Libra Cocktails

I was in the mood for a throwback cocktail. Something unique, something perhaps campier than the usual fare at bars and lounges. I was feeling nostalgic for a time when eggs made regular appearances in highball glasses. I began searching through CATNYP for some cocktail books from the 1940s and '50s and I found just what I was looking for: Zodiac Cocktails by Stanley S. MacNiel (1940). Organized by astrological sign, bound by wood panels and held together with leather straps, Mr. MacNiel isn't your typical Mr. Boston, and I, for one, am thankful for it.

So raise a glass to all those birthday-celebrating Libras, as I present to you some cocktails.

(Adapted from Zodiac Cocktails, 1940)

Libra: Its natives are just, detached, impersonal, pleasure-loving, intellectual, suave, aesthetic, amorous, and easily thrown off balance.

Libra Cocktail:
1 glass rye whiskey
Dissolve 1 piece of Rock Candy in it. The juice of 1 lemon can be added, if desired.

South Pole Cocktail:
The juice of 1/2 lemon
3 dashes of Curacao
1/2 Benedictine
1/2 Apple Brandy (or Calvados)

Shake well and strain into glass.

Venus Cocktail:
1 egg
1/2 glass rum
1T. powdered sugar
1 glass brandy

Beat up yolk and white of egg separately. Then mix the yoke and white together. Use stem glass or ching mug, adding the spirits, then fill with boiling water, grating nutmeg on top.

Snow Fizz:
The juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2T. powdered sugar
1 glass gin

Shake well, strain into medium size glass and fill with soda water. Add 2 sprigs fresh mint.