Destinations: New Year's Parties 2011!!

Loungerati recommends the following events for your New Year's Eve celebrations. Kick off the fun one day early on New Year's Eve Eve at The Salon's annual party. Lounging, dancing, and great performances! Read more about the history of this alternative New Year's Party here. Then head to Brooklyn for a duo of unique events. Dress to the nines at a 1920s Formal ball at the Montauk Club or treat yourself to an evening of incredible cocktails and exotic fare inspired by the travels of drinks legend Charles H. Baker, Jr. at Fort Defiance.

New Year's Eve Eve - December 30, 2010

THE SALON - New Year's Eve Eve
at Rebel NYC
Doors open and live music begins at 8:00pm
Sponsored by Hendricks Gin and Milagro Tequila

REBEL, boasts Brazilian-walnut...dance floors, numerous bars, a state of the art sound system and we now have all 3 floors (13,000sq ft!) for your dancing and lounging pleasure. 

On the Main Dance Floor:
THE GEORGE GEE SWING ORCHESTRA
featuring vocalists Hilary Gardner and John Dokes

in the Lounge:
QUEEN ESTHER & THE HOT FIVE
Grand Prize Winner, Jazzmobile Vocal Competition, 2008

THE FRIED BANANAS
Imported from Boston, this band kicks-off the BLUES ROOM at midnight - along with DJ LadyBlues, spinning until the wee hours.

MICHAEL ARENELLA TRIO
Special late night set in the VIP lounge

Dandy Wellington's MADE TO MEASURE BAND
Playing an early set on the mezzanine and a late night set on the mainstage.

In addition to live music all night long, The Salon proudly presents:

THE MINSKY SISTERS
The '20's Tap Dancing Sensation

MISS RUBY VALENTINE
The Alabaster Beauty... As seen on MAD MEN

LEGS MALONE
The girl with The Thirty-Four and a Half Inch Inseam

DANDY WELLINGTON
Emcee Extraordinaire

DJ's by Swing Remix
SPENCER WEISBOND and PAOLO LANNA will keep ya dancing all night long.

+ FREE beginner swing lesson at 8:15 by Spencer Weisbond!

Behind the bars:
ERYN REECE
Guest Mixlologist from Mayahuel

FREDO
Loungerati.com

The Salon has been sponsored by HENDRICKS GIN and MILAGRO TEQUILA! The first 100 guests to arrive at The Salon will receive a complimentary Hendricks or Milagro cocktail; doors open at 8pm and it's first-come-first-serve, so arrive early! In addition Milagro is offering free tastings of their tequilas from 10pm to midnight!

HAVE WE GOT A DEAL FOR YOU...
$20 - Early Advance Online (thru Dec 5th)
$25 - Advance Online (from Dec. 6th - Dec. 30th)
$30 - at the door (cash only)

for advance tickets and more info, go to:
http://www.thesalon.biz/

REBEL NYC
251 west 30th Street
(between 7th and 8th Ave) 
New York, NY
21+ ID required


New Year's Eve, Friday December 31st

For the Dancers and Jazz lovers

2011 Formal Ball at the Montauk Club
featuring Michael Arenella's Dreamland Orchestra
Dinner at 7PM
Drinks & Dancing at 8:30PM - 2:00AM
$75 PER PERSON - OPEN BAR
$140 PER PERSON - DINNER & OPEN BAR

Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra perform sweet and swinging '30s/'40s era standards for your listening and dancing pleasure. Featuring The Minsky Sisters Ring in the New Year with us in the Montauk Club's historic and luxurious ballroom.

General Admission Ticket - $75 (includes open bar)
General Admission tickets are available at BrownPaperTickets.com.
There will be no tickets available at the door, so please purchase your tickets in advance!

Dinner and Open Bar Ticket - $160
*taxes and service charges included*
Enjoy dinner in the Montauk Club's dining room, including the full service open bar.
Guests who would like to dine must first purchase a General Admission ticket at BrownPaperTickets.com, then email Jen@Dreamlandorchestra.com to make your dinner reservation.

Ticket sales end on 12/30 at midnight.

