This is a summary of all of the cocktails I have made from this book since I received it for Christmas from my cousins.  So if you are not interested in cocktails, British history or Downton Abbey I would suggest you skip this post as it is fairly long.

I have posted about some of these cocktails before, but I thought I would put all of them in here as a complete reference.

The first chapter was The Library which features stirred rinks and after-dinner drinks.

The first cocktail I made was on the day after Christmas, Boxing Day.  And this was because my cousins Keith and Christina kindly bought me the ingredients for this cocktail as well as the book.

And here is my first cocktail in the North Drinkware glass I bought myself for Christmas.  I gave these out to family as well but kept one for myself.

This drink was created at the famous Harry’s New York Bar in Paris  where Hemingway, Bogart and many others drank.  The business is still in operation but is temporarily closed, presumably due to the pandemic.  Hopefully it will survive.  It would be fun to visit some day.

And here is what the cocktail is supposed to look like.  So I think I did OK on my first attempt.

The next drink wasn’t until January 13.  And that is partly because I needed to get ingredients for these drinks.  This was the day when I was trying to cleanup the mess from the turkey cooking fireball episode.  Because of the time it took to clean the oven and make dinner my pre-dinner cocktail turned into a post-dinner one.  This cocktail was The Cheerful Charlies.  Here are the ingredients for it.

It is a Downton-inspired version of Old Pal.

The next cocktail was the next evening.  This is a dry Cognac martini from the Hotel Metropole which was at Forty-second and Broadway in NYC.  It sounded like a seedy place with gambling and caberet.  It is still operating as the Hotel Casablanca.

I was able to use the oven again and made turkey pies while I sipped on this.  It was elegant and yummy.*

The next evening I had The Boulevardier.  This is another cocktail from Harry MacElhone, the Scottish owner of The New York Bar in Paris and is in his 1927 book.  This had been a day of white with snow on the ground, and I rendered lard.

But this drink was the opposite of white. The Campari has an odd and bitter flavor which I am not sure I like. But it is festive which is nice when it is dark and cold outside.  This was the evening I was supposed to go to the Seattle Symphony with my mother but couldn’t because we were snowed in.  So this was minor consolation for that.

I previously posted a summary of the next 5 drinks on this blog post.

On January 18 I made a Baltimore Eggnog.  This is what it is supposed to look like.

I do like my grandfather’s eggnog recipe better.  Here is the recipe my grandfather used.

This one is from Jerry Thomas’ The Bar-Tender’s Guide.  This was published in 1862 and was the first drink book published in the United States.  It involved separating the egg whites and yolks and beating the whites.  My grandfather’s recipes calls for this as well so I like this. Below is mine, not quite as elegant as the book’s.  But this nog was still tasty.

On January 20 I made a London Cocktail.   This is what it is supposed to look like.

And here is mine.  It is not nearly the same.  It should be cloudy.  Absinthe was never banned in the United Kingdom like so many other countries (including the US).  I love the stuff and have not noticed any hallucinations.

The next evening was the Sherry Flip.  This was a real favorite of mine, just really yummy.*

But this is supposedly what it is supposed to look like.  I do not understand how there can be an egg in this drink below.

The next evening was the joy of a Tuxedo Cocktail No 2.  This is basically a dry martini with maraschino liqueur and absinthe.  I thought this was just lovely, an elegant drink with nice flavors. This drink was my favorite so far.*

Here is the photo though.  Much more elegant than mine.

On January 25 it was a Coffee Cocktail.  This is from Alfred Suzanne’s 1904 La Cuisine et patisserie anglaise et americaine.  This was really yummy, and I definitely could keep drinking these.*  I do not have an espresso machine though so had to used instant.  Sacrilege, I know.

The next chapter of the book was The Grounds and featured refreshing drinks.

