The Story Behind The Japanese Cocktail

According to the Minneapolis Tribune in early 1885, “The Japanese Cocktail is [a] liquid attack of spinal meningitis. It is loaded with knock-kneed mental ceramics, and is apt to make a man throw stones at his grandfather.” Though colorful in its word play, this is quite an aggressive description for something as elegant as a stirred blend of brandy, orgeat, and a couple dashes of bitters. In actuality, the Japanese Cocktail is delightfully sweet, nutty, and a great reason to dust off that bottle of brandy on your back bar.

American-born and comprised of mostly French ingredients, there’s little more than its alleged back story that makes this drink any bit Japanese. As said story goes, in June 1860, the first Japanese delegation to the U.S. wrapped up its tour by spending a few weeks in NYC. The delegates’ Manhattan residence was the Metropolitan Hotel, located just a block away from bartender Jerry Thomas’s bar at 622 Broadway.

Among the group was their 17-year-old translator, Tateishi Onojirou Noriyuki, a.k.a. Tommy. As drinks historian David Wondrich writes in his 2007 book “Imbibe!,” “Tommy was the legation’s legman — in both senses of the word: He had a decided interest in flirting with the ladies (and they with him).” Wondrich also notes that Tommy and his crew were known to routinely knock back cocktails “from breakfast to supper.” While there’s no hard evidence suggesting that the delegates ever frequented Jerry Thomas’s bar, based on its proximity to the Metropolitan, Tommy and co.’s avid interest in cocktails, and the name of Thomas’s brandy-fueled drink, it’s more than likely that the cocktail was made in their honor.

The Japanese Cocktail went on to make its in-print debut in Thomas’s 1862 bartending guide “How to Mix Drinks,” and as Wondrich states in “Imbibe!,” it’s likely the only cocktail in the book aside from the Blue Blazer that was actually invented by Thomas himself. In the original Japanese Cocktail recipe, Thomas calls for the drink to be served on the rocks along with a somewhat heavy-handed half-teaspoon of Bogart’s bitters — a misspelling of Boker’s bitters, which were discontinued in 1920. However, in Thomas’s updated 1887 “Bartenders Guide,” the cocktail’s spec gets a slight makeover, becoming strained and served up with just two dashes of Boker’s.

While the original Boker’s is long gone, there are a few modern recreations available today, such as Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters. In a pinch, though, other brands of aromatic bitters will certainly do the trick. Consider Angostura or Bitter Truth. For the brandy, it all comes down to what spirit you’d like to showcase. Cognac, Armagnac, or even Calvados are all fair game. Garnish-wise, both of Thomas’s recipes offer the option of either one or two lemon twists, so the choice just depends on how citrusy one wants their Japanese Cocktail to be.