The Suffering Bastard was at one time Egypt’s favorite drink. Of course that time was in the late 1940’s early 1950’s when there were large numbers of Allied forces in and around Egypt.
It was created by Joe Scialom at the Shepherd’s Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.
The drink was originally called a “Suffering Bar Steward,” so named by its inventor, a usually hung-over attendant at the Shepherd’s Hotel. The drink was purported to not only be able to cure a hangover, but to put it’s drinker on the road to another one.
“During the bleak war days, Shepherd’s ran short of cognac, gin and most imported liquors. “We had to make do with stuff that wasn’t so smooth,” he said, “and the British officers began to complain that they were getting bad hangovers”.
“I decided to seek a cure, and I finally dreamed up a drink that I named The Suffering Bar Steward. It consisted of gin we borrowed from the South African post exchange, brandy from Cyprus and bitters made by a chemist across the street from the hotel. To this we added lime juice made in Cairo and a local ginger ale provided by a Greek merchant of dubious character.
“The result was a drink with an unexpectedly pleasant taste and a delayed action effect.”
~Joe Scialom
From Joe Scialom’s private papers, and published in Beachbum Berry Remixed by Jeff Berry, 2010
1 oz gin
1 oz brandy
1/2 oz Rose’s Lime Juice Cordial
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
4 oz ginger beer (chilled)
Shake everything, except ginger beer, with ice. Stir in ginger beer and pour into a double old-fashioned glass. Garnish with orange slice and sprig of mint.
Modern Version
1 ounce lime juice
1/2 oz. ginger ale
1/2 oz. simple syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 ounce bourbon OR cognac
1 ounce gin
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with one Ice cube. Shake well
Top off with soda water or Collins mix. Garnish with: mint sprig, orange wheel, cucumber and cherry
In addition to the “Suffering Bastard”, Joe also created two additional variations of this drink, “The Dying Bastard” and
“The Dead Bastard”.
The Dying Bastard
1 oz brandy
1 oz gin
1 oz rum
1/2 oz lime juice
1 dash bitters
1 oz ginger ale
The Dead Bastard
1 oz Brandy
1 oz Bourbon
1 oz Gin
1 oz Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1 dash Bitters
1 oz Ginger Ale
This article was originally published by the author February 21, 2009 via examiner.com