The next evening was the Sidecar.  Apparently the history of this drink is murky.  In the 1927 book Barflies and Cocktails, it called for equal portions of brandy, orange liqueur and fresh lemon juice.  It is supposed to be shockingly tart and sweet.  I did not try that version (but maybe I should some time).  But I did the version in this book with a third the amounts of the liqueur and juice.  It was good and the sugar edge is always fun.  I have had Sidecars before and like them.*

Here is what it is supposed to look like.  Mine is darker for some reason.  I am not sure why.

The next 6 cocktails were previously reviewed on this blog post.

Tom had picked up supplies for me from Bevmo in Bellingham.

The recipe for January 28 called for Fernet-Branca.  Here is the bottle.  Isn’t it pretty?

The drink is the Hanky Panky.  It is famous for it use of this digestif but also because it was created by Ada Coleman, the second-ever female bartender at The Savoy hotel’s American Bar in London.  It is the oldest surviving cocktail bar in Britain.  It still exist except it is temporarily closed, presumably due to the pandemic.  Hopefully it can survive this.

The drink was OK, nothing amazing for me though.

Here is what it is supposed to look like.  This time I know why it looks different.  It is because the only sweet vermouth I had was Russo so my cocktail is darker.

The next evening was Marigold, another Fernet-Branca recipe.  I could not find Cocchi Americano but got Cocchi Vermouth di Torino.  The description as similar, but I am not sure they have the same flavor.  This may be the first time I have used my lavender bitters.  It is named after Marigold, and inspired also by her mother Lady Edith and Ada Coleman, the pioneering bartender.

The next evening I had a Bosom Caresser.  The names get interesting in this portion of the book.  Apparently the American cocktails in the 1920’s were given lurid names.  In the 1921 British book The Whole Art of Dining it states “it would scarcely be safe in this country to call for such a beverage”.  Here are the ingredients in a jar before I shook it.  I thought it looked pretty.

Here it is after the shaking.  Not as pretty, and you can barely see the orange twists. This one tasted like creamy cough syrup to me.

On February 2 there was the Wild Rose cocktail.  This is named after Lady Rose and calls for tequila which is considered wild and unusual for cocktails in Britain of the era.  This one accompanied the Super Bowl.  I decided I prefer my usual margarita recipe to this one.

The next evening was Japanese Cocktail.  This is from the 1887 edition of The Bar-Tenders Guide. It is described as a version of an Old Fashioned but to me it was nothing like one.  There is nothing Japanese about it.  But I really liked this.  It turns out that orgeat syrup is almond syrup.  I thought it blended great with the Cognac.  This was probably my favorite Downton cocktail so far.*

On February 6 I had a Morning Coat.  This was named after the transition that Tom Branson had to make in the series.  It is a variation of the Tuxedo Cocktail No 2.  The original recipe called for Kina Lillet aperitif which is no longer made so Cocchi Americano is the best substitute available. For me this was strongly flavored and not a favorite.

The next 5 cocktail were previously reviewed in this blog post.

February 9 I had an Improved Brandy Cocktail.  This was during the time when I was quite ill with what turned out to be Norovirus.  I wasn’t allow to make food but figured making myself a cocktail was OK.

I had to skip around recipes in the book because I was lacking ingredients that I could not find in our tri-county area.  Amazon was helpful in that I was able to order gum syrup and passion fruit syrup from them which arrived in late January.  Unfortunately I cannot get the rare ingredients that contain alcohol from them.

So this is the first time I used gum syrup.  It is supposed to bestow a velvety richness to the cocktails.  Honestly I cannot detect it.  This does have absinthe and Luxardo so I loved it.*  Plus it was elegant.

The next evening I had a The Suffragette.  This one was delayed because I had a hard time finding the creme de cacao, but I finally did find it in one of our local stores.  This one is in honor of Lady Sybil who supported a woman’s rights to vote in the series.  It is an adaption of a Sidecar. I usually do not like chocolate and fruit together, but I actually liked the flavor. But then the acidity got to my stomach, and I no longer liked it, which is sad due to its name. This may have been due to my illness so I should probably try this one again.

