Exotic fruit, herbaceous, caramel, woodsy
Serve with salted peanuts and candied ginger for a summery aperitif.
The Algonquin Cocktail, like the hotel in which it was born, is dark, glamorous, and masculine. It’s one of several cocktails the bar created to honor itself and the famous figures who lurked there during the 1920s, Dorothy Parker and Harpo Marx among them. Though the “vicious circle” of friends met there regularly during Prohibition over the lunch hour, the Algonquin Hotel was officially a “dry bar,” and cocktail expert David Wondrich dashes any notion of these celebrities nursing this particular elixir. They favored the Highball (page 112) and probably did not imbibe at lunch. Dammit, David! We’re still fond of drinking this noon-hour cooler on the clock while penning snarky witticisms.
1½ ounces (45 ml) rye whiskey (Rittenhouse)
¾ ounce (22 ml) dry vermouth (Dolin)
¾ ounce (22 ml) fresh pineapple juice
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass.