Jerry Thomas, ~1860.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | COGNAC | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | ORGEAT | |
| 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 | 2.56 oz mixed with ice, 0.83 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Stirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.38 oz of water |
| Served | 2.56 + 0.38 = 2.94 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.83 ÷ 2.94 = 28.1 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.83 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 19 g · about 135 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.
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FROM ORGEAT · the grape candy note
The grape-candy / Welch's-grape-juice aroma. Concord grapes carry it in concentrations no European wine grape (Vitis vinifera) approaches; American Vitis labrusca grapes, native to the northeastern US, hold methyl anthranilate as a signature. The "foxy" note in North American grape juice and artificial grape candy both come from the same molecule. Also used as the standard bird repellent on commercial fruit crops; birds find it intolerable.
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FROM ANGOSTURA
The bitter from gentian root, used across Campari, Aperol, sweet vermouth, Angostura, and most amari. Bitter compounds activate TAS2R taste receptors that evolved to detect plant alkaloids. The same machinery that makes broccoli taste bad to children also makes a Negroni taste like an adult ordered it.
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Cognac, orgeat and Angostura: a three-ingredient Jerry Thomas recipe from before the Civil War. The notes are almond benzaldehyde from orgeat, Cognac vanillin and Angostura bark. It is an early cocktail softened with a nut-milk sweetener instead of plain sugar.
Jerry Thomas published the Japanese Cocktail in his 1862 Bartender's Guide. The name confused contemporaries, and historians since, because the drink has nothing Japanese about it. The most likely explanation: Thomas created it for the 1860 visit of the first Japanese diplomatic delegation to the United States (the Tokugawa shogunate's mission to Washington). The cocktail was one of the few American drinks named in honor of a diplomatic event.
