Episode 62: The Doctor Is In – Dr. Cocktail

Monster in a Glass

Many cocktails got their start in the medicinal realm, and you can often see the transformations over time from cure-all to tasty beverage. So when a drink with a name like the Doctor Cocktail comes along, it is fair to assume that your aches and pains might be relieved from the ingredients. It does have citrus in it, so the Vitamin C might be warding off that pesky scurvy. Other than that, we don’t have much of an idea of how it got the name.

It seems to have originated sometime in the 1920s and was originally made with gin, Swedish Punsch, and lime or lemon juice. Depending on the recipe you might also have gotten some brandy or even Crème de Menthe in it. Mmm, medicine. This drink really doesn’t show up in many places, but it did make enough of a blip on the radar to be picked up by Trader Vic, who traded the gin for rum and helped it stay alive enough to be talked about by us today.

The cocktail ingredients were as follows:

• 2 oz – Jamaica rum


• 1 oz – Swedish Punsch


• 1 oz – fresh lime juice

This drink was a huge hit with everyone but me. It was a mouthful of lime juice with each taste. I can’t deal with that much lime juice, which is exactly what everyone else said was great about the cocktail. So if you love lime juice, you will love this cocktail…just be sure to bring your own Swedish Punsch.