by Allison Taylor / photos by Maggie West

While you ponder the country’s current economic turmoil, ponder this: cocktails became popular during the Great Depression, which coincided with Prohibition. So, even though people sought solace in alcohol, their drinks were actually illegal for the first three years of the Depression. Thus the speakeasy was born, as was bootlegging. Since it was illegal to produce alcoholic beverages, as well as sell and distribute them, bootleggers made booze with whatever they could find. Generally, during Prohibition, they peddled lower-quality booze, leading to some creative mixology at the bar to mask less pleasant tastes. Many Depression-era cocktails called for gin or rum, like the Income Tax cocktail—basically a martini with orange juice and bitters in it—or the Millionaire, from the 1930s Savoy Cocktail Book, which called for rum, sloe gin, apricot brandy and lime.  

Not far from the Millionaire ingredient-wise, but probably more apt for our current economic climate, is the Suffering Bastard, a 1950s-era cocktail that calls for lots of rum, lime juice and orange juice. There’s also the Dark and Stormy, with rum, ginger ale and lime—a little taste of the Caribbean, even if you can’t afford to go there. Thinking positively, there’s the Lucky Double, two ounces of vodka plus lemon and orange flavors that could surely restore stability on both Wall Street and Main Street.

Whatever you choose to “stimulate” your spirits, there are a few local venues that should hit the spot. In downtown Asheville, the new Rankin Vault, just off College Street, specializes in cocktails and feels a bit like a ‘20s-era speakeasy with its red velvet couches, curtains, dim lighting and private parlor room. If you’d like to step back in time, even to the years before Prohibition, try their Mint Julep, Manhattan or Old Fashioned. Bartender Lucy Barna says all three sell surprisingly well, even though the average age of the clientele is 30-ish. The best part—if you’ve slashed your personal entertainment budget, several of their cocktails are only $3.50 and a 12-ounce Pabst is $1.50. For an even more authentic Depression-era experience, go to the Grove Park Inn, which opened in 1913. Even though its Great Hall bar didn’t start serving drinks until 1979, F. Scott Fitzgerald drank profusely (in his room) when he visited the Inn in the 1930s. The bar now serves a Knobhattan, a Manhattan made with Knob Creek bourbon. It will set you back around $10, but maybe gazing out at the great view from the Grove Park will inspire you to do something entrepreneurial.  

From The Craft of the Cocktail,
by Dale Degroff
 
Suffering Bastard 

• 1 1/2 ounces of medium rum
• 1 ounce high-proof rum such as Bacardi 151
• 3/4 ounce orange curacao
• 1/2 ounce orgeat (a sweet syrup made from almonds and rose water)
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• 2 ounces fresh orange juice
• lime slice
• orange slice

Shake all ingredients well and strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with lime and orange slices.

Dark and Stormy

• 2 ounces dark rum such as Meyers
• 5 ounces ginger ale
• lime wedge

Pour the rum over ice in a highball glass and fill with ginger ale. Squeeze in the lime wedge.

Lucky Double

• 1/2 lemon, quartered
• 1/2 ounce Triple Sec
• 2 ounces Absolut Mandarin

Drop the lemon quarters into a bar mixing glass. Add the Triple Sec and muddle well. Add the Absolut Mandarin and ice. Shake well and pour the contents of the mixing glass into a rocks glass.