10 Old-School Cocktails That Deserve a Second Look

Drinks the Menu Left Behind

Every few years a bartender digs a forgotten cocktail out of an old book and it returns to menus as if it had never left. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails describes a forgotten classic as a drink that was popular only regionally, or even within a single bar. Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails is the reference many bartenders reach for. The nine below sit in that category, each with a reason to be ordered again.

Clover Club: The Frothy Pink Gentleman's Drink

The Clover Club comes from a late-1800s Philadelphia men's club, and its frothy pink head comes from egg white and raspberry. Gin, lemon and raspberry syrup make up the base, and it tastes brighter and drier than the color suggests. It was long dismissed as a sweet drink for the wrong reasons, then rediscovered by bartenders who made it properly. Served in a coupe, it is still one of the better introductions to gin sours.

Adonis: Sherry's Gentle Cocktail

The Adonis dates to the mid-1880s and was named after the first Broadway musical to run for more than 500 performances. It mixes dry sherry, sweet vermouth and orange bitters, and its strength is low enough to start an evening on. A New Orleans bartender has been bringing it back as sherry regains popularity. It reads as a lighter, nuttier cousin to a Manhattan.

Corpse Reviver No. 1: The Older Brother

The Corpse Reviver No. 2 is a fixture in cocktail bars, while its older sibling rarely gets a mention. The No. 1 is a stirred drink built from brandy, Calvados and sweet vermouth, and it drinks richer and rounder than the gin-based No. 2. It was meant as a morning-after tonic, which explains the name. Bartenders who list it tend to find it sells quietly and well.

Vieux Carré: New Orleans in a Glass

The Vieux Carré was one of many classics that sat nearly forgotten until bartenders and historians rescued them. It combines rye, cognac and sweet vermouth with Bénédictine and two kinds of bitters, and it tastes like a Manhattan with a second layer of spice. The drink is tied to New Orleans, where the French Quarter takes its name from the same words. Today it appears on plenty of menus, which makes it the easiest of the nine to find.

Brandy Crusta: The Sugar-Rimmed Ancestor

The Brandy Crusta is a mid-nineteenth-century New Orleans cocktail, and it is often credited as an ancestor of the sidecar. Brandy, orange liqueur, lemon, bitters and a sugared rim go in, along with a long spiral of lemon peel that lines the glass. It is a sour in disguise, and it looks more elaborate than it is. The peel is the signature, and it asks for a sharp peeler and a steady hand.

Bijou: Three Equal Parts

The Bijou is a gin cocktail built from equal parts gin, green Chartreuse and sweet vermouth, with a dash of orange bitters. It dates to the late nineteenth century and takes its name from the French word for jewel, a nod to the three colors of gemstone in the glass. It is herbal, sweet and strong, with Chartreuse leading the flavor. It is a good use for a bottle of green Chartreuse that otherwise waits for a single recipe.

Hanky Panky: A Savoy Original with Fernet

The Hanky Panky was created at the Savoy Hotel in London in the early 1900s by Ada Coleman, one of the first prominent women bartenders. It stirs gin and sweet vermouth with a dash of Fernet-Branca, and the bitter amaro gives an ordinary Martini variation a distinct edge. It is essentially a Perfect Martini with attitude. A strip of orange peel finishes it.

Jack Rose: Applejack, Lemon and Grenadine

The Jack Rose is an early-twentieth-century American sour made with applejack, lemon juice and grenadine. Real pomegranate grenadine makes the difference, since the artificial kind turns it into a sweet, cloying drink. Applejack, a distilled apple spirit with a long American history, supplies a soft fruit character. When the ingredients are right, it tastes like a tart autumn orchard.

Blood and Sand: A Scotch Drink Named for a Film

The Blood and Sand takes its name from a 1922 silent film about a bullfighter, and it is one of the few classics that uses Scotch whisky. Equal parts Scotch, cherry liqueur, sweet vermouth and orange juice go into the shaker. The ingredient list looks wrong on paper, and the drink tastes better than it reads. Orange juice and a smoky Scotch pair more neatly than most people expect.

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