The Montauk Club
25 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY
www.montaukclub.com
718.638.0800


For the Cocktail Lovers

Fort Defiance Cafe and Bar in Red Hook
NEW YEAR'S EVE: An Evening with Charles H. Baker, Jr. 
St. John Frizell and his crew will be serving a five-course prix-fixe menu inspired by the travels of our favorite globetrotting adventurer of the Cocktail Age, featuring Deviled Lobster from Cat Cay, the Bahamas; the Imperial Cossack Crusta from Shanghai; the Rangoon Star Ruby from Lower-Burmah; and much more! $95 includes five courses, paired wine, and cocktails. Make reservations today!

Fort Defiance
365 Van Brunt
Brooklyn, NY
www.fortdefiancebrooklyn.com
347.453.6672

What We're Drinking: Mexican Firing Squad Special

One of my favorite tequila cocktails is the Mexican Firing Squad Special. This Charles H. Baker cocktail was allegedly created by traveling bon vivant after an evening in Mexico City being "herded into fancy, dull places, served too warm drinks. And finally on 1 occasion we broke off by ourself, sought out this bar, (and) ordered things our own way."

Partida Blanco is smooth 80 proof 100% agave tequila with a crisp and dry finish. It's bouquet has a delicate hint of citrus and slight floral aroma. Partida's tequilas are "estate-grown premium tequila" from the village of Amatitan in the heart of the Tequila distilling region. The Blanco is unaged and thus blends well in mixed cocktails such as the Mexican Firing Squad Special. Partida also produces excellent Reposado (aged 6 months), the Anejo (aged 18 months), and Extra Anejo Elegante (aged 36 months) types of tequila. The Reposado would also work in this cocktail.


Mexican Firing Squad Special
3 oz Partida Blanco tequila
1 oz lime juice
3/4 oz grenadine
2 dashes Angostura bitters

I "improved" this recipe by substituting Al Wadi Pomegranate molasses (1/2 oz) for the grenadine and Bitter Truth Bittermans Xocolatl Mole bitters for the Angostura.

Combine the ingredients and dry shake, then add cracked ice and shake until ice cold. Then strain into the Collins glass packed with cracked ice. Garnish with lime wedge or if you are Charles H. Baker bored of warm drinks in Mexico City - pineapple, orange slice, and a cherry! What a nightcap!

Optional: Top with seltzer water and you get the fizz version of the cocktail.

You may obtain Al Wadi pomegranate molasses at Sahadi Importing Company in Brooklyn or Kalustyan's who sell this product at their online shop. The Bitter Truth Bittermans Xocolatl Mole bitters is available at Cocktail Kingdom and the Boston Shaker.

Where to get it: The Franklin Mortgage & Investment Company, Philadelphia, Freemans, NYC, Mayahuel, NYC, The Varnish, Los Angeles, and the Zig Zag Cafe, Seattle.

(Bottom Photo courtesy of Seven Red, taken at the Franklin)

Wayne Curtis on Charles H. Baker in Atlantic Magazine

I don't usually quote or link to other articles, however I do not usually come across a great article on Charles H. Baker, Jr. cocktails AND Fort Defiance in Red Hook. So here is a passage which I sums up Baker's work and how cocktailians feel about it.

Baker was a bon vivant who wrote about food and cocktails for Esquire, Gourmet, and Town & Country. Today, he is best remembered for writing The Gentleman’s Companion: Being an Exotic Drinking Book or,Around the World With Jigger, Beaker and Flask, in 1939. It remains a tour de force. Flipping through its pages is like stepping into a dusky hunting club where the trophy mounts are cocktails such as the Sahara Glowing Heart and La Zaragozana’s Ne Plus Ultra, and where Baker sits in his cracked leather chair, recounting the story behind each. (Of a cocktail called Between the Sheets, he wrote, “We ran into it one dank day of sleet and rain in early January, just after the first Arab-Jewish riots which started with a murder of a poor old man stoned to death in a Haifa melon patch, between halves of a soccer match.”)

For the entirety of Wayne Curtis' article on Atlantic Wire click here. I did not try the three cocktails mentioned during my two week expedition...I think a Between The Sheets is in order!

Between the Sheets
3/4 oz cognac
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz London dry gin
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
Baker: “Shake briskly with lots of cracked ice and serve in a Manhattan glass.”

(photo of Baker courtesy of St. John Frizzell)

Gentleman's Companion Day 14 - Santiago Nightcap

by Fredo

Tonight is the last night of my two week journey tasting cocktails from Charles H. Baker, Jr.'s Gentleman's Companion: Vol II. So why not end it with a proper nightcap, one that Baker claims to have imbibed during "a stay in Santiago de Cuba, in early spring of 1930." The Santiago Nightcap.

