Monkey Gland Commercially Sold

I was seized the other night by the desire to have someone other than myself serve me up a Monkey Gland, the 100-year-old cocktail that is currently my favorite drink. So I headed to the Pegu Club on Houston Street, where I knew they would be honor-bound to create one.

I was right. The bartender was new to the job. And, true, he had to look up the recipe. But he made it—gin, orange juice, grenadine, dash of Pernod—mixed it up nice and served it in a handsome, egg-cup-like Martini glass with an orange twist. It was delicious.

The bartender, who was English, was flabbergasted by my odd request. "How do you guys come up with these drinks?," he asked in sincere curiosity. I merely replied that all you had to do was thumb through an old cocktail book and do some trial and error, throwing out the drinks that don't appeal, keeping the lost treasures that do.

For added proof that a Monkey Gland can be bought for ready money in Manhattan I present the bill below. $13 too much for a Monkey Gland? Well, yes. Too much for any drink in my book. But the experience was priceless.