Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Once upon a time, gin was the clear spirit of choice amongst Americans. After Prohibition, our palates drifted toward less complex flavor profiles, and vodka took the place of gin on the American market. In the decades that followed, gin-distillers would attempt to win back their clientele by replacing the heavy spice and juniper notes of classic, London-style dry gin with lighter citrusy notes that would have more appeal on this side of the Atlantic. The Garnet is a cocktail that really cashes in on this brighter flavor profile by pairing it with the tang of pomegranate and grapefruit. Since this cocktail plays on the absence of that Christmas tree spice so often attributed to gin, this cocktail is an excellent choice for anyone looking to cross over from vodka cocktails to something a little more complex.

The Tuxedo is certainly a blue-blood drink. It's part of a family of cocktails from the late 18th and early 19th centuries that Jerry Thomas might have referred to as “fancy martinis”—gin, vermouth, bitters, a dash of maraschino, and occasionally a little absinthe. Interestingly enough, in Daly's Bartenders' Encyclopedia from 1903, the Tuxedo recipe calls for Maple Gin, which, apparently, was dry gin sweetened with a drizzle of maple syrup. Apparently Daly was alone in his passion for maple gin, as it doesn't really seem to turn up anywhere else. Over the next several years, the Tuxedo continued to evolve with snapshots being taken from time to time in the form of written recipes. The more eccentric ones included sherry, which yielded an exceptionally dry, nutty cocktail. The maraschino and absinthe do a much better job of balancing the gin and vermouth, so we recommend sticking with them.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Makes 6 servings