Sherry Cobbler cocktail: the perfect recipe

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The Sherry Cobbler is one of the first great American cocktails, indeed it was the first of the cobbler family, a category of cocktails born along the lines of the julep, as summer cocktails with low alcohol content, but refreshing and fresh due to the presence of abundant crushed ice.

The recipe for making the Sherry Cobbler is very simple, spartan: put 8 cl of sherry in a shaker, add a bar spoon of sugar, fill with ice, shake and pour into a Collins glass full of crushed ice. And decorate with a few slices of berry, berries or slices of citrus and pineapple.

You may wonder why we focused on decorations. The answer is simple: the first Sherry Cobbler recipe was written (not invented!) by Jerry Thomas, the founding father of modern mixology, who invites us to take care of the presentation of the Sherry Cobbler in a precise and elegant way. There are two tips: decorate with seasonal fruits and put two straws. And it is in fact with this cocktail that straw straws began to be used to drink more easily since the glass did not only contain liquid, but also a mountain of crumbled ice.

Another curiosity that many have not noticed is that the Sherry Cobbler recipe closely resembles the whiskey sour recipe, only in that case the distillate should not be stirred but mixed with sugar, after which the words are identical. Fill with crushed ice and decorate with fresh “berries”.

And this makes us understand two very important things: that Jerry Thomas’s recipes were an important way to codify knowledge that until then had only been passed down orally from teacher to student, almost at the level of a sect. His purpose was to give dignity and a secure foundation to practice, he was trying (and succeeded) to create new art with precise and easily replicable stylistic rules.

The second incredible fact is the explosion in the use and sale of ice, even though refrigeration systems did not yet exist. Because ice is the most important ingredient in Sherry Cobbler. It must be crumbled to melt slowly, thus mixing with the fruit that it can be mashed with a straw by the person who is drinking the cocktail. In practice, it is a super iced tea to be sipped slowly in the heat. But this is also the formula of mint julep, the other great American cocktail, born in the southern states to make Bourbon more drinkable and less overbearing.

Another point on which we discuss is the presence of fruit juices, whether they are citrus or pineapple or berries. In the original recipe, juices are not to be used, but fruit, but nothing prevents you from personalizing your cocktail with 2 cl of pineapple juice and 2 cl of orange or lime. As for sugar, you can use powder or syrup, it’s just a matter of convenience. So feel free to modify, add or manipulate this cobbler at will, although the recipe is attributable to that holy monster Thomas, he’d be happy to know you’re having a blast with a nice iced cobbler in your hand.

Ingredients and doses for making sherry cobbler

• 8 cl of sherry
• 1.5 cl of sugar syrup
• crushed ice
• slices of orange and pineapple, a sprig of mint
• vanilla sugar for sprinkling

How to make sherry cobbler

Fill a collins glass with crushed ice and place orange slices on the ice. Pour the sherry and sugar into the ice-filled shaker, shake and pour into the glass. Decorate with pineapple slices, a sprig of mint and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.

If, on the other hand, we take into consideration the cobbler recipe provided by Harry Craddock in the Savoy cocktail book, we discover that it does not go into detail, indeed it does not mention sherry. Indeed old Harry tells us that you can make cobbler with all spirits and spirits: whiskey, gin, brandy. But that’s normal, the book was published in 1930, sherry and wine-based cocktails have now fallen into disuse and spirits are emerging on the world mixology scene. Fill a glass with crushed ice, pour in a teaspoon of sugar tea, a glass of sherry or, gin, brandy or whiskey, mix (don’t shake!) And decorate slices of orange or pineapple.

Other great cocktails to try as an aperitif

Negroni, Mojito, Moscow Mule, Gin & Tonic, Dark and Stormy, Daiquiri, Margarita, Spritz, Hugo, Old Fashioned, Manhattan.