The next evening I partook a Raspberry Gin Fizz, the first of the Fizzes.  I did not have any raspberries so used frozen strawberries. This one was good and refreshing and did not taste like cough syrup like the previous cocktail which had raspberry syrup in it.

The next evening I had the Ramos Gin Fizz.  It apparently is not a true fizz but was created in the late nineteenth century by Henry Ramos in New Orleans.  You need to shake it a full three minutes which I did.  I believe it is the first time I used orange flower water in a cocktail.  This one was yummy.*

On Valentine’s Day I had The Abbey cocktail.  This is from The Savoy Cocktail Book.  It was written by Harry Craddock who was an English bartender who trained in the US and became one of the most famous bartenders of the 1920s and 1930s. He is known for his tenure at the Savoy Hotel in London, and for his 1930 book.  The Savoy is still operating as a hotel.

This drink was tasty.*

Here is what  it is supposed to look like.  I am not sure why a drink made of orange juice is so yellow rather than orange.  But I am also concerned maybe what I have is not the Cocchi Americano that is called for.

The next three drinks were previously reviewed in this blog post.

On February 16 I had a Downton Heir.  This one is in honor of the unexpected heir Matthew in the series.  It is basically a gin martini. For me it was not that exciting.

The next evening I had a Summer Cup.  This is basically a Pimm’s Cup and is the first time I have had Pimm’s No. 1.  This cup was created in the 1820’s by Londoner James Pimm.  He began selling it commercially in 1859.  Eventually there were 6 variety’s of Pimm’s available all with different liquors (gin, scotch, rum, vodka and rye whiskey) flavored with fruit liqueurs and herbs.  Most are currently phased out but No 1 is still popular at Wimbledon tennis tournament, the Chelsea Flower Show and polo matches.

This was OK, again nothing amazing but fun to have a unique cocktail to sip while cooking.

This is what it is supposed to look like, much more elegant.  I did not have a whole cucumber that evening so had saved a previously sliced piece of cucumber from my lunch salad.  The recipe calls for an orange wheel which turns out is just a slice.  There is some interpretation you need to do when using British recipes.  This drink felt very British.
On February 19 I had a Sub-Rosa Summer.  It is a spicier version of the Summer Cup with ginger beer and Peychaud’s bitters.  It is in honor of the character Thomas Barrow in the series.

The next evening I had a Green Swizzle, a late nineteenth century Caribbean drink.  Unfortunately I do not have a proper wooden swizzle.  Apparently this drink can be quite green depending on the coloring in the absinthe you use.  So mine is not that green.  The bitters are supposed to remain one top to add color.  I had to used a rolling pin to crush the ice.  I was out of white rum so used the gold.  It as the first time I have used velvet falernum.  It had an unusual flavor and I liked it.*

The next evening I had a Daiquiri.  So there are discrepancies here.  I previously made this drink in my Hemingway cocktail exploration.  In that cocktail book it stated that the origins of the Daiquiri are varied, but Hemingway was there when it was perfected by Constantino Ribalaigua at his Havana’s La Florida Bar AKA the Floridita. In 1937 the version I made was named after him.  This version had white rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice, and maraschino liqueur.  The 1947 version the Papa Doble had more of the juices in relation to the rum and was one of my favorite drinks of that book.  Unfortunately I did not have Maraschino liqueur so I substituted Luxardo cherry syrup.  What I learned after this is that this is not an acceptable substitution.  Maraschino liqueur is a strongly flavored almost bitter liqueur.  So I need to try a Papa Doble again with correct ingredients.

For this version however it says it became popular after it was introduced in 1909 at the Army and Navy Club in Washington DC by junior medical officer Lucius Johnson.  This story isn’t as sexy.  It is simply rum, lime juice and simple syrup.  I skipped the simple syrup and probably should have put it in.  I like the Hemingway versions better.