Mr. Baker continues his free publicity for the Bacardi company in his description of this fin de nuit potable. The recipe has been passed down to him by "Senor Facundo Bacardi" via a field representative. I decided to stick with authentic Cuban rum.

SANTIAGO NIGHTCAP
1 1/2 jiggers (2 oz) of Gold Seal Bacardi (I used Havana Club Anejo 5 year)
1 pony (1 oz) of orange curacao
yolk of one egg

Shake hard with cracked ice and strain into a large saucer champagne glass (I used a chilled coupe).

The drink is the color of vanilla pudding and the consistency of a flip. At first sip, one gets the orange curacao, the slight bitterness of the orange like flavor mix with the caramel, and molasses of the aged Rum. It goes down creamy and smooth.

Where to get a Santiago Nightcap? Heaven's Dog in San Francisco has a Charles H. Baker. Jr influenced cocktail menu. I am very sure their barkeepers could whip one up for you before you call it a night.

I have certainly learned from my endeavor. My favorites where his Cuban drinks. The Daisy de Santiago, The Remember the Maine, the Hotel Nacional Special top the list. There are so any others I didn't chronicle but drank during my quest, including the Ramos Fizz and the Pan American Clipper. I highly encourage you to buy Jigger, Beaker, & Glass: Drinking Around the World, which is the republished version of the Gentleman's Companion: Vol II, and sample some of these 267 exotic drinks from the golden era of cocktails.

Gentleman's Companion Day 13 - The Athol Brose

I am nearing the end of my two week journey into the world of Charles H. Baker, Jr. cocktails. There are still many great cocktails to sample. So I am ending with two classics. For Day 13, I am mixing up a Scottish classic called the Athol Brose.

Mr. Baker documents three types of Athol Brose drinks. He writes of the drink, "an odd Scottish institution which, like many things Scottish, is founded on mighty good reason, & is guaranteed to profit its user." The ingredients and proportions are nearly identical in all three versions, the only difference being preparation and service. Athol Brose No I, he instructs to mix well, warm slightly to make smooth." This can be achieved by dry shaking first and then adding ice and shaking. This version is served up.

The Athol Brose No II needs one "heaping" tsp of strained honey versus one part, 4 jiggers (6 oz of Scotch), pored into a tumbler (or two), then fill tumbler with heated milk. Cool before serving. This seems like it would be a good winter night's potation. Maybe spiked with a bit of Drambuie.

The third iteration of the Athol Brose is a carbon copy of the second but advocates a 1/2 part strained honey. I imagine it is imbibed like egg nog or a winter punch, so I would used a small glass.

Mr. Baker specifies using "ancient scotch" but I think a decent blend like Famous Grouse works quite well. I have had the Number One at several reputable cocktail establishments so I went with that recipe.

ATHOL BROSE

1 part Really old Scotch (I used 2 oz of my standard blend, Famous Grouse)

1 part strained honey (I used honey syrup)

1 part heavy cream

Method: Dry shake, then shake rigorously over ice, then double strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish necessary.

I enjoy the layering of flavors in the Athol Brose. First you get the creamy honey of the thick head on the drink. Then the scotch's peaty and robust taste. It goes down fast and should be imbibed as a night cap or right before a meal.

Where to get this cocktail? I recently had a expertly made Athol Brose at Milk & Honey in New York.

- Fredo

Gentleman's Companion Day 12 - The Porto Flip

by Fredo

For the delicious Porto Flip, I decided that a trip to Fort Defiance in Red Hook, Brooklyn was in order. St. John Frizzell the proprietor of the new cocktail destination is known to make delicious Charles H. Baker, Jr. cocktails. I sampled several including the Remember The Maine and the Daisy de Santiago. So when it came time for a nightcap, I had to go with this gem that Mr. Baker imbibed at the Army & Navy Club, in Manila, Philippines back in 1931.


PORTO FLIP
Port Wine, 2 jiggers
Egg, fresh essentially, 1 whole
Thick cream, 1 pony
Cognac, 1 pony
Sugar, 2 scant tsp
Chartreuse, 1 tsp (though the color is not specified, St. John used Green - clearly he knows Baker very well!)
Grated nutmeg

Mix the concoction over ice, shake hard, and serve in a small goblet, floating the Chartreuse on top with a bar spoon, then dust with grated nut meg.

