Imbibe!

ROB ROY COCKTAIL
 
2 DASHES ORANGE BITTERS
½ JIGGER [1 ½ OZ] SCOTCH WHISKY
½ JIGGER [1 ½ OZ] ITALIAN VERMOUTH
LEMON PEEL
ICE
 
Stir and strain into cocktail glass.
 
SOURCE: JOHN APPLEGREEN, APPLEGREEN S BARKEEPER S GUIDE, 1899.
 
Notes on Ingredients: Although the early recipes all agree that the Rob Roy contains Scotch and vermouth, after that they re about as harmonious as a Glasgow pub at last call on a Saturday night. Proportions, brand of bitters, garnish, and kind of vermouth are all very much in play. Personally, I find French vermouth and Scotch to be a nasty combination, so I chose a recipe that agrees with me (it also has the advantage of being the very earliest printed for this drink). If the proportions began at fifty-fifty, as was usual with vermouth drinks, before long they had gravitated to two to one. With an 80 proof blend, I prefer the latter; with a 90 proof one, the former. Of the various bitters suggested, I find orange bitters and particularly Regans Orange Bitters No. 6, with its complex bite to work the best, although Peychaud s is also pretty good. And while you re at it, a twist of orange peel is rather nicer than lemon peel here. Dash of absinthe? As long as you re asking . . .
 
Notes on Execution: Stir. Strain. Twist.
 


CLOVER CLUB COCKTAIL

JUICE ½ LEMON
½ SPOON [1 8 OZ] SUGAR
½ PONY [2 TSP] RASPBERRY [THAT IS, SYRUP]
¼ PONY [½ OZ] WHITE OF EGG
1 JIGGER [2 OZ] GIN
 
Shake well. Strain.
 
SOURCE: ALBERT STEVENS CROCKETT, OLD WALDORF BAR DAYS, 1931 (CROCKETT WAS THE WALDORF S PRESS AGENT, AND WHEN PROHIBITION CLOSED ITS BAR, HE RECEIVED CUSTODY OF ITS HANDWRITTEN BAR BOOK).
 
Notes on Ingredients: Paul E. Lowe, in his 1909 Drinks: How

David Wondrich is one of the world s foremost authorities on cocktails and their history, and one of the founders of the current craft cocktail movement. Esquire s long-time Cocktail Correspondent, he also writes for a host of other magazines on the subject, and when he s not writing about it, he s probably lecturing on it or resting his liver. Dr. Wondrich holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature, is the winner of five Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Awards for his writing and is a partner in Beverage Alcohol Resource, the world s leading advanced education program in spirits and cocktails. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

"This isn't just nostalgia or hipster, artisanal stuff or tongue-in-cheek. David Wondrich is a serious historian that recognized that an American art form had been interrupted in its prime. And it would actually take serious painstaking work to revive it...Because of him, more than because of anybody else, we are in the midst of a national renaissance, something that we by right own as a country."
--Rachel Maddow

"David Wondrich is a such an envy-producing polymath that it drives me to drink. Brilliant historian, beautiful writer, former punk rocker, absinthe-maker, mixological marvel, and perhaps, yes, even WIZARD. Plus he can grow an amazing beard. There are few people in the world I rely on to be so authoritative and so entertaining all at once, and to mix an amazing cocktail at the same time. And those few people are DAVID WONDRICH."
John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise

"[Jerry] Thomas finally gets his due in Imbibe!....Mr. Wondrich puts the drinks in context, with their ingredients explained, their measurements accurately indicated, and their place in the overall cocktail scheme clearly mapped out. At the same time, Thomas himself appears, for the first time, as a living presence: a devotee of bare-knuckle prize fights, a flashy dresser fond of kid gloves, an art collector, a restless traveler usually carrying a fat wad of bank notes and a gold Parisian watch. A player, in short."
William Grimes, The New York Times 

"This book will leave you shaken and, I hope, stirred. Wondrich, one of the top spirits writers in the country, delves into the rich and fascinating history of mixology in America."
USA Today 

"Imbibe brings back the delicious forgotten cocktails created by a pioneering American bon vivant....This book is a model for food history writing....[Wondrich is] always an enjoyable writer, curious, eager, mildly opinionated and with a