At the dawn of (cocktail) time, great masters (like Jerry Thomas and Harry Johnson) emerged. These giants of the earth were able to wrest secrets from the primordial elements (like gin and brandy and bitters and ice), and from them craft potions of eldritch potency. In their wisdom, these masters recorded their secrets in tomes of lore (like The Bartender’s Guide, or How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks and New and Improved Bartender’s Manual, or How To Mix Drinks of the Present Style). Acolytes, hungry for knowledge, came to study at the feet of the masters, and in turn added their portion to the growing body of lore, and recorded their discoveries in similar fashion, and each grew in power and knowledge.

Then came the dark times (Prohibition).

The masterful potions were deemed occult and pernicious, and of the Devil, and the mages were forced underground, or else to flee into distant lands. Many strove to keep the old lore alive, and some (like Frank Meier) were even able to fan the flickering flame into new sparks of knowledge.

In time (1933), the forces of darkness were defeated, and the mages were allowed to return. But, much had been lost. The old tomes of lore had been lost or discarded, and the masters found themselves without honor in their own land. Their task was left to a new generation of potion makers, who strove to rebuild the old craft from what remained. In the face of all challenges, they triumphed, and ushered in a new Golden Age of the potion maker’s art. They, too, chose books and journals as the repository of their lore.

And then, the dark times returned, though this time the enemy came from within (pre-made drinks, chemical mixers, all the ill-gotten spawn of disco and and shag carpet). Again the potion master’s art was degraded and diminished, and the craft withered. Again, the tomes of lore were lost (i.e., they went out of print).

Still… through the drought, the people thirsted for the true potions… and a third generation of potion masters came forth (Ted Haigh, Robert Hess, Gary Regan, Dale DeGroff, et alia). Together, they began to rebuild the ancient craft.

Their work continues, but it is not done.

And that’s where you come in…

While we are certain there are great new cocktails yet to be discovered, we are equally certain there are great old cocktails that have been lost to the vagaries of time and chance. Some have been recovered by the new masters, but many have not. They are out there, in books and magazines, but they are at risk…

Accordingly, TSW is proud to announce a new monthly reader participation feature: Raiders of the Lost Cocktails.

The idea is simple: find a published cocktail that is not well known today, but should be.

The rules are pretty simple too:

• Each month, the TSW staff (i.e., the editors and regularly contributing authors) will select a cocktail ingredient, which is accessible but not currently in vogue.
• Each month, readers are invited and challenged to scour all published sources (old books, new books, red books, blue books… plus magazines, databases, matchbook covers) to find worthy cocktails that use this ingredient, and potentially merit revival and rediscovery.
• Entries must be previously published recipes, and include recipe, source, author, and when possible date of publication.
• Recipes don’t have to be unique to that publication.
• Entries will be judged on overall quality and appeal.
• Preference will be extended toward recipes which use relatively common ingredients, thus allowing this recipe to be prepared at a wider majority of bars.
• Preference will be extended toward recipes which are “simpler” in nature (i.e., fewer ingredients without a complicated or burdensome construction)

The winner will be chosen by consensus judgment of the TSW staff.

Prizes are modest. The winner will be given the opportunity to choose the next month’s spirit, and (if desired), a guest spot in an upcoming TSW article (as either author or subject).

So…

The rules and task are simple, but tough, and the prize is slim. If you’re in it for the money, you’re in the wrong place. But, if you’re in it for the craft — if you want to take up a place in cocktail lore and craft — this might be a meaningful opportunity. Consider, please, the words of Robert Hess (one of the judges): “if somebody ‘re-discovers’ a drink, it might actually start appearing in magazines and on bar menus, and imagine the ’sense of pride’ the discoverer will feel about that!”  And finally, this month’s challenge spirit:

Strega.

Your challenge: Through research, find a worthy cocktail recipe requiring Strega. Publish it here, as a comment. Winners will be determined by the TSW staff.

Entries for this month’s challenge will be accepted up to October 11, 2007.

p.s. For serious contestants without access to a research library, consider http://www.vintagebook.net/about_us_uk.htm.

Robort Hess — bless him — has a new episode of The Cocktail Spirit out on The Small Screen Network. This week, the Mojito.

Yikes! It snuck up on me. The Kentucky Bourbon Festival is this week. I don’t think I’ll be able to work it in — alas, since Bourbon is my preferred tipple — but for the footloose, there’s still time, so check it out!

Speaking of Bourbon…

…Jim has put up a post about a new Four Roses offering over on Dowd’s Spirits Notebook.

And speaking of new products, this looks intriguing: Sotol, a relatively little known Mexican spirit, which — like Tequila — is made from the Agave plant.