Smooth, well balanced, with significant kick and layering of flavors. This was the best flip I ever had. Perfect capper for a crisp Autumn night.

I also wanted to add a Happy Birthday to our pal Morey who made his Red Hook debut thanks to a sold out Burlesque Festival and a Big Grazie Mille to St. John Frizzell who indulged our merry band with lovely cocktails and hospitality!

(Photo courtesy of Morey Kunin)

Gentleman's Companion - Day 11 - The Cuba Libre

by Fredo

OK. I know what you are thinking. Fredo is taking the easy way out. Well, in a way I am. I was rushed for time, but still had to adhere to the Charles H. Baker, Jr. regiment, so I am taking a freebie - THE CUBA LIBRE. Actually, Mr. Baker goes into this drink at some length in his book. He is pissed off about how he can get these "Kooba Lee-brays" all over the country. The problem with this drink is "that it started by accideent and without imagination, has been carried along by the ease of its supply. Under any condition it is too sweet."

So to improve this situation, Mr. Baker offers an Improved version of the recipe:

1 big jigger (I interpret this as 2 full ounces) of Rum (Barcardi white was my choice)
the juice of 1 small green lime and the lime peel after squeezing. Put in Collins glass, muddle well, add ice and fill with Coca-Cola. Stir once and imbibe!

I agree. What started as a freebie turned into a refreshing tropic cocktail with a kick. Rum and coke it ain't - sorry haters!!!

Gentleman's Companion - Day 9 - Admiral Schley Punch

by Fredo

A nautical drink to help me wind down another choppy day on the line. Mr. Baker doesn't offer much history or details around this thirst quencher, besides:

"This is supposed to have been named after the American admiral and we shouldn't mind such a pleasant piece of business being called after us."

ADMIRAL SCHLEY PUNCH
St. Croix rum, 1/2 jigger (3/4 oz of Cruzan Black Strap from St. Croix)
Bourbon, 1/2 jigger (Buffalo Trace 90 proof Bourbon)
Sugar, 1 tsp
Lime, peel and juice, 1

Shake with fine ice, and turn into goblet - ice and all. Garnish with sprigs of mint, a stick of ripe pineapple, and so on. (I skipped the pineapple but the mint made it julep-esque). Delicious cocktail, sweet, sour, and a bit boozy, ahoy there!

*Admiral Winfield Scott Schley (Oct 9, 1839 - Oct 2, 1911) According to wikipedia - Schley was commissioned Commodore on 6 February 1898, and on 24 March, although lowest on the list of Commodores, he was put in command of the Flying Squadron, with Brooklyn (CA-3) as his flagship, for service in the Spanish-American War. He was made Rear Admiral in 1899.

Gentleman's Companion - Day 8 - The Daiquiri

by Fredo

I chose the "immortal DAIQUIRI" as my drink this evening for several reasons. One, Autumn is about to get in full swing, so this is the last chance for a tropical drink. And two, I have procured a bottle of five year old Havana Club Anejo Rum. So I really didn't have a choice.

Charles H. Baker, Jr. holds the Daiquiri in the same league as "the Martini, Manhattan, Side Car, and other immortals." He claims to have imbibed this cocktail in such famous Cuban haunts as "the Havana Yacht Club, Country Club, Hotel Nacional -between revolutionary bombings-Sloppy Joe's, La Florida, the Bacardi Building..." and it seems every place in between New York and Shanghai. Have Daiquiri ingredients, will travel should have been Mr. Baker's mantra.

Baker credits the invention of the Daiquiri to one Harry E. Stout and an engineer named Mr. Jennings Cox. This momentous occasion occurred during the summer of 1898 in the village of Daiquiri in Oriente province. The Yellow fever was rampant and one couldn't drink the water. So these two Yanks tinkered around with boiled water and rum, then added lime, dropped the water, added a sugar to "modify the acid." And voila! While Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders took San Juan Hill, Messieurs Stout and Cox were throwing back Daiquiris. Therefore, Mr. Baker advocates the "original Harry Stout-Jennings Cox mixture for the Original Cuban Daiquiri":

The DAIQUIRI
1 whisk(e)y glass level full of Carta Blanca or Carta de Oro Bacardi rum (I used 2 oz of Havana Club Anejo)
2 tsp of sugar (I used 1 oz of demerara simple syrup)
the juice of 1 1/2 small green lines (about 1/2 oz fresh lime)

Shake very hard over cracked ice and pour ice and all into a tall flute cocktail glass. (I strained out the ice, I like my Daiquiris up)

Baker warns not to make the drink too sweet. So ease up on the sugar, use simple syrup. The sour lime juice flavor with just a hint of sweetness, mixes perfectly with the chilled aged Rum. If using dark or aged rum, use less sugar. White rum, more sugar.

