Arsenic and Old Lace (also called the Attention Cocktail or the Atty) is a classic
cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...
with its origins in the 1910's made with
gin
Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis'').
Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...
,
crème de violette
Crème de violette, also known as liqueur de violette, is a generic term for a liqueur with natural and/or artificial violet flower flavoring and coloring with either a brandy base, a neutral spirit base, or a combination of the two. The taste pr ...
, dry
vermouth and
absinthe
Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historical ...
.
The first appearance of a cocktail with these four parts, albeit in equal quantities, was in Hugo Ensslin's ''Recipes for Mixed Drinks'' published in 1917, called the "Attention Cocktail".
The 1930 edition of ''The Savoy Cocktail Book, a'' drink with those four ingredients, rebranded as the "Atty Cocktail" had ratios that more closely matched the modern Arsenic and Old Lace.
"The Atty" first appears under the name "Arsenic and Old Lace" in 1941, published in the ''Cocktail Guide and Ladies' Companion'' by former Broadway producer Crosby Gaige. Around the same time,
Joseph Kesselring's play ''
Arsenic and Old Lace'' opened on Broadway in January 1941. The timing strongly implies a connection, though it is speculative to say whether Gaige was the one who renamed the cocktail.
Variations
A similar drink with orange juice in place of absinthe is called the "Jupiter cocktail".
See also
*
White Cargo
*
Aviation
References
Cocktails with gin
Cocktails with crème de violette
Cocktails with vermouth
Cocktails with absinthe
Cocktails with orange juice
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