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

THE GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION

CURA<;AO "PONTOON BRIDGE" We snupped this during the spring of 1933 when circling the Carib– bean for reasons not pertinent to drink-mixing. After a few hours in the perfume and other bazaars, we sat on the antique upper balcony of a little sort of Stranger's Club overlooking the odd steam-donkey– engine-clriven pontoon bridge connecting Willemstadt with our part of the city, and a traffic policeman sitting in a high chair under a huge umbrella advising us of the fact that the only honest shop in the place was this or that. . . . Having sampled all colours of Cura~ao liqueur until it was virtually oozing from our pores, we still stuck to our guns, and were treated to the following-which having no name, we called the Pontoon Bridge. Fill a large glass with shaved ice, then mix two ponies cognac with one pony Cura~ao, juice half a lime, and a dash of orange bitters. Pour over ice, and garnish with a stick of really ripe pineapple. Cherry is optional. We found no cherries in Cura~ao. A RAKISH FAMILY of SIXTEEN POUSSE CAPES, INCLUDING a SQUAD of ANGELS WHo NEVER HAD WINGS, BEING VAruous & SUNDRY PRETIY LIQUEURS COMBINED in this FASHION or that-for a PURPOSE A liqueur, technically, is any alcoholic beverage sweetened and vari– ously flavoured with aromatic substances: oils, herbs, and so on. . . . A pousse cafe is an arrangement of one or more liqueurs originally designed by Gallic progenitors as a "coffee-pusher"-hence the name -to be drunk with the after dinner cup, but like many other French ideas started out for one purpose, it has been diverted into other, and rosier, fields where dalliance may be made more pleasant and profit– able through quiet absorption of these pretty rainbow-hued drinks. Now we are great believers in the Up-and-Doing, Derring-Do, and Go West, Young Man. There's no nonsense back of our inclusion of this seductive list of jewel coloured drinks here. We include them for their original purpose of pushing coffee down, and leave criticisms to the judgment of Jurgen's discreet Tumble-bug.

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