copley lady

2 oz Sazerac 6 Year Rye
1/2 oz Barbeito Bual Madeira Boston Special Reserve
1/2 oz Amaro Nonino
1 dash Fee's Chocolate Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass.

For my second drink at Eastern Standard, I asked bartender Josh Taylor if he had anything that he had been tinkering with, and he replied that he had one with Madeira! And not just one with Madeira, but one that used a rather delicious one - Barbeito Bual Madeira Boston Special Reserve - that he let us taste. The spirit was sharp and raisiny and Andrea commented that it was "sweet and tangy" and a definite step up in quality and smoothness from our Blandy's 5 Year Malmsey Madeira at home.
The drink Josh proposed had rye paired with Madeira with some amaro and chocolate bitters to round out the drink. The Madeira beautifully brought out the malt notes in the rye, and the chocolate bitters and Amaro Nonino provided a pleasing bitter complexity on the swallow. Overall, the drink was kind of dry and rather delightful.

The drink lacked a name so we came up with two suggestions given the whiskey and Madeira pairing. The first was based on the Boston Flip which appears in the 1934 Boothby World Drinks And How To Mix Them (there are a few other old drinks with Boston in the name that contain Madeira like the Boston Egg Nog), and thus we came up with the Boston Clipper which also shares the nautical aspect of Madeira:

Boston Flip
• 1 oz Whiskey
• 1 oz Madeira
• 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
• 1/2 Egg Yolk
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Grate nutmeg over drink.

And the second was based on the Creole Lady which we had first spotted on the LUPEC website and made at home a few years ago. Since then, I have found the recipe in Stan Jones, and the earliest reference I have spotted was in the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book in the supplementary list of cocktail names (sans recipe). The name we derived from this drink was the Copley Lady after near by Copley Square:

Creole Lady Cocktail
• 1 1/4 oz Rye (or Bourbon)
• 1 1/4 oz Madeira
• 1/4 oz Grenadine
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a green and a red cherry.

The dual cherry garnish screams out the Stan Jones' 1970's influence, and I would love to find the original recipe for it. After emailing Josh with our two suggestions, Josh approved of the Copley Lady and thanked us for alleviating the burden of naming the drink.