scofflaw
1. One who habitually violates minor laws or fails to answer trivial court summonses (such as parking tickets.)
2. An iconoclast
Per wikitionary the word scofflaw was coined as a response to a content during prohibition times. The contest was in search of, Jeopardy style, a word meaning “a lawless drinker of illegally made or illegally obtained liquor”. The contest offered $200 as the prize and received nearly 25,000 entries. Not particularly surprising considering that would buy you about 100 pints of alcohol if you could find a bootlegger to sell you some.
The cocktail is clearly named after this newly coined word and, per Gary Regan, the cocktail was created in 1924 by Jock, a bartender at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris.
Scofflaw (Joy of Mixology)
2 oz Bourbon or Straight Rye 1 oz Dry Vermouth 1/2 oz Lemon Juice 1/4 oz Grenadine Orange Bitters to Taste
1) Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice. 2) Shake until chilled and strain in to a cocktail glass.
I’m excited about this cocktail for a number of reasons. First, it gives me the opportunity to make some more homemade grenadine. Sure, I still have some left in my fridge and freezer, but since pomegranates are in season right now I can do it right this go round. Second, I’m going to pick up a bottle of Noilly Prat dry vermouth. This may not seem particularly exiciting, but Noilly Prat has recently re-released their original dry vermouth formula for the US market and I’ve been looking forward to giving it a try. Finally, it’s a bourbon cocktail and it seems like it has been much too long since I featured one.