Content and Context: Cocktail Syrups

Hi, my name is Clair, and I'm a nerd. For more than a year now, I've been writing a column for mentalfloss.com on cocktail chemistry. This setup combines my love of science with my passion for classic cocktails, and helps me to find new ways to communicate complex topics in food science.

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about flavored syrups: grenadine is used in a surprising number of classic shaken whiskey drinks, and other flavored syrups can class up a simple drink in a hurry. There are many, many ways to make syrups, but they all have their pros and cons. Check it out: How To Make Flavored Cocktail Syrups.

Stock the Bar 2

There's a stock photo for almost any blog post or topical website you can dream up. Outside of those, so many random images exist that it's difficult to figure out exactly why a given website keeps them on hand. About a month ago, David Griner challenged me to choose the drinks I'd make for some of the weirdest stock photo characters he could dig up. Here's the second installment.

Oh, my! I do believe her delicate sensibilities would surely require a Mint Julep to calm her nerves if it was summertime. Since chilly weather has set in, she'll have to daintily remove her gloves to sip a Ward 8. The dratted Yankees do make such delicious cocktails.

I've probably been reading too much zombie lit, because her lab coat currently reminds me of mad scientists and CDC affiliates. However, her tight smile and suspicious orange flask can only mean one thing -- conspiracy! To take her out of the game, I'd make her a few Corpse Reviver No. 2s. As the famous Henry Craddock said, one or two of these concoctions can revive the corpse, but "four or more taken in quick succession will unrevive the corpse again."

Drinking at home may be the best way to save a few bucks, but at the bar, you have to stick to straight liquor to save money. This chap looks like a traditional bourbon guy, so he'll have a one ounce pour of W. L. Weller Special Reserve.

If Ab Man comes in for a post-fight drink, I'll serve him a Horse's Neck. Hopefully the name won't remind him of any bad experiences during his stint in Mother Russia. Since he's probably going to go back out after cementing his whereabouts at the bar, he'll probably want it in its original mocktail form -- ginger ale with the peel of a whole lemon. Bourbon can take too much of the fight out of a hero.

No red-blooded 'Merican wants the Commies to win, but the service industry is about serving customers. I'll make him a Cuba Libre, but if he's meeting up with his pals, I'll phone back in time to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Cocktail of the Hour -- the Ward 8

Out of all the contentious drinks I've featured so far, the Ward 8 might just top them all. With at least three origin stories and hundreds of recipes, the diversity of its manifestations almost rivals the Old Fashioned's. In fact, when a New York Sun writer called for readers to submit their Ward 8 recipes in the 1940s, he received more than 500 replies.

People get territorial over their whiskey cocktails.

According to the available mishmash of cocktail history, Boston was definitely the Ward 8's birthplace. It was probably created within a decade of 1900, and is most likely named for one of the city's voting districts. The most popular backstory is that it was created to celebrate a political boss's election victory in north Boston, but this story seems to have originated in 1951. Other sources credit other bartenders who worked at the hotel where this alleged party occurred and yet others give credit to other venues.

The Ward 8 is a whiskey sour sweetened with grenadine. The use of orange juice and the amount of grenadine varies by recipe, but however it's made, it usually turns out light, spicy and slightly dry. Since so many recipes for this beverage exist, I'm not going off the reservation by saying that if my recipe doesn't suit your fancy, tweak it until it does.

Ward 8 1 tsp - .5 oz grenadine (to taste) .5 oz lemon juice .75 oz orange juice 2 oz whiskey Add all ingredients to a shaker tin. Shake vigorously for 13-17 seconds or until cooled through and strain into a chilled coupe glass.