1/3 Daiquiri Rum (3/4 oz Smith & Cross)
1/3 Apricot Brandy (3/4 oz Rothman & Winter)
Juice 1/4 Lemon (3/4 oz)
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added a lemon twist.
On Sunday night, we were in the mood for a nightcap and I found the Culross in the Café Royal Cocktail Book. With the equal parts spirit, fruit liqueur, Lillet, and lemon structure, it reminded me of the Hoop La so I figured that it was worth a shot. The Culross pre-dates the 1937 Café Royal and appears in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, although I am not sure if there is an older reference than that. The recipe seemed like it needed a full bodied rum to really make this cocktail shine, so I opted for flavorful Smith & Cross over a something I would consider more "daiquiri rum" in style.
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6 comments:
3/4 oz for a quarter of a lemon? You must have some mighty large lemons out East, Fred.
...Kidding...
I do like this drink, but think it is waaaaay better with Apricot Eau-de-Vie than it is with Apricot Liqueur.
Well, if it was a 2 oz drink, then a 1/2 oz of lemon would be about a 1/4 of today's lemons and an equal parts drink. Since the recipe was scalable on everything but the juice, I made the call to use a balance on the tarter side that I preferred.
The original called for pre-embargo Cuban Bacardi, so I used some Havana Club I had on hand. I think this would be better with something funkier, like the Jamaican S&C you used, some El Dorado.
Enjoying one now with Bonal gentiane-quina instead of Cocchi. I also opted to split the different on the rum by using half-ounce each of Havana Club and Smith & Cross. With some tweaking, it is certainly menu-worthy.
Bonal is good but no apricot brandy so went with apricot liqueur. This is much sweeter so increased the rum to 1.25 oz and used Hamilton Breezeway white; Smith & Cross will take this in a very different direction from Craddock's Prohibition-era recipe. Reduced the lemon to 1/2 oz, which was still plenty tart.
Generally, apricot brandy in old books is apricot liqueur. There are a few apricot eau de vie recipes out there, but they are few and far between.
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