Gin Daisy (Jerry Thomas style)

Review:

Lightly bready genever combines wonderfully with orange liqueur in this balanced classic.

Variant:

With almond (orgeat) syrup in place of sugar.

Daisies can be served in goblets filled with crushed ice, straight up in a coupe, or, as in this case, in a tall glass.
Gin Daisy

History:

The origins of the Daisy are lost in time, but the first known written reference to the cocktail is in an 1866 novel Gay Life in New York! Or, Fast Men and Grass Widows by Henry Llewellyn Williams. [ref: David Wondrich, Imbibe!, 2007]. However, the author only names the Daisy as one of several drinks one character suggests in preference to ordering a lemonade. "Wouldn't you rather have a concentrated zephyr, in a daisy, or an iced dew drop?"

No description of what a Daisy is, or recipe, has been unearthed before Jerry Thomas' 1876 The Bartenders Guide or How To Mix Drinks: The Bon-Vivants Companion. A second, quite different Daisy recipe then appears in the 2nd (1888) edition of Harry Johnson's Bartenders Manual for a Whiskey Daisy and a Brandy Daisy (no Gin Daisy). Tellingly, both bartenders omit Daisies (be that brandy, whiskey, gin or rum-based) from their first editions.

237. Brandy Daisy.
(Use small bar glass.)
3 or 4 dashes gum syrup.
2 or 3 do. Orange cordial.
The juice of half a lemon.
1 small wineglass of brandy.
Fill glass half full of shaved ice.
Shake well and strain into a glass, and fill up with Seltzer water from a syphon.

239. Whiskey Daisy.
Prepared in the same manner as Brandy Daisy, substituting whiskey for the brandy.

239. Gin Daisy.
Made in the same way as Brandy Daisy, but using gin instead of brandy.

Jerry Thomas, The Bar-Tender's Guide, How To Mix All Kinds of Plain And Fancy Drinks (2nd edition), 1876

BRANDY DAISY.
(Use a large bar glass.)
½ table-spoon of sugar;
2 or 3 dashes of Lemon juice;
1 squirt of Selters water, dissolve well with a spoon;
½ glass of Chartreuse (yellow);
Fill up the glass with fine ice;
1 glass of Brandy;
Stir up well with a spoon, place the fruit into a fancy bar glass, strain the ingredients into it, and serve.

Harry Johnson, New And Improved Bartender's Manual, 1888

Nutrition:

One serving of Gin Daisy (Jerry Thomas style) contains 137 calories