Monster in a Glass

Episode 14: Episode 14: Tasting the Stars

History of the Champagne Cocktail including Dom Perignon and why original recipes call for wine

Episode 100: Episode 100: Above the Law and Under the Table – Scofflaw

Episode 99: Episode 99: Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum – St. Croix Rum Fix

Episode 98: Liking the Cut of Your Jib – The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail

Episode 97: By Any Other Name – The Rose

Episode 96: Putting On The Ritz – Ritz Sidecar

Classic cocktail history Ritz Sidecar

Episode 95: Like Lambs to the Slaughter – Picon Punch

Episode 94: Welcome to the Club – Pendennis Cocktail

The Pendennis Cocktail seems to have been a drink that was hardly known. Appearances in recipe books are few and far between, and when it did show up, there were variations on the recipe. Not much to talk about there. However, while the cocktail information was sparse, there seems to be a whole lot of different Pendennis drinks including a toddy, a mint julep, and even an eggnog. So, this Pendennis must be something important. Join us as we discuss this almost completely forgotten cocktail. We a...

Episode 93: Currying Favor – Pegu Club Cocktail

The Pegu Club Cocktail takes us all the way to Myanmar, to ask the question. What was the Pegu Club? And how did it get its own cocktail? The answer is…not 100% sure! We know it was a club for Brits who lived and had their holidays in Myanmar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this episode we try to piece together what the purpose of the club was, why the British were there (hint: it rhymes with mimperialism), and a very tiny slice of Myanmar’s long and rich history that led to the co...

Episode 91: Like Mother Used to Make – Mother-In-Law Cocktail

The Mother-in-Law Cocktail is a tricky one to discuss. It is a family recipe out of New Orleans, and the ingredients are in great proportions to make it something you store in a bottle. This drink calls for New Orleans staple Peychaud’s Bitters, Angostura, Bitters, Amer Picon, Orange Curacao, simple syrup, maraschino liqueur, and Bourbon. Just short of every booze possible. So, with nothing to go on as far a history of this cocktail we talk about, you guessed it, Mother-in-laws! Join us as we di...

Episode 90: Making a Monkey Out of Us – Monkey Gland

We have done a number of episodes that have taken us into the realm of gross. Sometimes it is the ingredients, sometimes it is the backstory, sometimes it is because we are gross. The Monkey Gland is a special one because hits on all three! Join us as we break down the why Harry MacElhone and not Frank Meier created this drink, how the drink was used as a defense in a trial, and how this drink was named after some very weird virility experiments involving, you guessed it, monkey glands. The reci...

Episode 89: Out With The Old – The Modern

The Modernista, or as it is known originally, The Modern Cocktail, has recipe that appears to have all the flavors and all the booze. Just not all the flavors you might think go together with absinthe, scotch, orange bitters, lemon juice, and rum. It seems this is one cocktail that really was forgotten, starting in the 1910s and barely making it to the 1930s. Join us as we take a look at what modern means, what was considered modern in the early 20th century and the term modern in advertising. W...

Episode 88: Stinking Rich – Millionaire

You would expect the Millionaire Cocktail to be opulent, featuring the finest liquors, a white truffle garnish, served in a solid gold goblet, rimmed with caviar, and a $100 bill for a straw. Or it is all just a trick to get you to drink something that is hardly different than a hundred other cocktails so you can feel fancy. This drink should have been fairly easy to research except for the fact that there were two different recipes running concurrently for the first half of the twentieth centur...

Episode 87: Crying Over Spilt Milk – Milk Punch

This episode we are talking about Milk Punch, which in newer recipes resembles a boozy milkshake. As the recipes get older, they get, let’s say slightly more unusual. This is the oldest drink that we have covered so far, with origins dating to at least the early 1700s, probably earlier. Going back to these early recipes, we learn about women’s roles as brewers, distillers, wine-makers, and home-doctors during the 17th and 18th centuries. Join us as we talk a whole lot about milk, like probably m...