I don’t know if this one is new, or not, but Melinda at Tokyo through the Drinking Glass makes it sound soooooo good: A Sake Named Desire.

I’m an ornery Libertarian, so I take a dim view of this initiative to require a “serving facts” panel on all alcoholic beverages, but perhaps some out there will see it as a great advance.

This, on the other hand, is right up my alley: an accessible little glossary of whisky/whiskey terminology at Accidental Hedonist.

Nothing succeeds like excess? Las Vegas has long had a reputation for things extreme and over the top, but these cocktails take it to a new level.

Being a Martini lover and a coffee lover, I feel I must give a nod to this article on Martinis for the coffee lover from The New Haven Register. Some don’t meet my definition of a Martini — “a short drink made with either gin or vodka and served straight up, in a Martini glass” (from Miller & Brown’s Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini) — but they all look tasty!

Finally, some previews of this week’s coming attractions: Tomorrow, Robert Hess will give an overview of Scotch whisky. On Tuesday, The Spirit World will launch a new regular reader-participant feature, “Raiders of the Lost Cocktails.” And on Wednesday, we’ll have the first essay from our newest feature writer, Ken Walczak.

Meanwhile, have fun, be careful, call us when you get there!

(You see where this is going, right?)

Quick, choose one! A Gimlet eye or the eye of a Hurricane? A Harvey Wallbanger or a Johnny Weissmuller? A Kentucky Kiss or a Louisiana Lullaby?

(I can keep this up all night!)

Did the Monkey Gland evolve by Natural Selection? Did you hear the one about the Old Fashioned Pink Lady on the Quarter Deck?

(Or until we reach, “Z”, whichever comes first.)

How much rum would a Rum Runner run if a Rum Rummer could run rum? And, did I tell you about the time I had Sex on the Beach and watched the Tequila Sunrise?

(Ummmmmmmmmm…. we’re gonna skip “U”.)

Have you ever entered your bank account or social security number on a website that promised to tell you what happens when you dip a Vampire’s Woo Woo in Xanthia, or how to turn a Yellow Bird into a Zombie?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, except the last two (which would have been clueless), or the Rum Runner one (which was a math question), or any of the either/or G - L ones (where a “yes” answer wouldn’t really make sense)…

Or… ok…. if you could have answered “yes” to a similar question involving spirits and drinks and letters of the alphabet…

Then you may have what it takes to become a writer for The Spirit World.

Other qualifications include an Internet connection. Click here to see if you have one.

And, you can work from home, but you must wear bunny slippers.

The Spirit World is now accepting applications from those who can meet or exceed these demanding qualifications. For more information, email bradgad at gmail dot com.

The most important story of the week is a sad one: beer and whiskey doyen Michael Jackson has died at age 65. My own evolution from occasional social drinker to spirit and cocktail enthusiast began with my interest in single malt Scotch in the late nineties. Throughout that period, Michael Jackson’s Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch was my bible, and I’m sure he had an equal or greater impact on many more of our readers. See The Beer Hunter for complete coverage.

Announcements

Recall Notice: Massachusetts company Stirrings LLC is recalling its 3.5 oz packages of Rimmer® Brand Mojito Cocktail Garnish.

Bourbon lovers, your time has come… for a month. The US Senate has declared September National Bourbon Heritage Month.

Got what it takes to turn a pear into the perfect cocktail? There might be $1,000 in it for you if you do. Cocktail magazine Imbibe has partnered with USA Pears to announce The LiquidPearfection Cocktail Contest, entry deadline October 10th. (Links found via About.Com:Cocktails.)

And In Other News…

Robert Hess has a new episode of The Cocktail Spirit, detailing the whiskey sour, on The Small Screen Network. As usual, Robert’s treatment of the drink is historically well informed, and tells you just what to do to create hand-crafted perfection.

Donovan Hall, over at The Daily Catch, visits two Brooklyn beer bars that would be worth stopping in if you were in the area.

Back in June, our Robert Hess wrote a dandy post announcing St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. This week, the folks at A Dash of Bitters have used it in an intriguing looking concoction: The Flying Cucumber. I would be putting one together right now if I had St. Germain.

Most of us strive for a balanced cocktail when deciding how much alcohol to include in a drink, but a London bar has launched a series of vodka-based cocktails that take a novel alternative approach: the amount of vodka is determined by the current trading values of five Russian companies.

Coors Brewing Co. has announced that it will venture into the high end of the beer market, competing with microbrews and craft beers, with the formation of “a small brewing subsidiary called AC Golden Brewing Co. to cultivate above-premium products”. Other breweries such as Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Molson have recently experimented with similar marketing initiatives. A spokesman for Moslon says they’re “looking to replicate the success of its Blue Moon White Belgian Ale”. Sounds to me like the Coors marketing folks should give me a call and pay big bucks for my DNA and demographic info: I happen to have 11 beers in my fridge right now, six Coors and five Blue Moons. Call me Mr. Target Market.

