1936 Shaking in the 60's by Eddie Clarke

The subduing or stepping-up medium can be as much as 33Yi% ofthe volume ofthe drink. It is sometimes slightly alcoholic,like an aperitifwine,or a completely non alcoholic liquid, generally a pure fruit juice or milk,cream or eggs. Whatever the choice, it must not be too much ofa mixture, for its purpose is to tone down the strong liquor base and act as a step-up to the flavouring agent. Therefore it must not be too highly flavoured in itself, but one which will accept the domination of the final ingredient. It is worth mentioning that fruit juices are always popular as a subduing medium because they blend well with most spirit bases. They will also rarely clash with the flavouring agent —but the aromatic (herbal) aperitif wines will blend in more satisfactorily with the liqueurs ofa like nature. Finally, the "character component" or "flavouring agent", is mostly alwaysaliqueur ofsome kind,or even two, providing they will not fight amongstthemselves—one will find in most cases that the fruit flavoured liqueurs like Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or Orange Curacao, are ideal companions; so is Creme de Noyaux with Maraschino as these liqueurs are of similar flavours. Should adventure overrule common sense, and one delves into the unknown, with bottles of Creme de Cacao, Drambui and Creme de Menthe, then beware, and cancel all dinner appointments for the next few days. The cocktail should never contain more than 25% of liqueur as a flavouring agent, sometimes it even drops to about 15% of the drink's volume. In fact the more highly flavoured it is the more sparingly it should be used. After- dinner cocktails are the only exceptions, where the qualities of the liqueurs are needed for an aid to digestion. These

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