A free edition · 2026
· · ·
The Lost
Cocktail Codex.
Fifty cocktails, hand-transcribed from manuscripts that haven't been reprinted in decades. Original 19th-century wording beside a measured modern build.
Thomas 1862 · Engel 1878 · Johnson 1882
Kappeler 1895 · Boothby 1908 · Ensslin 1917
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A taste of the Codex
Three recipes most modern reprints get wrong.
Jerry Thomas · 1862 · Bartender's Companion p. 50
The Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail
Modern reprints garnish with orange. Thomas garnished with lemon. The orange came in fifty years later.
As written, 1862
"Take a wine-glass; one or two dashes of Boker's bitters; one or two dashes of curaçoa or absinthe, if required; one small lump of ice; one wine-glass of whiskey; squeeze a piece of lemon peel."
Modern build
2 oz rye · 1 sugar cube · 2 dashes Angostura · 1 dash absinthe (optional) · stir on a single large rock · lemon peel (no orange).
Boothby · 1908 · World's Drinks & How to Mix Them
The Sazerac
Originally cognac, not rye. The phylloxera blight of the 1870s killed French brandy supply, so American bartenders swapped to rye and the swap stuck.
As written, 1908
"Half a wine-glass of Sazerac brandy, three dashes of Peychaud's bitters, one dash of Angostura, one teaspoonful of gomme syrup, in a glass rinsed with absinthe; stir well; lemon peel."
Modern build
2 oz cognac (or rye) · 0.25 oz simple · 3 dashes Peychaud's · 1 dash Angostura · absinthe-rinsed rocks glass · lemon peel.
Engel · 1878 · American & Other Drinks
The Manhattan
The 1880 Manhattan was 1:1, not 2:1. The dry-vermouth modern shift (early 1900s, post-temperance) made the rye-forward 2:1 the default. Earlier was sweeter, softer, more Italian.
As written, 1878
"Half a wine-glass of whiskey; half a wine-glass of vermouth; two dashes of Angostura bitters; two dashes of curaçoa or maraschino; ice and stir. Strain into a cocktail glass."
Modern build
1.5 oz rye · 1.5 oz sweet vermouth · 2 dashes Angostura · 2 dashes maraschino · stir cold · cocktail coupe · cherry.