‘National Cocktail Day!’

     

It’s National Cocktail Day here in the United States. I thought I’d suggest several libations for your celebrations.

The Masonic Temple

Specialty at The Pitcher Inn, in the Town of Warren, Vermont.

Recipe

1 1/2 ounce Bombay Dry Gin

3/4 oz. Cointreau

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

fresh grapefruit juice

Fill Old Fashioned glass with ice, combine first four ingredients, top off with grapefruit juice. Shake in a cocktail shaker until metal begins to frost. Coat rim with sugar, pour in cocktail, and garnish with a lime.

Arthur Tompkins cocktail

I can’t prove this is named for our 1922-24 Grand Master, but who cares?

Recipe

2 oz. Gin

1/2 oz. Grand Marnier

2 tsp. Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a sour glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Grand Master’s Blend, a “Pennsylvania Craft Straight Bourbon Whiskey,” is produced by Hidden Still Spirits in Hershey.

Freemason Golden Ale

Chandeleur Island Brewing Company. (Not a cocktail, obviously, but one cannot subsist on mixed drinks alone.)

The following are from the 1947 edition of Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide—my most recent copy from when drinking was a cultural pursuit. Some of their ingredients are unfamiliar, so do the best you can!

Vivat!