Vintage American Cocktails

Invented somewhere around the early 1900s, this cocktail was named after a broadway show called The Pink Lady. Oddly enough, this old-time pink cocktail shares a similar history to a more modern pink cocktail, the Cosmopolitan. Both are incredible drinks that became wildly popular during their days but soon fell from favor as they became associated with being girly drinks. However, the Cosmo and Pink Lady are nothing to mess with. Both of these drinks taste amazing and will lay you out if made right. So if drinking a Pink Lady is girly, count me one of the girls.

The common story is the Pink Lady Cocktail was named after the 1911 musical comedy play “The Pink Lady” by Charles Morton Stewart McLellan. But it is not like the name pink lady was uncommon. There is an orchid named the Pink Lady’s Slipper. Vanilla ice cream with strawberry syrup was sometimes called a pink lady sundae.

How To Get Great Foam On Cocktails With Egg Whites.

Egg Whites are challenging to get right in cocktails. Everyone struggles with them at some point, and bartenders search for any way to make whipping them into a fluffy meringue easier. Henry Ramos hired “shaker boys” to shake for him. Some use the dry shake or reverse dry shake, others swear by only using one large ice cube, and some say you have to shake till your arms fall off. The method I like is called the Saxe Shake, and De Forest Saxe invented it in the 1880s.

The Saxe Shake is largely unknown in the cocktail world because De Forest Saxe was a soda fountain operator in Chicago, Illinois. His 1890 book “Saxe’s New Guide Hints to Soda Water Dispensers” details his shaking technique for egg drinks that produces the best foam and can be accomplished with minimal effort. Saxe states to shake drinks with eggs with only one chestnut-sized ice cube. An Ice cube from a standard ice tray is about chestnut-sized, so one or two small cubes will work. Then shake until the ice fully melts, and pour into the serving glass without straining. The small amount of ice is just enough to cool and dilute the drink, and since there are no remaining bits of ice left in the shaker, there is nothing to strain. Passing the mixture through a strainer destroys most of the bubbles you worked so hard to make. As you add soda water, the escaping carbon dioxide fills the tiny bubbles in the drink, forcing them to expand and form a large fluffy foam. Give it a try. Using the Saxe Shake, I have turned out Ramos Gin Fizzes as fast and efficiently as any other shaken cocktail with excellent results.

Recipe Resources

• 1913 Straub’s Manual of Mixed Drinks – Straub
• 1915 The Dispenser’s Formula – Haynes
• 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book – Craddock