Waldorf No. 1

History

The eponymous cocktail from the Waldorf Hotel, which, until its demise in 1929, occupied the site on New York's Fifth Avenue where the Empire State Building now stands. The hotel was succeeded by the present Waldorf-Astoria New York Hotel, which occupies a landmark Art-Deco building at 301 Park Avenue built in 1931.

Consisting of equal parts rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and absinthe with 2 dashes of orange bitters, shaken and served frappé (over crushed ice), this cocktail first appeared in Jacques Straub's 1913 Manual of Mixed Drinks. It was repeated later in Albert Stevens Crockett's 1931 Old Waldorf-Bar Days .

The original recipe is tough for modern palates, but it's made more approachable by the addition of 2 spoons of sugar syrup:
15ml (½oz) Rye
15ml (½oz) Sweet vermouth
15ml (½oz) Absinthe
10ml (⅓oz) Sugar syrup (2 sugar : 1 water)
2 dashes Orange bitters
SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice.

WALDORF COCKTAIL
1/3 Jigger Rye Whiskey;
1/3 Jigger Italian Vermouth.
1/3 Jigger Absinthe.
2 Dashes Orange Bitters.
Shake.

Jacques Straub, Straub's Manual of Mixed Drinks, 1913