By Sharee Hochman, Intern

Jerry Thomas’s book “How to Mix Drinks: Or, The Bon-vivant's Companion, containing Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States, Together with the Most Popular British, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish Recipes” dates back all the way to 1862, and contains an array of Victorian style cocktails. At Dalnavert in 2020, we picked out a handful of cocktail recipes that we thought would be well suited to drink in each room.

Kitchen- A Staff Drink

Mulled Wine

Mulled wine is a simple and fast cocktail to make, it requires simple ingredients that are typically found in any kitchen. This means the servants/staff would have had full access to the ingredients needed to make the recipe. Mulled wine can be drunk hot or cold and takes a long time to go bad. This would be perfect for the servants to sip on while continuing their daily tasks. They could even be discrete by pouring it into a tea cup as it could be mistaken for a black or herbal tea.

Ingredients:

To every pint of wine allow:

· 1 Small tumblerful of water

· Sugar and spice for taste

Directions:

“In making preparations like the above, it is very difficult to give the exact proportions of ingredients like sugar and spice, as what quantity might suit one person would be to another quite distasteful. Boil the spice in the water until the flavor is extracted, then add the wine and sugar, and bring the whole to the boiling point, then serve with dry toast or with biscuits. The spices usually used for mulled wine are cloves, grated nutmeg, and cinnamon or mace. Any kind of wine may be mulled, but port or claret are those usually selected for the purpose; and the latter requires a large proportion of sugar. The vessel that the wine is boiled in must be delicately clean”.

Dining Room- A Guest Drink

Porter Cup

The Porter Cup is composed of a variety of tasteful ingredients that will clean your tongue palate. This refreshing cocktail would be perfect for dinner guests to drink in-between meals, to cleanse their palates for the next entrée.

Ingredients:

· Porter beer

· Table-ale

· Brandy

· Ginger Syrup

· Sugar

· Nutmeg

· Carbonated Soda

Directions:

“Mix in a tankard or covered jug of bottle of porter, and an equal quantity of table-ale; pour in a glass of brandy, a dessert spoonful of syrup of ginger, add three or four lumps of sugar, and half a nutmeg grated; cover it down, and expose it to the cold for half an hour; just before sending it to the table, stir in a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda. Add the fresh-cut rind of a cucumber”.

Parlor- A Party Drink

Tip-Top Punch

The Tip-Top Punch is a fruitful party drink mixed with Champagne. This punch would be a great cocktail to serve in the Parlor where Lady Macdonald would entertain her guests. Because this cocktail has the perfect mix of fruity and bubbly, the notes and delicate aromas can be irresistible to guests, making them to want to visit more often.

Ingredients:

· 1 Bottle of Champagne

· Soda water

· 1 Liquor glass of Curaçao

· 2 Tablespoonful of powdered sugar

· 1 Sliced pineapple

Directions:

“Put all the ingredients together in a small punch-bowl, mix well, and serve in champagne goblets”.

Solarium- A Ladies’ Meeting

Peach and Honey

This smooth mix is a sweet and fruity drink that could be served at room temperature, hot, or cold. The Peach and Honey cocktail would be a perfect substitute for actual tea during an afternoon tea while planning social events. Similar to the servant’s cocktail of Mulled Wine, the Peach and Honey mix could be served in a tea cup and be disguised as orange pekoe tea.

Ingredients:

· 1 Tablespoonful of honey

· 1Wine glass of peach brandy

Directions:

“Serve one tablespoonful of honey into a glass, and fill it with peach brandy. Stir with spoon”.

Study- A Men’s Meeting

Whiskey Cobbler

This Victorian styled Old Fashion is simple yet heavy-duty. The Whiskey Cobbler has a mix of zest from the sliced oranges and vanilla oak from the whiskey. It is a cocktail that one could sip on during legal and political meetings, perhaps like those between Sir Hugh Macdonald and his associates.

Ingredients:

· 2 Wine glassfuls of whiskey

· 1 Tablespoonful of sugar

· 2 or 3 slices of orange

Directions:

“Combine all ingredients, then fill a tumbler with ice and shake well. You can imbibe through a straw”.

Veranda- A Summer Drink

Mint Julip

The Mint Julip is similar to a mojito cocktail, a cool and refreshing beverage to drink on a hot summers day. This fresh cocktail would be perfect to cool off from the sun while on the veranda with some guests, or to enjoy alone.

