Japanese Cocktail

During the Golden Era of cocktails from about 1860-1920 there were so many great creations. The vast majority of classic’s we know and love today came from this time in history. The Old Fashioned, Mint Julep, and Sherry Cobbler among others. Cognac had a huge impact on the cocktail scene and showed up everywhere. Even a lot of the drinks bartenders make in your favorite neighborhood spot used to be made with Cognac first before whiskey took over. However, there are some of those early cocktails that haven’t changed at all. The Japanese Cocktail is one of them. If this is your first time hearing of a Japanese Cocktail, you’re not alone. It’s an obscure one that I’ve literally never been asked to make. But it has a fun story and is another fine example of a cocktail being created with Cognac as the base.

The Japanese Cocktail was most likely invented some time around 1860 by the infamous bartending legend Jerry Thomas. It was featured in his book How to Mix Drinks and is one of the few drinks he actually created himself. Oddly enough, there’s nothing Japanese about this drink at all. Besides the name, of course. So why name it as such? Well, according to cocktail historian David Wondrich is his award-winning book Imbibe! he mentions that, “In June 1860, the first Japanese legation to the United States finished up their sensational tour with a few weeks in New York.” Among this group of dignitaries was a man named Tateishi Onojiro Noriyuki (everyone called him Tommy). He was known to like two things above all else. Being around beautiful women and drinking cocktails.

These men happened to be staying at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York City which was only one block away from the bar Jerry Thomas was operating at the time. The conclusion we can draw is that the chances a man such as Tommy wouldn’t stumble into Jerry Thomas’s bar is highly unlikely. Given their location from each other and Thomas’s extremely high reputation, it seems like a no brainer they would meet at some point.

So, what about the cocktail? Well, it was certainly commonplace that when a politician or famous socialite visited your bar in the 19^th century, you’re probably going to name a cocktail after them. And in this case, if Tommy were to visit the bar at 622 Broadway, there’s a good chance Jerry Thomas would have taken it upon himself to create something special for his distinguished guest. The mix of Cognac, orgeat, and Bogart’s bitters was hence named the Japanese Cocktail.

On paper this is an Old Fashioned. Spirit, sweetener, and bitters. Pretty simple. The part that causes a bit of confusion is that it’s served up, not on the rocks. And the reason for that? I feel it’s the orgeat. If you don’t know, orgeat is an almond flavored syrup. It really benefits from being shaken with a little extra dilution instead of being stirred or your cocktail might suffer from being a little too cloying and sweet.

Of course, that’s a general statement and there can certainly be exceptions to that. But also, this cocktail was clearly one that you need to drink quickly, and most likely as an after dinner drink, instead of savoring over time like an Old Fashioned. If this drink goes on the rocks, it starts off pretty sweet then ends a watery mess. Not good. The Japanese Cocktail is a bit one note without much complexity in my opinion, but nonetheless it might be exactly what a guest is looking for in terms of an after dinner beverage.

Let’s do a little ingredient breakdown.

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Cognac

Let’s not go crazy here with anything nice. The Cognac, even though it’s the base spirit, isn’t necessarily the star. Let’s just say that it’s the co-star with the orgeat, but sometimes it takes a back seat as a supporting role when the orgeat starts acting like a Diva. I think two good options would be either a spicy VSOP or perhaps a more floral one. The barrel spices go nicely with the nutty orgeat and flowers might help subdue the sweetness a bit. No need to pick a fruity or sweeter Cognac for this otherwise it will end up being very unbalanced.

Orgeat

There are a few popular brands to choose from depending on what’s available in your market. However, ordering online is a convenient option these days. The names you’ll hear/see the most are Giffard, Small Hand Foods, and B.G. Reynolds. All three are great options, but have vastly different flavors even though they’re all almond. Giffard is more candied and floral, Small Hand Foods is more savory, dry nuts and Reynolds is a sweeter almond taste. To ensure the Japanese Cocktail doesn’t go crazy sweet, I like to use the least sweet of the three, Small Hand Foods. It’s not shelf stable and will go funky if not used in a timely manner and kept refrigerated, which is a good thing. That means there’s natural ingredients with no to very little preservatives.

If you go down the coffee isle at your grocery store and see Monin or Torani “orgeat,” walk away quickly. They’re for coffee, not for cocktails. Coffee is bitter and most people who sweeten their coffee need to add a fair amount of sugar to cut that bitter which is why those syrups are incredibly sweet. And anyone using the FinestCall brand orgeat should go sit in the corner and think about what they’ve done. It’s all artificial with boat loads of preservatives. Hard pass. Can you make your own orgeat? Absolutely! However, it’s a time consuming process if you want to make it correctly. Maybe I’ll make a post in the future with my recipe, but for now go for the premade stuff.

Bitters

The bitters used in the original printed version of this cocktail is Bogart’s bitters, sometimes also used interchangeably with Boker’s bitters. These bitters were the first ones ever mentioned by name in Jerry Thomas’s book. There were no surviving bottles ever found, but luckily for us the folks at The Bitter Truth bitters company worked for about 10 years on a replica Bogart’s from whatever research they could get their hands on. And it’s wonderful!

Again, in the printed version it calls for ½ teaspoon of Bogart’s. That’s a very healthy amount of bitters, most likely to counteract the sweet orgeat. If you like bitter, I say go for it. Otherwise just 3-4 dashes is all you’ll need. If you can’t find Bogart’s, using Angostura is totally fine. Keep in mind that Angostura is much more bitter and aggressive than Bogart’s, so I’d say stick with the dashes instead of breaking out the teaspoon measurers.

Garnish

Again, referencing the original recipe, Jerry Thomas puts two pieces of lemon peel in the specs, but doesn’t mention using either of them for garnish. So, is he saying shake everything together, including the lemon peels? Possibly. Shaking with a citrus peel is called a Regal Shake and it can be quite a wonderful thing. It adds a bit of citrus pop from the oils in the skin throughout the cocktail. Is this what Thomas meant? Who knows? It certainly doesn’t hurt the cocktail to throw a lemon peel in with your other ingredients while shaking and also garnishing the completed cocktail with the other lemon twist. Double the lemon, double the fun!

Recipe

2 oz (60 ml) VSOP Cognac
.5 oz (15 ml) orgeat
½ teaspoon Bogart’s bitters (sub 3-4 dashes Angostura if needed)
2 lemon peels, 1 reserved for garnish

Add all ingredients to a tin and shake hard with ice. Fine strain into a Nick & Nora glass and garnish with a lemon twist.