Episode 86: When the Fat Lady Sings – Mamie Taylor Cocktail

For as many times that we have said that there aren’t a whole lot of Scotch cocktails, we have another one for you! This one also has the name of a person, which sometimes is helpful like the Lucien Gaudin and sometimes unhelpful like the Barbara West. We are somewhere in the middle with The Mamie Taylor. This cocktail is Scotch, lime juice and ginger ale, and was often noted as being a refreshing summer drink. Mamie Taylor was an operatic singer who seems to have been involved in musical theate...

Episode 85: The Gin Is Mightier Than The Sword – Lucien Gaudin Cocktail

At first glance, you might say that this cocktail has an unusual combination of ingredients, featuring gin, Campari, French Vermouth and Cointreau. And then you realize it is a Negroni with Cointreau. Oh well, there are only so many ingredients! The Lucien Gaudin Cocktail on the surface seems like a perfect cocktail to be able to research because, someone’s name! As our Barbara West episode showed, it isn’t always going to be that easy. In this case, we Gaudin, a champion, left-handed, French fe...

Episode 84: Twisting the Lion's Tail – Lion's Tail

The Lion’s Tail cocktail is one of just many, many recipes originating from the Café Royal Cocktail Book (1937), that never really appeared again until very recently. Most of the ingredients are pretty standard, with the exception of Pimento Liqueur, more commonly known as Allspice Dram nowadays. We discuss this rum-based liqueur’s Caribbean origins, strong Christmas flavor, and unusual pairing with bourbon instead rum. In this episode, the name of the drink leads us to a long history of the lio...

Episode 83: Besottedly Correct – The Liberal Cocktail

In the U.S. of today the term liberal has very specific connotations. What did it mean when the Liberal Cocktail was created in the 1890s though? Was the creation a celebration of or jab at late 19th-century liberal ideals? If you had that label, what were you fighting for? Join us as explore the concept of liberalism and its meaning during the early 20th century. We also discuss the Liberal Cocktail, its standout ingredient Amer Picon, and the nearly complete disappearance of both. In the case ...

Episode 82: Semper Vinolentia – Leatherneck Cocktail

First printed in Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up cocktail guide, this drink is not well represented and probably not well liked but nevertheless we did our 82nd episode on it. It first appears nearly simultaneously with the introduction of blue curacao on the market, it's recipe in Saucier's book, and a Bols ad for blue curacao roughly around 1951. It seems to have been given a spotlight for a short time by Bols and a couple of wheeling-dealing PR agents, Ted Saucier and Frank Farrell, who both did a s...

Episode 81: By Jupiter's Beard – Jupiter Cocktail

A name like the Jupiter Cocktail immediately evokes images of the enormous planet with the great swirling storms and the Roman king of the gods, with thunderbolt in hand. The cocktail indicates power, something greater than all. I would expect ten different kinds of liquor served in a barrel, full of lighting, and on fire…or it could be just a martini with some Parfait Amour and orange juice. Join us as discuss this stormy-colored drink and its standout ingredient Parfait Amour. We also try to f...

Episode 80: Jamaican Me Crazy – Jasper's Jamaican Planter's Punch

Jasper’s Jamaican Planter’s Punch is a more contemporary take on an old drink called simply, Planter’s Punch. Resembling punches of the colonial-era, Planter’s Punch appears to have originated in the Caribbean in the early to mid-1800s. Where exactly in the Caribbean is the question, since most references just point to the “West Indies.” The unusual thing about this drink is that there did not seem to be a standard recipe. Rum, lime, and sugar were the common ingredients among Planter’s Punches,...

Episode 79: Like Watching Varnish Dry – Japalac Cocktail

Do you like cocktails that are named after a 19th century varnish? Then step right up to the bar and order a Japalac Cocktail. That’s right folks, nothing says quenching your thirst like old lacquer! This recipe shows up first and only in Albert Stevens Crockett’s Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931). It was another creation of Johnnie Solon, of Bronx Cocktail fame. Was Johnnie famous for anything other than creating the Bronx Cocktail? Well, Crockett will tell you he was also known for a Mint Julep that...

