In the interest of clarity (and for new readers of this blog) this isn’t MY own cocktail. It’s my Great Great Uncle’s from The Mixing Master, his c. 1933 unpublished mixing guide.
It’s basically a variation on a White Lady, a drink which apparently first appeared in, and was made popular by, the Savoy Cocktail Book.
Ingredients:
1 jigger DRY GIN
1 pony COINTREAU
1 pony LEMON JUICE
1 pony MAPLE SYRUP
SHAVED ICE
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Shake well. Serve in a Rhine Wine Glass.
Notes:
Caulkins has revised the White Lady by replacing the egg white with maple syrup. The result is: 1) not white, 2) not frothy, and 3) almost, almost too sweet. But there’s a lovely citrus tang from the lemon and cointreau which, combined with the maple syrup, makes it all feel like an early morning comfort breakfast of pancakes and orange juice — with a light buzz. Sort of like a bonus for getting up.
Not that I’m saying you should drink this in the morning. There are other cocktails meant for that, such as (future post spoiler alert) a Morning Glory Fizz, which has whisky and brandy and absinthe, and. . . OH MY GOD, how did these people function?!
Anyway, back to today’s recipe. Interestingly, Caulkins instructions for this cocktail do not include straining the ice. I’m not sure if this was a purposeful or inadvertent omission, but since I’m making ’em as I sees ’em, I went with it. For Caulkins, it might have been that all or most of the shaved ice melted during the shaking of the drink. For me though, because I’m basically just crushing regular ice cubes rather than using true shaved ice, there was still some remaining.
I did notice that if you don’t immediately guzzle this cocktail, the melting ice doesn’t dilute the taste of the entire drink, instead it just slightly cuts the sharp sweetness of the maple syrup. And perhaps that was Caulkins original intention all along. And if not, then maybe I will consider My Own Cocktail to really be MY own cocktail. . . with ice.