Mark Fraioli

Although the History section asserts that this cocktail was not featured in Boothby’s own publications, I was actually able to find it in this 1934 (posthumous, I suppose?) edition of Boothby’s World Drinks: https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1934-Cocktail-Bill-Boothby-s-World-Drinks-and-how-to-mix-them1.

The cocktail is listed under “Manhattan, Boothby” on p. 108. The proportions are largely similar to what Simon has here, but I do note an extra dash of orange bitters.

I also enjoyed hearing about this classic California figure — he certainly fit right in with many of the loony personalities in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Looking forward to trying this once I have the need to pop open a bottle of bubbly!

I hear from the cooking blogs that rhubarb goes well with lavender. So I tried this cocktail two ways: first as directed, and then with lavender bitters. Liked the latter much better!

Has anyone ever tried this with Old Tom gin? I just did — and found that it added some nice complexity.

The amaro matters. I didn’t have any Lucano, so I subbed in Averna. That didn’t work, too syrupy. Then I went out and got myself a bottle of Baulio (Simon mentions that the original Treadway recipe actually called for Braulio, not Lucano). This made a huge difference— not too sweet, plenty of piney “alpine” notes. Definitely a keeper!