Like the Pink Lady, this drink has to be made and tasted to be believed. The taste is old, not old like the ingredients have passed their shelf life, but Old like someone would be drinking one during the closing party in an Abbott and Costello movie. This drink is part of the fun of having a bar. You have a bar to have friends over and make drinks like the Fallen Angel. A unique flavor and a cool drink. I like this one.

Here we go –

• 2 ounces gin
• 2/3 tsp. of white Crème de Menthe
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake all of the ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice. Strain into a small, pre-chilled cocktail/martini glass and add maraschino cherry as a garnish.

This is a rye cocktail that Mr. Booze very much enjoys. I haven’t known this drink for that long but we’ve become pretty good friends none-the-less. Six ingredients make the Vieux Carre’ a drink you’ll want to make at the start of the evening. She’s special and your guests will appreciate the work. The drink has a strong taste so it’s not for the Cosmo set. If you or your friends enjoy a Manhattan, then you’ll very much enjoy the Vieux Carre’. I sure do.

A good friend on the Board of The American Cocktail Museum, provided a bit of history on this drink. “A New Orleans Bartender, Walter Bergeron created the drink to honor the New Orlean’s Quarter Vieux Carre’ in the 1930’s. The drink represented the demographic composition of the neighborhood. American whiskey, Italian vermouth, French Cognac. The quarter, at that time, was teaming with Italians, French Creoles and Americans.”
My kind of history…you can drink it.

Here we go –

• ¾ ounce of Rye Whiskey
• ¾ ounce Cognac
• ¾ ounce Sweet Vermouth
• 1 tsp. Benedictine D.O.M.
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Mix all ingredients in a double Old Fashioned glass over cracked ice; stir.

There’s a great scene in the hilarious, 1963 movie, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, where, while trapped on a drunk’s plane 2 boobs are ordered to the cabin bar to “whip up a couple of Old Fashioned. For every reason I laugh every time at this scene and used to wonder what was this drink that Jim Backus would send Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hacket to the back of a screaming twin-prop to whip up? Well, after I had my first Old Fashioned, I understood.This drink is damn good. Apparently, an honest to goodness bourbon distiller and a bartender chum came up with this classic back in 1900. Yes sir, Colonel James E. Pepper and a bartender at the Pendennis Club in Louisville were responsible.

This one takes a bit of time and trouble to make but she drinks well and is a drink absolutely conducive to conversation. 3 friends plus 6 old fashioned = 2+ hours of bar talk. There’s just something about bourbon that loosens lips.

Here We Go –

• 2 ounces Bourbon (this drink was made for Early Times)
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 1 White Sugar Cube
• Soda Water.

Place sugar cube in an old fashioned glass and soak with the bitters. Add a splash of soda to cover the cube and crush cube with a bar spoon. Add cracked ice to near top of glass. Add bourbon to fill. Stir and garnish with a slice of orange and a maraschino cherry. I add a twist of lemon peel. Enjoy and gab away.

 
Basically, a Scotch Manhattan, the Rob Roy is as classic as an argyle sweater on a grandfather. My dad will still shakily enjoy one on Thanksgiving, pre turkey.

Not everyone is a Bourbon drinker, no matter how hard I try…and the Rob Roy is a nice alternative for the Scotch drinker tired of a 12 year old glen-something, neat. Sometimes, pretentious college professors and lawyers want a cocktail too (just kidding).

Here we go – 

• 2 oz Scotch (the peatier the better)
• Half an oz of Sweet Vermouth
• Dash or two of Orange Bitters 

Shake with ice in a shaker, strain, ice-cold into a martini or cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

• You can really dress a Rob Roy up by adding a tsp. of Drambuie and a tsp of the maraschino cherry juice.

I don’t need much of an excuse to enjoy Apple Jack. It’s an apple-based brandy that’s available in most liquor stores. If you don’t have a bottle, you should. Many of the old-school cocktails call for it, and besides the Jack Rose cocktail, the recipe for which you can find on this site, the Jack-In-The-Box is a fantastic, old flavored drink.

Here we go –

• 1.5 oz of Apple Jack
• ¾ oz Pineapple Juice
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 2 Dashes Bitters

Shake with ice ‘til freezing in a shaker. Strain into a cocktail glass.

I love Rye, and really enjoy it when mixed in cocktails. Here’s another excuse to do just that. The Fox River calls for peach bitters, which, I’ll admit are a tough find. I have a bottle of Fee Brother’s Peach Bitters. Here’s a link although they are available in many liquor and gourmet stores. Feebrothers.com

This drink is a real combination of flavors, one of the hidden gems.

Here we go –

• 1.5 oz Rye Whiskey
• half an oz of Cointreau
• 4 dashes Peach Bitters

Stir above ingredients with cracked ice in a glass pitcher or large glass ‘til cold. Strain drink into cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

I’ll just go ahead and warn you, this classic American cocktail requires a little bit of building, so if you think you and your guest may want a second or fourth, I suggest the pitcher. Just multiply my recipe by 8 and you should be all set. They’re delicious and make the summer a little less hot.

Here we go –

• 3 oz Rum
• 3 tablespoons Limejuice
• 2 tablespoons powdered or confection sugar
• 3 dashes Bitters
• Club Soda

In a separate glass mix sugar and limejuice ‘til sugar’s dissolved.

Fill a hi-ball glass 2/3rds of the way with crushed ice add the lime/sugar mix, rum and bitters and stir. Fill the rest of the glass up with club soda, stir lightly to mix. Dust with a little extra powdered sugar. Garnish with an orange slice, a pineapple spear and a cherry.

Yum.

This is a nice drink to mix up in a cocktail pitcher and serve to just a few close friends over for dinner. It’s an intimate drink that, for some reason, doesn’t mix well with larger parties or a night of heavy boozing. I think it’s the cognac. The spirit demands too much attention to just swallow on down with a handful of nuts. It goes better with candlelight, jazz and old friends.

Here we go –

• 1 ½ oz Cognac or Brandy
• ½ oz Curacao
• ½ oz pineapple juice
• couple dashes bitters

Mix above ingredients with ice in mixing glass or glass cocktail pitcher. Strain into cocktail glass.