A late night at the office and a bouncy puppy caused another delay with my Mr. Boston’s cocktail series. Lord knows this ought to get interesting as the holiday’s roll around. I hope everyone will forgive me it I need to take a night off here and there. Nightly blogging is quite the challenge!
I made it over to the grocery store for those missing lemons yesterday afternoon but after eating dinner at 9 PM I didn’t really have the energy to mix the Classic Cocktail recipe up. Don’t get me wrong, the drink is fairly simple but sitting down to share the drink with all of you and taking glamour shots is hard work.
Described as a blend between the Sidecar and Brandy Crusta, the Classic Cocktail appears to have originated in the Savoy book circa 1930. My speedy search through the vintage cocktail book library I have assembled did not turn up any order recipes.
If I were to guess about the this cocktail recipe’s origins, I’d say that the Brandy Crusta was likely the inspiration. Both recipes call for a cocktail glass rimmed with castor sugar and offer a brandy forward drink with hints of Curacao and Lemon Juice.
Unlike the Crusta recipe, the Classic Cocktail ups the amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice and Curacao. It also replaces bitters with Maraschino Liqueur.
The equal parts of lemon, Curacao and Maraschino concerned me as the last ingredient tends to take over rapidly. Still, I went along with the program to find out if my assumptions were founded.
While I distracted a very hyper pup, Ryan mixed up the Classic Cocktail as follows:
- 1/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 ounce Drillaud’s Triple Sec
- 1/4 ounce Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
- 3/4 ounce Apricot Brandy
To my surprise and delight, this was a well balanced cocktail. It is also extremely good.
The Maraschino is definitely noticeable, but not in a bad way. I think this one might have bordered on the too tart scale if not for the sugared rim. While the original recipe called for plain old Brandy, I thought that the Apricot was a nice touch to round things out.
Tonight’s vintage Mr. Boston’s recipe is so good that I think I may have to go make myself another after this long day. Until tomorrow, cheers!