Personality A La Roy

I first remember reading about “Hercules” when I got my original The Savoy Cocktail Book.  I was working my way through all of the pages and kept coming upon ingredients I had never heard of.  Hercules was one of those spirits and I was about to call it quits early on in the book.  I never thought I’d be able to make all these cocktails until…..Mr. Erik Ellestad had done some fabulous research on these great spirits.  He runs a fantastic blog on the book itself and he’s ran through the cocktails and has currently been doing Coolers.  He’s usually behind the stick at Alembic Bar on Haight Street in San Francisco on the last Sunday of every month…..he’ll definitely have surprises and goodies for you.

In regards to the “Personality A La Roy”, the first known record of it is in The Savoy Cocktail Book.  It’s a delicious concoction of Dry Gin, Calvados or Applejack, Hercules and a dash of Angostura bitters.  The original recipe calls for:

• ½ Dry Gin
• ¼ Hercules
• ¼ Calvados or Applejack
• One Dash of Angostura Bitters

Shake and Strain into a Martini Glass

Personally this is one of my favorite cocktails ever.  It’s nice because in order to drink it, you really have to attempt to make your own Hercules.  I think that’s more gratifying than anything else and makes me enjoy this cocktail even more.