Gin and Calamus

Source:  Bartender's Manual or How To Mix Drinks of the Present Style page:  88
3 to 4 piece calamus

Ingredient: calamus

Also Known As:  sweet flag, Acorus calamus What it is:  Herb

Calamus has been an item of trade in many cultures for thousands of years. Calamus has been used medicinally for a wide variety of ailments, and its smell makes calamus essential oil valued in the perfume industry.  In antiquity in the Orient and Egypt, the rhizome was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. In Europe Acorus calamus was often added to wine, and the root is also one of the possible ingredients of absinthe. Among the northern Native Americans, it is used both medicinally and as a stimulant.

(More about calamus)
1 bottle gin (Jenever)

Ingredient: gin (Jenever)

Also Known As:  Holland gin, , Dutch gin, Genever What it is:  Gin

Also called Holland Gin or Genever, it is a juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France, from which gin evolved.

(More about gin (Jenever))
(Use a Whiskey glass.)

In preparing this drink, take 3 or 4 long pieces of calamus root, cut it in small pieces and put into an empty bottle; fill up the bottle with gin, and let it draw sufficiently to get all the essence of the calamus into the gin.

In serving this drink, hand out the whiskey glass, and the bottle with the gin and calamus mixture, to let the customer help himself.

If the mixture in the bottle should be too strong for the customer, let him add plain gin to suit his taste.