Where to get a great Daiquiri? The JakeWalk on Smith Street in Brooklyn. Barkeeps Ari Form and Matt Devriendt use Zacapa 23 Year Rum from Guatemala, serve it in a vintage crystal goblet, and leave you with the best Daiquiri north of the Tropic of Cancer.

Gentleman's Companion - Day 7 - Mid-Ocean Highball

by Fredo

Tough day at work and I'm in the mood for a stiff drink with a splash of effervescence. I leafed through The Gentleman's Companion: Vol II and found just what I was looking for, THE MID-OCEAN HIGHBALL. Mr. Baker refuses to acknowledge this drink as a "highball", he writes "contrary to native title is a legitimate fizz, being an exotic from Bermuda." He is partially right. I wouldn't classify this cocktail as a fizz anymore then I would call it a highball. There is no citrus and only chilled soda to taste. Also the gin, cognac, and vermouth seems wasted in a highball glass. So I went with serving the "highball" err I mean "fizz" in a chilled coupe.

THE MID-OCEAN HIGHBALL
1 jigger of old Tom gin (I used Hayman's Old Tom Gin)
1/2 jigger cognac (I used Hennessey)
1/2 jigger of French vermouth (Noilly Pratt)
2 dashes of orange bitters (Regan's)
Club soda

Shake well with cracked ice, strain into chilled highball glass and add chilled club soda to taste. Twist on a bit of green lime peel. (I stirred the drink).

Where to get this drink? Good question. I have never seen it on a local cocktail menu; I assume they still serve it at the Mid-Ocean Club in Hamilton, Bermuda. However, if you aren't game to hop the Pan American clipper, there is one place one could ask for the Mid-Ocean and get served proper - St. John Frizzel's Fort Defiance in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The man knows his Baker cocktails.

Gentleman's Companion - Day 6 - New Orleans Fizz

by Fredo

Tonight, I am capping off the weekend with a NEW ORLEANS FIZZ No. I, with old Tom gin and Kirschwasser*. This cocktail is a cousin of the Ramos Gin Fizz (which I will be drinking in a week or so)with a slight bouquet of cherries.

NEW ORLEANS FIZZ
1 1/2 jiggers (2 oz) of gin (I used Hayman's Old Tom Gin)
1 pony of thick cream (I used heavy cream)
The white of one egg
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of kirsch (I used Hiram Walker)
Splash of club soda

Combine in Shaker over cracked ice, and strain into goblet (I used a chilled high ball glass)and top off with club soda.

*Kirschwasser is a German cherry brandy made from fermented black cherries and distilled in wood containers.

Gentleman's Companion - Day 5 - The Astor Hotel Special

by Fredo

To celebrate five days of Charles H. Baker, Jr. cocktails from the Gentleman's Companion, Vol II: The Exotic Drinking Book, I decided on a drink that travels the same way as our protagonist - first class. Mr. Baker describes the cocktail, THE ASTOR HOTEL SPECIAL as" from Shanghai, during a Trip around the word in the Year 1926, & on the occasion of our becoming marooned in that city, with our own ship & personal belongings gone on to HongKong, & with a delightful young maiden by whom we were later rejected in marriage, & who later distinguished herself by espousing a very nice gentleman whose main claim to fame is that he was once kidnapped by Karpis* prior to the latter's entering his suite in Alcatraz."

Can you imagine being "marooned in Shanghai" at, God Forbid - The Astor Hotel? So naturally they went right for the Cognac and Absinthe. Proposed to some dame at the bar (I'm sure there were others)who later became entangled with a victim of the Ma Barker gang. Some life this guy is leading. He is the Indiana Jones of pre-second world war cocktails.

