Thinking, Writing, Cocktailing — The Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a multi-faceted 19th century American. Individualist, poet, philosopher, romantic, abolitionist, writer. While we know a lot about Emerson, we know little about the history of the Emerson cocktail. What we do know is the Emerson first appeared in 1913 in Jacques Straub’s book Straub’s Manual of Mixed Drinks (which also introduced us to cocktails such as the Alaska). I learned about it from My Dad Made A Cocktail on Instagram.

To me the Emerson is a Martinez sour, as it incorporates almost all the fundamental elements of the modern Martinez  with lime juice. I say the modern Martinez because early versions of that cocktail used triple sec instead of maraschino liqueur. Using more prevalent gin styles instead of Old Tom, the Emerson sort of resembles a Last Word without Chartreuse. One could philosophize about the Emerson is a serious manner as Emerson might have done, or one could philosophize about it as Comicus (a self-anointed “stand up philosopher” aka bulls*** artist), one of many roles played by Mel Brooks in the movie History of the World Part I.

So what do you think about the Emerson?