Cocktails Flashcards
What are Ancestrals in cocktail families?
First cocktails composed of a spirit, sugar, bitters, and water (typically ice)
Examples include the Sazerac and Old Fashioned. They serve as the foundation for other cocktails.
Name traditional examples of Spirit-Forward Cocktails.
- Manhattan
- Martini
- Negroni
- Bijou
These cocktails have an ancestral base and include vermouth.
What distinguishes Spirit-Forward Cocktails with Juice?
Incorporate a non-sour juice without a sugar syrup to balance it
An example is the Blood and Sand; orange juice is a common addition.
What is the key balance in Sours cocktails?
Balance of lemon and/or lime juice with a sugar syrup
Examples include Daiquiri and Margarita.
What constitutes a Duo in cocktail families?
Combines a spirit and liqueur
Examples include the Godfather and Rusty Nail.
What is a Trio in cocktail families?
A duo with the addition of milk, cream, or a cream liqueur
Examples include the Alexander or White Russian.
What types of cocktails fall under Sparkling Wine Cocktails?
- Bellini
- Champagne Cocktail
- Old Cuban
- French 75
These cocktails include a sparkling wine.
Name examples of Highballs, Fizzes, and the Collins.
- Presbyterian
- Dark and Stormy
- Harvey Walbanger
- Long Island Ice Tea
This category includes a wide range of cocktails.
What ingredients are commonly found in Juleps and Smashes?
Mint, spirit, and sugar with a large amount of ice
Citrus is often prohibited in this category.
Which drinks are categorized as Hot Drinks?
- Hot Toddy
- Tom and Jerry
- Irish Coffee
These are popular straightforward hot cocktails.
What is a Flip in cocktail families?
Contains a whole egg
The Tom and Jerry could be considered a hot nog.
What distinguishes Tropical Cocktails?
Home for everything tiki, whiskey, pineapple, and grenadine mixtures
Examples include the Algonquin and the Singapore Sling.
What does Pousse-Café refer to?
Any layered cocktail
Translates to “coffee pusher” and was consumed after coffee.
What defines a Cobbler cocktail?
A base spirit or fortified wine with sugar served in a glass packed with crushed ice
The Absinthe Frappé is a well-known example.
What cocktails are included in the Bloody(s) category?
- Bloody Mary
- Bull Shot
This category includes all variations of the Bloody Mary.
Give examples of Beer- and Cider-Based Cocktails.
- Black Velvet
- Cold Duck
- Shandy
These cocktails incorporate beer or cider.
What types of cocktails are classified as Wine-Based Cocktails?
- Sangria
- Bamboo
- Adonis
Based on table or fortified wines.
What characterizes Milk-Based Cocktails?
Drinks that don’t contain a spirit
An example is the Grasshopper.
Ancestral
Americano
History: The first Americano was served at Caffè Camparino in the 1860s under the name Milano-Torino, to identify the origins of the Campari and sweet vermouth. Gaspare Campari’s creation was later renamed the Americano for Primo Carnera, the Italian boxer who was the first non-American to win the US heavyweight boxing championship.
Ingredients:
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
soda water
- Preparation: Serve over ice.
- Presentation: Glassware depends on amount of soda water; garnish with orange slice.
History: The first Americano was served at Caffè Camparino in the 1860s under the name Milano-Torino, to identify the origins of the Campari and sweet vermouth. Gaspare Campari’s creation was later renamed the Americano for Primo Carnera, the Italian boxer who was the first non-American to win the US heavyweight boxing championship
Ancestral
Brandy Crusta
History: Invented in the 1850s by Joseph Santini, in New Orleans, and first published in Jerry Thomas’s Bartenders Guide (1862), the drink nearly vanished from the United States for a century, but it was popular in Australia through the 20th century. The Brandy Crusta was rescued from obscurity in the 2000s by American cocktail historians.
Ingredients:
2 ounces brandy
1 teaspoon curaço
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon maraschino
½ teaspoon rich simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Preparation: Shake all ingredients with ice and strain.
Presentation: Nick and Nora glass with a sugar rim, garnished with a lemon twist
Ancestral
Pink Gin
Ingredients:
2 oz. Plymouth Gin
3-4 dashes Angostura bitters
Preparation: Stir with ice and strain.