Ingredients:

· 1 Tablespoonful of sugar

· 2 ½ cups of water

· 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh mint

· 1 ½ wine glass of Cognac brandy

· Shaved ice

· Berries

· Jamaica Rum

· Orange slices

Directions:

“Take three or four sprigs of fresh mint, and press them well in the sugar and water, until the flavor of the mint is extracted; add one and a half wine-glass of Cognac brandy, and fill the glass with shaved ice, then draw out the sprigs of mint and insert them in the ice with the stems downward, so that the leaves will be above, in the shape of a bouquet; arrange berries, and small pieces of sliced orange on top in a tasty manner, dash with Jamaica rum, and spring white sugar on top. Place in a straw, and you have a julep that is fit for an emperor”.

Master Bedroom- A Cozy Drink

Apple Toddy

The Apple Toddy mimics the coziness of a warm apple caramel pie with its cider brandy and baked apple slice. This drink would be perfect to warm up next to in bed on a cold night.

Ingredients:

· 1 Tablespoonful of fine white sugar

· 1 Wine glass full of cider brandy

· ½ of a baked apple

Directions:

“Fill the glass two thirds full of boiling water, and grate a little nutmeg on top”.

Daisy’s Room- A ‘Something with a Bit of Spice’ Drink

A Jerry Thomas

This drink if full of surprises, just like Daisy. It contains a handful of raisins, cloves, allspice, and snakeroot! Once you get to know this spicy cocktail, it’s as much of a surprise as our fencing, pant-wearing Daisy being the daughter of a politician in the 19th Century.

Ingredients:

· ¼ lb. of raisins

· 2 Ounces of cinnamon

· 1 Sprinkle of snake-root

· 1 Lemon sliced

· 1 Orange sliced

· 1 Ounce of cloves

· 1 Sprinkle of allspice

· Santa Cruz Rum

Directions:

“Fill decanter with Santa Cruz Rum. Bottle and serve out in pony glasses. As fast as the bitters is used fill up again with rum”.

Jack’s Room- A ‘Something Light’ Drink

Hot Milk Punch

This simple and warm drink is very suiting for Jack’s room. Not only is it because he was the youngest member of the family, but because he spent most of his time resting in bed due to battling Juvenile Diabetes. This drink is not too sweet and sugary which will help keep his blood sugar on the level.

Ingredients:

· 1 Tablespoonful of fine white sugar

· 2 Cups of water

· 1 Wine glass of Cognac brandy

· ½ Cup of Santa Cruz rum

· Milk

Directions:

“Fill with boiling milk, shake the ingredients well together, and grate a little nutmeg on top”.

Bathroom- A ‘Something Refreshing’ Drink

Bottled Velvet

The Bottled Velvet cocktail is just as smooth as it sounds. Its citrus and dry taste from the lemons, verbena leaves, and sherry create the perfect drink to sip in the tub. Verbena leaves were commonly used in foods, teas, and cocktails as it helped with respiratory sicknesses. What could be better than getting over a common cold in a hot bath with a Bottled Velvet in your hand? Speaking of which, Lady MacDonald has a speaking tube in her bathroom which leads to the Kitchen. This way she can ask the Chef or Maid to bring her a Bottled Velvet while she is in the tub.

Ingredients:

· 1 Bottle of Moselle

· ½ pint of Sherry

· Lemon peel

· 2 Tablespoonful’s of sugar

· 1 Sprig of verbena

Directions:

“All must be well mixed, and then strained and iced”.

Attic- A Men’s Night in Drink

Canadian Punch

It is unknown what the attic in the house was exactly used for, but it is likely Hugh Macdonald wished to turn it into a billiards room. Because the Manitoba Club is just down the street from the house, it is possible the attic billiards room was never realized. If Hugh Macdonald’s wish was granted, a glass of Canadian Punch would pair perfectly while playing pool with friends.

Ingredients:

· 2 Quarts of rye whiskey

· 1 Pint of Jamaica rum

· 6 Lemons sliced

· 1 Pineapple sliced

· 4 Quarts of Water

· Sugar

Directions:

“Mix well and sweeten to taste, pour over ice”.