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 home181–192 of 228 recipes
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Victorian Mulled Wine, Claret with a Glass of Port
Cloves, cinnamon, lemon peel and sugar boiled in water, then a pint of claret and a glass of port, heated, never boiled: mulled wine from an 1869 London book.
Wassail Bowl, Hot Ale and Sherry with Roasted Apples
Hot ale with sherry, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and lemon, served with roasted apples and toast floating in the bowl: the Christmas wassail as printed in 1869.
Whiskey Sour, the 1887 Bar Recipe
A wine-glass of bourbon or rye, half a small lemon and a large teaspoon of sugar dissolved in Seltzer, shaken with shaved ice and strained into a claret glass with berries: the Whiskey Sour of 1887.
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.
Alcohol-free versionAlcohol-Free Bishop, Spiced Grape Juice with a Roasted Lemon
Hot red grape juice with a roasted clove-studded lemon, boiled-down spices, fresh lemon and nutmeg: the 1847 Oxford bishop made without the port.
Alcohol-free versionAlcohol-Free Ginger Beer, the Fountain Way
Fresh ginger syrup, lemon juice and cold soda water, never fermented: an alcohol-free ginger beer after the street fountains of 1850s London.
Ale Caudle, Warm Ale Thickened with Egg Yolks
Malty ale stirred over low heat with beaten egg yolks until it thickens like a thin custard: the medieval caudle, made safe with a thermometer.
Always alcohol-freeAlmond Milk, the Medieval Fast-Day Milk
Blanched almonds ground with boiled, lightly sweetened water and drawn through a cloth: the milk medieval cooks used when the Church ruled out the cow’s.
Always alcohol-freeAmerican Lemonade, as London Made It
Lemon juice and sugar over shaved ice, homemade strawberry syrup and a fill of soda water, with a straw: a 1924 London book’s idea of American lemonade.
Boulevardier, Bourbon and Campari Cocktail
Bourbon, Campari and Italian vermouth in equal thirds: Erskine Gwynne’s drink, recorded in a single line of Barflies and Cocktails in Paris in 1927.
Calda, Roman Hot Wine and Water
Wine mixed with hot water, more water than wine: the Roman winter drink, sometimes kept hot in bronze urns.
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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-free
Adynamon, 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.