Geneva

      …if a few of our more robust clergymen are genuinely anxious to forward the cause of world peace and at the same time would like to tell their audiences how to bring good cheer into the home on Christmas Day, we suggest as a theme for a sermon Robert J. Casey’s unusual program for bringing about international good will.
Call Gin by it’s right name!
White distillations of corn, rye, barley or malt are made in almost every country on the face of the earth. They may vary slightly in composition but they seldom vary in spirit. The juniper berry is not universal, but Gin under a universal name might make all men brothers.
In fact the original name for Gin was Geneva, and it still goes under that name in Holland.
Here’s to Geneva and the spirits of peace.

— from So Red the Nose

As if 1930’s readers needed the holiday season or articles of war as an excuse to consume yet more gin. Although — regardless of what our old friend Casey might say — the juniper-based Dutch gin (also called jenever/genever) is technically not a gin as we know it, but rather the patriarch from whence all modern gins are spawned. 

Asylum

The Drink

Members of the So Red the Nose Club should read Asylum to discover what lies in store for incautious imbibers of Gin and Pernod.

1 PART GIN
1 PART PERNOD
DASH OF GRENADINE

Pour Over Large Lumps of Ice
Do Not Shake

– From So Red the Nose

It’s pretty ironic to have an alcoholic drink based on a book about rehab. Or is it actually the opposite of irony, since a drunk is surely a cocktail expert? #thingsenglishteachersshouldknow

Innocents Aloft: And Other Souvenirs Of Days France

The Drink

4 JIGGERS GIN                    1 JIGGER RASPBERRY SYRUP
JUICE OF 1 LEMON             1 JIGGER APRICOT CORDIAL
JUICE OF 1 LIME                  1 JIGGER OF APPLEJACK BRANDY
1 JIGGER RED WINE            SUGAR TO TASTE

-From So Red the Nose

Speaking of overly strong concoctions, here Henry Justin Smith manages to break Frank Buck’s previous record with a whopping eight-shot cocktail. Such is my dedication to my craft that I did indeed manage to drink an entire Innocents Aloft in one sitting. I do not recommend you follow my example. Although delicious, this one was made to share.

Lust for Life

The Drink

The man who found seven loves in the life of Vincent Van Gogh hopes that the printer will not call this cocktail a Lust for Wife, although even that is not without its virtues.

1/2 SLOE GIN             1/2 APRICOT BRANDY
JUICE OF 1/2 LIME
Fill with ice, shake and serve

– From So Red the Nose

Well…hmmm. I think this drink might be a little more suited to the 1930’s palette. Let’s look at the ingredients one by one, shall we?

The Sleeping Child

The Drink

Here’s a knockout dose known as The Sleeping Child and stirred up by Alice Grant Rossman…She says her eccentricities are liking cats and Americans.

Half Gin, Half French Vermouth, Dash of Cointreau, Dash of Maraschino, Squeeze of Lemon, Grapefruit, and Peach Juice

– From So Red the Nose

The Sleeping Child is a very girly drink to accompany a very girly book. Unlike last post’s debacle, I found all the ingredients easily enough, with the exception of peaches (you know they’re not in season as the same time as grapefruits, right Ms. Grant Rossman?). I ran all over town trying to find bottled peach juice (no peach nectar is not good enough, thank you very much Whole Foods) until I had the brilliant idea of using the side juice from a can of peaches. Yum.