Spirit Animal

Spirit Animal by Allan Katz

The toast to the Lighthouse Keeper takes us back to 1939 where we meet Charles H. Baker, Jr, a small time magazine editor and publicist who married a mining heiress and spent the rest of his life traveling the world, writing about food and drink for chic publications like Esquire, Town and Country, and Gourmet. His magnum opus was a two volume compendium of recipes he collected over the years, published originally as a two volume set in 1939, called The Gentlemen’s Companion: Being an Exotic Cookery and Drinking Book. An update in 1946 was renamed The Gentlemen’s Companion: Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask. His fame from the books had more to do with his flamboyant writing than the recipes, as evidenced by this passage about one of his “temperance delights”, the famous Angostura Fizz: This mild fizz is again like initial olive sampling; either it suits or it doesn’t, and subsequent trials often show sudden shifts to appreciation. It is a well-known stomachic along the humid shores of Trinidad, in British Guiana; wherever the climate is hot and humidity high, and stomachs stage sit-down strikes and view all thought of food – present or future – with entire lack of enthusiasm. Further than this, the cinchona bark elixir in the Angostura, the other herbs and valuable simples, are a definite first line defense against malaria and other amoebic fevers – especially in warding off their after effect in later months when all actual peril is past.

freshly made is best … but let’s get reàl

Bartender Allan Katz is a Queens New York native who loves reggae music and named his Las Vegas bar Jammyland after the record store and recording studio from his hometown that produced so many fond memories for him before it closed down. Katz also loves that the classic Angostura Fizz uses a full ounce of Angostura bitters, perhaps the most famous cocktail bitters of all time - an aromatic spiced tonic originally invented in 1824 and historically produced in Trinidad. Like all cocktail bitters, it is non-potable, being far too bitter and astringent on its own – so of course using a whole ounce in a cocktail is a wink and a nod in the bartender’s tribe. It’s ironic that Baker includes the original fizz in his ‘temperance” section, since despite having no other base spirit, the fizz still packs a punch. Angostura bitters weigh in at 90 proof! The fizz is sweetened with grenadine, balanced with lime, and whipped to a silky smoothness with cream and egg. Katz ups the ante by substituting homemade cream of coconut in his drink, which evokes the islands and was named by his business and life partner Dani Crouch to capture that spirit. Cheers!

A pair of keepers

Spirit Animal by Allan Katz

1 oz Angostura bitters

1 oz grenadine

1 oz fresh cream of coconut

¾ oz fresh lime

Chilled club soda or seltzer

Shake all ingredients except soda with ice and strain into a tall glass. Top with the soda.