Telegraph Hill

I’m not sure what I was browsing when I found the Drakensburger in the CocktailDB, a white rum sour with Van der Hum sourced from the Café Royal Cocktail Book. I liked the 1930s look of it. The Rose’s Lime Cordial would make it far too sweet, but it was clearly a Pegu Club relative. I thought right away of the new St. George Terroir Gin with all its evergreen funk as a more complex base for the aromatics of the tangerine liqueur. In place of the Van der Hum, I used Mandarine Napoléon.



Telegraph Hill

• 1 1/2 oz St. George Terroir Gin
• 1/2 oz tangerine liqueur
• 1/2 oz lime juice

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Tamil Nadu Cocktail

My housemate has headed off to an Indian dinner with an old friend. I’m babysitting the dog and playing in the bar. (The canid is a little impatient and grumpy.) I have a drawer full of citrus, and the Mandarine Napoléon is already at hand from the previous cocktail. I’ve mixed two versions of this, one with the addition of gin, one without. Still deciding.



Tamil Nadu Cocktail

• 2 oz North Shore aquavit (variation: 50 percent Tanqueray)
• 1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
• 1/2 oz Mandarine Napoléon
• 1/2 oz lime juice

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

North Shore aquavit has a cumin note that is incomparable in every sense of the word. It is perfect in Red Snappers (a.k.a. Bloody Marys) and in Indian-themed cocktails such as this one.

The gin version of this drink is lighter. The pure North Shore one is more intense.

Peach Bitters for Happy Days

When I bought peach bitters, I was excited on account of a vague idea that they were used in drink recipes of some bygone era when they really knew what a drink was. It’s not clear now at what point I started wondering what to do with them, but they were really exciting all the same. Eventually it occurred to me that maybe there was a recipe that called for peach bitters—a recipe I could use them in. Maybe I might look for one that sounded good, and even enjoy tasting it.

The recipe for Happy Days in the CocktailDB appears with a note that it was invented by E.L. Horton. OK, I said, I’ll bite. So I looked up old E.L. too, and found the recipe for Happy Days on page 93 of The Café Royal Cocktail Book. This still told me nothing about Horton except that he was probably an English bartender working between the wars. Beyond that, the scent seemed to be totally cold. Maybe he could’ve been something awful, like an axe murderer, but it doesn’t seem too likely since he invented such a swell cocktail. (He could’ve poisoned you instead.) It also has tangerine liqueur, and I was hunting around for something else to do with that too.



Happy Days

• 1 1/4 oz London dry gin
• 1 oz Lillet (Cocchi Americano)
• 1/2 oz Van der Hum (Mandarine Napoléon)
• 1/4 oz lemon juice
• 1 dash peach bitters

The recipe says to shake. I stirred. (Sorry, E.L.) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: COCKTAILDB AND THE CAFÉ ROYAL COCKTAIL BOOK, RECIPE BY E.L. HORTON

This is nicely balanced: lightly sweet and fruity without being cloying, and you can detect both the gin and the peach. Sort reminiscent of the Barnum but milder. If anybody has more info about Horton, let me know.

Summer Fog

This drink’s bright and tart, and would be good pitchered with barbecue food.

“I never got the hang of the weather in San Francisco,” say my visitors. They seem sort of dismayed.

“Wear layers,” I tell them.

“Um, okay—” they sound uncertain. “Layers....”

“Yeah, you don’t wanna be out at sunset without a little jacket or something.”

“Uh, okay....”



Summer Fog

• 2 oz light Barbados rum
• 2 oz mango nectar
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz Mandarine Napoléon

Shake with ice cubes and pour unstrained into a double old fashioned. Garnish with a lime wheel.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE