ENDANGERED COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH-COUNTRY LIFE

By Pink Lady
The internet is great for finding new cocktail recipes to try, but have you tried real life? Just recently I was conversing with a small group of folks, all restaurant people, all professionals and of mixed age, and we got to chatting about cocktail and cookbooks. Half of the group was obsessed with them, with a quarter of us having to implement a purchasing moratorium because the bookshelves are overflowing; the other half can find no use for them, declaring: “everything I need I can find on the internet.”

Everyone is right in this conversation. While most of my cocktail enthusiasm was born from poking around dusty tomes in the early aughts, today the internet teems with resources, and I use them all: from the nary blog to the EUVS Vintage Cocktail Books Free Digital Library, an online cocktail books collection where you can access primary sources, scanned in their original formatting. Have at it, nerds! Our time is now!

As my deadline drew close for this piece in particular, I happened to be in Salem and stopped into a local bar called All Souls Lounge that a friend recommended. A busy day had left my creative wells dry, but perhaps a snack and change of scenery could get things flowing? What this friend did not share was that the twelve-drink signature cocktail menu at All Souls Lounge boasts classic drinks, with menu notes about the time period from when the recipe was. Would you like a Churulin circa 1800, made with pisco, grapefruit, cinnamon, and lime? How about an Ancient Mariner from 1994 made with aged rum and allspice dram? No pretense, no braggadociousness, just really good cocktails from a bygone era. If you’d rather have a shot and a High Life, a wine, or a Mocktail, they have that too. I loved trying a Country Life from Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion. The drink is a little bit Manhattan-y but a little bit not, and altogether delicious. Try it at home, or if you’re lucky enough to be close to All Soul’s Lounge in Salem, pop in for one. The vibes are great.

COUNTRY LIFE

1 1⁄2 ounces of Bourbon
3⁄4 ounce of Jamaican rum
3⁄4 ounce of Port
2 dashes of Orange bitters
1 twist orange peel (as garnish)

Stir, strain, up, twist
Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Cin-cin!