Explorations in Mixology Cocktails Drinking

The Income Tax Cocktail

It’s that time of the year again. Time to feel happy you have a job. Time to fill out those crazy forms. Time to feel good about paying your part. Time to feel horrible about how big that part is. Time for another Drink Of The Week!

The selection this week is the appropriately timed Income Tax Cocktail. It’s a forgotten classic, so this serves as a reminder for you to file your return and to remember this old drink. It’s based on another cocktail that was once popular, only this version has the minor difference of adding bitters.

There was a time when you could walk into a bar and order a Bronx Cocktail. We are pretty sure those days are over, or at least there aren’t too many places like that left—but perhaps they will return. If you were so bold as to order a Bronx with Bitters, you would have our Drink Of The Week. The Income Tax is also sometimes referred to as the Maurice. Why? We don’t know why.

Income Tax Cocktail
1.5 oz gin
.75 oz sweet vermouth
.75 oz dry vermouth
a fresh squeeze of orange juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Add the gin and vermouths to a cocktail shaker. Cut an orange into quarters and squeeze one quarter right into the shaker. Add the bitters, seal and shake until cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange wheel.

We don’t usually like recipes that call for “half of a lime” or that say “squeeze a quarter of an orange” or any other misguided fraction of a fresh ingredient. It’s inconsistent. We’d much rather see a measurement in ounces. The juice that you get from an orange on Thursday probably won’t match the amount you get over the weekend or a month from now. However, in this cocktail, it doesn’t seem to matter that much. Adding a squeeze of juice, even if it’s not a precise amount, will tame the spirit, flavor the drink, and bring all of the other ingredients together to give you the confidence to fill out those forms. Just remember to be more precise on your 1040. Actually, you should probably fill out the forms first, and then try this drink. We don’t want to be responsible for giving you another great recipe, only to find out you enjoyed it so much you forgot to do your taxes. But if that does happen, please, tell us your story in the comments below. We don’t think the IRS reads this website.

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professional tax preparation software
professional tax preparation software
14 years ago

Ours turned out well this year and I have to send them out tomorrow. Was waiting for payments that never arrived *UGH*. Frustrating to work and not get paid so now I’m back to getting notarized contracts with each client.

Randy Hanson
Randy Hanson
14 years ago

I am pretty sure this is a spam comment above, attempting to sell a tax software website, but I am leaving it because it makes me smile that it found this cocktail post!

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Friday Night Cocktail | Nic Dempsey
13 years ago

[…] this is sort of a Manhattan but with gin!! And is also known as a Bronx with Bitters. I have changed some of the proportions, less vermouth, more gin! I’ve specified the type […]