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Star Cocktail
Fill a large glass with finely shaved ice and add a dash orange bitters, two dashes maraschino, half wineglass each Italian vermouth and apple jack, stir well with spoon, strain into cocktail glass, squeeze a piece lemon peel on top and serve.
A stirred applejack cocktail from the era when a "wineglass" was a working unit of measure. The proportions are equal-parts, so the only real variables are dilution and the quality of the apple brandy.
- WineglassA bar wineglass of this period held about 2 fl oz, so "half wineglass each" is 1 oz sweet vermouth and 1 oz applejack. Finished drink is roughly 2.5 oz after dilution — one small cocktail by modern standards, and worth serving in a coupe no larger than 4 oz.
- Apple jackAmerican apple brandy, in this period ranging from farm distillate to commercial bottlings. Bottled-in-bond apple brandy at 100 proof is the closest match in weight and bite; a softer 80-proof calvados makes a gentler, more perfumed drink.
- Italian vermouthAlways means sweet red vermouth. Buy small bottles and refrigerate after opening — oxidised vermouth is the usual reason an equal-parts drink like this tastes flat.
- MaraschinoTwo dashes of a dry, clear maraschino liqueur, not the syrup from a jar of cherries. Dashes from a liqueur bottle are imprecise; something in the region of an eighth to a quarter teaspoon each is a reasonable reading.
- Shaved iceFinely shaved ice melts fast and dilutes hard, which is why the original calls for a large glass and a strain. With modern cubes, stir 20 to 30 seconds until the mixing glass frosts, then strain — chasing the same effect with crushed ice will water the drink out.
- Stir, do not shakeAn all-spirits drink stays clear and heavy-textured only if stirred. Shaking aerates and clouds it and adds shards of ice.
- Lemon peel"Squeeze a piece lemon peel on top" means express the oils over the surface, skin side down. Whether the peel then goes in the glass is the drinker's business; the oil on the surface is the point.
The Star belongs to the family of applejack cocktails that circulated in American hotel bars either side of 1900, an equal-parts stirred-and-strained drink of apple brandy and sweet vermouth with orange bitters and maraschino. Applejack itself was the older American spirit, distilled from cider in New Jersey and the mid-Atlantic long before rye and bourbon dominated, and cocktails built on it were still common enough in the 1900s to want no explanation. The name is not documented as honouring anyone in particular, and the several "Star" recipes in period manuals do not agree with each other.