Cooperstown – Recipe below from David Embury’s ‘The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks’

Medium Martini with a sprig of mint to each drink bruised and stirred with the cocktail. A twist of lemon over each drink

1 part French Vermouth

1 part Italian Vermouth

2 t 4 parts Gin

1 dash Orange Bitters and 1 dash Angostura to each drink

Some recipes call for orange bitters only and some omit the bitters altogether. 

Cooperstown is right in the middle of New York state on the banks of Otsego lake, in 2010 it had a population of 1852, which if it were in the UK would see it twinned with Lynemouth, or the UK’s 944^th largest town. As far as small towns go, Cooperstown punches well above its weight.

Its name comes from a William Cooper who purchased the land from the British in 1785, and its town centre has found its way onto the American register of historic places. It’s postcard beautiful.

Its also a factory for brilliant people and has churned out a Justice of the US supreme court plus additional judges, art collectors, philanthropists, politicians and a civil war general. James Fenimore Cooper, William’s son wrote ‘The Last of the Mohicans’, which was turned into no fewer than 8 films before the Daniel Day Lewis version won an Oscar. Samuel F. B. Morse was born here, oh, and a gentleman by the name of Abner Doubleday, who prior to being a heroic Colonel at the battle of Gettysburg invented a game to keep up the morale of his troops on a field in Cooperstown, which they later decided to name baseball.

How does the drink stack up? Without quite the same impact the town has had on American life over the last 170 years unfortunately. The mint is ok but doesn’t have the same impact that the absinthe in the Bald Head has (02-04), it’s nice. More Lynemouth than Cooperstown though.