It Begins…The Alamagoozlum Cocktail

The first cocktail in Ted Haigh’s ode to classic cocktails, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie and Beyond, is the Alamagoozlum cocktail.  This unusual concoction first appeared in the cheeky The Gentleman’s Companion, or Around the World with Jigger, Beaker, and Flask in 1939 under the name “J. Pierpont Morgan’s Alamagoozlum: the Personal Mix Credited to that Financier, Philanthropist, & Banker of a Bygone Era.”  While no proof exists that it was created by or even enjoyed by J. P. Morgan, it is a perfect reflection of a worldly, sophisticated palate.

The Alamagoozlum’s scent is redolent of pipe tobacco from English smoking rooms, cedar from steamer trunks, and cinnamon from the Far East.  It’s taste is difficult to define other than predominant flavors of warm spice from the large, and I do mean large, amount of Angostura bitters and herb from the Chartreuse.  The texture of the drink is a bit silky from the egg white and would be more so if we had used gomme syrup (arabic gum adds silkiness).  The Alamagoozlum is definitely not your run-of-the-mill cocktail and it makes me all the more excited to see what Mr. Haigh’s book has for us next.

The Alamagoozlum Cocktail
2 oz – genever gin (I used Boomsma)
2 oz – water
1.5 oz – Jamaican rum (I used Appleton Estate Reserve)
1.5 oz – yellow or green Chartruese (I preferred the yellow)
1.5 oz – simple syrup (original recipe calls for gomme syrup)
.5 oz – orange curacao (I used Drillaud)
.5 oz – Angostura bitters
1/2 – egg white

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake very hard to emulsify the egg white. Strain into a coupe or martini glass. Best sipped while ice cold.

Makes 2-3 drinks.

Coming up next time…The Algonquin Cocktail.