New York Sour – Original Recipe & History

New York Sour
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New York Sour

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

100

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic New York Sour

Ingredients

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Simple Syrup

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Lemon Juice

  • 2 oz 2 Rye Whiskey

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Red Wine

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker except for the red wine.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.
  • Top with a dry red wine.

Featured Video

The History Of The New York Sour

The oldest recipe for the New York Sour comes from H. O. Byron’s 1884 Book “The Modern Bartenders’ Guide.” Although he refers to it as the “Continental Sour.” The Recipe is:

  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 oz lemon Juice
  • 2 oz whiskey or other liquor
  • Shake, strain, and dash the top with claret

Byron’s recipe is too dry to float wine on top so the wine would simply mix in. The next appearance of the continental sour is from George Kappeler’s 1895 book Modern American Drinks. His recipe is a bit more open and only describes it as a sour topped with red wine. Depending on how sweet the sour cocktail is it would be possible to float a dry red wine on top. His Recipe is:

Make a plain sour of the desired liquor and top off with claret

Claret is the British term for Bordeaux or a blended Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Not that it really matters. More importantly, the wine should be dry so that it will float on top of the sour. Also of interest is that the continental sour can be based on any sour with a float of wine. The preference seems to be toward whiskey, but the main quality is the addition of red wine at the end. This reminds me of the earliest versions of the Manhattan that could be any base spirit as long as it was mixed with Angostura bitters and sweet vermouth. Making these more of a style than a specific recipe. Within a decade, the Manhattan officially became just a whiskey cocktail, and by the early 1910s, the continental sour officially became just a whiskey cocktail along with its name changing to New York Sour.

The earliest use of the name New York Sour comes from the 1913 book “The Cocktail Book A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen” by Fredrick Knowles. This is also a whiskey cocktail, but his recipe is impossible to float wine on top of because it has very little sugar. The recipe I am proving here is scaled to let the red wine float on top.

Recipe Resources

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Monte Carlo – Classic Recipe & History

Monte Carlo
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Monte Carlo

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

150

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

How to make a Monte Carlo.

Ingredients

  • 2 dashes 2 Angostura Bitters

  • 1 oz 1 Benedictine

  • 2 oz 2 Rye Whiskey

Directions

  • Technique: Simple Stir
  • Combine all ingredients in the mixing glass.
  • Add ice to the mixing glass.
  • Stir the ingredients for 10 – 15 seconds. Try to avoid over-diluting the drink.
  • Strain into a glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Lemon peel

Featured Video

The History Of The Monte Carlo

The earliest printed recipe for the Monte Carlo I can find comes from the 1948 Book “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks” by David Embury. The Monte Carlo is a rye whiskey variation of the older Kentucky Colonel cocktail, which uses bourbon instead. Named after the prominent ward of Monaco, the Monte Carlo is a beautiful blend of sweet herbs and spices. The sharp, spicy flavors of the rye whiskey are cut by the sweet herbal flavors of the benedictine, and the two come together in a wonderfully balanced cocktail. This is a must-try if you’re a fan of the Bobby Burns or Manhattan.

Recipe Resources

I have the 1961 edition linked below because that is the only one I can find for free online, but this cocktail is the same as the 1948 edition.

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Texas Iced Tea – Original Recipe & History

Texas Iced Tea
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Texas Iced Tea

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

300

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a Texas Iced Tea.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Sweet and Sour Mix

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Orange Liqueur

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Vodka

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 White Rum

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Dry Gin

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Silver Tequila

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Rye Whiskey

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Coca-Cola

Directions

  • Technique: Tiki Dirty Pour
  • Combine all ingredients, except for the soda, into a shaker with crushed ice.
  • Vigorously shake the shaker for 10 seconds.
  • Dirty pour the whole shaker into a glass. Crushed ice and all.
  • Top the drink off with soda.
  • Garnish:
  • Lemon wheel

Featured Video

What Does The Texas Iced Tea Taste Like?

The Texas Iced taste resembles the standard Long Island Iced Tea. It’s a bit boozier, but it’s not bad. The kind of whiskey used will make all the difference. Irish whiskey is fun because it adds a nice smokey flavor to it. Scotch differs depending on the manufacture and region, but softer, milder scotch is a miss. It just gets lost. Any smoother whiskeys, regardless of style, are pointless in this cocktail. Bourbon is toasted caramel flavors, but it too is a bit weak in the Texas Iced Tea. The best whiskey for a drink like this is rye.

