Old Number One

Photo by Michael Piazza / Styled by Catrine Kelty

Makes 1 cocktail

Aged apple brandy is an often-overlooked gem that should be on every bar cart and liquor shelf. One of the earliest recipes that I fell in love with was the Marconi Wireless as an apple Manhattan of sorts. Here, I riffed on that classic by adding Scotch to the mix to create the Old Number One, named after the world’s first telephone at Charles William Jr.’s house on Arlington Street in Somerville.

1 ounce aged American apple brandy
1 ounce blended Scotch
1 ounce sweet red vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 Luxardo cocktail cherry, speared with a pick

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe and garnish with the cherry.

This recipe appeared in the Fall 2022 issue as part of a larger story on Cider-Based Cocktails.

FREDERIC YARM is a Boston bartender who got into the industry through writing about cocktails 18 years ago. His work with the CocktailVirgin blog blossomed into two books, Drink & Tell: A Boston Cocktail Book (2012) and Boston Cocktails: Drunk & Told (2017), which capture the cocktail renaissance in his city. After the first book, a night as a guest bartender led Frederic to seek out a barback position at an establishment known for training bartenders and he was soon promoted. Fred has been bartending at various establishments in town for the last 11 years.