Hair of the Dog is Cookthink’s Monday morning cocktail column by Rob Chirico, the author of the Field Guide to Cocktails. Read more about Rob here.

Some of the recent campaigning has caused me to consider writing about the Mud Sling, the Barracuda, the Smear and even Nepenthe and Balm in Gilead.

Instead, let us mark the eve of this historic election by celebrating the honorable Ward Eight. In these clamorous times, the century-old drink may conjure up notions of booze-crazed sots sequestered in the dark and secret chambers of a dubious mental ward. The actual history of the Ward Eight, however, is rather sober and sedate, even if its source was an election campaign.

Some classic cocktails, like the Bronx, have become dinosaurs; others, like the Martini, have engendered incalculable variations. The Ward Eight is one old-timer that has not been ravaged by time or tampered with — much.

In 1898, bartender Tom Hussion was hired by the Locke-Ober Café in Boston, and he brought with him many loyal followers. Among them were members of the Hendrick’s Club, a rag-tag crew of wannabe politicos run by the Democrat Martin Lomasney.

Lomasney was running for representative in the Massachusetts General Court from Ward Eight that year, and the eve before the election, some of those guys he palled around with asked Hussion to create a new drink to toast Lomansey’s certain victory.

Hussion may have merely added some grenadine to a Whiskey Sour and called it the Ward Eight, but the grenadine was just enough to change the character of the drink. The change was a success, and the drink was a palpable hit.

Ironically, Lomasney was a staunch prohibitionist, and when that “Noble Experiment” rolled into town some two decades later, the Locke-Ober bar was forced to shut its doors. Supporters of the Ward Eight were staunch in their own convictions, and the cocktail outlasted Prohibition. It was even deemed one of the 10 best cocktails of the year in 1934 by Esquire.

The Locke-Ober did not reopen its doors until the early 1950s, and it has been shaking up this sophisticated cocktail ever since. The present Locke-Ober restaurant and bar at 3 Winterplace in Boston is the paradigm of the unhurried elegance of the late 19th century — that is, according to the Locke-Ober PR team. But they are right. Ordering a Ward Eight in the opulent surroundings is like traveling back in time (If things don’t go the right way tomorrow, you just may anyway).

The Ward Eight may be garnished with a cherry or an orange for color, but these may have been omitted in the original. Rye was also probably the whiskey of choice, but bourbon seems to have taken its place. As a special note, unlike the Manhattan, which is stirred, Ward Eight is always shaken. But before you elect to try a Ward Eight, shake up your world: don’t forget to vote!

Food Affinities: Boston is noted for its fresh seafood, and crab cakes, clams and oysters should be your first pick. Steak tartare composed of minced raw sirloin, chopped onions, capers and anchovies bound together with an egg yolk, fresh lemon juice and a splash each of Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce is still a Locke-Ober classic.

Recipe: Ward Eight (Hair of the Dog)

Posted by rob in cocktails, hair of the dog | | Subscribe to this feed