History

The earliest recipe using sake in a cocktail book, this appears in Harry MacElhone's 1927 book Barflies and Cocktails. Not among the book's A-Z listing of recipes, but in a chapter titled "Cocktails Round Town", written by Arthur Moss, the "Around the Town" columnist of the New York Herald, Paris. Named and modelled after his newspaper column, Moss recounts cocktails created by or for other regulars at Harry's Bar. (For more on Moss and his contribution, see the Boulevardier cocktail.)

Arthur Moss' explanation of the "Kleginite" is cryptic, and the origin of the unusual name is revealed in an earlier 24th September 1913 article in the Chicago-based Radio Digest. The piece reports that "one Richard Clegin" "announced to Paris journalists the discovery of a new ray, hitherto quite unknown, which he has named 'Kleginite.'" The article relays fanciful claims that " With this marvellous invention Mr. Clegin announces that he can take photographs at a distance of 30 miles, with nothing but an ordinary camera - and one-tenth of one per cent of Kleginite - being necessary."

That distinguished scientist, Richard Klegin, has evolved from his giant brain a real killer. "Kleginite," this kamerafiend kalls it, and it's potent enough to korrect even a Kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan. Simple, too: 1/2 Italian vermouth and 1/2 Japanese sake. Ain't science wonderful?"

Arthur Moss, Barflies and Cocktails, 1927