Commodore No. 1

Name: Commodore No. 1
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: White rum — 45 ml (1 1/2 oz); Light gold rum — 15 ml (1/2 oz); Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) — 25 ml (5/6 oz); Sugar syrup — 5 ml (1/6 oz); Raspberry syrup — 5 ml (1/6 oz); Grenadine syrup — 5 ml (1/6 oz); Egg white (pasteurised) — 15 ml (1/2 oz)

Dry shake ∙ 5 min ∙ 17.4% ABV ∙

The Commodore No. 1 is a shaken rum sour built on two rums, lemon juice, egg white, and a trio of sweeteners, finished pink with grenadine and raspberry syrup. Foamy and softly tart, lemon cutting through a berry-sweet base while the egg white smooths the finish light and clean.

Ingredients

Servings

Garnish

Maraschino cherry

Instructions for 1 serving

Pre-chill a glass
Dry shake (without ice) all ingredients: White rum 45 mlLight gold rum 15 mlLemon juice 25 mlSugar syrup 5 mlRaspberry syrup 5 mlGrenadine syrup 5 mlEgg white 15 ml
Shake again with ice
Fine strain into the chilled glass
Garnish with a maraschino cherry

Tips

Dry shake the rums, juice, syrups and egg white first without ice for about 15 seconds to fully emulsify before adding ice, or the foam stays thin.
Balance the three syrups carefully: sugar, raspberry and grenadine each contribute only a small measure, so over-pouring any one throws off the tart-sweet edge from the fresh lemon juice.

History

The Commodore is a Prohibition-era American cocktail first documented in the early 20th century, appearing in Harry McElhone's 1922 Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails and in Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book as a whiskey-based sour, and again, in a rum-based form, in Albert S. Crockett's 1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days, drawn from the pre-Prohibition record of New York's original Waldorf-Astoria bar. Old Waldorf Bar Days actually lists two distinct Commodore recipes side by side, one built on whiskey and one on rum, prompting writer David Embury to later remark that the two versions seemed to command different fleets entirely.

The name is said to honor a yacht-club commodore, an officer of either the New York Yacht Club or the Larchmont Yacht Club, according to the bar book's own account. Commodore No. 1 is the rum-based recipe from Crockett's pairing, distinguished from its whiskey-based sibling, Commodore No. 2, by its use of rum in place of whiskey and by the addition of egg white and raspberry syrup alongside the grenadine.