A Mary Pickford, sans cherry

January 16 1920 was a dark day for America that had little to do with the winter blues. The teetotalers had their way and for nearly fourteen years the Volstead Act and the 18th Amendment ensured that the church had enough wine but that local bartenders were stripped of their licenses and livelihoods. It was still possible to possess alcohol for personal consumption but distribution meant jail time. Thus, the illegal speakeasies with their live music, smoky rooms and password intrigue were born.

HBO’s new blood-bath drama, “Boardwalk Empire,” and its portrayal of Prohibition-era Atlantic City overrun by the mob-run liquor racket has inspired a reawakening of the 1920s image. From fashion to alcohol (it must have something to do with all the rum-running), the television show has influenced the revolution of classics becoming new again.

What better to do with your cronies during the latest episode, while you all don your cloister hats and ragtime suits, than to mix up some Prohibition-style cocktails? Forget the single shots of cheap whiskey in dimly lit bars. These are the subtle drinks that defined a decade. Sip them slowly, that giggle water liable to burn your gullet on the way down.

French 75

This bathtub-gin cocktail did not go on to be the official drink of the generation like the Sidecar or the Gin Swizzle (where the term “swizzle sticks” comes from). It was named after the World War I monolith canon used to combat trench warfare. Be careful with that first bubbly sip, it could hit you in the face with all the grace of the American artillery.

Shake well with cracked ice:
1 1/2 oz London Dry Gin
1/2 oz Fresh-squeezed Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
Strain into highball glass full of cracked ice and top off with chilled champagne.

Sidecar (Boston)

This Boston version of the original Sidecar, created by Sam “Suck it” Treadway, is a spinoff of the most popular drink of the Prohibition era. There are currently at least 14 different Sidecar recipes employing the use of various liquors but always with similar flavor profiles. Unlike the Treadway original, Boston’s drink deviates from the traditional Cognac and orange liqueur allowing for deeper flavors with a punchy burst of citrus.

Mix in a cocktail shaker with ice:
1 oz Light Rum
1/2 oz Brandy
1/2 oz Triple Sec
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
Strain into a chilled, sugar-rimmed cocktail glass

Mary Pickford

“America’s Sweetheart” and “the girl with the curls” were just two of the ways Mary Pickford was portrayed during the silent film era of the early 1900’s. Although this drink is sometimes misappropriated as a 1940’s creation, it’s actually from 1920 at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana. This homage is a fruity drink that mixes all the sweetness of pomegranate syrup and the subtlety of light rum.

Stir well with cracked ice:
1 1/2 oz White Rum
1 oz Unsweetened Pineapple Juice
1/2 teaspoon Grenadine
Strain into chilled cocktail glass and drop in a maraschino cherry.

Ward 8
This will put some hair on your chest. Although this cocktail originated in 1898, its popularity peaked during the Prohibition. Don’t be fooled by its milky exterior. Just because it looks like a fruit smoothie does not mean it is good for your digestion. If you’re blood isn’t built for whiskey you might want something a little more forgiving but, with all of the effort put into sweetening down the heavier oak and molasses notes this drink is usually friendly to beginners.

Mix:

2 oz Bourbon or Rye Whiskey
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
Dash of Grenadine
Orange Slice for garnish
Maraschino Cherry for garnish

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Coffee Cocktail

Your mother probably told you not to eat raw eggs as a child—but she also said no dessert before dinner, pfft! Some of the more straightforward cocktails rely on pure alcohol content while this drink uses the flavors of each alcohol to play off of each other with the egg binder to produce a heady coffee-like drink. Although I wouldn’t usually recommend a spiked breakfast drink this one would go well with some waffles and whipped cream.

dash of Bitters (optional)
1 Whole Egg
1 tsp Simple Syrup
1 1/2 oz Brandy
1 1/2 oz Port

Whisk egg with other ingredients and shake until frothy. Strain and serve. (Bartenders make sure to wash your shaker thoroughly after this one. The vegans of the world will not be pleased with egg in their drinks!

Blast does not endorse eating raw or undercooked food.

What is it about the holidays that just makes us want to suck down alcohol like so many candy canes and fatty meals?

Whatever the reasons, there are plenty of fine alternatives to the old brandy-in-egg-nog mixture that I can never seem to think about without throwing up a little in my mouth.

