crusta is a family of mixed drinks created in the 1850s by Joseph Santini, an Italian-born New Orleans bartender, when he was working at the St. Louis Hotel or at his own bar, the Jewel of the South. Recipes for Brandy, Whisky, and Gin Crustas first appeared in print in Jerry Thomas’s 1862 Bar-Tender’s Guide (misspelling the name of its creator), although it is the brandy version that endured. See Thomas, Jerry. If it is to its presentation—a sugar-rimmed small wineglass garnished with the peel of half a lemon arranged as a sort of collar inside the glass—that the drink owes its fame and, indeed, its name (“crusta” means crust in various Italian dialects), its importance in the annals of mixology runs far deeper.
Santini built on the classic, fancy cocktail formula of spirit, syrup, aromatic bitters, and orange curaçao (maraschino can also be substituted, as per later recipes) but took the then-revolutionary step of adding “a dash” (in Thomas’s words) of lemon juice, paving the way for the Sidecar and other citrus-forward cocktails.
Although by the 1930s, Harry McElhone was calling for a quarter of a lemon, and today’s bartender often go up to 30 ml, a more historically faithful recipe would call for 5 ml, as per David Wondrich’s Imbibe! See McElhone, Henry “Harry.” In terms of popular success, the crustas never really caught on, but they could be found in Europe as early as 1873 and were important enough to be featured in most cocktail books until World War II. Their popularity has risen with the recent cocktail renaissance. See cocktail renaissance.
Recipe: Stir well with cracked ice 60 ml brandy, genever, or American whisky, 5 ml rich simple syrup, 3 ml orange curaçao, 2 dashes Aromatic bitters, and 3–5 ml lemon juice. Strain into chilled small wineglass prepared as in text above.
See also Sidecar.
C. C. F. “American Drinks at Vienna.” Alexandria Gazette, July 12, 1873.
Wondrich, David, Imbibe! New York: Perigee, 2007.
By: François Monti