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Tipples → Mixed Drinks → Slings → Cocktails → Plain Cocktails → Plain Cocktail Basic Forms

Archaic Cocktail Basic Form

Terminus post quem: circa A.D. 1776 ↔ Terminus ante quem: A.D. 1803

Compare and contrast with the Old-fashioned Cocktail Basic Form and the (Modern) Cocktail Basic Form.

Full Recipe

Have the folowwing items:

Service-ware

• 6 fl-oz. old-fashioned glass tumbler
    #1: 6 ½ fl-oz. Stölzle^™ 350-00-47
    #2: 7 fl-oz. old-fashioned glass tumbler^*
• 4-inch demitasse spoon
  #1: six-spoon set^*
• 4-inch beverage napkin
    #1: cotton (five times washable)^*
    #2: paper^*

Tools

• teaspoon measure
  [~5 ml.]
    #1: stainless set good for mixing needs^*
• sugar tongs
    #1: stainless steel^*
• jigger-and-pony measure
  [2 fl-oz. by 1 fl-oz. / ~60 ml. by ~30 ml.]
    #1: stainless double-bell^*
    #2: twentieth century-style^*
    #3: Japanese-style^*
• barspoon with disc
    #1: twelve-inch stainless^*
• [optional] ice tongs
    #1: steel, with teeth^*

Ingredients

• bitters
   (Stoughton bitters before 1828; Stoughton butters or Boker's^™ bitters after 1828)
• old-fashioned lump white sugar^*
• water (spring, or purified)
• [optional] service ice
   (cubes ~1¼ inches per side)
  
• liquor
   (overproof spirits are default)

Instructions

1. Set the old-fashioned tumbler in the work area. Into it goes:
• • Stoughton bitters — 1 teaspoonfull
   [~5 ml.]
• • sugar — 1 lump
   (the size is not very important – see step #7)
• • water — 1 ponyfull
   [1 fl-oz. / ~30 ml.]
2. Use the disc of the barspoon, or a bar masher, to crush the above into cocktail water without fully dissolving the sugar.
3. Remove the tool. Add:
• • overproof spirit — 1 jiggerfull
   [2 poniesfull / 2 fl-oz. / ~60 ml.]
• • [optional] service ice — 1 cube (if desired)
4. Insert the demitasse spoon. Do not stir. Let the drinker stir if more sweetness is desired.
5. Serve the drink on the napkin, with the spoon standing out at three o'cloock (from the drinker's point of view).

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