A fair few of the recipes I came across in this month’s research involved muddling strawberries, but this is the only one that properly read as a cobbler, complete with the heavy wine component in the base (originally ruby port), with Cognac in a supporting role. The 1920s Parisian book it comes from has lots of Campari in it, so I threw in a little for dimension. Reminiscent of our Torino Cobbler.

There were a couple of great fizz recipes I came across for this month’s theme. The first is the Crushed Strawberry Fizz, a simple gin fizz with muddled strawberry that was popular at the St. Nicholas Hotel, NYC, in the 1880s. Then there’s the eponymous Elsie Ferguson Fizz (named for the star of stage and screen) from the 1910s (gin, lemon, strawberry, grenadine, cream, soda). I replaced the grenadine with strawberry syrup and added egg white and a little strawberry vermouth.

I was a little surprised at how many spirit-forward drinks I found that called for strawberry syrup or liqueur. Gin and Cognac were by far the most common bases for these drinks and many of them called for vermouth. And several of the books I found these drinks in have lots of Campari-laced recipes (including the Café Royal book, from which I took the drink’s name). So I turned this into a kind of subtly strawberry Negroni! It’s delicious and would lend itself nicely to batching for a summer soirée.

I found several sours that called for strawberry syrup or liqueur in my research; some called for gin, others for whiskey, but a few of them called for rum, which I liked the sound of! There were a bunch of supporting characters, too (anisette, red Curaçao, raspberry liqueur, pineapple, orange) so I kind of made something up inspired by all of this as well as the Siesta, Strawberry Daiquiris and the Gigantic drink Sea, Sex, and Sun. The result is absolutely delicious and triply strawberry-y!

Katie Stipe came up with this one in 2006 at Julie Reiner’s Flatiron Lounge in New York. Her original idea was to use the Hemingway Daiquiri template and plug tequila in for the rum and Campari in for maraschino. The result is utterly delicious. This was often on the brunch menu at Fort Defiance and was a perennial favorite.

A modern take on the 20th Century (gin, Lillet, crème de cacao, lemon), this drink cuts out the quinquina and subs tequila in for gin, serving the drink in an absinthe-rinsed glass. Jim Meehan invented this one at Pegu Club in 2007 under Audrey Saunders’ guidance. Perhaps true to the adage “what grows together goes together,” chocolate and agave spirits are happy bedfellows, as is the case here.

Joaquín Simó’s smoky, bittersweet smash-hit is still incredibly popular, perhaps even more so since mezcal’s star has risen so high since its inception in 2011. Another Death & Co. creation, it followed the Paper Plane (2008) as a modern classic that drew on the equal-parts structure of the Last Word and the Corpse Reviver No. 2.

Phil Ward’s new-school take on the Old-Fashioned originated at Death & Co. in 2007 and has become a worldwide superstar in the years since. The appearance of reposado tequila and inclusion of a small measure of mezcal illustrate the changing awareness around agave spirits and its austere presentation appealed to a whole new subset of drinker. The flamed orange twist is very of its time.

Originally published in 1939 in Charles H. Baker, Jr.’s Gentleman’s Companion, this drink was invented in Havana–either by Wil P. Taylor or Eddie Woelke, who worked for the Hotel Nacional and Casino Nacional respectively. I was inspired by Juyoung Kang’s spec (which I learned about through doing a story on it for Punch), but I put my own spin on it by choosing to use lemon instead of lime.

This is a bonus recipe this month, as it doesn’t fit neatly into any of our prescribed categories. I took inspiration from two drinks: the Golden Glove, a blended orange-inflected Daiquiri from El Floridita in the 1930s, and the Derby Daiquiri, also orangey and dating from the late 1950s, it was an entry into the Rums of Puerto Rico competition. From these, I created a creamsicle-esque rum sour that’s a great addition to our recipe collection this month.

