As it was intended

First used in 1695 for beer, spirits and sugar heated with a red-hot iron: “Thus we live at sea, eat biscuit and drink flip.” The iron made the drink froth. By the early 1800s the Gin Flip was egg yolk, sugar, gin, nutmeg and heated beer.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Egg yolks2
• Sugar2 tbsp
• Fine brown ale½ pint
• Grated nutmeg¼ tsp

Whip yolks and sugar, add gin and nutmeg. Heat the beer to boiling and discard any foam. Pour the egg mass into a solid glass and add the beer while stirring. Garnish with nutmeg. Serve warm.

From the Spanish sangre — blood. Dated to 1736 in The Gentleman’s Magazine: a punch seller in the Strand had devised a new punch of strong Madeira called Sangre. It became a single-serve cocktail in the 1860s by adding port to a gin toddy or sling.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Sugar½ tsp
• Port wine3 cl

Shake gin and sugar with ice and strain into a small glass. Add the port on top to show the sangre. Serve with a little grated nutmeg.

The name comes from Persian rosewater. In 1803 John Davis served the first Mint Julep in London; in 1817 Orasmus Willard served one of the first in America at a New York hotel.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Curaçao3 cl
• Fresh lime juice3 cl
• Fresh minta large sprig
• Club sodaa dash

Muddle mint and curaçao, shake with gin, double strain over crushed ice and top with soda. Garnish with mint and fruit of the season.

There are a few recipes. All agree the drink must be presented in a wine glass with sugar on the rim and a lemon peel all around the inside of the glass.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Maraschino liqueur1.5 cl
• Fresh lemon juice1.5 cl
• Angostura bittersa dash

Prepare the glass. Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into it.

Jerry Thomas and Harry Johnson both wrote about the Fix. When Johnson, in 1882, added raspberry syrup to Thomas’s 1862 recipe, it looks rather like the Bramble of the mid-1980s.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Juice of a quarter lemonto taste
• Raspberry syrup2 dashes
• Sugar dissolved in a little water1 tbsp

Fill an old-fashioned glass two-thirds with shaved ice, stir thoroughly, ornament with fruit in season. Pour raspberry syrup on top and serve with a straw.

Probably invented by Jerry Thomas in the early 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, serving travellers going to Martinez. The first written recipe in his book is the 1887 posthumous edition.

• Old English Gin3 cl
• Italian vermouth6 cl
• Maraschino liqueur2 dashes
• Boker’s bitters1 dash
• Ice2 small lumps

Shake thoroughly and strain into a large cocktail glass. Put a quarter slice of lemon in the glass. If the guest prefers it very sweet, add two dashes of gum syrup.

Jerry Thomas made Collinses with whisky and brandy; in 1874 he made one with gin and named it after the Tom Collins hoax then going on in New York.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Gum syrup5 or 6 dashes
• Juice of a small lemonto taste
• Ice2 or 3 lumps
• Plain soda waterto fill

Shake well and strain into a large bar glass. Fill with soda and imbibe while it is lively.

An elegant creation from Harry Johnson’s Bartenders Manual of 1882, combining gin and absinthe.

• Old English Gin3 cl
• Dry vermouth3 cl
• Maraschino liqueur2 dashes
• Absinthe1 dash
• Orange bitters2 dashes

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and a lemon twist.

A jewel from Harry Johnson’s 1882 manual. Sweet vermouth sustains more than a hundred botanicals together; a white type keeps the green look of an emerald.

• Old English Gin2 cl
• Green Chartreuse2 cl
• Italian vermouth2 cl
• Orange bitters1 dash

Stir and strain into a cocktail glass. Add an olive and squeeze a piece of lemon peel on top.

George A. Williamson at Shoomaker’s in Washington, 1880, saw Colonel Joe Rickey squeeze half a lime into whisky and soda. The Gin Rickey is in Harry Johnson’s 1882 manual.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Juice of two limesto taste
• Club sodato top

Fill a tall glass with ice and half a lime. Add gin and lime juice and top with club soda. Serve with a spoon.

The idea is to extract the oils from spices and herbs, as in punches and juleps. The name tells you to smash them rather than wait for an infusion.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Juice from a limeto taste
• Sugar1 tbsp
• Fresh minta large sprig

Muddle mint and sugar with lime juice, add gin, stir with ice and double strain into a fancy glass of crushed ice. Garnish with mint and fruit of the season.

Simon Difford notes how often this vintage drink has been tweaked. The DNA is a sour with a little soda; by the early twentieth century grenadine was the usual sweetener. Cold, refreshing, garnished with seasonal fruit.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Fresh lemon juice3 cl
• Grenadine3 cl
• Club sodato top

Shake spirit, juice and syrup with ice. Strain into a fancy glass with ice, top with soda, garnish with lemon.

The Savoy published 750 recipes in 1930. The Casino is a typical transition between the old styles and the new classics.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Maraschino liqueur7.5 ml
• Fresh lemon juice7.5 ml
• Orange bitters2 dashes

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon zest twist.

The Waldorf Astoria compiled this in 1935. The inventions of the first bartenders from the mid-1800s still show in the ingredients, the preparation and the glass.

• Old English Gin6 cl
• Sweet red vermouth3 cl
• Fresh lime juice1.5 cl
• Maraschino liqueur⅓ cl

Add all ingredients with cracked ice to a shaker. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.