THE ASTOR HOTEL SPECIAL
Cognac, 1 jigger (I used Hennessey VS)
Maraschino, 1 tsp (Luxardo)
Egg white, 2 tsp (in retrospect I should have used a whole small egg)
Absinthe, 1/2 jigger (Pastis 51 instead)
Lemon juice, strained 1/2 tsp (I followed the recipe but 1/4 oz would due)
Club soda (splash at the end)

Shake well with cracked ice, strain into a tall wine goblet (I used a coupe) then top off with chilled soda.

Make no mistake, you taste the 3/4 ounces of anisette flavor regardless if using pastis or absinthe. The cognac takes a back seat. I think more cognac (2 full ounces), lemon and egg white would have embodied the cocktail with a more robust flavor and lessened the effect of the anisette. I like this drink, for sure, however, I wanted a hint of pastis not a full palate of the flavor.

* Karpis - Alvin "Creepy" Karpis (1907 -1979), a member of the notorious Barker gang of the 1930s who kidnapped millionaire William Hamm, a Minnesota brewer. (source: Wikipedia)

Gentleman's Companion - Day 4 - Hotel Nacional Special

by Fredo

I would have to say that there are easily a dozen cocktail recipes from Cuba in the Gentleman's Companion, Vol II. Charles H. Baker, Jr. must have spent many years there in a pickled haze. That said my next drink was one of Baker's trifecta* of "Bacardi Drinks", Wil P. Taylor's HOTEL NACIONAL SPECIAL.

Wil P. Taylor is apparently a fellow bon vivant that Baker and his crowd encounter on a trans-Atlantic cruise several years before. Taylor ends up managing the grand Hotel Nacional in Havana around the time of the Revolution of 1933 that brought Generalissimo Batista out of the barracks and into the Presidential Palace. He is another Bacardi-phile and basically adds apricot brandy and pineapple juice to the Daiquiri, hold the sugar, and successfully keeps the sweetness.

HOTEL NACIONAL SPECIAL
Carta de Oro Bacardi, 1 jigger (I stuck with the Serrellas Don Q Gold)
Lime juice, 1/2 (jigger I assume)
Fresh pineapple juice, 1 jigger (I used Dole canned juice)
Dry Apricot brandy, 1 tsp (I used Rothman & Winter Apricot liqueur)

Shake with cracked ice, stain, serve in tall cocktail glass (I went with a coupe glass)with a stem.

The pineapple juice provides a really nice foam that one would usually need egg white to create. It also brings in a sweetness that doesn't overwhelm the citrus of the lime or the hint of apricot. A refreshing rum cocktail as we say adios to summer.

You can get your own Hotel Nacional Special at Clover Club in Brooklyn, NY. I believe it is on their latest menu.

*Winning is the DAISY de SANTIAGO, Placing is the DAIQUIRI.

Gentleman's Companion - Day 3 - Daisy de Santiago

by Fredo

From Bombay back to Cuba, this time to the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, for Charles H. Baker, Jr.'s DAISY de SANTIAGO which the world traveling journalist characterized as,"..a lovely thing introduced to us through the gracious offices of the late Facuno Bacardi, of lamented memory."

Baker goes on to laud the Bacardi people, crediting them with the "immortal" Daiquiri and going on about the free booze at their tasting location in Havana. I can't really imagine Mr. Baker or his entourage ever really had to pay for liquor, whether that be in the Pearl of the Antilles or elsewhere in their travels.

Though Bacardi, specifically Carta de Oro is clearly Baker's first choice for most rum drinks, I did not have any at the home bar. So I substituted Serralles Don Q Gold from Puerto Rico, which was given to me at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans by the distiller. The recipe:

DAISY de SANTIAGO
1 1/2 jiggers of Rum
The strained juice of 1 green lime
1 - 1 1/2 tsp of bar syrup (I used simple syrup rather than gum)
1/2 jigger of yellow Chartreuse (float)
Splash of club soda

Fill big thin goblet to the brim with shaved ice (I used a chilled high ball glass). In a bar glass, add the Rum, lime, syrup, stir well and pour over the ice into the glass, stir once more, garnish with mint and fresh fruit (I skipped the fruit), and float the yellow Chartreuse. A splash of club soda "adds a sparkle."

