dead bastard

1/2 oz Citadelle Gin
1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac
1/2 oz Plantation 3 Star Rum
1/2 oz Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 oz Lime Cordial
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice, stir in 4 oz ginger beer, and pour unstrained into a Double Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with an orange slice and a mint sprig.

The second talk I attended on Thursday was Members Only: Club Cocktails in History presented by David Wondrich and Jeff "Beachbum" Berry. While the talk was rather entertaining and informative, I do not believe that I could do it justice here. To capture one of the most interesting and salacious sections, just go buy Mannix's The Hell Fire Club; after that "the club as playpen" section, the clubs got much less depraved. One of the better drinks presented came during "the club as executive suite" part with the 1960 Dead Bastard. The progenitor drink was Joe Scialom's Suffering Bastard that he created at the Shepheard's in Cairo circa 1942 as a hangover cure. Joe's later travels found him at Marco Polo Club in Manhattan around 1959. The crew there did not find the Suffering (or the intermediary Dying) Bastard strong enough, so he crafted the the Dead Bastard. The recipe above was part using the ingredients from the talk (sponsored by Pierre Ferrand) and part from Berry's Remixed book (particularly the mixing instructions). Wondrich described the drink as "the plutocrat's Long Island Iced Tea" given the 4-way split in the base spirits.
The Dead Bastard presented a brandy and ginger aroma to the nose. Next, a carbonated lime-flavored sip led into Bourbon, ginger, and spice on the swallow; later, mint began to infuse into the flavor profile. While there are four spirits here instead of the original's two, there is the same amount of alcohol to provide the same amount of hangover curative power. If I were to modify the ingredient choices, perhaps a more flavorful rum like an agricole or funky Jamaican would be better here for it was definitely lost in the mix. Or just leave it out completely to have the intermediary creation, the Dying Bastard.