We also had ingredients on hand for classics like Manhattans, Whiskey Sours, and even Gin and Milk. I never did get around to trying the Monkey Gland, but love the backstory:
They say W.B. Yeats had monkey glands implanted in his scrotum when he was an old man, to help restore his sexual potency. That revolutionary procedure, which was all the rage in the 1920s, provided the inspiration for this cocktail, first mixed up by Harry MacElhone, owner of Harry's Bar in New York and Paris. The Washington Post pronounced it the smash hit of the 1923 tourist season, and it was later adjudged to be one of the quintessential cocktails of the Prohibition era. No representations are implied regarding this drinks - ahem - rejuvenating powers, although it is a fact that Yeats got his groove back soon after undergoing the procedure.
The Old Fashioned "may be the quintessential old man drink. It's so old, it was being called old-fashioned back in 1890. It's so old, one of the glasses we drink cocktails in is named after it. It's so old, some scholars believe it was the first drink to be called a cocktail."
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I must get myself a decent muddler so I can try some of these at home.
We also had some absinthe, and near the end of the night some of us were pouring Green Fairies, although I don't think we had quite the same knack as some famous devotees, well practised in the art.
I was secretly hoping to use up some of the liqueurs and mixers that get picked up for parties and never get quite finished, but those bottles came home again, to be poured into coffees and on top of ice cream for the coming holiday season.
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