Turnpike

Joseph Schwartz

Dec 10

I’m raising my glass with a drink that is near and dear to my roots. Born and raised in New Jersey, the New Jersey Turnpike was an entity I was well familiar with over the years. Whenever you meet someone from New Jersey, the inevitable question that arises is, “what exit?”, meaning, what exit off the Turnpike do you take to get to where you live. It’s the insider’s way of asking what part of Jersey are you from. The Turnpike, which cuts across the center of New Jersey, spans from the George Washington Bridge in New York City to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, also acting as the main conduit from New York to Pennsylvania as it runs along the eastern border.

It was this connection that inspired New York bartender Joseph Schwartz when he created this split base sour at the iconic Milk and Honey bar. The drink can be found in Sashe Petraske’s Regarding Cocktails, where Schwartz explains the name and link for the two main base spirits. Laird’s applejack is a blend of apple brandy and neutral grain spirit, produced by America’s oldest operational distillery in New Jersey. Robert Laird provided his family’s spirits to the troops when he was a soldier under General George Washington in the revolutionary war. Washington plays his part in the second spirit here as well, Monongahela style rye whiskey. Centuries ago, farmer distillers grew rye along the banks of the Monongahela river in Pennsylvania and turned it into a distinctive style of whiskey which became the first American whiskey to gain widespread recognition. The regional river water, the use of only rye and barley in the mash, an unusual three-chamber still design, use of a yeast fermentation process known as “sweet mash” (as opposed to the more common “sour”), and use of steam heated barrel aging warehouses were all components of what made this rye unique. Monongahela rye was also made famous thanks to the “Whiskey Rebellion”, a violent tax protest from 1791-94 that was ultimately suppressed by President George Washington. Rye whiskey fell out of favor and Prohibition sealed its fate. It all but disappeared after 1950 in favor of bourbon. Thanks to the modern whiskey boom, many distillers are now making rye again, following various degrees of the original formulas, although none currently use all five unique features of “Old Monongahela” in their process. Here’s to turning things around, in all senses and meanings of the expression. Cheers!