I first learned about the Betsy Ross cocktail for today’s Cocktail Advent Calendar from a Crosby Gaige book.   I know of another variation for this cocktail that turns it into a flip. It is easy to see why a drink that has an egg in it or a drink that is syrupy sweet is not going to be a very popular cocktail. However, this time of year, in the holiday season, it’s a fairly ideal drink – egg or not. I would try it both ways. If there’s no egg in your Betsy Ross cocktail I think it works very well at room temperature or over ice. The ice will continue to send the drink out a little bit which works fine for this. And at room temperature your basically just creating your own liqueur. At room temperature this drink is one of the few times a snifter would be acceptable.

This is the definition of a bullshit aromatic garnish

Betsy Ross

  • 1 oz port
  • 1 oz cognac
  • .25 oz orange curacao
  • 1 dash angostura
  • if you add an egg yolk, add a dash of simple syrup

Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas” can’t really be legitimately tied to the Betsy Ross cocktail in anyway.   The only distant way in which I can tie them together would be that people leaving town to see family for Christmas are gone by now. If you are still in town you should look to your left and look to your right because that’s who you’re spending Christmas with.  But I’m running out of days and I’m running out of sad songs so couple of them are just going to have to be thrown together.

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