Last night @Splificator and @RobertSimonson perpetrated a “New York Stone Sour” at Bryant’s in Milwaukee, which I didn’t taste because I was waiting to hear it explained first. If I wanted a dilute Bishop I’d become an Episcopalian ![]()
Stone might be an intensifier in the sense that it means intense, heavy or much.
Alas, due to my rambling we ran out of time before we could explain the drinks. The New York Sour was the version I learned from Julie Reiner, which includes a small amount of orange juice. For me, it improves the drink without intruding on it. Here’s how we made them (okay, they were batched and this ain’t):
Shake well with ice:
2 oz Old Forester Bonded Rye
.5 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
.25 oz fresh-squeezed orange juice
.25 oz rich simple syrup (2 parts sugar-1 part water)
Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Float about .5 oz dry red wine on top and give the glass a quick twirl on the bartop to ensure an even layer of wine.
As for “stone” being the slang intensifier. Green’s Dictionary of American Slang does give an example of the word perhaps being used so in 1914, when Bullock was active, but the quote isn’t entirely convincing and it doesn’t appear again until 1953, where it’s suddenly common. I would therefore say “possible, but requires further proof.”