Who says a cocktail has to be alcoholic? Certainly not Jerry Thomas. He has a whole section of “Temperance Drinks” (oddly, the section itself is numbered 221, so I’m not entirely sure what his system is). We’ve actually seen one of these before, the Soda Nectar (228), but this one is a little more involved. He is definitely playing fast and loose not just the definition of lemonade, but also the more common definition of “temperance,” as this actually does have alcohol in it, if only a small amount. It’s also nice to be able to make this on a per glass basis, instead of a big pitcher all at once.

Interesting to note that there’s a footnote after the title of this drink which directs people to some other lemonade recipes in “The Manual for the Manufacture of Cordials, etc,” in the “latter part of this work.” I don’t actually have this part, but I think it’s okay — I saw it online, and it’s more about the ingredients than the actual cocktails. Which is cool, but not the goal here.

In the news-I-know-little-about vein, apparently Beyonce’s lawyers are trying to dismiss a filmmaker’s claim that she stole elements of his short film in her video album, Lemonade, that was released recently. Presented mostly without comment, as I feel like rights are such a messed up issue that it’s really hard to come down on one side or the other.

222. Lemonade

(Use large bar glass.)

• The juice of half a lemon.
• 1½ table-spoonful of sugar.
• 2 or three pieces of orange.
• 1 table-spoonful of raspberry or strawberry syrup. [As always, this is the go-to recipe.]
• Fill the tumbler one-half full with shaved ice [I took this to mean after putting the ingredients in], the balance with water; dash with port wine, and ornament with fruits in season.

Tasting Notes:

BN: This was a little watery for my taste, but that was our fault not JTs. We’ve actually had this problem before but I always forget that our “large” glasses seem to be bigger than his were. Anyway, the taste was really nice! The raspberry always adds a lot, and in this case was mostly pink lemonade. The orange was an interesting addition, and made it a little more like a fruit punch than I was expecting. The port was not only illegal in a temperance drink (in my opinion, though I realize that “temperance” also means “moderation” and not necessarily “abstention”) but either way didn’t really add much. Overall, I liked it a lot but I wished it had a little more lemon. It all looked very nice, both pre-mixing and post.

PiC: I like it! Doesn’t taste like lemonade but it’s very refreshing and nice. It could also work well as a mixer. Screw temperance and throw some vodka in there.