Port Wine Cocktail

Daly's Bartenders' Encyclopedia by Tim Daly (1903, p.72)

1. Half fill a mixing glass with fine ice and add the aromatic bitters, Benedictine, and port wine.
2. Spoon well, strain into a cocktail glass, twist a piece of orange peel on top, and serve.

Garnish: Twisted orange peel.

Ice: Fine ice

Daly's note about its weakness and lack of headache is a useful period framing of low-proof aromatic service.

The drink matters because it keeps fortified wine inside the cocktail grammar rather than only punch or sangaree families.

The Reminder by Jacob A. Didier (1909, p.43) — Didier 1909

1. Use a mixing glass with cracked ice.
2. Add the aromatic bitters, Benedictine, and port wine.
3. Stir, strain into a cocktail glass, twist orange peel over the top, and serve.

Garnish: Twist of orange peel

Ice: Half a glass of cracked ice

Nose

Orange oil and sweet fortified wine lift the nose.

Palate

The drink behaves like a compact fortified-wine aromatic rather than a sangaree, with the Benedictine adding only a faint herbal gloss.

Finish

The finish is dark-fruited, sweet-bitter, and warming.

Summary

A neat fortified-wine aromatic in true cocktail form.

Das Buch der American Drinks by Richard Andeck (1910, p.15)

1. Mix the sugar, cognac, and red port wine.
2. Beat a fresh egg into the mixture and whisk until foamy.
3. Serve in a glass filled three-quarters with ice, with straws.

Ice: Crushed ice

Harry of Ciro's ABC of Mixing Cocktails by Harry of Ciro's (1923, p.68) — Harry of Ciro's 1923

1. Stir well in mixing glass and strain into cocktail glass.

This matters because it preserves the low-proof fortified-wine cocktail line as a living named service in London 1923.

The point is not a base-spirit swap but the treatment of port itself as the cocktail base.

L'Art du Shaker by Dominique Migliorero (1925, p.51)

1. Stir very cold, strain, and serve in a cocktail glass with a cherry.

Garnish: Cherry

Barflies and Cocktails by Harry McElhone and Wynn (1927, p.65) — Barflies 1927

1. Stir well in a mixing glass and strain into a cocktail glass.

This matters because it preserves a formal port-based cocktail branch still treated seriously in 1927.