On 02/22/20 I had a Clover Club.  This one was named after a local men’s club that met at Philadelphia’s Bellevue-Stratford Hotel supposedly from the later 1800’s to the early 1900’s.  The hotel is still operating but mysteriously was built in 1904.  And there are citations that the recipe was first apparent in 1901, also before the hotel was built.  So that part of the history is confusing.  But per wikipedia “From its beginning, the Bellevue-Stratford was the center of Philadelphia’s cultural, social and business activities….The rich and famous, royalty and heads of state from all over the world, presidents, politicians, actors and famous writers have stayed within its walls. 15 U.S. Presidents, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt and ending with Ronald Reagan

“The hotel gained worldwide notoriety in July 1976, when it hosted a statewide convention of the American Legion. Soon after, a pneumonia-like disease killed 29 people and sickened 182 more who had been in the hotel. The vast majority were members of the convention. The negative publicity associated with what became known as “Legionnaires’ Disease” caused occupancy at the Bellevue-Stratford to plummet to 4 percent and the hotel finally closed on November 18, 1976.”

The drink apparently went out of favor due to its use of raw eggs.  But it is a truly elegant and tasty cocktail.*  It was kind of fruffy.  I did skip the simple syrup.  I have always used our own raw eggs in recipes like Grampa’s egg nog.  But in February I was having GI issues so I decided to pasteurize my eggs for this using this recipe. I subsequently have been well tested and do not have any illness related to egg consumption, but this is a recipe you can use if you wish to use raw eggs more safely.

This is what it is supposed to look like.  I think I nailed the cocktail, but their glassware and decorations are much more elegant.

The next evening I had a Mint Julep.  I have made these before and was not impressed, preferring my Mojito recipe instead.  But this version was so simple but wonderful.  I fell in love with it.*  The recipe called for putting it in an Old Fashioned glass so I used an extremely cool hand blown glass my friend Dan Sweaney had made ( I later broke the glass and ma heart broken).  Doesn’t it look elegant?  I loved how it iced up as you stirred it.  I did end up making simple syrup for this recipe and that is what is in the jar.  Unfortunately in February I do not have fresh mint growing so had to buy it.

I am a little surprised about how much I loved this drink that day.  We had gone to the Edison Chicken Parade, and I had gotten quite chilled.  So an ice cold drink should not have been appealing.  I must have warmed up in time.

In the Downton Abbey book they do say that you can substitute other liquors for bourbon like peach brandy, gin, Cognac, or fortified wines.  That seems like complete sacrilege to me, but they do say that peach brandy was the original basis for the recipe.  So I may try that some time.  It does sound intriguing.  Here is what it is supposed to look like supposedly.  The recipe said an old fashioned glass which this clearly is not, but it sure is pretty.

On February 23 I had a John Collins.  Per the book the legend is that this drink was named after John Collins who was a waiter at a London restaurant named Limmer’s.

Per Londonist “Though there are multiple theories as to the origin of this easy-drinking cocktail based on gin and lemon, the most likely leads back to the mid 19th century and a hotel in Mayfair. John Collins was a bartender working at a bar called The Coffee House, set within Limmer’s Hotel on Conduit Street – a hotel noted at the time for being ‘one of the dirtiest in London’. John Collins created the drink as a twist on a classic gin punch (one of the most popular drinks of the time) and became immortalised in a limerick in a 1892 book titled Drinks of the World, so leading to the cocktail’s name:
My name is John Collins,
head waiter at Limmer’s,
Corner of Conduit Street,
Hanover Square,
My chief occupation is filling
brimmers
For all the young gentlemen
frequenters there.”

I did not have genever so I used regular gin instead.  This was boring and too ginny for me.

On February 27 I had a Daisy.  This was apparently quite popular in the late 1800’s.  It had a nice orange flavor and was not too sweet.  I enjoyed this one.*

On Leap Day I had a Mason Daisy.  This is a version of the Daisy with homage to Mr. Mason (with its inclusion of cider) and to Daisy (with the addition of bitters to make it spicier).  This was better than the regular Daisy with the added ginger flavor.*

Now it is March, the third to be exact.  And I made for myself a Champagne Cobbler.  This is probably the prettiest drink I had.  It is just beautiful, but it lacked flavor.

