This Prohibition-Era Martini Is Winning Over Absinthe Skeptics

No one ever calls for an Arsenic and Old Lace—at least no one ever has on Brandyn Shank’s watch. The 1940s Martini variation doesn’t have the name recognition enjoyed by, say, the Tuxedo No. 2. or the Turf Cocktail. But according to Shank, whose menu at Nocturne in Denver takes inspiration from jazz history, the cocktail is the perfect representative for the swing and big band era.

Part of a long line of drinks named after iconic plays and movies, the Arsenic and Old Lace gets its title from Joseph Kesselring’s 1939 play and Frank Capra’s subsequent 1944 film starring Cary Grant. The theater connection makes perfect sense given that it was first published in Broadway producer Crosby Gaige’s 1944 book, Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion.

The plot of the black comedy centers a couple of murderous old ladies (the old lace) who believe they’re doing a service to the aging bachelors to whom they serve poisonous elderberry wine (the arsenic). Somehow, the purple-tinted, gin-based drink with crème de violette, vermouth and absinthe (which conjures poison-adjacent imagery) seems to embody the unseen evil in the play’s seemingly innocuous characters. “When people see the purple, they think, Oh no, this is gonna be too sweet,” says Shank. But he values the Arsenic and Old Lace for its complexity, describing it as “floral, bright, elegant, decadent and very, very drinkable.”

Shank first encountered the Arsenic and Old Lace through a former Nocturne bartender named James Sporer who was a connoisseur of old-school Martini riffs. Collaboratively, the bar team at Nocturne pored over lots of different specs, trying them all, settling on one and tweaking it.

The original 1944 recipe calls for three parts dry gin to one part absinthe, with three dashes each of dry vermouth and crème de violette. For their modern rendition, the Nocturne team went for a more traditional Martini build with two ounces gin, three-quarters of an ounce of vermouth, a quarter-ounce of violet liqueur, and just a rinse of absinthe in the glass. They also added orange bitters—an accent many older Martinis feature.