Addington Highball (& We’re Back!)

All plans to find a way to write during pregnancy were derailed by, well, being pregnant. It’s hard. And then we had our baby six weeks early (I had preeclampsia, and it sucked) in mid-October. The little guy and I are both doing well now, so I’m getting back to boozy form.  We can’t quite…

Favourite Cocktail (p. 37)

Old Mr. Boston loves flavored brandy. When we started this project, our experience was limited to some bad memories of cheap blackberry brandy in flask-sized bottles. We figured flavored brandies just sucked, and we bought cheap stuff in that category for mixing. Why spend tons of money on artificially flavored fruited liqueur, we reasoned? After…

Brazil Cocktail (p. 17)

Among our frustrations with Old Mr. Boston is a frequent lack of specificity. His sherry drinks are among the most irritatingly vague. Sherry is a broad category of fortified wine. There’s quite a lot to know about the stuff, but what we’ve surmised is that Fino sherry is light and somewhat dry as compared to…

Claridge Cocktail (p. 25)

This fruity martini probably originates from the 1930s– a few internet sources trace its lineage to the Claridge Hotel on the Champs Elysee. We’ve been hunting for a high quality apricot brandy or eau-de-vie to class up the many drinks that call for apricot brandy in our Old Br. Boston guide, but so far, no…

Brown Cocktail (p. 18)

This is the third in our string of cocktails that really did not seem particularly appealing; however, we entertained some mild hopes for this one. It was weird, but, you know, each ingredient on its own is lovely. There is something nearly negroni-esque in the pairing of gin with a sweet/funky rum and a vermouth….

Hole-in-One Cocktail (p. 47)

We got a bottle of Stronachie 10-year-old scotch for Christmas. It’s good– it’s a highland single malt, and it’s both peaty and fairly sweet– but we wondered how it would taste in a mixed drink. This cocktail is simple, but also nothing we’d ever have thought up on our own. Here’s the recipe: 1 1/2…

Trinity Cocktail (p. 100)

This week has been full of the beautiful chaos that characterizes everyone’s holiday season, and we threw a party last week, so our cupboards have grown pretty bare.  But we wanted to celebrate the official winter solstice with something that actually looked good. Enter Old Mr. Boston’s three-ingredient Trinity Cocktail. A quick Google search first…

Thanksgiving Special Cocktail (p. 97)

Last year, we made cocktails for over 20 of Liz’s extended family members on Thanksgiving. That called for something simple and easy to make. This year, we hosted an intimate dinner for Liz’s mom and one of her sisters, so we figured it was a good chance to try out this aptly-named drink. Liz’s sister…

Frankenjack Cocktail (p. 38)

There aren’t a lot of spookily named drinks in Old Mr. Boston’s 1963 guide, so for Halloween this year we decided the Frankenjack sort of evoked Frankenstein and Jack Skellington. The internets say that this cocktail probably originated in the 1930 Savoy book, and one blogger says it’s named for an NYC speakeasy called Frank…

Whip Cocktail (p. 106)

We keep thinking we understand cocktails, and then Old Mr. B throws us a curveball like the Whip. It doesn’t really follow any of the usual cocktail templates, and, like many brandy-based drinks, it hasn’t found its way onto modern bar menus. According to the folks over at Savoy Stomp, this drink originated in the…