Here is what it is supposed to look like.  I think I almost nailed it.  Still working on my citrus twist skills though.

The next day I made a Brandy Crusta.  This involved my first attempt at a horse’s neck twist.  Unfortunately the photo did not turn out but I thought it was gorgeous.

This drink was created in the 1850’s in New Orleans.  I butchered the sugar rim on the glass though.  It was incredibly elegant to drink with the rose on the bottom.  Although the recipe calls for a wine glass, a smaller glass would make it more elegant I believe.  It was a strongly flavored cocktail.

The next chapter of the book is The Great Hall and features party drinks.

So then we headed to our vintage Boles Aero trailer in the mountains for the weekend. I had to pack up my cocktail supplies to bring along.  I needed to find claret for these recipes.  So brought this along.  I thought the bottle was pretty.

The first of the Boles drinks was a New York Sour. It is a wine topped whiskey daisy.  It turns out that I am not good at floating the top of a cocktail.  But I still think it looks nice.

This is what it is supposed to look like.  Clearly I need to practice floating.  One thing I learned is that you need to keep the correct amount of sugar in the underlying liquid for the less dense liquid above it to float.  Plus using a big spoon seemed to help.  But with all of that I didn’t like the flavor that much.

But here is mine on the table of the Boles.  I think it looks perfect for the venue.

On March 6, I actually made two versions of the same cocktail, the Lady’s Maid.  These are variations of the New York Sour as tributes to Cora’s lady’s maids.  It is floated with port so is sweet for the Baxter version and floated with Campari so is bitter for the O’Brien version.  I was even worse with the floating for the drinks.

Back home on March 8 (Daylight Savings Day), I made a tea punch.  The recipe is from the 1904 book La Cuisine et patisserie anglaise et americaine.  It is a hot punch made from rum, brandy sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon, cloves, black tea and orange slices.  It was really lovely and a great wintertime drink.*

The next day I made a Ghillies Juice.  This is simply 1 cup of the Tea Punch mixed with 1 ounce of whiskey.  It is a cold drink though.  I did not like it as much as the tea, enjoying the warm drink better in this case.  I manage to forget to take a photo of it.  But it wasn’t that exciting to look at either.

So I was having to skip ahead a lot in this book because I was lacking some of the more exotic ingredients that I could not find in the local counties.  Specifically I was lacking Bols Genever gin, Chartreuse, Dubonnet Rouge and Creme de Violet.  On March 11 I had a class I needed to attend in Seattle.  So after the class my friend Erin and I hit up Total Wine & More in Northgate in Seattle.  They had everything I needed plus some extra treats.  Erin was happy too.  This was the day that they announced that the Seattle School District was going to close the next day.  The class participants were having to scramble to try to find childcare for their next day.  These classes were cancelled shortly after ours.  I was terribly nervous attending, but they did try to make precautions to limit any possible virus spread.  But now what we know about asymptomatic spread I am glad neither Erin or I became ill that day.

I went on metronidazole at this point and was unable to drink any alcohol.  So there was a 2 week period where my cocktail experiments was put on hold.

Below is the infamous Genever.  It is an old Dutch-style gin. It is traditionally distilled with botanicals which include juniper and is sweetened with a malt wine.  It is supposed to have somewhat of a whiskey flavor to it.  Per the Lucas Boss’ site “Lucas Bols’s first genever was produced in 1664. Traditionally drunk straight and called ‘Dutch Courage’, genever played a part in the rise of the cocktail in the 19^th century in America, when one in four cocktails were made with genever, thanks to its smooth malty taste.”  I will say that the bottle is wonderful and from a company established in 1575 is impressive.