OK, talk about niche marketing: Cognac-World has announced the development of “holographic shrink sleeves with 5 levels of protection for XO cognacs from Hennessy”. These aren’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, garden-variety holographic shrink sleeves, understand: four years of R&D led to “ability to remember deformations, relief and 3D effects, six-color helio-engraving, special effects such as multichromy, luminescence”.

Labor-intensive Drinks for Labor Day: New York’s Daily News has a nice little article on Drinks Worth the Wait. The drinks look intriguing; the unifying thread among the group seems to be lengthy lists of ingredients and rather involved mixing instructions.

Whisky magazine has announced the winners of this year’s World Whiskies Awards. You’ll need to subscribe to the magazine to get the full story, but William Dowd has posted a list of the winners at Dowd’s Spirit Notebook

That’s it for this week’s round up. If something on the Web catches your eye, and you’d like to see it highlighted here, feel free to drop a note: bradgad at gmail dot com.

My background is primarily academic: I was an university English professor for a number of years, and now work in academic administration at a private, for-profit university in Atlanta. A good many editing chores — some paid, and some not — have come my way over the years. It’s work I enjoy, and look forward to doing a bit of it here.

Spliced into the middle of my academic career were several years during which I worked in the IT field, working my way up from Computer Guy at Kinko’s to Director of Information Systems at two different software training firms.

I enjoy a wide range of spirits and cocktails, but gravitate toward beer, whiskey, and Martinis. One bit of spirits-related writing I did before coming here was the Martini FAQ.

Please feel free to contact me with ideas or feedback about The Spirit World, at bradgad at gmail dot com.

A search for “martini” in the “Cooking, Food & Wine” category at Amazon.com will, as of today, generate 1,485 hits, with many dozens of them being prefectly relevant: books specifically about the Martini. Naturally, when you have dozens of any one thing, some will be better than others. Some of these books are cursory and shallow, and simply recycle material that’s easily found in the others. Some are glossily attractive, but lack substance: you’d pick them up and flip through them if they were lying on the coffee table in front of you, but you wouldn’t feel compelled to refer back to them. When you’re browsing at the B&M bookstore, it’s relatively easily to identify these, but it can be a bit harder to winnow the wheat from the chaff online.

As such, I thought it might be helpful to highlight three Martini books that definitely make the cut, three books that I find myself repeatedly reading and referring too…

Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini, by Anistatia R. Miller and Jared M. Brown (HarperCollins, 1997), is informative, fun to read, and moderately priced. This relatively slender volume packs in an impressive amount of history, lore, and mixological discussion, and — in the sidebars — a treasure trove of line art, cartoons, and recipes. The book also contains the most informed and open-minded discussion I have found of what, precisely, a Martini is. My one quibble with the book is its title. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stirring a Martini. In fact, the consensus among informed bartenders is that clear cocktails such as the Martini should be stirred, rather than shaken. Miller and Brown seem to have chosen the title for its Bond-esque cachet, though, rather than mixological ideology, since many of the Martini recipes included in the book specify that the drink should be stirred. That being said, if I had to recommend one book to someone interested in learning more about the drink, this would be it.

Lowell Edmunds is a Classics professor at Rutgers, and in Martini, Straight Up: The Classic American Cocktail (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), he brings the rigor and thoroughness of a true scholar to the study of the Martini’s place in American culture. Edmunds uses a combination of historical and deconstructionist techniques to minutely parse what we have said about the Martini and, in turn, what it has said about us. This book is not an easy read, but it amply rewards by enlarging our undestanding not only of the Martini, but also of the nature and value of informed and disciplined cultural criticism.

The Martini: An Illustrated History of an American Classic, by Barnaby Conrad III (Chronicle Books, 1995), is a well written and handsomely produced book. In the main, its organization is historical, tracing the drink from its “Dubious Origins” to its “Great Revival”. Throughout, the text is interlaced with excellent art: film stills, oil on canvas paintings, photographs, line art, and cartoons. The book closes with a chapter on “Mixing the Perfect Martini” and two appendices outlining the history of gin and vermouth. After reading this book, one has a much better sense of precisely why and how the Martini achieved its iconic status.

As I said at the outset, though, there are dozens of books on the Martini, and I haven’t had a chance to peruse them all. And, of course, there are quite a few long-out-of-print books that could teach Martini aficianados a great deal. If you know of any gems, please share your thoughts with the rest of The Spirit World community. Like, in a comment!