silver

1/3 jigger Gin (1 1/2 oz Beefeater)
1/3 jigger Dry Vermouth (1 1/2 oz Noilly Prat)
3 dash Maraschino (1/4 oz Luxardo)
2 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

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

After the Coola Culla Don, I wanted something a bit more old school as a final drink of the night. Therefore, I turned to Boothby's 1934 Boothby's World Drinks And How To Mix Them and found the Silver which caught my eye as a dry (vermouth) Martinez. While the original Martinez recipe utilized Boker's Bitters, I often prefer to make them with orange bitters like in the Silver instead of aromatic ones like Angostura for I find that the extra fruit note helps to accentuate the Maraschino as well as bring out the orange peel notes in the vermouth and gin. Moreover, Boker's Bitters were heavy on the orange peel so this preference has some historical foundation.
Once prepared, the Silver greeted the nose with a lemon oil bouquet. Next, the sip was rather crisp with light white wine notes, and the swallow shared juniper and nutty Maraschino flavors with an orange finish.

coola culla don

1 1/2 oz Gold Puerto Rican Rum (Caliche)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1/4 oz Donn's Spices #2 (1/8 oz each vanilla syrup and allspice dram)
1 tsp Cool Culla Mix (1/2 tsp each softened sweet butter and orange blossom honey)
3 oz Crushed Ice

Blend briefly to mix, add ice, and blend again for 20 seconds. Strain.
Two Saturdays ago, I began my post-shift drinks with a Tiki number from Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari. The Coola Culla Don was created by Don the Beachcomber circa 1937 and the combination of butter, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and allspice dram reminded me of the Pearl Diver's Mix. Once prepared, it offered honey, cinnamon, and allspice aromas. Next, a rich creamy sip had honey balanced by lime notes, and the swallow offered the rum, allspice, cinnamon, and vanilla flavors.

velvet club

1 oz Hine VSOP Cognac (Foret VSOP)
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc (Cocchi Americano)
1/2 oz Marie Brizard White Crème de Cacao

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Top with 1 oz Champagne (Gruet Blanc de Blanc).

Two Fridays ago, I reached for the PDT Cocktail Book for some nightcap inspiration. There, I spied Jane Danger's 2008-vintage Velvet Club that riffed on the 1937 Velvet Glove from the Café Royal Cocktail Book by switching around the proportions and adding a splash of Champagne. To me, it appeared like a brandy-for-gin 20th Century from that same 1937 cocktail book but with crisp sparkling wine in place of the lemon juice.
The Velvet Club began with a white wine aroma that led into a carbonated wine sip from the sparkling wine and Cocchi Americano. The swallow was a bit more complex with rich brandy and chocolate notes. Overall, the sparkling wine was not as crisp to give the drink the same degree of backbone as in the 20th Century, but the Velvet Club was rather elegant in its own right.

pantomime

2/3 jigger Dry Vermouth (2 1/4 oz Noilly Prat)
1 dash Orgeat (3/8 oz)
1 dash Grenadine (3/8 oz)
1/2 Egg White (1 full Egg White)

Shake once without ice and once with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
The post-shift drink two Thursdays ago was the Pantomime from Boothby's 1934 World Drinks & How to Mix Them. The recipe was quite curious for it was a low alcohol egg drinks that featured dry vermouth; moreover, I was also intrigued by the tropical elements of orgeat, grenadine, and nutmeg in the mix. Once built, the Pantomime offered nutmeg over nutty orgeat aromas. Next, a creamy and rich sip shared hints of pomegranate, and the swallow was a mix of nutty and herbal flavors.

hilliard

2/3 Scotch (1 1/2 oz Buchanan's 12 Year)
2 dash Sloe Gin (3/4 oz Atxa Patxaran)
2 dash Dry Vermouth (3/4 oz Noilly Prat)
1 dash Orange Bitters (2 dash Regan's)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

