fernet cocktail

2 liqueur glass Italian Vermouth (2 oz Cocchi Sweet)
1 liqueur glass Fernet Branca (1 oz)
2 dash Curaçao (1/4 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Mondays ago, a guest came into my bar earlier that night, and in conversation she mentioned that she inherited her parents' signed copies of a cocktail book and the associated cooking book published circa 1910. When she described how her parents got them signed at Harvard where a classmate had written them, I figured that the Boston connection and the timeframe could be author Louis Muckensturm. Louis was not a student at Harvard though; however, he moved to Boston from New York City in 1897 to work at the Hotel Marliave and later opened up his own spot Café Louis in 1908. When I showed her a photo of the Louis' Mixed Drinks cover from 1906, she lit up and concluded that was it plus the food one had a similar cover. Louis wrote two food books – Louis' Salads & Chafing Dishes from 1906 and Louis' Every Woman's Cook Book from 1910 – but it appeared that only the latter had a comparable cover to the drink volume not to mention the matching year to her recollection. I was unaware of Louis' food books that he put out akin to Charles H. Baker Jr.'s two food-drink duos.Therefore, when I got home, I pulled out my reprint of Louis' Mixed Drinks and landed upon the Fernet Cocktail that reminded me of the Appetizer à l'Italienne (my thoughts on that drink appeared 6 months ago in Imbibe Magazine). In a way, the aromatized wine, Fernet, and curaçao reminded me of an abstract Don't Give Up the Ship. Once mixed, the Fernet Cocktail showcased a grape, minty, and menthol aroma. Next, grape and caramel with a hint of orange on the sip flowed into grape, bitter herbal, and menthol flavors on the swallow with an orange-gentian finish.