Just as there was nothing particularly Hawaiian about the Hawaiian Cocktail a few weeks back, there is nothing particularly Japanese, or even remotely Asian, about the Japanese Cocktail. There is, however, at least a connection with an actual Japanese person…maybe.
The drink, sometimes just called “Japanese,” can be found in Robert Hess’s “The Essential Bartender’s Guide,” but its roots go back a great deal further than Hess’s outstanding 2008 tome. According to cocktail super historian David Wondrich, the Japanese Cocktail was possibly associated with one Tateishi Onojirou “Tommy” Noriyuki, a dashing translator for the first ever Japanese embassy in the U.S., circa 1860. While the connection seems somewhat tenuous, Wondrich supposes that the Japanese Cocktail, which appears in Professor Jerry Thomas’s epochal 1862 manual,”How to Mix Drinks,” might have been a favorite of Mr. Noriyuki, who may very well have visited Professor Thomas’s New York bar. Or not.
In any case, it’s a pretty tasty drink, but you’d better like the very sweet, almond-derived flavor of orgeat.
The Japanese Cocktail
2 ounces brandy
1/2 ounce orgeat (almond syrup)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 lemon twist (highly recommended garnish).
Combined the brandy, orgeat (Torani or Monin would be standard) and bitters in a cocktail shaker or mixing glass. Stir or shake and strain into a mixing glass. Add the lemon twist and toast, I don’t know, the vastly improved state of Japanese-American relations since a certain well-known mid-20th century low point.
In the U.S., whiskey cannot be sold as rye unless it is distilled from at least 51 percent rye grain. In Canada, there is no such rule. Therfore, as I understand it, a lot of what we call Canadian whiskey over here is known as rye north of the border, even though corn and other grains may be a great deal more dominant. For this reason, American rye has long had a more distinctively peppery flavor than it’s Canuck cousin. Lately, however, Canadian brands have been getting into the act with ryes that pass stateside muster.
You may wonder how I go about picking out the drinks here at DOTW. A lot of the time, it has something to do with what I’ve got laying around the palatial North Hollywood premises of Drink of the Week Manor. Occasionally, I look at the calendar, and sometimes, I simply stumble over something at random.
I’m not sure how it was that you could call a drink The Hawaiian Cocktail back in the day without including any specifically Hawaiian ingredients, but that was apparently the case when “The Savoy Cocktail Book” was published in 1930. Indeed, based on the ingredients, it may have been more apt to call today’s drink the Californian or Florida Cocktail, since there isn’t a trace of anything native to Hawaii and the drink is dominated by orange juice. On the other hand, if you take a picture of this drink in the right light, it’s pretty much the same color as pineapple juice, so there’s that.
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.
