Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it?

Last year I wrote a blog about Kevin Doyle's Great Gatsby party. I am glad to report that this year Doyle held the second annual Great Gatsby Party and that the costumes and cocktails were even better. We were lacking Kevin Lester this year, but attempted to make up for his absence with lots of toasting and "Lester-posing" for photographs.

Here are some photographic highlights from the evening:

The early crowd sets up the tent in case of rain.
Luckily the weather held out.

First drink of the evening: the French 75. Recipe appears below.

Trifecta in costume complete with vintage cocktails

Lester-posing

Depression-era Noe looks rather depressed.

Last year we really only made one vintage cocktail, the Monkey Gland. It was tasty, but it's the kind of drink you can really only have one of due to the sweetness factor (well, at least I only wanted one). This year, we all did some research on vintage drinks and had a tasting session at John and Katie's prior to the party. We found several - all involving gin - that we loved. Here are the recipes for our favorites:

The South Side (pictured):

1 1/3 cups fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup Simple Syrup
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
6 ounces Gin
seltzer water

Directions:

Muddle mint, lemon juice and simple syrup until mint flavor has been released. Divide ice and gin evenly between each glass, add lemon mint mix and top off with seltzer water. Garnish with a lemon twist, if desired. Serves: 4

The Aviation:

Ingredients:

2 oz Gin
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur (we used maraschino syrup instead)
1/4 oz lemon juice

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake well. Strain and serve. Garnish with a cherry. Serves: 1

*We topped this one off with club soda because the portion was extremely small.

Left to right: French 75, Blackberry Bramble, South Side

The Blackberry Bramble:

Ingredients:

Club soda
1 ounce crème de mure (blackberry liqueur)
1/2 ounce Simple Syrup
1 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 ounces Gin

Directions:

Combine the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a glass, top with soda and float the crème de mûre. Serves: 1

The French 75:
*This one was not truly 1920's but it involved gin and it was tasty, so it made the cut.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (we used simple syrup)
  
• 2 ounces gin
• 3 ounces plus 1 tablespoon chilled Champagne

Directions:

In cocktail shaker, combine lemon juice, sugar, gin, and ice cubes and shake to chill. Strain cocktail into a glass and top off with Champagne.