Early last month, the world mourned — something the world has been doing way too much of lately — the passing of Muhammad Ali, a boxer who transcended his sport in so many ways that even a complete non-sports fan like me hero worshiped him just a bit. However, since he was also a devout Muslim, it would probably be wrong to name a cocktail after him.

I actually have no idea what, if any, religious affiliation belonged to another famed boxer, Edward Patrick “Mickey” Walker. Clearly, his cultural impact was nothing remotely like Ali’s, but he was an acknowledged great of the sweet science of knocking people senseless and the winner of the World Welterweight title in 1922 and the World Middleweight title in 1926. I don’t know if he was a drinker or not, but I don’t imagine there were that many tea-totaling boxers during prohibition.

So, presumably Mr. Walker had no objection when Harry Craddock included a cocktail almost bearing his moniker in The Savoy Cocktail Book a few years later. I say almost because Craddock spelled the name “Mickie,” while Walker spelled it “Mickey.” A lot of people get irritable when you spell their name wrong, but he should have been at least a little flattered regardless, because his drink ain’t half bad. Also, it’s got Scotch in it, and there aren’t nearly enough Scotch cocktails.

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It’s almost Independence Day weekend and, as our nation veers towards either electing its first woman president or it’s last male president, maybe it makes sense to honor one of the few founding mothers kids my age were ever taught about in school.

Yes, I admit, the actual role Mrs. Ross played in creating the Stars and Stripes is up for grabs. It seems that the story about her making that first flag for General Washington apparently emerged in 1876, about a century after our nation was born. Still, when the legend becomes fact, we do like John Ford and print the legend here at DOTW.

Here’s a cocktail reportedly from the 1950s named for the most famous seamstress in early American history. Rescued in our century by Gary Regan in The Joy of Mixology, it’s a very pretty cocktail that would definitely look good next to Old Glory.

The Betsy Ross Cocktail

1 1/2 ounces brandy…better make it Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy
1 1/2 ounces ruby port
1/2 ounce curacao
1-2 dashes Angostura/aromatic bitters

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass or cocktail shaker and stir. Shaking won’t ruin the taste, but it won’t improve it that much, and it will make the drink ugly. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and toast Betsy Ross. Even if she didn’t actually make that first flag, she’s probably as good a stand-in as any for all the women we’ve never heard of who had just as much to do with making this country great as those guys we keep hearing about all the time.

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