Arsenic and Old Lace (cocktail)

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Arsenic and Old Lace
Cocktail
TypeMixed drink
Base spirit
Standard garnishLemon peel
Standard drinkware
Champagne coupe
Commonly used ingredients
  • 2 gin
  • 1 vermouth
  • 1/12 absinthe
  • 1/2 créme de violette
  • 1/3 chilled water
PreparationStir in a chilled glass. Can be shaken. Dilute as needed.

Arsenic and Old Lace (also called the Attention Cocktail or the Atty) is a classic cocktail with its origins in the 1910's made with gin, crème de violette, dry vermouth and absinthe.

The first appearance of a cocktail with these four parts, albeit in equal quantities, was in Hugo Ensslin's Recipes for Mixed Drinks[1] published in 1917, called the "Attention Cocktail".

The 1930 edition of The Savoy Cocktail Book, a drink with those four ingredients, rebranded as the "Atty Cocktail" had ratios that more closely matched the modern Arsenic and Old Lace.[2]

"The Atty" first appears under the name "Arsenic and Old Lace" in 1941, published in the Cocktail Guide and Ladies' Companion[3] by former Broadway producer Crosby Gaige.[4] Around the same time, Joseph Kesselring's play Arsenic and Old Lace opened on Broadway in January 1941. The timing strongly implies a connection, though it is speculative to say whether Gaige was the one who renamed the cocktail.

Variations[edit]

A similar drink with orange juice in place of absinthe is called the "Jupiter cocktail".[5]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks by Hugo R Ensslin (second edition)". euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  2. ^ "1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book". euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  3. ^ Jacob, Natalie (5 November 2019). Mod Cocktails: Modern Takes on Classic Recipes from the '40s, '50s and '60s. Page Street. ISBN 9781624148309.
  4. ^ "Paul Shaw Letter Design » The Definitive Dwiggins no. 207—Crosby Gaige, Part 1". Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  5. ^ Feller, Robyn M. (2003). The Complete Bartender. Berkley Publishing Group. ISBN 9780425190135.