Garnish:
Lemon slice
How to make:
SHAKE first five ingredients with ice and strain into ice-filled glass. TOP with soda.
1 1/2 fl oz | Cognac (brandy) |
3/4 fl oz | Grand Marnier or other cognac orange liqueur |
3/4 fl oz | Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) |
1/2 fl oz | Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix) |
2 dash | Orange bitters |
1 2/3 fl oz | Soda (club soda) water |
Read about cocktail measures and measuring.
Review:
This long, fruity cocktail packs a cognac-charged punch, but as the ice melts, it mellows and becomes refreshing.
History:
The first known reference to a cocktail of this name appears in Leo-Engel's 1880 American Other Drinks.
ALABAZAM.
Leo Engel, American Other Drinks, 1880
Use tumbler.
One tea-spoonful of Angostura bitters; two tea-spoons of orange Curaçao; one tea-spoonful of white sugar; one tea-spoonful of lemon juice; half a wine glass of brandy. Shake up well with fine ice and strain in a claret glass.
However, the bitter-heavy 1880 recipe bears little resemblance to the Alabazam we know today and which comes from William Schmidt's 1892 The Flowing Bowl – When and What to Drink.
Alabazam.
William Schmidt, The Flowing Bowl – When and What to Drink, 1892
A large bar glass,
The juice of ½ lemon,
1 barspon of sugar,
1 dash of Seltzer; mix this well;
Fill your glass 2/3 with fine ice,
2 dashes of curaçao,
1 drink of brandy.
Stir well, strain, and serve.
Alcohol content:
- 1.6 standard drinks
- 14.08% alc./vol. (28.16° proof)
- 21.9 grams of pure alcohol
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