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Angel Wing-Something New
Draw 1½ ounces of American Crême de Menthe Syrup in a phosphate glass, fill within an inch of the top with solid soda, stir with a spoon, then float on top of the drink an ounce of sweet cream. Serve without a straw.
A fountain drink of three parts: mint syrup, charged water, and a cream float. Everything depends on keeping those three layers distinct.
- The hinge: pour the cream slowlyAn ounce of sweet cream poured over the back of a spoon will sit on top as a white band against the green. Dumped straight in, it disperses and you have a cloudy mint soda.
- "Solid soda"Fountain draft arms delivered more than one stream, and "solid" here means a full unbroken stream of carbonated water rather than the frothing spray. Use plain seltzer or club soda poured down the side of the glass so it stays clear and leaves room for the float.
- Phosphate glassA straight-sided fountain glass of about 8 to 10 ounces. Any tall glass of that capacity works; the shape matters only in that a narrow glass makes the cream layer read more clearly.
- Crême de menthe syrupNon-alcoholic fountain syrup, not the liqueur. It is a heavy sugar syrup flavoured with peppermint oil and coloured green. A commercial mint syrup, or peppermint-flavoured simple syrup with a drop of green colour, gives the same result. The liqueur would be roughly 20 percent alcohol and is not what is meant.
- Sweet creamPeriod usage means fresh unsoured cream, in contrast to the sour cream of the dairy. Light cream or half-and-half floats reliably; heavy cream floats better still but reads as richer than intended.
- No straw, and whyNo straw -- Drinking from the rim carries cream and mint together in each mouthful, where a straw would draw from the bottom and deliver mostly syrup and soda; the recipe itself gives no reason for the direction.
- YieldOne glass. Assemble and serve immediately, while the layers are still distinct.
Soda fountain manuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were trade books, written for dispensers who needed a steady supply of novelties to chalk on the board — hence a title like "Angel Wing." The imagery is typical: white cream floating on green syrup is often said to have suggested a wing, and the fountain trade traded heavily in names of that kind, alongside the Silver Fizz, the Snowball and dozens of egg-and-cream concoctions. The formula also reflects the American fountain's habit of borrowing bar vocabulary while staying dry: crème de menthe here is a flavouring syrup, sold by the same houses that supplied vanilla and sarsaparilla, and the drink is a soda-water version of a liqueur-and-cream after-dinner glass. Fountains kept fresh cream on hand as a matter of course for ice cream sodas.