I’ve been having some foot pain of late which may be gout, so I’ve been eating celery and drinking lots of water and taking ibuprofen, and not so much with the fancy ethanol preparations. However, reading up on the “disease of kings” reminded me of one of the best things I’ve made out of Imbibe – The Prince of Wales’s Cocktail. It’s got rye, maraschino, pineapple, and champagne, and is a lovely cocktail for celebrating things.
It’s not, as far as I can tell, a classic, though. Most recipes in Imbibe are based on the Jerry Thomas version, with comments like “Johson’s 1882 New and Improved Bar-tender’s Manual suggests…” or “The Only William uses…” suggesting that these were 1.) fairly common recipes, and 2.) living, evolving drinks that were sold, ordered, drunk, and tinkered with. The only recipe citation for the Prince of Wales’s Cocktail is from an anonymous tell all by one of H.R.H.’s servants – Cocktailians has more quotes in this post on the eponymous cocktail – and Wondrich doesn’t say or even imply that anyone else ever drank it, which is a shame, because it’s delicious.
Recipe:
1.5 oz rye whiskey
1/4 tsp of maraschino
1 tsp sugar (the recipe from the biography specifies powdered, Wondrich suggests mixing it with a little water in the mixing tin, I cut out the middle man and used syrup instead)
dash Angostura bitters
Pineapple
Champagne.
Combine rye, maraschino, sugar, and bitters in a shaker with pineapple and plenty of ice. Shake “brutally” to crush the pineapple (per Wondrich), strain into chilled cocktail glasses and top with Champagne (the Professor suggests 1 oz, but also tells the reader to “use your judgment”). Garnish with a lemon twist.
A few notes – first, while I am sure that the spread of the Cocktail Renaissance has made many people aware of this, but when you see maraschino in a recipe, it means the clear liqueur made from sour cherries and their pits, from Luxardo (which seems to be preferred) or Stock (which seems to be entirely absent from liquor stores in Illinois). A bottle of it will run you $20-$25, and last quite a while, as it’s used in dashes and ounces. It’s delicious, btw, on fruit salad, or chilled and sipped on it’s own, and it appears adding some sweetness and an almond-y, fruity flavor in a number of classic cocktails.
Second, the champagne. While the Prince of Wales would obviously go for the real stuff, I am on a less regal budget, and generally like a nice, inexpensive metodo tradicional cava – meaning (of course) one where the secondary fermentation happened in the bottle you buy. Freixenet – you’ll know it when you see it, the black bottle on the shelf – does the trick nicely.
Third, the pineapple. I like to do the same frozen pinapple trick I do with my gin sours, and replace some or all of the ice with frozen pineapple. If you have some in your freezer, feel free. If you use canned, the suggestion I’ve seen a few places is to rinse the juice or syrup off before dropping it in the shaker.
But, please, do try this drink sometime. It’s quite wonderful.
Learning Cocktails 