COCKTAILS | Sail to Bermuda with the Mid-Ocean Highball

The Mid-Ocean Highball, another classic from Charles F. Baker Jr.

Spring is here and with the welcome change in weather, I’m more interested in cocktails that rely on either tonic water or soda. Charles F. Baker Jr.’s aforementioned “Jigger, Beaker and Glass” offers a wonderful selection of cocktails from warm and exotic climes around the globe.

One such recipe comes from the Mid- Ocean Club in Tucker’s Town, Bermuda. The Mid Ocean Highball was discovered by Baker during a stay on Bermuda in the late 1920s or early 1930s. He writes:

“Not so long ago we went to this charming island with St. Georges as a base camp. We pedalled, sailed, fished and golfed. Swam naked as Adam off small isolated islands with beaches like faintly rose-tinted granulated sugar. The Mid-Ocean Country Club had a gentleman back of mahogany who, then at least, took his art seriously. Actually called it a ‘cocktail.’ Burt MacBride — Associate Editor of Cosmopolitant — who flew down on the first Bermuda Clipper with Pan-American Airways and first told us about the drink, called it a “highball,” but in spite of this odds-on risk, we call it a ‘fizz’ still.

I find the Mid-Ocean somewhere between the highball and the fizz but, regardless of how you choose to classify it, I imagine you’ll still enjoy it. Relying on cognac, French vermouth and gin, it adds soda and a twist of lime to amplify its refreshment. Should you not care for vermouth, as I generally don’t, you may choose to scale its role in the performance back.

Ingredients
• 2 ounces gin
• 3/4 ounce French vermouth
• 3/4 ounce cognac
• Dashes orange bitters
• Soda
• Twist of lime

Directions
Gather the gin, vermouth, cognac and bitters together over ice in a shaker and shake well. Strain into a highball glass and add soda and the lime peel. An alternate would be to serve sans ice and soda in a cocktail glass.

Enjoy!