After the Cool Rummings, I turned to something a bit more nightcappish that I spotted in Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 called the Hilliard. There was no hint of whom the drink was named after but the most famous Hilliard would be the circa 1600 painter Nicholas Hilliard who crafted miniature paintings of the British and Scottish royalty. Instead of sloe gin proper, I used the sloe berry-infused Patxaran for the added anise notes shifted the recipe in my mind towards that of the Savoy Cocktail Book's Modern #2 (sloe gin, Scotch, grenadine, absinthe, orange bitters).
The Hilliard gave forth a plum, coffee, and smoke aroma. The Scotch's malt came through on the sip along with dark rich fruit notes, and the swallow showcased the smokiness of the whisky and more sloe's plum flavors with an orange and hints of anise finish.

cool rummings

1 oz Denizen Aged White Rum
1 oz Madeira (Blandy's 5 Year Verdelho)
3/4 oz Lime Juice (1/2 oz due to using a drier Madeira)
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 pinch Sea Salt
2 x 1 inch pieces Pineapple (3/4 oz Pineapple Juice)

Shake with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a pineapple leaf.

Two Tuesdays ago, I turned to a recipe that I had spotted in Imbibe Magazine's online supplements; the drink was Jonathan Jones' Cool Rummings that he created at the Revel Room in Chicago. I had to adapt the recipe slightly since the generic call for "Madeira" is probably a Rainwater variety that does not use one of the four noble grapes, and my call for the semi-dry Verdelho would have made the drink a bit too tart with that much lime juice as compared to cinnamon syrup.
The Cool Rummings began with a cinnamon aroma that transitioned into a lime and pineapple sip. Next, the swallow shared rum, grape, cinnamon, and allspice notes.

what would bill murray do?

1 1/2 oz Boodles Gin
3/4 oz Carrot Juice
1/4 oz Suze Gentian Liqueur
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Falernum
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
Oil from a Lemon Twist

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Garnish with a second lemon twist.
After we closed the Baldwin Bar at Sichuan Garden, Vannaluck, Raul, and Ran invited Andrea and me to accompany them to the Bancroft for a nightcap. For a drink, I was intrigued by the What Would Bill Murray Do and asked bartender Melissa Filgerleski for one. She had to explain the name to me for I had not seen the movie Rushmore and was unaware of the scene where Bill Murray went over to the teacher's house where she offered him some of her carrots (I later caught up on that scene via YouTube). Moreover, I mentioned that this was the second time that I had tried a carrot cocktail with the first being Trina's Starlite Lounge's Left Turn at Alburquerque. Once prepared it shared a lemon and vegetal aroma. The sip displayed lemon and orange notes along with a thick mouthfeel, and the swallow was a bit more complex with juniper and earthy bitter rootiness with a dry clove finish.

bossa nova special

3/4 oz Privateer Silver Rum
3/4 oz Galliano
1/4 oz Apricot Liqueur
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice. Strain into a Collins glass, top with crushed ice, garnish with a lemon twist, and add a straw.
For a final drink at the Baldwin Bar at Sichuan Garden II, I asked bartender Vannaluck Hongthong for the Bossa Nova Special. This recipe appears in Stan Jones' Complete Barguide and the proportions were modified by bartender Ran Duan. Here, the drink shared a lemon aroma with hints of vanilla and spice. The egg white donated a creaminess to the sip that was joined by lemon and some pineapple notes. And finally, the swallow showcased rum, pineapple, and vanilla flavors with an apricot finish.

velveteen rabbit

1 oz Angel's Envy Bourbon
3/4 oz Lustau Amontillado Sherry
3/4 oz Averna
3/4 oz Water
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Build in a rocks glass without ice and stir to mix. Note: this is a room temperature cocktail.
For a first drink at Sichuan Garden II's Baldwin Bar, I asked Van for the curiously room temperature Velveteen Rabbit. Van mentioned that it was created by bartender Ran Duan and was a re-working of one of his previous drinks. I later realized that I had made this one at home as the Last Cold Night Before Spring after it had won one of the monthly ShakeStir competitions using a different Bourbon. Here, the Velveteen Rabbit showed off a dark nutty grape aroma. Next, caramel and grape on the sip transitioned into rich Bourbon accented with herbal spice and sherry nuttiness on the swallow. The swallow also displayed some chocolate notes on certain sips.