Some of New York’s greatest writers (and drinkers) once sat at the Algonquin Hotel’s Round Table on 44th Street. Among the wisecracking guests at this literary luncheon were Harpo Marx, Robert Benchley and the martini-loving Dorothy Parker. It’s titillating to assume that with such large and mischievous personalities gathered in one room, even during Prohibition, a flask or two was always present. The hotel was long dry before the Temperance movement, owing to its puritanical owner Frank Case, but it didn’t stop the Algonquin Hotel from later christening a few house cocktails including this American jumble of spicy rye, dry vermouth and sweet pineapple. This version has been tweaked a bit with sweeter blanc vermouth and a dash of honey syrup.
Algonquin
The Round Table's poison.
