver, fog-cutter, gloom-lifter, what-have-you. A hangover cure. Into the saloon you'd go, the kindly internist behind the bar would manipulate a bottle or two, and zam!”
—DAVID WONDRICH
ISLE OF MANHATTAN FIZZ
In 2010, Amanda Hesser, food editor of the New York Times Magazine and author of the best-selling Essential New York Times Cookbook (and now a James Beard and IACP Award winner), wrote a Recipe Redux column about New York City mayor Ed Koch’s favorite cocktail. In 1987 he had chosen the Coconut Daiquirí, which narrowly beat out the Ramos Gin Fizz, both as made by his friend David Margolis. Hesser asked us to come up with a new version of the daiquirí, so we created this hybrid of hizzoner’s two favorites in fizz form. The coconut puree mimics the texture of the egg and cream of a Ramos Gin Fizz, while the pineapple juice and rum recall the piña colada (masquerading as a daiquirí).
COLLINS GLASS
¾ OUNCE GIN
¾ OUNCE WHITE RUM
2 OUNCES COCONUT PUREE
¾ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
½ OUNCE LIME JUICE
½ OUNCE PINEAPPLE JUICE
4 DROPS ORANGE FLOWER WATER
1½ OUNCES CLUB SODA
LIME FOR GARNISH
Combine all ingredients except club soda, and dry shake. Shake again with ice, and strain into a Collins glass with cubed ice. Top with club soda, and garnish with lime zest.
CHICAGO FIZZ
During Prohibition—which Will Rogers famously described as “better than no liquor at all”—former saloon keepers and bartenders from Chicago supposedly were arriving in Cuba at the rate of twelve per day. The precise origins of this drink are unknown. We know it was served at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City before Prohibition—but that’s about all we know about its genesis. Despite its obscure origins, this is a smooth classic that has stuck around.
COLLINS GLASS
1 OUNCE PORT
1 OUNCE RON ZACAPA RUM
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
½ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 DASH ANGOSTURA BITTERS
1 EGG WHITE
1 OUNCE CLUB SODA
ORANGE AND NUTMEG FOR GARNISH
Dry shake all ingredients except club soda, then shake again with ice. Strain into a Collins glass with ice, and top with club soda. Garnish with an orange twist and freshly grated nutmeg.
NOTE
Ron Zacapa is a rum made with virgin sugarcane honey and then aged and blended using the solera method. Used to produce vinegar, sherry, and brandy in particular, the process allows for a constant average age for a product. No container is ever fully drained. A percentage of the product in the oldest barrel is bottled. The empty space is filled from the second oldest barrel and so on.
BEE’S KISS
Sometimes cocktail names aren’t terribly creative. If it mentions a bee, you can guarantee that it contains honey. Still, this is a nice after-dinner drink from the land of milk and honey for those hot Havana nights. Keep the cream in the larger half of the shaking tin until ready to give a brisk shake.
COUPE
2 OUNCES AGED RUM
¾ OUNCE HEAVY CREAM
¾ OUNCE HONEY
HONEY GRANULES FOR GARNISH
Dry shake all ingredients, then shake again with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with granulated honey.
NOTE
When blackberries are in season they make a grand addition as a garnish.
MAYDAY #2
This is the second in a series of three drinks that we created that use rhubarb and Aperol. Rhubarb comes into season around the start of May, which is also when we created this delectable cocktail. The rested but unaged Neisson Blanc showcases the sugarcane, while the cucumber notes in the Bittermens Boston Bittahs bring out the fruitiness of the Aperol.
COUPE
1 OUNCE NEISSON BLANC RUM
½ OUNCE APEROL
1 OUNCE RHUBARB SYRUP (PAGE 11)
½ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 DASH BITTERMENS BOSTON BITTAHS
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice, and strain into a coupe. Top with sparkling wine.
NOTE
The May Day #1 appears in the PDT Cocktail Book and features gin as the base spirit. The third variation on the theme uses apple brandy.
VIOLA ROYALE
This drink tips its straw to a couple of our favorite classics: It’s a little bit of a Clover Club, a little bit of an Aviation, and a little bit of a Ramos Gin Fizz. The crème de violette picks up the floral notes of the raspberries, the maraschino brings the funk, and the egg white and cream smooth it all out. It’s great when everybody can be friends.
COLLINS GLASS
4 RASPBERRIES
½ OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE CHAIRMAN’S SILVER RUM
1 OUNCE PLYMOUTH GIN
½ OUNCE CRÈME DE VIOLETTE
¼ OUNCE LUXARDO MARASCHINO
1 OUNCE LEMON JUICE
1 EGG WHITE
½ OUNCE HEAVY CREAM
1 OUNCE DRY SPARKLING WINE
In a shaker tin, muddle the raspberries in the simple syrup. Add remaining ingredients except dry sparkling wine, dry shake, and then shake with ice. Double strain into a fizz or Collins glass, and top with sparkling wine.
OLD CUBAN
Audrey Saunders, New York City’s “Queen of Mixology,” created this new Cuban classic at her must-visit lounge, Pegu Club, named for a colonial British officers’ club in Burma. The Old Cuban—like a dressed-up Mojito (page 170)—is a sophisticated drink that has the flexibility to use other aged rums, such as Havana Club 7 Year.
FLUTE
6 MINT LEAVES
½ OUNCE DEMERARA SYRUP (PAGE 10)
1 OUNCE EL DORADO 15 YEAR RUM
1 OUNCE EL DORADO 5 YEAR RUM
½ OUNCE LIME JUICE
3 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS
3 OUNCES DRY SPARKLING WINE
In a shaker tin, gently muddle mint in the demerara syrup. Add remaining ingredients except sparkling wine, and shake with ice. Double strain into a flute, and top with sparkling wine.
