This one was a surprise — oh so simple, yet oh so complex, depending on the quality of the base spirit you use. Wes found this in CocktailDB (love that “random recipe” link), and splurged with a 20-year-old Pierre Ferrand we had nestled in the back of the bar. It was superb.

Mrs. Solomon Cocktail

2 ounces brandy (the better the brandy, the better the drink).
1/2 ounce orange Curaçao.
2 dashes aromatic cocktail bitters (we used Angostura).

Stir in a mixing glass with ice for no less than 30 seconds and strain into a cocktail glass. Twist a lemon peel over the drink, then add the peel as a garnish.

I don’t know who Mrs. Solomon was, but she can come over anytime.

Happy Cocktail Bicentennial! Well, not quite — only the 200th anniversary of the first mention of the “cock tail” in print, in The Balance and Columbian Repository of Hudson, N.Y.; we suspect the cocktail was around for a fair bit longer.

“Cock tail, then, is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters — it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion,” went this inaugural mention. “It is said also, to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else.” A snarky birth, to be sure, but hallelujah for it.

And because we really, really need a drink, here’s Dave Wondrich’s version of a classic, “sucked down in vast numbers by the dudes, swells and sports of [New York City] from around 1800 to the late 1880s.”

The Holland Gin Cocktail
Improved by and adapted from David Wondrich

2 ounces genever, a.k.a. “Holland gin”.
1/2 teaspoon Maraschino liqueur.
1 scant teaspoon simple syrup.
1 dash absinthe, or substitutes like Pernod or Herbsaint.
2 dashes Angostura bitters.
1 thinly cut lemon twist.

Combine the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well (or stir) and strain into a chilled martini glass. Twist the swatch of lemon peel over the top, rub it around the rim of the glass, and drop it in.

Mr. Wondrich recommends a richer-tasting simple syrup made by dissolving two parts Demerara sugar, available in specialty shops, in one part boiling water.

The best genever readily available to us in the U.S. is Bols Genever, but Boomsma is also a good brand.

This one was nicely medicinal when I got home last night. I was feeling crappy all day and came home exhausted (even though it was a very light work day). It was very tasty, but sadly didn’t cure what ailed me; I’m home sick today (blecchh). Maybe try this one just for pleasure.

I don’t know anything about this drink’s origins — it was another gift from CocktailDB’s Random Recipe link. It kept coughing up pousse-cafés, but Wes only needed to click it about 15 times to come up with this one. The original recipe only called for one ounce of Cognac, but I think it’s even better with two.

Fioupe Cocktail

2 ounces Cognac.
1 ounce sweet vermouth.
1/2 ounce Bénédictine.

Stir with ice for no less than 30 seconds and
strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a
lemon twist and a stemless cherry.

There’s a little spelling variation; it was also listed as the “Froupe,” but I think this is the correct spelling. We particularly liked the double garnish, and noted that this drink warms up nicely as you sip.

Wes found this cocktail after about fifty clicks of the Random Recipe button at CocktailDB (“It was one friggin’ pousse-café after another!”) until it finally spat out one he liked. I liked it too.

He tried to have me guess the name. His hint? “I prefer the term ‘artificial person,’ myself.”

We bumped up the Bourbon a teeny bit; the original recipe called for 1 ounce.

The Bishop Cocktail

1-1/2 ounces Bourbon.
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth.
1 ounce orange juice.
Splash of Yellow Chartreuse.

Shake with ice for at least 10 seconds and strain into a cocktail glass.

Or you could try this hint: “‘Ow do you know what cocktail ‘e drinks?” “Tattooed on the back o’ his neck!” Oh, it’s the Bishop of Leicester …

We’ve got an inadvertent theme going this week — whiskey-based cocktails that are closely related to one another and yet very distinctly flavored.

We were back to Irish whiskey last night with this entry from Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology. Lovely drink, and a very close cousin (if not sibling) of my own St. Dominic’s Preview. The whiskey was once again Tullamore Dew, the bitters Regans’, and the vermouth Martini & Rossi.

The recipe specified a garnish of a green maraschino cherry, which visually is in keeping with the theme of this cocktail. Unfortunately green maraschino cherries are macerated in a mint syrup and taste absolutely vile, and fortunately we didn’t have any. A brandied one was substituted.

Dubliner

2 ounces Irish whiskey.
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth.
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier.
3 dashes orange bitters.

Stir with ice for no less than 30 seconds; strain into a cocktail glass.
Cherry garnish optional.

Up the Dubs! (Well, cocktail-wise, anyway. If I cared about such things I’d be a Galway man. Actually, on the rare opportunities I get to do so I love watching hurling; it’s really exciting.)

Hmm … do I need to invent a cocktail called “The Galwegian”?