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 home145–156 of 228 recipes
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Always alcohol-freeMulled Sweet Cider with Nutmeg and Cloves
Sweet apple cider simmered for fifteen minutes with nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and brown sugar, never boiled: an alcohol-free mulled cider from a 1919 temperance drinks book.
Negroni, Gin, Campari and Vermouth
Equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, stirred over ice with an orange slice: a modern recipe for the Negroni, with what the record shows about Count Negroni’s Florence.
Always alcohol-freeOrange Phosphate, the Red Orange Soda Fountain Drink
Blood orange and raspberry syrup, plain soda water and a teaspoon of acid phosphate, stirred and served still: Saxe’s red orange phosphate from Chicago, 1894.
Ordinary Beer, the Household Brew of 1623
Pale malt and a light hand of English hops, mashed, boiled an hour and drunk at a fortnight old: Gervase Markham’s everyday beer of 1623, scaled to a 10-liter home brew.
Always alcohol-freeOrgeat, Almond Milk with Orange-Flower Water
Almonds pounded with orange-flower water, let down with milk and water, strained and sweetened: the alcohol-free orgeat of Rundell’s 1807 sickroom chapter.
Planter’s Punch as Fun Printed It in Verse (1878)
One wine-glass of lemon juice, two of sugar, three of rum and four of cold water: Planter’s Punch as the London weekly Fun printed it in verse in 1878.
Port Wine Flip, Port Shaken with a Whole Egg
A wine glass of port shaken with a whole egg, sugar and shaved ice, strained and dusted with nutmeg: the cold Port Wine Flip of Harry Johnson’s 1882 bar manual.
Port Wine Negus, Hot Port with Lemon and Nutmeg
A bottle of hot ruby port poured into a covered jug of lemon sugar, sliced lemons, a little spice and a quart of boiling water, then grated over with nutmeg: negus as Oxford made it in 1847.
Always alcohol-freeRaspberry Shrub Made with Vinegar
Raspberries steeped twice in cider vinegar, boiled and lightly sweetened, then stirred into iced water: Lettice Bryan’s alcohol-free raspberry shrub of 1839.
Always alcohol-freeRundell’s Milk-Clarified Lemonade
Lemon peel, juice and sugar with boiling milk, dripped through a jelly bag until clear: Maria Rundell’s alcohol-free lemonade of 1806–07, made a day ahead.
Always alcohol-freeRussian Tea, Spiced with Orange and Cloves
Strong black tea simmered with a bag of cloves and cinnamon, then sweetened and sharpened with orange and lemon juice: Russian tea from a 1917 Raleigh church cookbook.
Always alcohol-freeShirley Temple, the Ginger Ale and Grenadine Drink
Ginger ale over ice, a spoonful of grenadine sinking to the bottom and a maraschino cherry: a modern recipe for the Shirley Temple, with what is known of its history.
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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.