ENDANGERED COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH: THE MILLIONAIRE COCKTAIL

By Pink Lady
Cocktails are a form of art, and art is about expressing your deepest desires, so it’s no surprise that a beverage called The Millionaire Cocktail has made its way into the pantheon of drinks. Cocktails with this moniker show up in many books actually, albeit in different seemingly unrelated forms, and presumably dating back to the Prohibition era. Cue images of Gatsby on the lanai of his West Egg mansion, staring across the water with a cocktail in hand, looking for Daisy.

As for the recipes, Harry Craddock has two Millionaire cocktails in his Savoy Cocktail Book: No.1 made with Jamaican rum, apricot brandy, sloe gin, grenadine, and lime and No.2 made with Anisette, egg white, absinthe. He also includes a Million Dollar Cocktail, made with pineapple, grenadine, egg white, vermouth and Plymouth gin. But since this is National Bourbon Heritage Month, let’s ask Mr. Craddock to step aside, and kick back with a totally different, whiskey-based Millionaire Cocktail. Also, it’s a little less weird than Harry’s drinks.

The recipe for this Millionaire Cocktail was revived by Jason Kosmas and Dushan Zaric at their famous New York bar Employees Only and featured in their 2010 cocktail book Speakeasy. Their version is based on a recipe found in the 1938 edition of a book called The How and When by Hyman Gale and Gerald F. Marco. Marco was the proprietor of a Chicago-based liquor store who created a beautiful little cocktail book, with drink recipes, tips and articles on wine, cool ads, and cocktail and canape recipes. You can still find copies on the internet today, in some cases priced quite reasonably, depending on which edition you’re buying.

Bourbon is distinctly American, and the American dream is about success and riches, so bottoms up! Have fun raising a Millionaire Cocktail towards your #goals this month!

THE
MILLIONAIRE
COCKTAIL
2 ounces of bourbon
3/4 ounce of Grand Marnier
1/4 ounce of pastis
1/2 ounce of homemade grenadine
1/2 ounce of lemon juice
1 egg white

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe or vintage cocktail glass. Garnish with fresh nutmeg.

Cin-cin!