The brandy daisy is a cocktail which first gained popularity in the late 19th century. One of the earliest known recipes was published in 1876 in the second edition of Jerry Thomas's ''The Bartenders Guide or How To Mix Drinks: The Bon-Vivants Companion'':

* 3 or 4 dashes gum syrup * 2 or 3 dashes of
Curaçao liqueur Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
* The juice of half a small
lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
* 1 small wine-glass of brandy * 2 dashes of Jamaica
rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...
Fill glass one-third full of shaved ice. Shake well, strain into a large
cocktail glass A cocktail glass is a stemmed glass with an inverted cone bowl, mainly used to serve straight-up cocktails. The term ''cocktail glass'' is often used interchangeably with ''martini glass'', despite their differing slightly. Today, the glass i ...
, and fill up with Seltzer water from a syphon.

Over the years, multiple variants of the recipe developed, including other daisies involving other base spirits, such as

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ...

or gin. The gin-based daisy, in at least one bartender's guide from the mid-1930s, is considered an early incarnation of the Cosmopolitan, a drink today well known as a citrus vodka-based concoction. Fresh citrus – typically lemon juice, but occasionally

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

juice – is common throughout most daisy recipes. Liqueurs or cordials also figure prominently, ranging from Curaçao to

maraschino Maraschino ( , ) is a liqueur obtained from the distillation of Marasca cherries. The small, slightly sour fruit of the Tapiwa cherry tree ( ''Prunus cerasus'' var. ''marasca''), which grows wild along parts of the Dalmatian coast in Croatia, ...

or yellow Chartreuse (a suggestion from the writer

Nathaniel Gubbins Nathaniel Gubbins (1893–1976), born Norman Gubbins, was a British journalist and humorist. As a boy he worked in the ''Daily Express'' archives; after he fought in World War I he was rehired as a reporter, but later was laid off. He worke ...

in his 1899 book ''The Flowing Bowl''Brandy Daisy - Drink Recipe
at

Esquire Magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...

), distinguishing the daisy from other sour cocktails. Additional sweeteners sometimes added range from

gomme syrup In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...

grenadine Grenadine is a commonly used nonalcoholic bar syrup characterized by its deep red color. It is a popular cocktail ingredient renowned for its flavor as well as its ability to give a reddish or pink tint to mixed drinks. Grenadine is traditiona ...

syrup, raspberry syrup, or bar sugar. A later recipe, published in 1941 in ''Old Mr Boston's De Luxe Official Bartender's Book'' includes the following instructions:

* 2 oz California brandy * juice of ½ lemon * 1 tsp raspberry syrup or grenadine * ½ tsp powdered sugar * fill cracked ice Shake well with cracked ice and strain into stein or 8 oz. metal cup. Add cube of ice and decorate with fruit.

The daisy was the forerunner to other popular cocktails, notably the

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

, from around the end of World War I, and the

margarita A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). ...

, during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Even as the margarita has become especially popular during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, its base spirit has also surfaced in both

tequila Tequila (; ) is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands ('' Los Altos de Jalisco'') of the central western Mexican s ...

daisies and sidecars.

References

{{Cocktails Cocktails with brandy Cocktails with triple sec or curaçao Sour cocktails