Barrett's Mixology

Friday, July 22, 2005

Dartmouth Cocktail

2 parts single-malt Scotch
2 parts creme de menthe
1 part creme de cacao

Shake and pour over crushed ice.

While an undergraduate my mother gave me a copy of "Old Mr. Boston's" bar book. I was appalled to find that while there were Harvard and Yale cocktails, there was no Dartmouth Cocktail.

Recently I took steps to rectify this omission by enlisting the help of one of the country's master bartenders, Dale DeGroff. Dale was the head bartender at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center for many years and is the author of The Craft of the Cocktail. His mission is to return bartending to its 19th-century tradition of craft, i.e. no mixes, only fresh ingredients. In April I took his martini course and learned one valuable lesson: James Bond was wrong. Martinis should always be stirred not shaken. All alcohol-only drinks should be stirred so as to not aerate the drink. Fruit drinks, though, should be shaken to mix the ingredients. The only exception are "Stinger"-type drinks so that the sweet ingredient doesn't get too cloying.

When I broached the subject and the need for the color green, Dale recommended a Stinger-type drink and came up with creme de menthe and single-malt Scotch.

However I pointed out that the color was too Kelly and not very close to Dartmouth Green. So he added creme de cacao. While not the perfect Dartmouth Green, it's pretty close. So here, courtesy of Dale De Groff, I submit the Dartmouth Cocktail.

Wah-hoo-wah,
Mark Stitham '72

Barrett's Mixology

Article Tools

Related Articles