The Whiskey Daisy

I would like to extend my apologies for not getting a classic cocktail up for you last Monday. At Drink Dogma, I am going to do my best to shed some light on the classics at the beginning of each week. In researching the Whiskey Daisy, it became quickly apparent that there are a lot of different recipes for this drink that hold very little in common with each other beyond the fact that they contain Bourbon or Rye. I found recipes that had as few as three ingredients in them (whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup; sounds too similar to a bourbon sour doesn’t it?) and others that combined various syrups and liqueurs making a much more complex drink. Anytime I come across a cocktail that has this many varying recipes, I do my best to dig deeply into the old books and find out how the good ole boys did it. Normally that clears things up a bit. Not in this case.

The Museum of the American Cocktail has done a wonderful job enabling its members to view facsimile versions of hard-to-find vintage cocktail books. Of those, Harry Johnson’s Bartending Guide looks like it was first to be copyrighted in 1882, making it the oldest book that I have access to. His Whiskey Daisy was printed as follows:

Whiskey Daisy
From Harry Johnson’s New & Improved Bartender’s Manual (1882)

½ Tablespoonful sugar
2 or 3 dashes Lemon juice
1 dash lime juice
1 dash Seltzer
¾ glass of finely shaved ice
1 wine glass good whiskey
½ pony glass yellow chartreuse

Stir up well with spoon; then take a fancy glass and have it dressed with fruits of the season, and strain the mixture into it, and serve.

This drink is very palatable and will taste good to almost anybody.

Obviously, we know not for sure how much liquid his wine glass held, but we can speculate based on the more solid measurement of a ½ tablespoonful of sugar. I have read that a wine glass measurement held 4 ounces, but it seems like that much bourbon, would easily overpower the drink. When I started experimenting with this recipe at home, the best proportions for Mr. Johnson’s Whiskey Daisy with today’s measuring capabilities were:

2 oz. Bourbon (I had Evan Williams Single Barrel on hand)
½ oz. Yellow Chartreuse
A scant ½ oz Lemon Juice
1 Dash Lime Juice
1 ½ Teaspoons Caster Sugar

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice and top with soda.

When I decided to explore the Whiskey Daisy, and found out that it contained Yellow Chartreuse, it did not sit well. I did not have Green or Yellow Chartreuse in my home bar and had to run out and make a purchase. I have wanted the Green Chartreuse for a really long time in order to make Last Words, but I felt like I should stick to tradition and go with Yellow. See the sacrifices I make for you?

Not too long after Mr. Johnson’s book was first published, Jerry Thomas published How to Mix Drinks (1887). I am not sure if the Whiskey Daisy appeared in the first edition of Harry Johnson’s New & Improved Bartender’s Manual, but I can safely say that I do not know for sure who can claim the original drink. Yellow Chartreuse is absent in Mr. Thomas’s recipe, and Orgeat takes a supporting role.

Reprinted verbatim:

Whiskey Daisy
From Jerry Thomas, How to Mix Drinks (1887)

Take 3 dashes gum syrup.
2 dashes Orgeat syrup.
The juice of half a small lemon.
1 wine-glass of Bourbon, or rye whiskey.

Fill glass one-third full of shaved ice. Shake well, strain into a large cocktail glass, and fill up with Seltzer or Apollinaris water.

Orgeat (pronounce “o?r-?zhä(t)”) is a sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar, roses, and orange flower water. It was a common ingredient in the Tiki drinks that swept the nation in the 1950’s and is relatively easy to find. Monin, Trader Vic’s, and Fee Brothers are all decent to use. But, if you really want to get your hands dirty, try out Darcy O’Neill’s recipe for homemade orgeat.

The orgeat adds another element of depth and plays well with the Bourbon. For this drink, I used similar proportions as my first experiment but added simple syrup (substituted for gum syrup) and a quarter ounce of orgeat. The problem I have with Jerry Thomas’s drink, if you want to look at it as a problem, is that I have tasted this cocktail with the Chartreuse and now I want it back. I suppose we could combine the two ingredients into one cocktail. I also bumped up the proportion of Chartreuse a bit. It just tastes so good.

The Whiskey Daisy-The Morgan Variation

2 oz. Bourbon
¾ oz. Yellow Chartreuse
¼ oz. Orgeat
Splash of Simple Syrup (Optional)
Scant ½ oz. Lemon Juice
1 Dash Lime Juice
Seltzer

Combine all ingredients except seltzer in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake hard and strain into a Collins glass filled with cracked ice. Top with seltzer garnish with a lemon/lime twist.

The resulting Whiskey Daisy has a lot going on in it with the Yellow Chartreuse and Orgeat, but it maintains a delicious balance of flavors that all still shine through.

A quick Google search for Whiskey Daisy Recipes will return several that include grenadine or raspberry syrup. I found said recipe in Old Mr. Boston’s De Luxe Official Bartender’s Book (1941). I suppose a Whiskey Daisy could be made with that way, but in my opinion a lot of character and complexity is lost when the Chartreuse and/or Orgeat are taken out of the equation.

Last week I exchanged a few emails with Toby Maloney of the Violet Hour in Chicago. Last fall, he had a cocktail on his menu named The Yellow Rose of Texas. Coincidentally, it is a variation on a Daisy Cocktail. His original version contained Tequila, but seeing as how we can actually grow the plant in Texas which Sotol is made from, I took the liberty to make a substitute. This drink is delicious.

The Yellow Rose of Texas

2 oz. Sotol
½ oz. Yellow Chartreuse
¾ oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
½ oz. Simple Syrup
1-2 Dashes Rosewater (to taste)

Combine ingredients (except Rosewater) in a cocktail shaker full of ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add rosewater to the top of the drink and gently stir to evenly distribute.

Between the Whiskey Daisy and the Yellow Rose of Texas, I am certain that any cocktail cravings over the next week are more than taken care of. That is, of course, until next week, when I am sure I will have to play around with another classic.