DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

A few years ago, I was asked to create a cocktail for Pinehurst No. 2. When I delved into the history books, I learned that Pinehurst’s founder, James Walker Tufts, and I have one major connection: Both of us have/had businesses that deal with carbonated beverages.

Tufts owned Arctic Soda Fountain Co. before forming the American Soda Fountain Co., where he acted as the first president. By 1908, there were more than 75,000 of his soda fountains across the nation. The largest was 33 feet high and equipped with 104 taps offering syrups, mineral and soda water. Old advertisements for Tuft’s Arctic Soda Water included scenes of a tropical paradise with sick men and women arriving to drink the “fountain of youth.” Another ad shows winged demons and skeletal forms dancing between fire and ice with the pristine soda fountain representing purity, power and refreshment.

With my background in cocktails and carbonated elixirs, I knew I wanted to create a highball cocktail as an homage to one of Tufts’ carbonated sodas. I decided to keep it simple and create a candied lemon highball, The Tin Whistle, named after the oldest men’s golfing society in the United States, founded in Pinehurst in 1904. As for the spirit? Even though whiskey was king of the South, gin was especially popular in resorts. Though different than the London Dry and Old Tom of yesteryear, I chose Sutler’s Spirit Co. because its citrus-forward and mixed botanical gin pairs perfectly for this highball. This built cocktail is very straightforward: gin, candied lemon syrup, sparkling water and acid phosphate (soda fountains used this phosphate because it was lead-free, shelf-stable and not tainted with adulterants). The cocktail is an excellent choice after a round of golf on the famed No. 2 course or on any beautiful sunny day in the Pines.