This is the drink that represents the properly-tiki contingent within this month’s recipe collection. Dating to the late 1940s, this rum sour features tiki favorite falernum, as well as orange liqueur; Trader Vic’s book actually calls for Cointreau, but many modern bartenders use Curaçao. I added a touch of simple syrup as well as Angostura, which has a great conversation with the spices in the falernum.

By all accounts, this drink was first published in a RonRico rum recipe pamphlet. Presaging the Swampwater’s combination of green Chartreuse, pineapple, and lime, this complex rum sour also features crème de cacao. I added vanilla syrup and fresh mint for our Club version, and I also have a tequila-based version on Gigantic’s spring menu with yellow Chartreuse called Fun in Acapulco!

The Bali Bali, hailing from the Bali Ha’i at the Beach in New Orleans, is the lesser-known sibling of the Fog Cutter. At first I was stumped about how to bring all the various spirits, juices, and sweeteners into balance, but when it dawned on me that I could structure it like a 1950s Zombie, everything fell into place. I particularly love this presentation, especially if you can get your hands on a vintage tiki-style Collins like the Siestaware glass pictured.

Here’s a delicious blended Gimlet that’s got a great texture to it. Done in the style of blended Cuban Daiquiris like the Golden Glove, this ice-cold drink combines juniper with spices and tart lime for a refreshing, time-travelin’ good time. This drink was popular at both the China Trader in Burbank and Tiki-Ti on Sunset Boulevard during the 1960s.

This is one of three drinks called the Tropical Itch in the tiki canon. It’s not Harry Yee’s original from the Hawaiian Village (bourbon, passionfruit) or Joe Scialom’s version (vodka, rum, mango) from the Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo, but the gin-rum-mango version from the Kon-Tiki Chicago. Our version adds in some dark rum and cashew orgeat for richness and texture. No back scratcher garnish cause that’s just not my style (and I think it’s kinda gross).

The Saturn is probably the most famous gin-based tiki drink, at least in the twenty-first century. It began life as Filipino-American bartender Popo Galsini’s entry in the International Bartender’s Association’s World Cocktail Championship in 1967. Galsini’s original spec called for gink passion fruit, lemon, orgeat, and falernum. Our Club version swaps in cashew orgeat for the classic almond variety and opts for a blended version, though many prefer their Saturns flash-blended.

The original Angel’s Kiss appears in Harry McElhone’s 1922 book and is simply crème de cacao and cream, layered in a liqueur glass; later recipes add layers of crème Yvette and prunelle. Our Angel’s Kiss recipe reflects more complex members of the Pousse Café family. Its inclusion in this month’s Valentine’s theme is also due to its connection with the ladies’ drink genre and romantic, or even sexy, naming tropes.

This drink comes from Charles H. Baker, Jr.'s 1939 Gentleman’s Companion and is attributed to a bartender named Toyama at a Yokohama dance hall called the Romance Cabaret. The original spec he recorded is a mixture of Cognac, cherry brandy, lime cordial, and lime juice, either shaken or blended. I swapped out the sweet cherry brandy for eau de vie and added chocolate and vanilla flavors for an exceedingly pleasing brandy sour.

The original Lovers’ Delight is quite mysterious; included in a 1937 book out of New Orleans, it simply calls for dry gin to be shaken with “orange ice,” strained, and garnished with nutmeg. I was so intrigued by the orange ice and immediately thought of a citrus granita which, with its little hints of vanilla and chocolate, would be a great standalone dessert or palate cleanser. But I decided to enhance it with a chilled, flavor-packed mixture of Campari, gin, and kirschwasser, finished with sea salt and lemon zest!

The original Passion comes from a book published in London in 1934 called 1700 Cocktails for the Man Behind the Bar by R. de Fleury. It combined equal parts Plymouth gin and passion fruit juice, accented with a dash of absinthe. I took inspiration from a London classic from 70 years later–the Dry Daiquiri–adding Campari and a flamed orange twist and, doubling down on the aughts London vibe, it’s definitely got the Pornstar Martini combo of passionfruit and vanilla, too.