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Willis Wood
First a 10-ounce glass full of crushed ice and 4 sprigs of fresh mint; then with a mallet bruise the mint until the pungent juice mingles with the ice. Next add blood orange syrup and fill with soda. The finishing touchessprig of mint, slice of pineapple and maraschino cherry.
A fountain drink built directly in the glass, closer to a virgin julep than to a modern soda. The whole thing depends on how hard you bruise the mint.
- The hinge: bruise, don't shredPress and twist the mallet against the ice so the leaves release oil rather than tearing into green confetti. Torn mint tends to taste grassy; four sprigs pressed briefly is enough to perfume a full glass.
- The glassA 10-ounce soda glass is a tall, narrow tumbler holding about 1 1/4 cups. Any highball glass of similar capacity works, but a narrow one keeps the carbonation from flattening.
- Crushed ice, not cubesFountain ice was shaved or crushed fine, which is what makes the muddling work and what chills the drink instantly. Cubes will not bruise mint properly against a mallet.
- Blood orange syrupFountain syrups were thick and sweet, closer to a heavy sugar syrup than to modern juice, though proportions varied between manuals. The recipe gives no quantity; figure 1 to 1 1/2 ounces per glass, and if you are using a thinner homemade syrup, go toward 2 ounces.
- "Soda" means carbonated waterPlain charged water from the fountain, not a flavoured soft drink. Seltzer from a siphon or a fresh bottle gives the sharpest result; pour down the side of the glass to keep the gas in.
- Order of operationsThe recipe bruises the mint first, adds the syrup after, and puts the soda in last. Give it one gentle lift with a spoon rather than a stir.
- The garnishCanned pineapple was widely available by the soda-fountain era, and a slice of canned ring, halved and notched onto the rim, would suit, though the recipe does not say fresh or canned. Maraschino cherries of the period were often coloured with dyes no longer permitted; any modern cocktail cherry stands in.
- YieldOne drink, and it does not hold. Build it to order.
Soda fountains ran on proprietary combinations rather than on new ingredients, and a recipe titled with a man's name is likely a house drink named for the dispenser who devised it or for a customer, though nothing in the recipe explains the name. Fountain manuals of the period are full of these one-glass formulas, printed as much to give a counter something to advertise as to teach technique. The mint-and-ice opening echoes the julep, and much of the fountain's repertoire copied bar drinks minus the spirit -- a habit that suited temperance households before Prohibition and a wider public during it. Blood orange syrup and a pineapple slice mark the drink as something more elaborate than a plain phosphate.