NOTE
Saunders’s recipe calls for a garnish of sugared vanilla beans. If you can’t readily find any, don’t worry. The drink tastes just as good without them.
HOT CONCOCTIONS
Wherever a winter wind blows, you’ll find hot alcoholic beverages. Winter nights in Cuba can slide into the mid-60s Fahrenheit, cold enough to make you want something warm to ward off the chill.
One of the New World’s most popular cold-weather drinks was the loggerhead flip: rum, stout beer, and a sweetener combined in a pitcher and heated with a loggerhead, an iron ball on a long handle kept on or in the stove. Almost all taverns served the frothy, warm loggerhead flip, and historical records show price controls requiring taverns to make all flips relatively the same price. Consequently, the flip became a way for tavern keeps to distinguish their venues, adding interesting and exotic flavors to their versions of the drink. The modern-day flip (pages 83–99) bears no real relation to the loggerhead flip—other than that some tavern keeps might have used eggs in their variants—but these hot concoctions will keep you warm on a cold winter’s day or night.
FOR WHAT AILS YA
Many cold-weather drinks are designed either to ward off illness or to alleviate its symptoms when that winter cold finally hits. The toddy, a cold-weather classic, is frequently made with whiskey these days, but that wasn’t always the case. The name comes from the Hindi word tari, meaning the sap of the palmyra palm tree, which was fermented into palm wine (still a common beverage in parts of Asia and Africa). In colonial days, rum went into toddies as often as whiskey. In this Caribbean-style toddy, lemon, ginger, and cayenne provide a triple boost against what ails ya.
MUG
1½ OUNCES DARK RUM
½ OUNCE GINGER SYRUP (PAGE 10)
3 OUNCES APPLE CIDER
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
CAYENNE PEPPER FOR GARNISH
Build all ingredients in a small pan, and bring to a boil. Pour into a mug, and garnish with a dusting of cayenne pepper.
“Published instructions for reviving victims of drowning in Massachusetts called for blowing tobacco smoke up the victim’s rectum (machines were built specifically for this purpose) while bathing the victim’s breast with hot rum.”
—WAYNE CURTIS, AND A BOTTLE OF RUM:
A HISTORY OF THE NEW WORLD IN TEN COCKTAILS
HOT BUTTERED RUM
This warming drink dates back to the mid-seventeenth century, when distilleries first appeared in Britain’s New England colonies. Americans were making and drinking rum, and a lot of it, so it didn’t take long to figure out ways to use it to stave off the cold. Toddies, nogs, and other warm cocktails all have molasses rum in them. This is a comforting drink for a blustery New England day.
MUG
1½ OUNCES DIPLOMATICO RESERVA RUM
4 OUNCES WATER
¾ OUNCES HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
½ TABLESPOON BUTTER
NUTMEG FOR GARNISH
Build all ingredients in a small pan, and bring to a boil while whisking continuously. Pour into a mug, and top liberally with fresh grated nutmeg.
MIEL PICANTE
A little sweeter than the For What Ails Ya (page 102), this drink has a different kind of bite but the same kick—its name in Spanish means “spicy honey.” This spiked cider gets its jolt from the spicy honey syrup and lemon, both of which boost your immune system. See? Sometimes drinking can be good for you! Perfect for when the smell of fresh apples laces autumn winds.
MUG
2 OUNCES AGED RUM
¾ OUNCE HOT HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
4 OUNCES APPLE CIDER
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
CINNAMON AND LEMON FOR GARNISH
On the stovetop, heat all ingredients together until steaming. Pour into a mug, and garnish with grated cinnamon and a lemon wedge.
ORCHARD TODDY
Pears might not grow in Cuba’s tropical climate, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t pair well with rum. In fact, the sweetness of each complements the other—particularly when tempered with the stringency of rye whiskey—in this autumnal cocktail. Every sip is like a trip through a fragrant pear orchard.
MUG
1 OUNCE RON ZACAPA 23 YEAR RUM
¾ OUNCE RITTENHOUSE RYE
¾ OUNCE ROTHMAN & WINTER ORCHARD PEAR LIQUEUR
4 OUNCES HOT WATER
¾ OUNCE HONEY SYRUP (PAGE 11)
¾ OUNCE LEMON JUICE
CINNAMON, PEAR, AND LEMON FOR GARNISH
Build all ingredients in a small pan, and bring to a boil. Pour into a mug, and top with fresh grated cinnamon and pear and lemon slices.
NOTE
Popular in the Alps as a winter lodge drink, orchard pear liqueur is an Austrian eau-de-vie made from the Williams pear, called Bartlett stateside.
BANANA SPICED RUM
Hot Buttered Rum (page 104) is a particularly New England drink, but this recipe takes it down south to the land of bananas and plantains. It takes its lead from Bananas Foster, the famous dessert created by Paul Blangé at Brennan’s in New Orleans and named for Richard Foster, a friend of the owner. It’s a kind of banana sundae with a sauce made of butter, brown sugar, rum, and banana liqueur. If you’ve never had it—and really you should—now you can have your dessert and drink it, too!
MUG
1 OUNCE SAILOR JERRY SPICED RUM
1 OUNCE BANANA-INFUSED RUM (PAGE 10)
4 OUNCES WATER
½ OUNCE DEMERARA SYRUP (PAGE 10)
½ TABLESPOON BUTTER
CINNAMON AND NUTMEG FOR GARNISH
Build ingredients in a small pan, and bring to a boil while whisking thoroughly. Pour into a mug, and top with fresh grated cinnamon and nutmeg.
NOTE
For this recipe, we recommend that you use Hamilton 151 for the infused rum.