1960s Recipes + Menus

Ward 8 Cocktail

October 1962
    It’s pretty clear that Martin B. Lomasney, the political boss of Boston’s West End (where Ward 8 was located) in the late 1800s, did some not-nice things. In 1894, an out-of-work “oil finisher” shot The Mahatma in the leg—four other bullets missed their mark—and told a policeman, “If you knew as much as I do you would have done it yourself. He is a villain and anything but a friend of the unemployed. ” But we may owe this cocktail to Lomasney. A Locke-Ober bartender named Tim Hussion is said to have created the drink in honor of him, though Lomasney didn’t drink and was a staunch Prohibitionist (there’s one not-nice thing). We got this recipe from Frank Locke’s granddaughter, who wrote that it “originated ... at the time President Kennedy’s grandfather was elected mayor of Boston. ” But that doesn’t explain the name. Fitzgerald was the boss of the North End (Lomasney did provide crucial support to “Honey Fitz” as he moved up the political ladder). In any case, the cocktail is essentially a whisky sour with a dash of grenadine. We like it better with rye, but Bourbon’s good, too.

    Pour 1 1/2 ounces bourbon, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon each of orange juice and grenadine into a cocktail shaker half-full of cracked ice. Shake the mixture well and strain it into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and half an orange slice.

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