Brandy Cocktails: Cognac and Gin
Suffering Bastard Cocktail
Suffering Bastard Cocktail Ingredients
1 oz. Hennessy Privilège VSOP Cognac
1 oz. Plymouth Gin
0.5 oz. Fresh lime juice
2 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters
Ginger beer
Garnish
Candied ginger
Fresh mint
Orange wheel
Brandied cherry
Suffering Bastard Cocktail Preparation
Fill a Louis bag with ice and crush with a mallet. Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add ice. Shake hard. Fine strain into a Hurricane or Collins glass or tiki mug. Top with ginger beer and add crushed ice. Garnish with candied ginger, fresh mint, orange wheels, or brandied cherries.
Suffering Bastard Cocktail Story
Served at Cairo’s Shepheard’s Hotel by larger-than-life, globe-trotting bartender Joe Scialom in the 1940s, the Suffering Bastard is an amalgamation of the existential and recreational woes of wartime life in 1940s Egypt. Scialom served the drink, originally called the Suffering Bar Steward, as a hangover remedy to those Brits on break from active duty. Scialom cobbled the drink together by sourcing the best elements he could find at the time. According to his private papers, to alleviate the scourge of swill the soldiers were so used to, Scialom used quality brandy, British gin (for homesickness, one can assume), and ginger beer from “a Greek merchant of dubious character.”