Turf Club (1939. Charles H. Baker)

Serve in a

How to make:

1. Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
2. Prepare garnish of skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
5. Garnish with maraschino cherry.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

• Strucchi Dry Vermouth – Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites
• Strucchi Bianco Vermouth – Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Review:

Maraschino, absinthe and Abbott's modify an old tom and dry gin-based 2:1 Dry Martini. Where there's absinthe, you need balancing sweetness and dilution, hence my addition of the merest splash of the life-sustaining wet stuff and bianco vermouth in addition to the dry vermouth. (Yes I know there's sugar in many old tom gins and the maraschino, but this cocktail cried out for a touch more.)

Variant:

Turf Club - 1884, George Winter
Turf Club - 1895, George Kappeler
Turf Club - 1900, Harry Johnson
Turf Club - 1935, Albert Stevens Crockett
Surf & Turf
Artillery

History:

Adapted from a clutch of Turf Cocktails described by Charles H. Baker Jr. in his 1939 The Gentleman's Companion: An Exotic Drinking Book, more a travel log with recipes than a bartender's guide, so accordingly, he has a fair bit more to say on the Turf cocktail, documenting three versions of the drink and where he encountered them.

The Improved Turf Cocktail, No. 1
...a modification of own from Dirty Dick's, Nassau, B.I., 1937
We first sampled this drink in Nassau quite some time back, having flown over Pan-American Airways, after the official tourist season was finished, with a 6-year bride and 4 friends, to do a bit of sailing and swimming and basking on undiscovered white sand beaches by vitriol blue coral water that is clearer than anywhere else in the whole universe. A gentleman of colour suggested this as a dry, appetizing taste-thrill at Dirty Dick's, and found it to be merely Holland gin and vermouth - nothing else except Angostura - in a 2 to 1 ratio....
After a bit of later experiment on self and friends we discovered that the addition of ½ a green lime - strained juice - and ½ tsp of grenadine or bar sugar works miracles with this drink.

Turf Cocktail No. II
...from the Taj Mahal Hotel, on Apollo Bunder, in Bombay, Saturday, February 14th 1931, to be exact;
Served after the Running of the Maharajah of Rajpipla Gold Cup at the Western India Turf Club, Ltd.
We had won all of sixty-seven rupees on this gold-cup, 23,000 rupees race, and were feeling very horsy and turfy, and tired of the eternal chotapegs - just plain Scotch and not-too-cold soda, without ice, of the last few days -and were open for suggestions. G.J. Mack, local Manager for General Motors Export, suggested a Turf Cocktail, of a recognised mix, and after a barrage of Hindustani this resulted, much to everyone's amazement: 1 jigger of dry gin, 1 pony French vermouth, 1 tsp of absinthe, or Pernod Veritas; donate 1 tsp of maraschino and a dash of Abbots bitters. Stir in a bar glass like a Martini and serve in a Manhattan glass, ungarnished.

Turf Cocktail No. III
...from the Havana Country Club, Winter of 1930
This is virtually the same as No. II, only using old Tom gin for a base, orange bitters, and everything else the same.

Charles H. Baker, The Gentleman's Companion, 1939

Nutrition:

One serving of Turf Club (1939. Charles H. Baker) contains 177 calories.

Alcohol content:

• 1.8 standard drinks
• 25.21% alc./vol. (50.42° proof)
• 25.6 grams of pure alcohol