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Celebrate NYE With Mark Twain's Favorite Whiskey Cocktail
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 31, 2013
Modified Dec 31, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 31, 2013
Modified Dec 31, 2013
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Twain partying in NYC (Courtesy Museum of the City of New York)
Mark Twain knew how to party, and possibly did it too well, having once declared: "Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough." But anyone who says that surely has something good in his glass, and in 1874 that something good was a whiskey drink.
According to this Savory post, he penned a letter to his wife Olivia in 1874, while he was in London, telling her about his new favorite drink:
“Livy my darling, I want you to be sure and remember to have, in the bathroom when I arrive, a bottle of Scotch Whiskey, a lemon, some crushed sugar, and a bottle of Angostura bitters. Ever since I have been in London I have taken in a wine glass what is called a cock-tail (made with those ingredients) before breakfast, before dinner, and just before going to bed.”
Here's that recipe for you... serve it in a wine glass for authenticity.
Mark Twain Cocktail
- 1.5 oz Scotch Whiskey
- .75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 oz Simple Syrup
- 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
- Lemon Twist for Garnish
- Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a Lemon Twist.
And wash it all down with some wisdom from Twain himself, who had plenty to say about the New Year:
- "New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."
- "Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever."
- "A new oath holds pretty well; but... when it is become old, and frayed out, and damaged by a dozen annual retryings of its remains, it ceases to be serviceable; any little strain will snap it."
- "New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions."
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cocktail
drink
mark twain
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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