The recipe I have provided uses Robert “Rosebud” Butt’s original Long Island recipe with the addition of 1 oz of rye whiskey. I don’t know if the original 1980s T.G.I. Friday’s recipe used rye, but I figured rye would be the best way for the whiskey to make a noticeable difference in such a sizeable boozy drink. Bourbon’s softer, sweeter flavor is a bit lost in the Texas Iced Tea, but rye’s more robust spicier flavor is more noticeable.

The History Of The Texas Iced Tea

The Texas Iced Tea was invented by T.G.I. Fridays in 1980 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its parent company Carlson. T.G.I. Fridays is often mistaken for inventing the Long Island Iced Tea, and while they didn’t, It is still one of the most popular drinks they sell. Although T.G.I. Fridays did create several popular variations. They made four variations: the Sparkling Iced Tea, the Long Beach Iced Tea, the Caribbean Iced Tea, and the Texas Iced Tea. The Sparkling Iced Tea replaced the Coca-Cola with champagne. The Long Beach Iced Tea replaced Coca-Cola with cranberry juice. The Caribbean Iced Tea used blue-orange liqueur instead of clear to give the drink a light green color and left out the Coke. And the Texas Ice Tea added an additional ounce of whiskey.

I understand this is supposed to be a vintage cocktail resource, and while T.G.I. Fridays is not seen as a high-end bar today, it once was. The first T.G.I. Fridays was opened in 1965 by Alan Stillman. Stillman lived on 63rd Street between First and York in New York and, while surrounded by single attractive working women, had a hard time meeting any. Alan liked to go out after work, and believe it or not, many bars in the 1960s still had policies that no women could enter unless they were with a man. Hell, women couldn’t have bank accounts until the 1960s, and it wasn’t the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 that women could get an account without a father or husband to manage it. But back to cocktails. Obviously, not every bar was like this, and some areas were more progressive than others, but there was still a culture of bars being too rough for single vulnerable women. Some high-end bars excluded single women, fearing their presence would distract business-minded men from making deals. Even though prohibition had helped lessen the stigma of women publicly drinking, it still took activists like Betty Friedan and others to fully break down these barriers. Alan Stillman also helped break down these barriers when he opened T.G.I. Fridays, one of the United States’ first singles bar. The original intent of T.G.I Fridays was to offer a welcoming environment that felt like home where single women and men could meet. Women didn’t need to come with a man to enter. They served high-end drinks and well-made American food. Stillman may have been looking to meet women, but he inadvertently helped bring down some of the social barriers American women faced.

Recipe Resources

Texas Iced Tea Article

Original Long Island Iced Tea Recipe

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New Algonquin – Recipe & History

New Algonquin
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New Algonquin

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

139

kcal
ABV

20%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the New Algonquin cocktail.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz 1 Pineapple Juice

  • 1 oz 1 Dry Vermouth

  • 2 oz 2 Rye Whiskey

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.

Notes

Featured Video

The History Of The Algonquin Cocktails

I am able to find three unique Algonquin cocktail recipes, and I don’t think the three are related at all. The Oldest is from the 1926 book “The Cocktail Book” by L.C. Page. That recipe is just genever and wormwood bitters. The second is from 1935 book “Along the Wine Trail” by G. Selmer Fougner. That is the most commonly cited recipe, and in that book, it is called the “New Algonquin” cocktail. The Third recipe is from the 1951 book “Bottoms Up” by Ted Saucier. That recipe uses rum, blackberry brandy, benedictine, and lime juice. Ted Saucier, the lead publicist and historian for the Waldorf-Astoria after Crockett left, cites his recipe as the recipe used at the Algonquin Hotel. Saucier knew his stuff and is a very reputable source. He replaced Albert Crockett (The guy who wrote the Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book), and his book is notable for having the first Negroni recipe, saving the Last Word recipe, and along with Embury, accurately documenting post-prohibition New York cocktail culture.

Interest in the Algonquin stems from being the weekly meeting place for a group of influential New York authors during prohibition. The Algonquin Round Table, as the group became known, was made up of newspaper and magazine columnists, playwrights, actors, comedians, screenwriters, directors, and editors for major magazines. Needless to say, the group was very influential on the literary and art scene of the time.

People in the cocktail world are curious to know what this group drank, and the most common recipe used for the Algonquin cocktail is the New Algonquin recipe from the Fougner book. I personally don’t think this was the recipe used by the hotel and enjoyed by the members of the Algonquin Round Table. In fact, I don’t think this group ever actually enjoyed an alcoholic beverage there ever. The hotel owner and head manager, Frank Case, was a firm and vocal supporter of prohibition. Frank Case voted dry and voluntarily stopped serving alcohol at the Algonquin in 1917. Three years before the start of prohibition. The group met for ten years, beginning in 1919, and eventually stopped around 1929, four years before the end of prohibition. It’s doubtful this group ever had a cocktail there.