On March 25, the first cocktail I made with this gin was a redo of the John Collins so I was using the correct liquor.  It was much better with the Genever.  It was fun trying new and complex flavors and deciding if I liked them or not, quite the taste adventure.

On March 28, I made a cocktail with the found Chartreuse.  This was Last Word.  It was developed at the Detroit Athletic Club.  This club is still in operation and has a stringent dress code.  It is temporarily closed, presumably due to the pandemic.

This drink had a unique taste.  This was on the day after I was in the ER after my knee was tapped so relaxing was the order of that evening.  This helped.

This is the example from the book.  I am starting to wonder if they enhance the colors some.  But theirs is definitely more elegant.

The next cocktail was on my birthday and was a tribute to Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, my favorite character by far.  

It used the now found creme de violet and was a lovely celebratory cocktail to celebrate my birthday, particularly since my plans were disrupted by the pandemic.  This helped make up for it.  It did taste a lot like Last Word.

On March 30, the day after my birthday, I made another Brandy Crusta.  I am not sure why.  I may have forgotten that I had already made it.  This time my horse’s neck twist was not very visible.

On April 2 I made the Turkish Attache cocktail.  This refers to the episode with the death of Kemal Pamuk.  I didn’t have any peels to make the horse’s neck twist which was sad.  I accidentally added three times the amount of passion fruit syrup (“pash”) as well. It ended up being sweet but tasty.*

On April 3, I made a Prince of Wales Cocktail.  It is reported to have been invented by Prince Albert Edward and comes from the 1901 book The Private Life of King Edward VII.  This was a fun drink, particularly with the pineapple smashed up in it.

Here is the version for the book.  I think I did pretty well with this one, so elegant.

The next evening I made a French 75.  I have made this before and love it.  I also order one now when I rarely get to go to a French restaurant.  I distinctly remember having one at the Maximilien restaurant in the Pike Place Market for lunch with my mother.  It all felt so elegant with the lovely views of the sound, the fancy drink and the rich food.  The restaurant is currently closed but does have a bagged meal to go program.

So there is a soft place in my heart for this drink.  This is how it is supposed to look per the book.

And here is mine from last month.  It is still elegant.  I used a champagne glass that I drank from at our wedding reception so that is special as well.  I made this on an evening before a work shift.  My prior shift had been really hard so this helped soften my anxieties.

Here is a photo from the reception from 2003.

On April 6 I made the cocktail called Archie’s Memorial,  This one is in honor of Mrs. Patmore’s nephew who died in the war but was left out of the town’s memorial.  It is a French 75 with the addition of sage leaves.  It was very elegant and exotic in its taste.  I used another champagne glass that I used at our wedding reception, also very special. I did sip on this during a prolonged power outage.  I loved the exotic sage flavor.  I will make this one again.*

On April 8 I made Kir Royal.  This is named for Canon Felix Kir, a mayor of Dijon, France where creme de cassis is made.  This is another elegant champagne drink, and the color is particularly lovely. It was not that exciting in flavor though.

The next evening I made a Stirrup Cup.  This was the type of drink that was shared just before a fox hunt.  The recipe is from Henry Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book.  Here are the ingredients.

Here it is in the punch bowl

And here it is in my cup.  It is fun to use some of the crystal I inherited from my grandparents for some of these drinks.  This was a fun punch.  I watched the Downton Abbey episode about the influenza pandemic while sipping on this drink.

On April 10 I made The Boothby.  This was our first pandemic Friday Night.  I had this cocktail in the bath before we headed to Concrete to pick up our pizzas.

This drink was created by “Cocktail Bill” Boothby, a bartender at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the early 1900s.  The hotel built in 1909 after the 1906 earthquake is still in operation.

The recipe called for sweet vermouth so I used the Cocchi one.  This was a tasty drink.*

Here is the example. I think mine looks good, but their glass is prettier.

On Easter I made a Pineapple Julep.  This is a punch, not a julep.  This recipe appears in William Terrington’s 1869 book Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, the first British book to include recipes for cocktails.  Here are the ingredients.

