Joseph Santini, New Orleans, ~1850.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | COGNAC | 40 % |
| ¼ oz · 8 ml | MARASCHINO LIQUEUR | 32 % |
| ¼ oz · 8 ml | LEMON JUICE | |
| ½ barspoons | ORANGE CURACAO | 40 % |
| 2 dashes | ANGOSTURA BITTERS | 44 % |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 2.65 oz mixed with ice, 0.94 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Shaken: +20 % of the pre-batch, +0.53 oz of water |
| Served | 2.65 + 0.53 = 3.17 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.94 ÷ 3.17 = 29.6 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.94 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 22 g · about 154 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM COGNAC · from oak barrel aging
Bourbon's fingerprint, extracted from the charred American oak the law requires for aging. Same molecule as the vanilla bean's signature, so a well-aged bourbon legitimately tastes like vanilla. Chemistry, not metaphor. Cognac, aged rum, tequila reposado all extract vanillin from oak too. Different barrels, same molecule.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Manhattan · Whiskey Sour · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Espresso Martini · Mai Tai
FROM CURAÇAO + LEMON PEEL · citrus peel oil
An orange rind, squeezed, throws a spray that catches the light. That's d-limonene boiling off. It's roughly 95% of orange peel oil by mass, and the molecule that puts the "orange" in orange anything. Used industrially as a green solvent because the chemistry that dissolves citrus oils also dissolves greasy machinery. The expressed-peel garnish on a cocktail is delivering vaporized limonene to the rim of the glass.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Martini · Margarita · Gin & Tonic · Cosmopolitan · Mai Tai · Piña Colada · Hemingway Daiquiri
FROM LEMON · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
ALSO IN Margarita · Mojito · Daiquiri · Whiskey Sour · Gimlet · Moscow Mule · Paper Plane · Aviation
Cognac, maraschino, lemon, orange curaçao and bitters. The 'crusta' is a format: a deep sugared rim and a spiral of citrus peel lining the glass. Joseph Santini's New Orleans invention is the ancestral form of the Margarita and the Sidecar.
Joseph Santini's Brandy Crusta is considered by most cocktail historians (David Wondrich foremost) to be the ancestor of the entire 'spirit + citrus + sugar + orange liqueur' family, including the Sidecar and the Margarita. The 'crusta' format (sugared rim, peel lining, served in a small wine glass) was Santini's invention. Jerry Thomas's 1862 Bartender's Guide printed the recipe; the Crusta nearly vanished post-Prohibition and was restored by Wondrich's 2007 Imbibe!