Algonquin is also not a unique word or name. Algonquin is the name of the indigenous people who occupied most of the North American northeast. The term Algonquin is everywhere. There are towns, lakes, gas stations, bars, restaurants, barbershops, etc., named Algonquin. It doesn’t mean much if the recipe from “Along the Wine Trail” and the hotel share the same name if the name is common. Fougner also never states that the recipe is from the hotel. It’s just called the “New Algonquin.” The only recipe of the three cited as the Algonquin hotel’s recipe is the Saucier one. Frank Case ran the Algonquin till his death in 1946. Considering Ted Saucier’s proximity to the New York drinking culture and hotel industry, the fact he was a skilled publicist and New York historian, and that he cites his explicitly as the hotel’s recipe, I imagine his was the authentic recipe used at the Algonquin Hotel after prohibition.

Again because the hotel was most likely genuinely dry, I doubt the famed Algonquin Round Table even had Saucier’s recipe. Regardless of wheater the New Algonquin cocktail from G. Selmer Fougner’s book is the authentic hotel recipe or not, it’s still a good drink that’s worth trying.

So if they couldn’t drink, why would this group of young artists and writers choose the Algonquin to meet? While a staunch dry, Frank Case was very supportive of the arts and especially authors. The group got to eat for free at their meetings, and visiting published authors got to stay at the hotel for free too. Frank Case went out of his way to accommodate the group, and the Algonquin continues Case’s support for authors today by providing published authors with a free or reduced stay at the hotel in exchange for a signed copy of their book.

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Honey Hole – Beautiful Floral Cocktail

Honey Hole
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Honey Hole

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

300

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

How to make the Honey Hole.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz 1 Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Honey Syrup

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Elderflower Liqueur

  • 2 oz 2 Rye Whiskey

Directions

  • Technique: Tiki Dirty Pour
  • Combine all ingredients into a shaker with crushed ice.
  • Vigorously shake for 10 seconds.
  • Dirty pour the whole shaker into a glass. Crushed ice and all.

Featured Video

What Does The Honey Hole Taste Like?

The honey hole is a beautiful blend of floral flavors with spice. The flowery sweetness of the elderflower liqueur and honey are balanced well with the spiciness of the rye. You can choose to pour this neat if you want for a short, strong pre-dinner cocktail or serve it up tiki-style and pour it dirty for a refreshing sipper. Either is good, but I choose to do it tiki-style for the photo because it is terrific served this way, and I feel this style of pouring is underrepresented.

This is not a classic cocktail, but one I made for a friend’s wedding I bartended for. The bride was on a big whiskey sour kick at the time and wanted that to be one of the drinks on the menu. They planned the wedding near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in a beautiful wildflower field, so I modified the cocktail to be floral. The bride pushed me to add the cocktail to the app and website and call it Jack’s honey hole, and while I enjoy a good dirty, off-color joke, I feel I should present the semblance of decency.

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Double Barrel – Original Recipe & History

Double Barrel
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Double Barrel

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

152

kcal
ABV

25%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a Double Barrel

Ingredients

  • 2 dashes 2 Angostura Bitters

  • 2 dashes 2 Orange Bitters

  • 1 oz 1 Sweet Vermouth

  • 1 oz 1 Dry Vermouth

  • 1 oz 1 Rye Whiskey

Directions

  • Technique: Simple Stir
  • Combine all ingredients in the mixing glass.
  • Add ice to the mixing glass.
  • Stir the ingredients for 10 – 15 seconds. Try to avoid over-diluting the drink.
  • Strain into a glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Maraschino cherries.

Notes

Featured Video

The Mighty Double Barrel Cocktail.

While not as alcoholic as a manhattan, it has much more flavor. For this cocktail, George Kappeler just put it all together. Both sweet and dry vermouth and both orange and angostura bitters. The recipe calls for just whiskey, but with all the herbal flavors in this cocktail, the spiciness of rye mixes well. Sadly this drink didn’t have much of a life outside of George Kappeler’s books and is absent from most any other book after. Give the Double Barrel a shot if you’re looking for a fantastic drink that was forgotten by time.

George Kappeler And The New York Holland House Hotel.

Like the Waldorf-Astoria, the Holland House Hotel in New York had one of the best bars in the country. Interestingly both hotels were right down the street from each other, Holland House on 30th and 5th, and the Waldorf-Astoria on 34th and 5th, the present-day location of the Empire State Building. Opened December 7th, 1891, the interior of the Holland house was considered its prized jewel. The New York Times in 1891 praised its beautiful carved marble interiors, ornate rooms, and mosaic floors and described the hotel as a marvel of bronze, marble, and glass work. Managing the hotel’s cafe and restaurant Bar was one of the top bartenders in the New York George Kappeler. He’s credited with inventing many famous cocktails, a few still popular today, and was the first to describe a classic whiskey cocktail as old-fashioned. He used the term old-fashioned to differentiate it from his other fancy and standard whiskey cocktails. George published his first cocktail book in 1895 and an updated second edition in 1906.