And here it is all made up in a punch bowl.  It was wonderfully tropical but was a little sweet for my taste.  But a nice Easter treat, especially in a pandemic.

On April 16 I made a Planter’s Punch.  This is a Jamaican drink.  The original recipe is unknown and its ingredients can be variable.  Here are the ingredients for the one included in the book.  It is pineapple juice in the jar.  I skipped the simple syrup so it was not sweet.  This was tropical and lovely.  I will make this one again.*

On April 17 I made a Fish House Punch.  This was a once secret recipe invented in 1732 at Philadelphia’s Fish House Club (per wikipedia it was actually called The Schuylkill Fishing Company) where George Washington was a member.  The drink is quite strong so the book’s recipe suggested letting the ice block melt to dilute it.  I did this and halved the recipe therefore doubling the ice amount.  And despite this on Pandemic Friday Night #2 I ended up getting quite ill. I had wondered if George got sick with this drink as well.  Now I read per wikipedia “According to legend, on a visit George Washington drank so much of the potent Fish House Punch, he subsequently couldn’t bring himself to make an entry in his diary for three days. It was said to be Washington’s favorite.”  So I now have something in common with old George.

So you need to be careful with this one.  I probably will not make it again.  Here are the ingredients which is a clue.

And here it is all made up.  I took me a week to finish this.  Fortunately with adding ice it slowly became less potent.

On April 24 I made a Prince Of Wales Punch.  This was my Pandemic Friday Evening #3 when I was alone due to concerns I might have COVID-19.

The Prince Of Wales who became Edward VIII was featured on Downton Abbey with his lover Freda Dudley Ward.  Here are the ingredients for this punch.

Here it is in the bowl.  It does not appear as elegant as the other punches, in my opinion.  I finally figured out with this drink that when the recipe calls for curaçao that they likely mean the orange type and not the blue one like I have.  The color came out weird.  This punch was really weak in alcohol which was good for me since I was having stomach issues  But it reminded me of grape Koolaid.  So I probably won’t make this one again, even with the correct curaçao.

On April 28 I made the cocktail White Lady.  This was the day we picked up our new piglets.  Supposedly a cocktail shaker with this drink in it was buried within the walls of the American Bar at the Savoy in London when it was being renovated in 1927.  Here it is, a pretty drink.  For me it was too ginny though.

On May Day I made Wedding Coat.  This was our Pandemic Friday Evening #4 and I had my cocktail before we went out to pick up our dinners.  I had been pretty ill that day but was feeling a little better toward the evening.

This drink was a tribute to Mrs. Hughes.  It uses the creme de cassis which is so pretty in its color.  It was elegant and less ginny than White Lady.  It was tasty.*  I may make this one again some day.

The next chapter of the book is The Drawing Room and features Predinner drinks and hangover helpers.

On May 2 I made a Morning Glory Fizz.  This is supposed to be a hangover remedy, but I thought it was great as a pre-dinner drink.  Fortunately my illness was subsiding finally so I could enjoy this drink.

This was a favorite drink of mine. * This is like an egg nog but not as rich without the eggs and less sweet.  The club soda made it lighter as well.  It was easy to make as well but still appears elegant.  I will be making this one again, for sure.

Here is a close up of it.

Here it is in the book.  I think mine is nearly as elegant.

Yesterday I made a Never Doubt cocktail.  This was a tribute to the relationship between John and Anna Bates in the series.  It is a Morning Glory Fizz with Cognac instead of whiskey, some orgeat syrup (which is almond syrup) instead of creme de cacao.  I really liked this drink, but it is kind of like dessert.*  This would only be for special occasions in my mind.

So that is my cocktail experiment so far.  I am continuing to have stomach issues so I am guessing that my cocktail drinking will be slowing down.  But I will hopefully finish this book at some point.

*I put asterisks by the drinks that I lived the taste of so I can easily find them again.