1939 The Gentleman's Companion volume II Beeing an Exotic Drinking Book

THE EXOTIC DRINKING BOOK

all the camels while the Arab boys haggled over some eternal native unimportance, tied them in a line, and mounted most insecurely on a pair of dromedaries of antique perfume, doubtful morals, and the manners of a horned toad, we led them to the Sphinx and tethered them to the claim-stakes of some random excavating party then in operation during daylight hours, between the Sphinx's feet. It didn't make sense then, and it doesn't now, but the row those Arabs and dragomen tossed up when they found the whole mess of camels van– ished was something to take down on a sound track. Take of dry gin, l pony, absinthe, l pony, dry imported apricot brandy, l pony; donate Yi pony of bright rose coloured grenadine. Shake with lots and lots of ice and strain into q large saucer cham– pagne glass, and pray Allah for forgiveness of all imminent and fu– ture sins of the flesh. THE GRANDE BRETAGNE COCKTAIL No. I, BEING to OuR UNGOVERNED MIND ONE of the FrvE or Srx CHIEF CocKTAILS of the WHOLE w IDE WoRLD One dank, chilly, and snow-carpeted day in January of 1931 we wore 'out shoe leather, shins, and temper in the name of "history" and "art," hiking all over the Acropolis in Athens; skidding from the Temple of Diana, around the Parthenon, and back down past the Erectheum and its divine caryatids, and to our motor car and to Athens proper. Here we met Eddie Hastings, now cruise director for the M.S. BREMEN with Raymond-Whitcomb, and he told me about the little Greek barkeep in his tiny bar and his miraculous inventions. . . . This Grecian male had been abarring for over 40 years, man and boy. During that time he had devoted Yi hr daily to the pardonable indoor pastime of testing new and radical mixes all his own. The Grande Bretagne Nos. I and II, were the final result-the pinnacle. Using lime juice we found later is far better than lemon, although lemon is plenty good enough. Use dry imported apricot brandy, never the sweet syrupy American copy.... No. I: l jigger of the best dry gin possible, Yi pony apricot brandy, Yi pony or so of strained lime or