The Deshler Cocktail
The Deshler Cocktail is a WWI-era relative of the Manhattan. I’m not a boxing historian, but I’m told the “Deshler” in question was Dave Deshler, an American lightweight boxer in the early years of the 20th century. I know nothing of his boxing, but it seems he was good enough to inspire a well-constructed cocktail, I suppose as homage to one of his victories. Read more 
Drinking the French Quarter: The Vieux Carré Cocktail
The Vieux Carré is New Orleans’ contribution to the Manhattan family. More specifically, it is a Saratoga, sweetened with a splash of Bénédictine and the city’s historic Peychaud’s bitters. Read more
Rye and Absinthe: The Sazarac Cocktail
The Sazerac is a love-it or hate-it kind of cocktail, with no middle ground. It’s a whiskey cocktail embellished with Peychaud’s bitters and an absinthe wash. If you’re put off by the anise and wormwood of absinthe, then the Sazarac will not be your cocktail; otherwise, keep reading—you owe yourself this New Orleans delight. Read more
Dangerous Drinks: The Whiskey Sour
The Whiskey Sour is all about flavor balance. The drink is very simple—just a spirit, some fresh lemon juice, sugar and water. Too much lemon is just plain harsh. Too much sugar is cloying. Somewhere in between is a simple, tasty refresher. Like the Old Fashioned, it provides a welcome break from the flavor complexities of more sophisticated cocktails. Read more
The Marlene Dietrich Cocktail
The Marlene Dietrich Cocktail is a natural for anyone who enjoys Whiskey Old-Fashioneds and Whiskey Sours.
Legend has it that Dietrich sucked lemons on her movie sets; it seems she believed this would keep her mouth muscles taut for the cameras. Read more
The Last Word with an Asterisk: variations on a classic cocktail
When I first encountered Phil Ward’s “Final Ward” cocktail, I wrote it off as a “why would I do that?” type of experiment. It was, after all, just a variant of the Chartreuse and Maraschino Last Word, which didn’t make sense to me, either, on paper. Read more
Building on the Old-Fashioned—The Improved Whiskey Cocktail
As I noted in my previous entry, my 1887 edition of Jerry Thomas’s Bartenders Guide lists the original ”Whiskey Cocktail”—that’s the one we now think of as the “Old-Fashioned.” That same publication provides evidence that the hard-line definition of the “cocktail” was fraying at the edges. Read more
The Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail
The term “Old-Fashioned” has come to imply the Whiskey Old-Fashioned, and that’s the drink I’ll focus on for this piece. It is an example of the original “cocktail,” one of the oldest and most successful of American mixed drinks. The Whiskey Cocktail’s survival through more than two centuries, even while its category evolved far beyond its simple plan, is due to more than its historic heritage: its strength lies in the plainness of its character and the straightforwardness of its flavor and build. Read more
