Let's Begin With A Drink

My goal with this portion of my website is to impart advice and opinion on matters such as style (and the lack of in this day and age) as well as discussing the art of living.

I figured I'd start by sharing the recipe of a fairly obscure cocktail: the 20th Century.  The 20th Century was concocted in the late 1930s in honor of the Twentieth Century Limited, a train that used to run between New York and Chicago.

I first saw this recipe in a wonderful book:  Vintage Spirits And Forgotten Cocktails, by Ted Haigh, aka Dr. Cocktail. Below is my version of the drink, only slightly modified.

Get this book!

20th Century:

• 2 measures gin
• 1 measure Lillet Blanc
• 1 measure lemon juice
• 1 measure light creme de cacao

note:  if the chocolate taste is too up front, ease off the creme de cacao a bit so that the chocolate taste ends up being an after note. The last thing we want is for the creme de cacao to overpower the other flavors. 

You need to buy this book if you have any interest at all in cocktails. It is more than just recipes--it tells the stories behind the cocktails. There is also a section detailing where to obtain rare ingredients and even how to create ingredients for those no longer available.