yale fence

1 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1 oz Applejack (Laird's Bonded)
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Tuesdays ago, I was flipping through Brian Bartels' The United States of Cocktails book and spotted the Yale Fence. Since he mentioned that it was from David Embury's book, I found one of my three copies of the The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks and set to work. The combination seemed like a Gin & It crossed with a Marconi Wireless, and the lack of bitters in the three ingredient mix made me think of the Corpse Reviver #1. In researching the name, one article pointed to a fence that divided the Yale University yard from the rest of New Haven; the fence was a gathering point where various sections were reserved for the different class years of students. This picket fence lasted from 1833 to 1888 when it was removed for the construction of a new building, and in its memory, the students created the Yale Fence Club as a fraternal organization. The New York Times described how it was the richest and most exclusive of the university's fraternities in its heyday; in this 1979 article about the club closing down due to incurring a large debt, the paper proffered a quote of "By 1970, the whole idea of Yale as place to have a good time and incidentally to get an education had simply gone out the window."The Yale Fence gathered apple and grape aromas with pine accents for the nose. Next, apple and grape combined on the sip to conjure an almost plum note, and the swallow proffered juniper and cherry flavors with a fruity finish.