Recipes
Drinks from the old books, with and without alcohol. Each one names its source and scales to the size of your party.
Drinks from the old books.
Or start from what you have at home1–12 of 228 recipes
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Alcohol-free versionAlcohol-Free Ale Cup, with White Grape Juice over Toast
Spencer’s 1903 Ale Cup made without alcohol: a 0.0% ale and white grape juice poured cold over hot toast with lemon, sugar, nutmeg and a sprig of balm.
Ale Cup, Cold Ale with Sherry and Brandy over Toast
Lemon juice squeezed onto hot toast, then sugar, nutmeg and a sprig of balm, and cold mild ale, sherry and brandy poured over: the Ale Cup of Edward Spencer’s The Flowing Bowl, 1903.
Always alcohol-freeCamp Coffee, the Union Army Way of 1862
Ground coffee boiled two minutes, settled with a splash of cold water and strained through flannel: the coffee a Union commissary taught company cooks in 1862.
Always alcohol-freeCamp Tea, the Union Army Way of 1862
Leaves pre-steeped a minute, boiled a minute under a lid and rested five by the fire, in his method: the tea a Union commissary taught company cooks in 1862.
Bishop à la Prusse, Roasted Bitter Oranges in Claret (1862)
Four bitter oranges roasted pale brown, left overnight under sugar and claret, then pressed out and served warm with the rest of the bottle: Jerry Thomas’s Bishop of 1862.
Always alcohol-freeCurrant Shrub, an 1845 Syrup for Iced Water
Red currant juice boiled five minutes with its weight in sugar and stirred as it cools: a family shrub dated 1845 and printed in 1920, a teaspoon to a glass of iced water.
Klondike Cocktail: Tom Gin and Bénédictine from 1903
Old Tom gin stirred over ice with orange bitters, a dash of Bénédictine and a little brandy, finished with lemon peel: the Klondike Cocktail of a 1903 bar book, for miners home rich.
Always alcohol-freePersian Sherbet, Strawberry, Lemon and Orange-Flower Water from 1924
Ripe strawberries mashed and left on ice for four hours with lemon, lemon-rubbed sugar, orange-flower water and cold water, then strained: an alcohol-free sherbet from a 1924 London book of home drinks.
Always alcohol-freeSoyer’s Cheap Crimean Lemonade, Lime Juice, Sugar and Water from 1857
Two tablespoons of sugar stirred for a minute with lime juice, then a pint of cold water: the lemonade without lemons that the chef Alexis Soyer gave the Scutari hospitals and the camp.
Always alcohol-freeSoyer’s Rice Water, a Scutari Hospital Drink from 1857
Washed rice, sugar and lemon peel simmered gently in water for three-quarters of an hour and strained: the rice water the doctors at Scutari chose for sick soldiers, from Alexis Soyer’s 1857 hospital diets.
Alcohol-free versionAlcohol-Free Shandy Gaff, Ginger Beer and Alcohol-Free Ale
Terrington’s 1869 shandy gaff made without alcohol: a 0.0% ale topped up with ginger beer in equal parts, poured cold.
Aranciata Torinese, Orange Soda with a Splash of Anisette, 1936
Orange juice, a spoon of sugar and soda water with a tenth part anisette, stirred in a balloon glass over one piece of ice: an Italian thirst-quencher of 1936, light on alcohol.
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Absinthe Frappé, Shaken until the Shaker Frosts
A pony of absinthe and a pony of water with a dash of anisette, shaken with fine ice until the shaker frosts, strained and topped with seltzer: the absinthe frappé of 1895.
Absinthium Romanum, Roman Wormwood Wine
Apicius’s Roman vermouth: mild white wine steeped for a day with wormwood, mastic, bay and saffron, unsweetened and bitter by design.
Always alcohol-freeAdynamon, Pliny’s Wine Without Strength
White grape must boiled with half its volume of water until the water is gone: the Roman ‘wine’ given to people who were not allowed wine. Alcohol-free.