#269 Cocktail: Stinger

    The Stinger originated about 1890. The cocktail may have been derived from The Judge, a cocktail made with brandy, crème de menthe, and simple syrup found in William Schmidt's 1892 cocktail book The Flowing Bowl. It was immediately popular in New York City, and quickly became known as a "society" drink (i.e. only for the upper-classes). According to bartender Jere Sullivan in his 1930 volume The Drinks of Yesteryear: A Mixology, the Stinger remained a critical component of the bartender's repertoire until Prohibition.
     The Stinger was not initially seen as a cocktail (i.e. a drink served before dinner), but rather a digestif (after-dinner drink). Writing in the 1910s and 1920s, humorist Don Marquis's "Hermione" (a fictional daffy society do-gooder) refused to refer to the Stinger as a cocktail, indicating its status in upper-class society. Over time, however, the Stinger came to be consumed like a cocktail.
     The Stinger was a popular drink during American Prohibition, for crème de menthe could mask the taste of the inferior-quality brandies then available. The Stinger began to lose favor with Americans in the late 1970s, and was not a well-known cocktail in the early 21st century.  (Wikipedia)

3 ounce Brandy

1/2 ounce white creme de menthe