#192 Cocktail: Martinez

      Thought to be the ‘Father’ of the Martini, or at least acknowledged to have had a huge amount of influence on it, the Martinez’s origins belong in a cloudy haze of uncertainty.
      It most likely started life sometime in the 1860’s or 70’s, but is first known to have been published in O.H. Byron’s The Modern Bartender, in 1884. Byron’s succinct summary of the Martinez states that it is the “same as Manhattan, only you substitute the gin for whisky.” The difficulty in this very simple statement is that he gives two versions of the Manhattan and no suggestion of which the Martinez is to follow; both a dry and sweet Manhattan were recorded. In the years since, this has added greatly to the confusion. ( www.ginfoundry.com )

       The most recognized version of the classic recipe, as printed in an 1887 revised (and posthumously published) edition of Jerry Thomas’ book How To Make Drinks or the Bon Vivant’s Companion, substitutes Old Tom Gin for whiskey to create something approximating a gin Manhattan

      2 ounces gin

1 ounce sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur

Angostura bitters to taste

#191 Cocktail: Massa Mojito

    The cocktail is adapted after a recipe from the Pizzicato Restaurannt in Philadelphia. This is a variation of the, well known, Mojito, but the difference her is that the base spirit is limoncello, and more specifically , the Villa Massa limoncello.
    Unfortunately I didn't have Villa Massa Limoncello and I used Pallini Limoncello, a more sweeter version, so I had to cut a little from the amount of sugar used in the cocktail.
     In any case, the cocktail is delightful

2 1/2 ounce Villa Massa Limoncello 

1 to 2 teaspoon of sugar

15 to 20 fresh mint leaves 

4 lemon wedges

club soda

#190 Cocktail: Mai Tai

        Victor J. Bergeron claimed to have invented the Mai Tai in 1944 at his restaurant, Trader Vic's, in California. Trader Vic's rival, Don the Beachcomber, claimed to have created it in 1933 at his then-new bar named for himself (later a famous restaurant) in Hollywood. Don the Beachcomber's recipe is more complex than that of Vic's and tastes quite different.
       The Trader Vic's story of its invention is that the Trader (Victor J. Bergeron) created it one afternoon for some friends who were visiting from Tahiti. One of those friends, Carrie Guild, tasted it and cried out: "Maita'i roa ae!" (literally "very good!", figuratively "Out of this world! The best!")—hence the name.[5]
       In 1953 the Matson Navigation Company (now Matson, Inc.) commissioned Victor Bergeron to create a drink for their new Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Victor then made a variation on the Mai Tai recipe adding pineapple juice; this variant is still served today at the hotel
      The Mai Tai became such a popular cocktail in the 1950s–60s that many restaurants, particularly tiki-themed restaurants or bars, served them. The Mai Tai was also prominently featured in the Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii.
     Today, the Mai Tai is synonymous with Tiki culture both past and present.

1 ounce dark rum

1 ounce light rum

1/2 ounce triple sec

3/4 ounce orgeat syrup

1 ounce fresh lime juice

#189 Cocktail: Maiden's Prayer

   The cocktail is adapted from Harry Craddock's 1930 "Savoy Cocktail Book" recipe.
   Well, there is the name. And with cocktails, there is usually a story attached to the name. In this case, the story starts with an ultra-popular 19th century musical piece “The Maiden’s Prayer” about the purity of young women. All good. But with cocktail types being what they are, someone in the early 20th century decided to give the name to a cocktail with, perhaps, a lascivious wink. To make matters worse, the name was applied to multiple different (and sometimes god-awful) drinks, one of which Esquire, in 1949, suggested be “served on the edge of the couch”. Ugh. Maybe they should have called that cocktail “The Lecher’s Quest”. In any event, confusion and sleaze do not make for popular cocktails (well maybe a little sleaze, but certainly not confusion). But there are good versions of the Maiden’s Prayer, you just need to look in the right places. (www.putneyfarm.com)

1 ounce gin

1 ounce triple sec

1/2 fresh lemon juice

1/2 fresh orange juice

Angostura bitters to taste

#188 Cocktail: Mudslide

    The cocktail is in the duos and trios category of cocktails, which means cocktails made with 2 or 3 different liqueurs with a spirit base.
     Mudslide is a colloquial term for mudflow, the most rapid and fluid type of earth movement.
     The original Mudslide was allegedly invented during the 1950s at the Wreck Bar on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. In its heyday—and in the bars of chain restaurants where this cocktail still appears—the frozen drink was often made with a mix that came in a plastic bottle.
( www.drinks.seriouseats.com)

2 ounces vodka

1 ounce Kahlua

1 ounce Baileys Irish Cream

#187 Cocktail: Mojito

     Some historians contend that African slaves who worked in the Cuban sugar cane fields during the 19th century were instrumental in the cocktail's origin. Guarapo, the sugar cane juice often used in Mojitos, was a popular drink among the slaves who named it. It never originally contained lime juice.
     There are several theories behind the origin of the name Mojito: one such theory holds that name relates to mojo, a Cuban seasoning made from lime and used to flavour dishes. Another theory is that the name Mojito is simply a derivative of mojadito (Spanish for "a little wet"), the diminutive of mojado ("wet"). Due to the vast influence of immigration from the Canary Islands, the term probably came from the mojo creole marinades adapted in Cuba using citrus (as opposed to traditional Isleno types).
    The Mojito has routinely been presented as a favorite drink of author Ernest Hemingway. It has also often been said that Ernest Hemingway made the bar called La Bodeguita del Medio famous when he became one of its regulars and wrote "My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita" on a wall of the bar.

4 lime wedges

2 to 3 teaspoons granulated sugar

8 to 10 fresh mint leaves

2 ounces white rum

club soda

#186 Cocktail: Mary Pickford

     A Mary Pickford is a Prohibition Era cocktail made with white rum, fresh pineapple juice, grenadine, and Maraschino liqueur. It is served shaken and chilled, often with a Maraschino cherry. Named for Canadian-American film actress Mary Pickford (1892–1979), it is said to have been created for her in the 1920s by either Eddie Woelke or Fred Kaufmann at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba on a trip she took to Havana with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. (Wikipedia)

2 ounces white rum

1 ounce pineapple juice

1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur

1 dash grenadine