Prince of Wales cocktail, like Albert Edward (1841–1910), the man who bore the title for sixty years as Victoria’s son, exemplifies the conspicuous consumption of the Gilded Age. There are several very different recipes bearing this name, some for punch and some for individual cocktails, but they all have refined and expensive ingredients in common. One nearly lost recipe, however, best demonstrates how a gentleman at the top of sporting society rolled in those champagne days. It is found in a July 1887 item in the London Evening Telegraph, describing the drink the prince concocted for the royal patrons of “The Prince of Wales’ Own Room” at the London American Exhibition: “rye whisky, powdered sugar, ice, a small piece of pine apple, some Angostura bitters, a little lemon peel, a few drops of Maraschino, and a dash of champagne.” This “short drink” blends ingredients from around the world, including the then-extraordinarily-costly pineapple, and requires a freshly opened bottle of champagne, of which perhaps an ounce will be needed per drink (the “dash” here was an unusually flexible measure). As a demonstration of fiscal power, it excels. Fortunately—as the cocktail world rediscovered when David Wondrich spotted the recipe above and began spreading the word in his 2007 book Imbibe!—it is also extraordinarily delicious.
It is not, however, the only Prince of Wales cocktail: there was also a French one, based on Madeira; a German one that was merely a watered-down Champagne Cocktail; an English version (a Sidecar topped off with champagne); and one from Monte Carlo with gin, pineapple juice, and egg white. The prince’s is still the best.
Recipe: Stir 5 ml sugar with a dash of Angostura bitters and 3 ml water in a mixing glass until it has dissolved. Add 45 ml rye whisky, 2 ml maraschino, and a small square of pineapple. Fill two-thirds of the glass with crushed ice and shake to crush the pineapple. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and add 30 ml champagne and a lemon twist.
“A ‘Short Drink.’” London Evening Telegraph, July 21st, 1887, 2.
Fouquet, Louis. Bariana. Paris: Emile Duvoye, 1896.
Seutter, Carl A. Der mixologist. Leipzig: P. M. Blühers Verlag, 1909.
Wondrich, David. Imbibe!, rev. ed. New York: Perigee, 2015.
By: Dinah Sanders