I found some cocktails that not only whet the whistle, but they just give you that warm, fuzzy, holiday feeling. You know, the kind that makes you forget you troubles like that speeding ticket from the Statey who didn’t want to hear your lame ass excuses on the Pike, or the hot blonde with the rack that never called you back last week, even though she seemed totally excited when you bought her a drink down at one of the Faneuil Hall bars and gave you her number before her giggling gaggle of girlfriends dragged her to the next bar.

Drink up, my friends.

If you happen to find yourself down in Dot, don’t miss the Ashmont Grill. Not only is the food great and the service fantastic, but the drinks shouldn’t be missed. The Berkshires Manhattan is a vanilla-infused bourbon mixed with apple cider reduction, Markers Mark, and orange bitters. This one is really different because is mixes the flavors and really hits the pallet. And one for you rummies: The Ashmont Apple Toddy is steamed apple cider, brown sugar, and Captain Morgan.

If you really want to try something wacky, and a little scary at first glance, UNI Sashimi Bar in The Eliot Hotel on Comm. Ave. has a $17 346 Below. Its Hammer & Sickle Vodka straight up with liquid nitrogen. By the way, if you drank liquid nitrogen straight, youd die, so dont try to copy this one at your next party.

For a hint of high class, UNI also has the Monarda: St. Remy Cognac, bergamot syrup, whiskey bitters and a splash of Louis Bouillot Cremant be Bourgogne (a pink sparkler).

If you’re a fan of pumpkin pies and all those great holiday desserts and need a cocktail to pair with them, head north to Za Za in Saugus. The Pumpkin Patch Martini combines vanilla vodka, pumpkin spice liquor, cream de cacao, and pumpkin pie filling and finishes it with a dollop of whipped cream and a candy corn to create a great spiced after dinner drink that’s good with dessert. But lets be real, youre really going to Saugus to scoff down some Sonic burgers. If you class it up at Za Za afterward, we wont tell anyone.

Back on the subject of rum for a minute, I always lumped rum in with tequila as a summer booze. Its in those hilarious buckets of booze you can buy at the supermarket, and you put it in daiquiris. And I do enjoy the occasional Captain and Diet. But I never really thought of rum as something to reach for during the cold weather months. Burtons Grill in Fenway found a way to change my mind. The Burtons Hot Buttered Cider combines Captain Morgan, Stoli Gala Apple, Navan Cognac, apple cider, cinnamon, sugar, and butter and makes something that will warm your stomach. Its $9 and available through December 31. Heres how you can make it yourself:

For one drink, you need:

75 oz Captain Morgan
.25 oz Navan Cognac
.5 oz Stoli Gala Apple
1 oz Monin Cinnamon Simple Syrup
6 oz Hot Apple cider
1 100 scoop of whipped butter (yes, actual butter)
Cinnamon sugar rimmer

In an Irish coffee mug, rim with cinnamon sugar. Combine all ingredients except butter in mug. Stir to mix. Garnish with a scoop of butter.

John M. Guilfoil runs BlastMagazine.com and is a freelance news reporter in Boston. He can be reached at guilfoil.j@blastmagazine.com.

HAMILTON, Bermuda — One would have to be about as dull as an empty rum bottle‚ to set foot on this island and not figure out the importance of the Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy. Vendors sell Dark Stormy scented candles, bars advertise happy hour specials and t-shirts sport every bad pun imaginable. It is the national drink of Bermuda.

With that in mind I set out Thursday to learn a bit more about the Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy’s two ingredients: namely Gosling’s Black Seal rum and Barritt’s ginger beer.‚  Both are‚ about as Bermudan as pink sand; Gosling’s‚ has been around for seven generations, while five generations of ‚ Barritt’s have been brewing ginger beer.

For decades, the only place in the world one could get a real‚ Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy was on Bermuda. That’s because for decades the Gosling family stubbornly refused to export their distinctive rum. The drink developed a cult following — chiefly among the sailors who raced in the many annual regattas to the island. Once in port, they’d‚ drown themselves in rum and ginger beer before‚ returning home with a hangover and several bottles of Gosling’s stashed in the bilge (to elude custom’s officials who would otherwise enforce quantity limits). Over the last decade Black Seal has started trickling into the U.S., but can still be tricky to obtain. So much so that the company took out a billboard on the Mass Pike a few years back that read “Harder to find than Whitey Bulger.”

