There's one for you, nineteen for me

Yesterday on the NARN, we asked Frank Kelly Rich, editor of Modern Drunkard Magazine, to suggest an appropriate drink for this taxing time of year. He recommended something called the "Brutal Hammer":

Ingredients :

- 5 oz red wine
- 7 oz vodka

Pour ingredients into an old-fashioned glass, and slam.

While I'm sure that the Brutal Hammer would get the trick done, if you're looking for something a little more moderate, Eric Felten has another good elixir option in Saturday's WSJ:

Whether you are still laboring over IRS forms or already have your taxes in the mail, this is the weekend to celebrate the year's profitable endeavors with an Income Tax cocktail.

Made with gin, orange juice, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth and a dash of Angostura bitters, the Income Tax cocktail has had a few aliases over the years. Equalize the vermouth and o.j. and you have a One-of-Mine cocktail. A little more gin, a little less orange juice and you get a Smiler. The key to all those drinks is that dash of "aromatic bitters," at least as far as the nomenclature is concerned. Because, as Ted Haigh notes in his book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails:From the Alamagoozlum Cocktail to the Zombie an Income Tax cocktail is nothing other than a Bronx cocktail to which bitters have been added.

If I'm not mistaken, Ted Haigh is the man that Frank Rich referred to on the radio show as "Dr. Cocktail." Anyway, here's the relevant details on the drinks:

INCOME TAX COCKTAIL

1 oz gin
3/4 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz sweet vermouth
A dash of Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of orange.

BRONX COCKTAIL

1 1/2 oz gin
1 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz sweet vermouth

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of orange.

After church on Saturday night, I mixed up a batch of Income Tax Cocktails, and I must say that it's quite a tasty drink. My wife, who typically eschews gin, enjoyed hers as well. When it comes to tax time, a little bit of sugar can most definitely help the medicine (bitter as it might be) go down.