Episode 78: Getting Rubbed Out – Jack Rose

The Jack Rose Cocktail ingredients look like a deconstructed fruit bowl, bringing together Applejack, lemon juice (or sometimes lime juice), and grenadine. Dating back to the early 20th century, Cocktail Bill Boothby appears to have brought it to print, but attributes it to New York bartender R.H. Townes. The name is a bit of a mystery. Is it a pairing of the jack in Applejack and its rose color? Or from a type of rose? Maybe it was created in reference to the gambling house owner and alleged me...

Episode 77: Gin and Taxes – Income Tax

It is hard to imagine why you would want to name a drink after something that the great majority of the world hates, but here we are with the Income Tax Cocktail. Harry Craddock appears to be the person who wanted to remind people that the government is coming for your hard-earned money, so you should probably drown your sorrows. This drink does not show up in very many places, but is often said to be just a Bronx Cocktail with Angostura bitters, which in turn is said to just be a perfect Martin...

Episode 76: Tying the Knot – Honeymoon Cocktail

The Honeymoon Cocktail seems to first appear in Hugo Ensslin’s Recipes for Mixed Drinks (1917), and contains an unusually sweet and fruit-based combination of ingredients, calling for Apple Brandy, lemon juice, curacao, and Benedictine. We take a look at what Benedictine is and how the Honeymoon Cocktail encountered a swapping out of the Apple Brandy for Calvados and more Apple Jack. We also explore the history of honeymoons, where the term originated, and origin myths surrounding this tradition...

Episode 75: Shot to the Heart – Have a Heart

With very few appearances in cocktail books, or really anywhere, it is probably fair to say that the “Have a Heart” cocktail didn’t make much of a splash at all. It seems originate from, and really only appears in Patrick Gavin Duffy’s The Official Mixer’s Manual (1934). The quotation marks allude to it being the title of something, but of what is hard to say. Some say that it is after a film of the same name, but the publishing of the drink recipe is the same year the movie came out, so maybe n...

Episode 74: Always Darkest – Golden Dawn

The product of a cocktail competition in London, the Golden Dawn is a boozy drink, almost entirely made up of Calvados, Brandy, and Gin. A newspaper article from 1930 mentions that cocktail purists were not happy with this drink winning the competition, simply because of the addition of fruit juice. We delve into the idea of what a cocktail is and isn’t, where the argument may have started, and why anyone really cares. Some point to the origin of the name deriving from a Rodgers & Hammerstei...

Episode 73: Off the Rim – Brandy Crusta

Some say the Brandy Crusta is distinct enough to be considered an entirely different type of drink than a cocktail. Others say it is just a variation on or an evolution of a true cocktail. When it really comes down to it, having this kind of argument is just going to end up with you having a warm drink and a sad face. Going all the way back to the 1840s, this is one of the older drinks we have explored. The basic ingredients of brandy, lemon, lemon peel and the sugar crusted rim seem to stay con...

Episode 72: Exploring All Avenues – The Avenue

This was a fun episode. The cocktail itself had a fairly ordinary background, so we made the most of it by disparaging passion fruit and spotlighting the UK Bartenders' Guild. The drink itself appears first (and only) in the Cafe Royal cocktail book which for the first time we discuss as part of the drinks compilation project the UK Bartenders' Guild took on in the 1930s. This drink is itself remarkable because it's the only one we've seen that features passion fruit juice and the Cafe Royal coc...

Episode 71: Unacceptable Condition – Fred Collins Fiz

The Fred Collins Fiz on first glance would almost certainly be the sibling drink of Tom and John. This one is kind of a mystery though because the ingredients don’t really match any of the drinks in the Collins family, not even Grandma Rye, Aunt Bourbon, or wacky old Uncle Rum. So then it is a fizz then, right? Because of the fizz in the name? Except it seems to be missing the second “z.” And there isn’t any soda water, which typically makes a fizz a fizz. There isn’t a whole lot to go on with t...