The good times did not last, though, and by the mid-1910s, most of the wealthy New York clients moved further north to park avenue, and the hotel started to fall on hard times. With the passing of the 18th amendment and the Volstead Act on January 17th, 1920, the hotel’s few remaining revenue streams dried up, and the hotel was sold. The Holland house closed that same year and was converted to an office building. The interior was gutted to make room for office spaces, and like the Waldorf-Astoria, a vital piece of American cocktail history was lost. Although, unlike the Waldorf-Astoria, the building is still standing on 30th and 5th next to Marble Collegiate Church. The grand interior is long gone, but it’s still fun to see the façade of the once-great Holland House.

Using The Right Ingredients.

Vermouth is always essential and worth sending a little more to get a quality product, but your whiskey will have the most significant impact on this cocktail. George Kappeler only wrote to use whiskey, but I feel a nice spicy rye whiskey with a bit of burn works well here. Bourbon is good, but it is too sweet and gets lost in the mix. The strong herbal wine flavors of the vermouth, the earthy angostura bitters, and citrusy orange bitters are better balanced by spicy rye. Also, since it’s only 1 ounce of whiskey, it needs to be stronger and have some burn to offset the 2 ounces of vermouth.

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Vieux Carré – Original Recipe & History

Vieux Carre
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Quick Step-By-Step Vieux Carre Recipe Video

Vieux Carre

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

144

kcal
ABV

32%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the a classic Vieux Carre.

Ingredients

  • 2 dashes 2 Angostura Bitters

  • 2 dashes 2 Peychauds Bitters

  • 1 tsp 1 Benedictine

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Sweet Vermouth

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Brandy

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Rye Whiskey

Directions

  • Technique: Simple Stir
  • Combine all ingredients in the mixing glass.
  • dd ice to the mixing glass. Stir the ingredients for 10 – 15 seconds. Try to avoid over-diluting the drink.
  • Strain into a glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Lemon peel

Recipe Video

Notes

The History Of The Vieux Carré.

The Vieux Carré was invented sometime in the 1930s by Walter Bergeron, the head bartender at the Hotel Monteleone’s cocktail lounge In New Orleans. It was first published in the 1937 book “Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix ‘em” by Stanley Clisby Arthur. The Vieux Carré is a beautiful cocktail that is both strong and herbal. It’s similar but much more complex than the famed New Orleans Sazerac. It’s hard to describe this cocktail without trying, but if herbaceous solid drinks are your thing, this is a must-try.

What Does Vieux Carré Mean?

Vieux Carre translates to “The Old Square,” referring to the New Orleans French Quarter. New Orleans is one of my absolute favorite places. Its history is both fantastic and terrifying. Many iron-laced balconies date back to the 1700s and predate the United States. You can drink at the same bars generals planned battles at and experience some of the oldest American histories. Not as museum pieces behind glass just to be seen, but by actually walking the halls, eating at the same tables, ordering at the same bars, and living in the same spaces, many historical events happened.

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Blinker – Original Recipe

Blinker
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Blinker

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

198

kcal
ABV

25%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic Blinker cocktail.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz 1 Grapefruit Juice

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Grenadine

  • 2 oz 2 Rye Whiskey

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.

Notes

Featured Video

First popping up in the 1930s, this little whiskey cocktail is refreshing. A popular substitute for grenadine in this cocktail is regular old raspberry syrup, as you would find in the pancake section of a grocery store. If you don’t have raspberry syrup, you can use grenadine, but that’s up to you.

Recipe Resources

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Affinity – Classic Recipe

Affinity Cocktail
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Affinity Cocktail

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

146

kcal
ABV

24%

Total time

3

minutes

A delicious drier version of the classic Manhattan

Ingredients

  • 1 dash 1 Aromatic Bitters

  • 1 oz 1 Dry Vermouth

  • 1 oz 1 Sweet Vermouth

  • 1 oz 1 Rye Whiskey

Directions

  • Technique: Simple Stir
  • Combine all ingredients in the mixing glass.
  • Add ice to the mixing glass.
  • Stir the ingredients for 10 – 15 seconds. Try to avoid over-diluting the drink.
  • Strain into a glass.

Notes

Featured Video

The Affinity is a once-popular old-time drink, a drier version of a Manhattan. Another name for this is a Rob Roy Perfect.

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