weekly special

1/3 Grapefruit Juice (1 oz)
1/3 Gin (1 oz Cascade Mountain)
1/6 Maraschino Liqueur (1/2 oz Luxardo)
1/6 Kümmel (1/2 oz Helbing)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Thursday nights ago, it was time for cocktails, and we decided to try the Weekly Special from the UKBG Approved Cocktails book. The book was compiled in 1937 by the bartenders guild in London almost in parallel with the Café Royal Cocktail Book. The goal was to create a standardized set of recipes, decrease the number of overlapping cocktail names, and thus reduce the confusion on the customers' as well as bartenders' behalves. The book was apparently the first major attempt at standardizing cocktails, although that is probably akin to the first attempts to herd cats. I was drawn to the Weekly Special for it was an unique recipe (to me) and it called for the caraway-flavored liqueur kümmel that appeared to be softened by grapefruit and Maraschino.
The Weekly Special greeted the nose with caraway, Maraschino, and grapefruit aromas. Moreover, a sweet grapefruit sip was chased by Maraschino and kümmel on the swallow. Andrea thought the drink was "like a kümmel Pegu Club," while I likened it to a caraway-tinged and mint-less Seventh Heaven. Indeed, the grapefruit functioned well to mellow out the often harsh notes of the kümmel. In addition, it proved to be a good combination and Andrea likened it to how well grapefruit works with tequila and mezcal.