The first cocktails were concocted centuries ago by apothecaries, physicians, pharmacists, and anyone who specialized in healing ailments. They blended alcohol and liqueurs with herbs, fruit, flowers, spices and more to create tinctures, bitters, elixirs, and tonics touted to cure tummy troubles, respiratory ailments, aches, pains, and more.
Not all of these potions were effective, any more than today's medicines cure all, and some were downright dangerous, but the better curatives prevailed and became the basis for many modern prescriptions and nightclub cocktails.
This book is a happy collection of 75 recipes for digestives, relaxants, painkillers, restoratives and mood enhancers as well as winter warmers and hot weather refreshers, combining cocktail history, herbal advice and instruction for anyone looking to alleviate an ailment or seeking a good excuse to imbibe.
A spiral-bound volume inside stiff illustrated boards, Apothecary Cocktails includes recipes for Hot Buttered Rum, Mexican Sleep Cure, The Hartley Dodge Cocktail, Lemon Balm Gin and Tonic, Sambuca Twist, Doctor Livesey's Cocktail, Navy Grog, Old Oak Tree Cocktail, Scotsman's Slumber, Root and Rye, Watermelon Martini, Almond Pastis, and Sake Racer.
Look in the back of the book for a instructions for making simple syrups, purees and infusions.