Presentation: Cocktail Coupe, Lemon Twist (Optional)
Ancestral
Sazerac
Preparation and Variations: The recipe and the preparation above is taken from what is considered to be the first recorded recipe of the Sazerac. There is no published recipe that uses cognac, only old text.
This recipe calls for the addition of water when muddling the sugar cube. Today, many bartenders like to add the bitters instead. The original recipe calls for 2 dashes of bitters, and today many bartenders like to use more. The chilling of the glass, and the absinthe rinse has never changed. And the lemon peel is sometimes used as a garnish rather than being stirred with the ingredients and discarded.
Your guest may only know the Sazerac as a Rye Whiskey cocktail. If you choose to offer different versions, be sure to ask your guest for their preference in a way that doesn’t alienate them for not knowing the variations.
Ingredients:
2 oz. Sazerac Rye Whiskey
5 Dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
Splash of Absinthe
Half of a Sugar Cube
Preparation:
Chill the low ball glass with ice water.
Muddle the sugar cube and a splash of water in a mixing glass
Pour the icewater out of the lowball glass and add absinthe to rinse the glass. The residual water in the glass should cause the absinthe to loosh, and therefore become more aromatic. Add whiskey, bitters and the lemon peel to the mixing glass with the muddled sugar and bitters and stir with ice to chill.
Strain into the absinthe rinsed lowball glass.
Presentation: Lowball Glass
History: In 1850, Sewell Taylor sold his Merchant Exchange Coffee House to Aaron Bird so that he could begin an import business. One of Taylor’s imported products was Sazerac de Forge et Fils Cognac. Bird purchased bitters from Antopin Peychaud’s apothecary, and Cognac from Taylor and served the Sazerac in his newly re-named Sazerac Coffee House. The Sazerac cocktail is known as the very first branded cocktail.
According to Arthur Stanley’s Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘em (1997), the Sazerac Coffee House changed hands many times. In 1870, Thomas Handy purchased the Sazerac Coffee House and changed the recipe to include whiskey. The growing phylloxera epidemic was driving up Cognac prices, and the main reason why Handy switched his Sazerac recipe to use whiskey. The Cognac-Rye blend version lasted only a short while before the cocktail became one of Rye Whiskey and Absinthe.
Before Handy died in 1889, he recorded his recipe and it appears in Boothby’s The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them(1908).This is the recipe that we have included above.
1912 brought the US Absinthe ban, and it was replaced by anise flavored liqueurs. Herbsaint-which translates to worm wood-was a Pastis marketed as being made according to an old French recipe first produced in 1934, and became the favorite Absinthe replacement.
The Sazerac’s riff on the original whiskey or cognac cocktail of spirit, sugar, water and bitters is known to be the first cause for patrons uninterested in something new to order a drink the “Old Fashioned Way”.
Ancestral
Old Fashioned
Ingredients:
* 2 oz. Spirit(Typically American Whiskey)
* 2 Dashes of Bitters
* 1 Sugar Cube
Preparation: Add enough water to the sugar cube to dissolve with muddling. Add bitters and Spirits, stir with ice, and strain over fresh ice.
Presentation: Thick Bottomed Old Fashioned Glass
Spirit Forward
Bijou
History: Bijou is the French word for “jewel.” This is an 1890s recipe that was first documented in the 1900 New and Improved Bartenders’ Manual, by Harry Johnson. One of the great bartenders of the 19th century, Johnson had worked in bars and owned them in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and New York. His 1900 book, its third edition, includes notes on proper etiquette for bar patrons, instructions for how to serve and wait on guests, and information on a variety of spirits, liqueurs, beverages, and tools. It is considered the first true manual for bartenders.
Ingredients:
* 1 ounce gin
* 1 ounce green Chartreuse
* 1 ounce sweet vermouth
* dash of orange bitters
Preparation: Stir all ingredients with ice and strain.
Presentation: Cocktail coupe, garnished with a lemon twist
Preparations and Variations: The gin (diamond), Chartreuse (emerald), and vermouth (ruby) are traditionally stirred, but, when they are kept separate and layered to show their distinct colors, the cocktail is called an Amber Dream.
