Happy Halloween! The Gents have pulled out all the stops (organ reference) to bring you a special early episode to spice up your Halloween night. Sure, our early episode still might be a little late. Maybe you had your Halloween party this past weekend like some sort of savage. However, if you waited until tonight for your party, or you don't have to work tomorrow, or you live somewhere where little ghosts and goblins don't come come ringing your doorbell every three minutes, and you feel the need for a little thirst quenching buzz, the Gents have a couple of festive drinks for you. Let get mixing because the trick or treaters are on their way!

Next up is a drink from the Imbibe magazine website.  This drink was on the menu of the halloween-themed pop-up PUB Dread in Washington, DC. back in 2017.

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!
-Paul Taylor, PUB Dread, Washington, D.C., 2017

1 oz. Aperol
¼ oz. Campari
½ oz. sweet vermouth
1 oz. strawberry syrup
1 barspoon absinthe
3 oz. sparkling water

Combine all the ingredients in a highball over ice, stir, then garnish with a red Twizzler

Strawberry Syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup strawberries (tops removed and cut in half)
1 cup water

Heat all the ingredients in saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool, then strain into a bottle and refrigerate.

This drink is for the Negroni lovers out there.  It's got a little bitterness from the Aperol and Campari but the bitterness is softened significantly by the big glug of strawberry syrup.  The Gents did not make there own strawberry syrup but instead used the strawberry syrup made by Giffard.  All in all a fantastic drink.  Again, pictures were taken but this is the shot from the Imbibe website.

Please have a safe and happy Halloween!

In this episode the Gents are back together tasting rums, reminiscing about Mike, Mark and Jack, and wondering if Kauai (the Garden Island) is the New Jersey of Hawaii.  All this and a couple of drinks!  Let’s get started.

First up is an old drink from the turn of the century.  The last century, not this most recent one.  It’s called a Mamie Taylor and was named after a musical actress named Mayme Taylor.  There are a couple of different stories involving her asking for this drink, or being accidentally served this drink, but either way, she was involved.  It was huge for a few years, then fell out of fashion.  Fortunately, it’s preserved in Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.  It’s much like any drink that has spirit and fizz but better.  Find the spiciest ginger beer or ale that you can.  The Gents were lucky enough to get a hold of some “Old #3 Hot” Blenheim Ginger Ale.  You can track down some yourself right here.  You want the red cap!

Mamie Taylor
-circa 1899 from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh.

2 ounces Scotch
3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
Spicy ginger ale or ginger beer (Get Blenheim’s #3 Ginger Ale)

Pour the scotch and lime juice into an ice-filled highball glass and fill with ginger ale. Stir and garnish with a lime wedge.

Mmmmmmm.  Mamie Taylor, where have you been all our lives?  This drink is all gingery scotchy limey goodness.  It’s just what you think it’s going to taste like, only better somehow!  If you happen to be in Vancouver, why don’t you head on down to Mamie Taylor’s in Chinatown and get one made for you?

Next up is the Modernista.  This is Ted Haigh’s name for the drink which he derived from a drink called the Modern Cocktail or the Modern Maid.  He readjusted the proportions to what you see here and added Swedish Punsch.

The Modernista
-adapted by Ted Haigh from "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" by Ted Haigh.

2 ounces Scotch
1/2 ounce dark Jamaican rum
1 teaspoon absinthe or pastis (Pernod etc)
1/2 ounce Swedish Punsch
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
 2 dashes orange bitters

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass.  Add a lemon twist

Ted says in his description that this can be a challenging drink.  If you were new to cocktails you might have a little bit of trouble with it.  The licorice flavour of the absinthe certainly comes through as does the lemon juice.  All the other flavours seemed to be secondary.

In fact, the Gents took it upon themselves to tweak the recipe a little further by adding some ginger beer from the Mamie Taylor, and came up with a new drink that they’re calling the Modern Mamie.  Try it out and leave a comment so they know what you think of it.

Modern Mamie
-The Gentlemen of Elegant Leisure 2018

2 ounces Scotch
1/2 ounce dark Jamaican rum
1 teaspoon absinthe or pastis (Pernod etc)
1/2 ounce Swedish Punsch
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
 2 dashes orange bitters
1/2 ounce of spicy ginger beer or ale (Get Blenheim’s #3 Ginger Ale)


Shake all ingredients (except ginger beer) in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass.  Add the ginger beer and stir gently.

The Gents thought this drink tasted better.  The addition of the ginger beer changed the flavour in such a way that Gentleman Jason thought it now tasted of apples.  Please try making one for yourself and let the Gents know.

During the episode Gent J mentioned an old sketch that he had been in called the Spit Take Sketch.  Please enjoy this trip to 1996!

Swedish Punsch.  The Gentlemen of Elegant Leisure have used this ingredient before and thought, “Why not use it again?”  In fact, there are two drinks back to back in Ted Haigh’s book “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails” that use it.  You can purchase the book right here.

First up is the Doctor Cocktail.  There are a few variations of this drink, and the Gents may come back to this one for the sake of comparison. This drink is a Trader Vic variation of one that was promoted by Frank Meier of the Ritz Bar in Paris in 1936.  Let’s credit them both shall we?

Doctor Cocktail
by Frank Meier and Victor Bergeron. (from Ted Haigh’s “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails”)

2 ounces Jamaica rum
1 ounce Swedish Punsch
1 ounce lime juice

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime twist.

What do you get when you mix rum, Swedish Punsch and lime juice together?  As far as the Gents are concerned, not much.  Misery maybe?  Sadness?  Disappointment for sure.  Loads of disappointment.  The lime seemed to come on way too strong and easily overpowered whatever sweetness was coming from the Punsch.  The rum was definitely there, but for the Gents, the drink came off like sour rum.  Had they called it a Rum Sour, maybe this would work better.  As Doctor Cocktail, you’d be better of going to the walk in clinic down the street.  Try it and leave a comment.  Perhaps the Gents missed the point.  They are always willing to learn. 

Next up is the Diki-Diki Cocktail.  This one sounds like a Tiki drink, but it isn’t.  It’s got Calvados in it.  You remember Calvados, the apple brandy?  Here it’s mixed with Swedish Punsch and grapefruit juice!

Diki-Diki Cocktail
from Ted Haigh’s “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails”

1 1/2 ounces Calvados
1/2 ounce Swedish Punsch
3/4 ounce grapefruit juice

Shake well in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass.

What do you get when you mix Calvados, Swedish Punsch and grapefruit juice together?  As far as the Gents are concerned, not much, but it’s better than the Doctor Cocktail.  Its’ sweeter, so it’s a little bit more pleasant to drink.  The Swedish Punsch gets a chance to come through so there’s a little hint of rum with the apple brandy and the grapefruit lends a little bit of tartness.  Still, the Gentlemen were a little disappointed with this drink too.  Maybe it was because they were down a man.  Gentlemen Fred was in Hawaii for this episode but was able to be in the episode through the magic of the internet.

Please try both these cocktails a leave a comment about which one you prefer.  Gentleman Fred will be back in town and ready to drink for the next show.  See you then!