Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide

No one likes being cooped up in the house during a snowstorm—or a polar vortex, as the weathermen seem to be calling it these days. That is unless you happen to have all the ingredients on hand to mix up one of these little wintry potions. First cited in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, Damn the Weather is a typical Prohibition style cocktail, complementing gin with vermouth and citrus and rounding the whole thing off with a little bit of triple sec. Orange is the dominant flavor here, but the vermouth adds a certain earthy and herbal note which is accented by the gin. Like many cocktails from the Prohibition era, Damn the Weather contains more than just a little bit of alcohol, but that's alright. You weren't planning on going anywhere anyway, were you?

A relative of the Shandy, with beer, cider, and a shot of currant liqueur to give the color that gives the drink its name.

Now here's a cocktail that will make you blush. Or at least it will make your cheeks turn red. As David Wondrich puts it, the Between the Sheets dates back to Prohibition, a time when America's moral fiber wasn't what it should've been—but than again, neither was its liquor supply. There are many provocative theories about the origins of this cocktail, but most people agree that it was first created sometime in the 1930s at Harry's New York Bar in Paris. Others say it traces back to the Berkeley Hotel in London. The truth is, as with many popular drinks, no one is really sure. A word of caution: though delicious, this cocktail is not to be taken lightly. Too many of these will have you reaching for the aspirin tomorrow morning.

The Jack Rose is a history lesson in itself—a veritable “blast from the past”, if you will. This drink was originally made with applejack, a uniquely North American high-proof brandy, which was essentially made by distilling apple cider. As applejack has gone down in popularity, the Jack Rose has become an increasingly rare find, but it is definitely worth tasting. As David Embury put it in his 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, it is a deceptively simple cocktail that can “whet rather than dull the appetite”. It's light, aromatic, and makes a perfect autumn cocktail. Embury also included The Jack Rose in the same book as one of the six basic cocktails. Isn't history fun?