Found this old Martini shaker in a thrift shop. No idea if it’s truly vintage or a redo of a vintage shaker though. I posted a photo of it and asked on Facebook as it doesn’t have a store’s stamp on it, and nothing looked like it on a Google search. I’m going with antique, circa 1930, as at least two of the drinks I researched that were marked by little windows with the measurements, Between the Sheets and the Bronx, were popular in the 30s.
So, off to making a cocktail with some help on the Internet – just to double check them.
Next dilemma: husband is not a gin fan. I can make any of the gin-based recipes – about 90% of what was on the shaker – with vodka, I know, but it really does change the flavor from some juniper, and other botanicals, to zero. So I started with the:
Whisky Sour, via Martini Shaker Recipe:
2 glasses whisky (I presume this is 16 ounces? Egads. I’m thinking two shot glasses!
)
1 tsp. sugar
1 lemon
½ orange
ice
Whiskey Sour, via Esquire Magazine:
Ingredients
- 2 ounces whiskey — bourbon
- 2/3 ounce lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
- cocktail glass
Whiskey Sour Instructions:
Shake the bourbon,* juice,** and sugar well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass (unless you happen to have a Sour glass). Resist, if you can, the impulse to decorate lavishly with fruit, although a maraschino cherry will raise no eyebrows.
* Or rye whiskey, or Canadian whiskey, or Irish whiskey or…
** The juice, more or less, of half a decent-sized lemon
Eve’s Sour For Two
5 shots of Templeton rye whiskey
2 muddled sugar cubes (You can use 2 teaspoons of sugar instead. I just don’t like granulated sugar, as I can’t control my family from making unsightly lumps with wet spoons, so this is at your discretion.)
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 orange (All of this citrus worked out well for me as I’m fighting a cold!)
2 Luxardo cherries for garnish at the base of a Martini glass
Ice to cover mixture.
Mix the whiskey, lemon juice, orange juice and sugar in Martini shaker. Add ice, shake to blend, and then pour into two iced Martini glasses (we always keep our martini glasses in the freezer, straight from washing without drying) and drop in your Luxardo cherry. If you check out the photos, you will see how pretty the colors work together.
Conclusion
I’ll quote one Facebook pal as it summed it up perfectly, “Great find, we found one too a while ago, a sterling silver, cleaned up great, still in use, Ahhh some wonderful cocktails, if it could talk!!!!!”
Eve Bushman has been reading, writing, taking coursework and tasting wine for over 20 years. She has obtained a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, has been the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video, authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and recently served as a judge for the Long Beach Grand Cru. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits that may be answered in a future column. You can also seek her marketing advice via Eve@EveBushmanConsulting.com
