brown jack

1 oz Gin (Cascade Mountain)
1 oz Brown Sherry (Lustau Dry Amontillado)
1 oz Passion Fruit Juice, Unsweetened
1 dash Orange Curaçao (1/8 oz Senior Curaçao)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added an orange twist to the recipe.

For a nightcap on Sunday night, I began browsing the United Kingdom Bartenders Guild's Approved Cocktails from 1937. There, I spotted the Brown Jack that caught my attention with its use of passion fruit juice and sherry. The drink was named after one of the most famous British racehorses and one of the best stayers (long distance racing) of all time. In fact, Brown Jack won the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the longest flat race of the season, six consecutive times between 1929 and 1934. The drink itself was attributed to a Joe Bowen, but unfortunately much more is remembered about the horse he honored.
The garnish I added to the Brown Jack supplemented the sherry aroma with bright orange oil notes. The passion fruit appeared in the sip along with some grape notes from the Amontillado, and the sherry continued on in the swallow as a nuttiness that was followed by gin's botanical notes on the finish. Overall, the drink was pretty light and somewhat tropical as expected. Moreover, the sherry and passion fruit went remarkably well together, and the orange liqueur seemed to support the passion fruit's flavor.