People who have never had a Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy either love them or hate them upon first taste, both because Gosling’s and ginger beer are somewhat acquired tastes. Ginger beer can best be described as ginger ale on steroids. While it is somewhat‚ sweet, Barritt’s in particular has an intense spiciness that‚ cuts the‚ sugar and‚ plays on the tongue like the sun on‚ Bermuda’s ‚ waters. Gosling’s meanwhile is the obnoxious uncle of rums, the one who stomps into your mouth and makes his presence known immediately. The trouble is that most Yankees are accustomed to a light rum that mixes well with coke and absorbs the fruity flavors of a pina colada. Gosling’s is no such drinking partner.‚ It is dark in color and complex in flavor with swirls of fruit, vanilla and smoke. It is a rum that’s impossible not to notice.

Like most things on this island, there is very little about the Dark (rum) or the Stormy (ginger beer) that is actually native. As Barritt’s General Manager‚ Bruce Barritt said, “We’re an island of 22-square miles, it’s hard to grown anything for production.” Instead, Barritt’s uses imported cane sugar (Brazilian) and Gosling’s imports rums from all over the West Indies and blends them in giant tanks on-island before shipping it to Kentucky where the product is aged in smoked, recycled bourbon casks for three to six years. It’s the smoked barrels, and a little molasses, that gives the rum its motor oil color and burnt sugar undertones.

As with many things involving booze and boats, the history of the Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy is somewhat cloudy.‚ Gosling’s Brand Manager Andrew Holmes told me that ginger beer was long a popular mixer for Gosling’s, but it wasn’t named until the early 1960s when a bartender at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club accidentally put the ginger beer into a highball glass before the rum. As a result, the dark rum floated on top of the drink like a storm cloud. Barritt on the other hand said the drink had been dubbed such because it’s orange-ish color was‚ reminiscent of the sky in the old mariner’s rhyme: “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morn, sailors be warned.”

By law (in the U.S. anyway), a drink can be labelled a Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy only if it actually contains Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. As The New York Times documented last month, Gosling’s has two trademark certificates on file, a rare move in the cocktail world, but a vital one in the eyes of the Gosling family given their flagship spirit’s distinctive flavor. “There isn’t a week that goes by that we don’t have to protect that trademark” Holmes told me.‚ Unfortunately for the Barritt’s folks, the‚ brand of ginger beer isn’t specified.

Though Barritt’s and Gosling’s livelihood’s‚ appear to‚ be‚ inextricably linked the two companies‚ have no formal business relationship. Interestingly, while the Barritt’s web site suggests mixing it with Gosling’s to make a Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy, the rum maker makes no mention of Barritt’s on their web site. This may be because Gosling’s started producing their own ginger beer line in May (Made by Massachusetts’ own Polar Beverages), putting themselves in competition with their former unofficial partner (though Gosling’s Holmes‚ stressed that the ginger beer is intended mainly for‚ the U.S. market‚ to sell in liquor stores alongside the Black Seal Rum). Meanwhile, Barritt’s recently ceased production of the pre-mixed Dark “Ëœn’ Stormy in a can (available on-island only) and supplies are expected to run out before the end of the year.

Lest you prefer the dark minus the stormy or vice-versa, there are plenty of other things you can use Gosling’s and Barritt’s for. Bermudans christen new homes by pouring a bottle of Gosling’s over the roof. Nelson’s Blood (Gosling’s and milk) was once‚ quite popular on-island, while Canadian fisherman tend to prefer the “Seal Caesar”- a combination of Clamato and Gosling’s (yeah, I just threw up a little in my mouth too). On the stormy side, Barritt talked up the Moscow Mule, which mixes‚ ginger beer and vodka. Golfers in Bermuda have also been known to enjoy a “Shandy”- that is, a pitcher of beer with a can of ginger beer poured into it.

Bacardi’s new pre-mixed mojito cocktail comes in a big jug and will make a big splash at your next occasion.

The mojito has gained popularity in the US over the last five years (maybe due to a Bond appearence in “Die Another Day?”) and Bacardi is capitalizing on the low-proof, pre-mixed drink craze. At just 30 proof, it’s enough to enjoy without ending up on the floor.

As the story goes, according to Bacardi, in the late 1500s English pirate Sir Richard Drake, subordinate to Captain Sir Francis Drake, prepared the first version of a drink combining aguardiente (the crude forerunner of rum) mixed with sugar, lime and mint known as the Draque, Drak or Droc.

The pre-mixed Classic Mojito captures the minty lime flavor of the niche cocktail — it actually tases like a mojito. This is a tricky drink to make — it’s not like a rum/Jack and coke or a gin/vodka and tonic where you can just dump stuff in. The mojito is one of those situations where it’s good to have something like this pre-made for parties and guests. It also provides a good alternative to the usual party drinks.

The 1.75-liter bottle will run you $20, and a 750-ml sized option is on its way.