The Daisy is reminiscent of the Daiquiri, yet is sweet and fizzy. Slightly tart at the beginning thanks to the lime, as Baker points out, the yellow Chartreuse sweetens up the drink. The splash of soda adds effervescence to an already refreshing cocktail.Salud!

Where to get a DAISY de SANTAIGO? Try The Varnish in Los Angeles, California.

Gentleman's Companion - Day 2 - Turf Cocktail No 2

by Fredo

I bet you thought I'd quit after that Remember the Maine huh? Well not even a late night at the office job can stop me and besides it is only day 2 forchrisake. So for the second act, I decided on another favorite, the TURF COCKTAIL No. II

Charles H. Baker, Jr. describes this cocktail as coming "from the Taj Mahal Hotel, on Apollo Bundar, Bombay, Saturday February 14th, 1931, to be exact; served after the running of the Maharajah of Rajpipla Gold Cup at the Western India Turf Club."

After winning 67 rupees, Baker and his cohorts decided they wanted something other than scotch, and after the staff whipped up this delicious cousin of the gin martini which lives on to this day in fine cocktail parlors:

1 jigger of dry gin (I went with Beefeater, only because I was out of Plymouth)
1 pony of French Vermouth (I used the Noilly Pratt)
1 tsp of Absinthe (I used Pernod)
1 tsp of Maraschino (I used Luxardo)
dash of orange or Abbots bitters (I used Regan's)

Stir in bar glass "like a Martini and serve in Manhattan glass, ungarnished" check and check.

Bartender Giuseppe Gonzalez made me a Turf No 2 several months ago and his rendition is clear. The Noilly Pratt gave my version a yellow color, so I am curious to know what type of vermouth he used. But the taste is unmistakable. A medley of botanicals from the maraschino and absinthe mixes with vermouth. Beefeater, a tough as nails gin, stands up well to the flavor assault.

Where to get this cocktail, try Dutch Kills in Long Island City, Queens, NY.

The Gentleman's Companion - Day 1 - Remember The Maine

by Fredo

"We are still heartily of the opinion that decent libation supports as many million lives as it threatens; donates pleasure and sparkle to more lives than it shadows; inspires more brilliance in the world of art, music, letters, and common ordinary intelligent conversation, than it dims." - Charles H. Baker, Jr.

To kick off my favorite season, sweet, sweet Autumn, I am embarking on a trip in renown tippler and world traveler Charles H. Baker Jr.'s shoes. For the next two weeks, I will enjoy one cocktail daily from The Gentleman's Companion: Volume II originally published in 1939. I know this type of trip has been done before. I am not doing this to be original but rather as a challenge to my palate and cocktail knowledge. It will require fortitude, discipline, and a cast iron liver at times. There will be no repeats and though I have never attempted a cocktail marathon I've been training for years.

My first drink is the REMEMBER THE MAINE.

Baker describes the drink as "a hazy memory of a night in Havana during the unpleasantness of 1933*. when each swallow was punctuated with bombs going off on the Prado, or the sounds of 3" shells being fired at the Hotel Nacional, then Haven for certain anti-revolutionary officers."

REMEMBER THE MAINE
1 jigger (1 1/2 oz) of good rye whiskey (I used Rittenhouse Rye 100 proof)
1/2 jigger (3/4 oz) of Italian vermouth (I used Carpano Antica formula)
1 to 2 tsp of cherry brandy (I used Cherry Herring)
1/2 tsp of absinthe (I substituted Pastis 51)

Stir briskly in a clock-wise fashion and serve in up twisting a curl of green lime or lemon peel. (We went with lemon.)Though Mr. Baker suggest serving into a chilled saucer champagne glass, I decided to go with a chilled highball glass.

This cocktail is quite potent so I substituted Pastis 51 instead of Absinthe which would have put it over the top. It reminds me of a Manhattan cocktail but sweeter thanks to the cherry herring and yes has the unmistakable hint of anisette flavor due to the Pastis. The recipe would probably is better with a lemon peel but lime could also do the job of adding a bit of citrus to cut the sweetness.

Other places that I recommend to enjoy this authentic Charles H. Baker, Jr. cocktail: Fort Defiance and Clover Club in Brooklyn, NY, USA.

* Baker refers to the Revolution of 1933 in his description of Remember the Maine. Out of the "unpleasantness" came Fulgencio Batista, the strong man who would rule Cuba on and off until being deposed by Fidel Castro in 1959.