The Sangaree is one of the oldest in the tavern drinks canon and its existence long predates the foundation of the United States. Ours makes the most of summer’s bounty and mimics the presentation of the Sangaree’s more famous offspring — the Spanish punch Sangria.

The fix is one of the great pre-Civil-War templates but, for such a great drink, it doesn’t get nearly enough attention. Our version features a split base of genever and rye, both grain-based spirits and two of the megastars of early cocktail culture. Be sure to garnish with abandon.

The smash has evolved over its more than 150-year history. Our version splits the difference between its past as a small, shaken julep and its modern-day life as a muddled affair. I really love this presentation.

The Mai Tai is Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron’s most famous creation and one of the great drinks of the tiki canon. Rum expert Shannon Mustipher’s version offers the ingenious introduction of a small measure of unaged rhum agricole. I’ve made just a couple of slight alterations based on our supply list.

Planter’s Punch is a centuries-old Caribbean recipe and was the basis for Donn Beach’s earliest “Rum Rhapsodies.” St. John Frizell and his bar staff at Gage & Tollner serve this excellent rendition of the classic, which appeared on the G&T cocktail list in the 1940s, and likely before.

Ned King helped me immensely in planning this month, including bringing this post-WWII Zombie to my attention. Though different from the 1930s Zombie, this version reads as a direct descendent of Planter’s Punch. I’ve made a couple of changes to Ned’s spec based on what we have on hand this month.

This is a Don the Beachcomber original from 1937. Ned King has spent a lot of time perfecting this recipe, which is fresh and bright. We’ve taken a couple of small liberties to minimize our supply list, but the spirit of Ned’s spec for this early tiki classic shines through.

This is the second in my Improved Cocktail series in the spring of 2021. With deep, dark flavors, this Improved Brandy Cocktail - Iberian edition - emphasizes the importance of products from Portugal and Spain in the history of the American Cocktail and, before that, in Punch and early modern drinking history, generally.

I’ve centered this Improved Whiskey Cocktail, the third in my Improved Cocktail series from spring 2021, on rye. Rye was the mixing (American) whiskey of choice through the nineteenth century, with only some exceptions that call for Bourbon, which was still a very regional product. Unaged apple brandy brightens things up, while Madeira and apricot liqueur team up to lend a buttery stone fruit profile. An uncommon sweetener in the form of brown sugar syrup grounds the whole thing and points to the colonial-era inspiration behind the drink, bolstered by walnut bitters and nutmeg.

This cocktail was part of my Improved Cocktails series in the spring of 2021. I’d tackled the Holland gin version before, but this version employed my use of two spirits as the base (genever and arrack), along with fortified wine (oloroso sherry), liqueur (crème de banane, sweetener (zesty lime-ginger syrup), and chocolate bitters.

The original Brooklyn Cocktail first appeared in print in 1908 as a mixture of rye, dry vermouth, Maraschino and French bitter liqueur Amer Picon. Fast forward 100 years to the heyday of the Cocktail Renaissance, where forgotten classics, European bitters, and añejo tequila all landed on the scene with a splash.

I have been playing around with a tequila-based version of Philadelphia’s own Clover Club for over a year now and finally landed on this beauty. An unusual sort-of reverse dry shake technique makes the use of jam and desire for perfect egg white texture achievable.

While looking for a way to use this month’s amaro in a shaken drink with roots in the early 20th century, I happened upon Hugo Ensslin’s “Hugo Bracer” from 1917. Originally a mix of apple brandy, lime, Amer Picon and grenadine served in a goblet, ours goes in a yet-more-tropical direction, expressing what I’d call a proto-“tiki” aesthetic.

This is an ode to the imaginary point in time, in this month’s period of interest (1900- 1919) when the prevailing Martini ratio was 2:1. Bright, briny fino or Manzanilla sherry works in perfect harmony with the blanco tequila, all of which is enhanced by a little salinity and citrus.

Tom Bullock features quite a few fizzy cocktails in his book, but I particularly love the Twilight Cocktail, which is an unsweetened mixture of Bourbon, Italian vermouth, lime and seltzer. I take the edge off the sour notes with our cordial, sink the vermouth to the bottom, and insist on Club soda over seltzer here—the hint of salt is just what this drink needs.

Tom Bullock’s Martinez-like Horse Thief Cocktail is perfect as is. What I decided on was to make this a batched version of his original spec, frozen until very cold, and served in frozen, absinthe-spritzed glasses à la Sazerac. I find the result is exceedingly elegant.

An egg-and-cream-laced sour that hews pretty closely to Tom Bullock’s Dream. We’ve swapped in absinthe for the crème de menthe and, with the addition of our cordial, we’ve given the whole thing a Creamsicle, nay Dreamsicle flavor profile.

When I was a young art history student, I ran into a lot of works marked “in the style of” or “a painting after” so and so. Bullock was one of the great figures of the pre- Prohibition era and I felt this naming trope appropriate. He typically served cocktails like this up, a refined presentation we honor here.

This one takes inspiration from several members of the Martini family tree, including the Vesper, the Marguerite and the Tuxedo No. 2. That last one inspired the name—British import known as the dinner jacket was nicknamed after the Tuxedo Club in Westchester and has been known as such ever since.

This Stinger riff more closely resembles the Prince and Brant cocktails, both of which call for bitters to be added to the Stinger’s simple combination of Cognac and crème de menthe. Ours switches out the French brandy in favor of bourbon and adds gentian liqueur and a little salinity, all served over crushed ice, a popular presentation during the postwar period.