Spirit Forward
Bobby Burns
History: This drink has two origin stories. It first appeared in The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), by Harry Craddock, where he offers a recipe with slightly different proportions and describes it as a commemoration of Robert Burns, a famed Scottish poet and countryman. Craddock says the drink is most popularly enjoyed on St. Andrew’s Day (November 30). In 1931, Albert Stevens Crockett published Old Waldorf Bar Days, containing the recipe above. He offers Craddock’s story of origin but also notes a cigar salesman by the same name who frequented the Waldorf Bar. Gary Regan, the great cocktail historian who died in 2019, uncovered a 1923 photo of a cigar shop sporting the branding of Robert Burns Cigars, giving substance to Crockett’s story.
The popular recipe used today and including Drambuie is taken from David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1953), in which he writes, “While Benedictine is often added, the use of Drambuie is preferable to Benedictine as it is made with a Scotch Whisky base.” He calls it an interesting variation on the Rob Roy.
Ingredients:
1¼ ounces blended Scotch whisky
¾ ounce sweet vermouth
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash absinthe
**Preparation: **Stir all ingredients with ice and strain.
**Presentation: **Cocktail glass, garnished with lemon twist
Spirit Forward
Boulevardier
History: Harry McElhone is generally credited for the cocktail, which is mentioned in his book Barflies and Cocktails (1927), though in its epilogue rather than as one of its standalone recipes.
** Ingredients:**
1 ounce bourbon
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Campari
Preparation: Stir all ingredients with ice and strain.
**Presentation: **Cocktail glass, garnished with orange twist
Preparation and Variations: Bourbon takes center stage instead of gin in this cocktail made in the Negroni mold. This rendition carries deeper bass notes, which may place it outside the aperitif category. Adjust the amount of whiskey to suit your guests’ palates.
Spirit Forward
Brooklyn
History: The Brooklyn made its first print appearance in Jack’s Manual (1908), by J. A. Grohusko, a famous New York City bartender in the years before Prohibition. The origin of the cocktail is unknown; while Grohusko may not be the creator, he is the first to record it.
** Ingredients:**
1½ ounces rye whiskey
1½ ounces dry vermouth
dash of maraschino liqueur
dash of Amer Picon
**Preparation: **Stir all ingredients with ice and strain.
**Presentation: **Served up or on the rocks, garnished with lemon twist or orange twist, or both
To replace Amer Picon, some bartenders will make an orange tincture by steeping orange peel in neutral grain spirit, while others mix two parts Ramazzotti with one part Combier, one part orange bitters, and orange peels, allowing this to rest for a few days. Torani Amer, produced by the San Francisco-based Torani, is a perfect replacement for Amer Picon, as it is made with the same ingredients and at the same alcoholic strength as the original bitter.
Variations on the cocktail revolve around the proportion of each ingredient and the brands used. Many recommend a higher-proof whiskey, such as Rittenhouse bonded rye, for a slightly drier version, and a lower-proof whiskey, such as Old Overholt, for a rounder rendition. Others like to blend the whiskeys, or use something different altogether.
One of the most surprising variations is included in The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930). It recommends using Canadian Club and shaking the cocktail.
Spirit Forward
Corpse Reviver No. 1
History: The Corpse Reviver family of cocktails is part of the “hair of the dog” genre. “Corpse reviver” originally referred to a dram of mixed spirits. This drink appears in London’s 1861 Punch Magazine, where the entire family of hair of the dog remedies was chronicled. Layered Corpse Reviver cocktails including spirits like Chartreuse, Maraschino, and walnut liqueurs appeared on Parisian menus by 1863, and this recipe first appeared in The Gentleman’s Table Guide (1871) by E. Ricket and C. Thomas.
In 1930, Harry Craddock included the Corpse Reviver No. 1 and his No. 2 in The Savoy Cocktail Book. For No. 1, he recommend it “be taken before 11am, or whenever steam and energy is needed.”
Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounces Cognac
3/4 ounce Calvados or apple brandy
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
Preparation: Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Presentation: Cocktail glass, garnished with lemon twist
Preparation & Variations: As with any hangover cure, there are many variations on the Corpse Reviver. The Kentucky Corpse Reviver is the same as the No. 2 but, predictably, swaps bourbon for gin. The Savoy Corpse Reviver was invented in 1954 not by Harry Craddock but another famous Savoy bartender, Joe Gilmore, who was head barman from 1954 to 1976. His rendition is a layered drink more akin to the original Parisian Corpse Revivers of the 1860s, layering equal portions of brandy, Fernet Branca, and white crème de menthe. Today, the No. 2 is the most popular drink.
Spirit Forward
