Rosette Cocktail

Picture of roses to accompany Rosette Cocktail recipe.
“Les Roses” by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, published in Paris in 1817-24

Rosette Cocktail

  • Take two dashes orange bitters
  • One liqueur-glass of Grenadine
  • Two liqueur-glasses of dry gin

Fill the mixing-glass with ice; stir well and strain into a cocktail-glass.


NOTE: In the following receipts most of the quantities are given by glasses. The size of the glasses usually varies a trifle in each locality, but the usual amount of liquid contained in them is approximately as follows:

Lemonade-glass, twelve ounces.
High-ball glass, six ounces.
Star-glass or star champagne-glass, four and a half ounces.
Bar-glass, three ounces.
Cocktail-glass, two and one-half ounces.
Liqueur-glass, or “pony,” one ounce.

Louis’ Mixed Drinks by Louis Muckensturm, 1906

“Jerry Thomas’” own Decanter Bitters

(Bottle and serve in a pony-glass.)

  • Take 1/4 pound of raisins
  • 2 ounces of cinnamon
  • 1 lemon and 1 orange cut in slices
  • 1 ounce of cloves
  • 1 ounce of allspice
  • Fill decanter with Santa Cruz rum
  • As fast as the bitters is used fill up again with rum
The Bar-Tender’s Guide by Jerry Thomas, 1887

(Note from Lost Cocktails: The recipe from Jerry Thomas calls for an ounce of snake-root. This seems to be an ingredient that has been phased out of use and has questionable safety so for the purposes of this recipe I left it out. If you want to learn more, I found information on Indian Snakeroot at WebMD.)

Absinthe or Wormwood Bitters

The Absinthe Drinker, Viktor Oliva, 1901
INGREDIENTS
  • Of each 2 drops:
    • Oil of lemon
    • Oil of carraway
    • Oil of absinthe
  • Extract of liquorice, two ounces
  • Extract of camomile, half ounce
  • Rectified spirit, (60 O.P.) three pints
  • Syrup, three pints
  • Water, enough to make two gallons
DIRECTIONS
  • Dissolve the oils in the spirit, and the extracts in water
  • Add both together at once
  • Shake violently for some minutes
  • Next add the syrup and the remainder of the water
  • Again shake well up
  • Let it stand some days, the longer the better
  • Filter through paper
Haney’s Steward & Barkeeper’s Manual: A Complete and Practical Guide by Jesse Haney, 1869

NOTE FROM LOST COCKTAILS: (Shameless affiliate link) If the recipe above seems like more work than it’s worth or you are short on time and just want to cut to the chase, check out these fine bitters from Absinthes.com.