pegu

[Laurence Horn]

For the purposes of lexicographic research, I determined to check out
the pegu recipe Barry unearthed for us last week:

>Pegu
>
>George Orwell, a British colonial police officer in Burma during the
>'20s, observed that the past belongs to those who control the
>present. When it comes to the nearly forgotten Pegu cocktail, few
>words could ring truer.
>
>Between the '20s and the '40s, no other exotic mix was as popular as
>this drink, which hails from the Pegu Club, located in a small town
>of nearly the same name. The bar was about 50 miles outside Rangoon,
>the capital of Burma - the country we refuse to call Myanmar, now
>better known for its infamous drug-producing region, the Golden
>Triangle.
>
>According to Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Club of 1930, people
>traveled the world round and asked everyone for this drink. But at
>about the time Orwell penned "Big Brother is watching you" and Burma
>gained its so-called independence, the Pegu vanished.
>
>Fortunately for us, though, the Pegu is finally in resurgence,
>meaning that this inspiring gin cocktail has been sighted at bars
>that we frequent. With 1 1/2 ounces gin, 1/2 ounce Cointreau, 1/2
>ounce lime juice, and a few dashes of Angostura bitters, all shaken
>with ice and strained into a chilled cocktail glass, the Pegu makes
>for a pungent drink that stimulates the senses and soothes the soul.
>
>http://hotwired.wired.com/cocktail/96/16/index4a.html
>

I can vouch for its excellence (even when a tablespoon of cheap
Triple Sec past its pull date is substituted for the specified
Cointreau, and suburban New Haven substituted for exurban Rangoon).
Just in case anyone was wondering.

Larry