Blow My Skull

Two pints boiling water
Quantum Sufficient loaf sugar
Lime or lemon juice
Pint of Ale or Porter
Pint of Rum
Half a Pint of Brandy

Mixing Technique: Build
Glass: Half Pint
Garnish: None
Method:
Dissolve 165g (3/4 cup) of brown cane sugar into a litre of boiling water in a large bowl to dissolve. Then add the juice of six limes (about 18 cl), and 50 cl each of porter and navy-style rum (57% alcohol content) and 25 cl of strong brandy, stir and refrigerate until chilled. Serve in half pint glasses.

2018-09-25T19:07:19+01:00By Thomas Davey|Categories: Celebrity Cocktails|

Historical Perspective

The English and Australian Cookery Book is considered to be the very first Australian cookbook. Originally published in London in 1864, the full title of the first edition reads The English and Australian Cookery Book: Cookery for the Many, as well as the Upper Ten Thousand - by an Australian Aristologist. The unnamed author was, in fact, a Tasmanian named Edward Abbott. Blow my Skull, excerpt from The English and Australian Cookery Book (1864): This was a colonial beverage in use in the earlier days of Tasmania and was named and drank by an eccentric governor, who had a stronger head than most of his subordinates. A wattle hut used to be improvised within a few miles of the capital, and temporary chairs and a strong table being fixed, the governor would take the seat of honor, having in front of him a barbecued pig, and on his honour’s right hand, a cask of “blow my skull” – sufficient for all comers – no special invitation being necessary. A challenge to liquor from the representative of majesty in a roomy pannikin, could not well be declined, although the ceremonial observed in the bush was not over strict. “No heeltaps!” called out the governor in a voice of authority, and the unfortunate stranger was at once ‘hors de combat’; while the governor having an impenetrable cranium, and an iron frame, could take several goblets of the alcoholic fluid, and walk away as lithe and happy as possible, attended by an orderly who could scarcely preserve his equilibrium. Now for the component parts “Blow my skull”, as its name imports, was a remarkably powerful drink, and it was made in the following proportions: Two pints of boiling water, with quantum sufficit of loaf sugar, and lime or lemon juice, one pint of ale or porter, one pint of rum, and half a pint of brandy. How few of the ‘old hands’ there are in Hobart Town, who recollect the flavor of this celebrated liquor, or the days of Colonel Davey; and we believe that there are none living at Sydney who remember the time when an invitation “at dinner”, to Government House, was accompanied by the polite request to bring your own bread, owing to its scarcity.

Source

The English and Australian Cookery Book, Thomas Abbott (1864)

Thomas Davey

Lieutenant Governor

Tiverton (Devon), 1758

United Kingdom

Thomas Davey was born in England in 1758 as the son of a mill owner. There are no existing records of his childhood or early years. When in 1775 Great Britain declared war on her American colonies, three years later Davey decided to enter the military with an ambition to serving overseas. In June 1812 (he was then a major of marines) Davey was appointed lieutenant-governor of Tasmania. DIt seems that Davey had no qualifications for his position. He was indolent, without any sense of dignity and iallowed himself fully in the hard-drinking that was so characteristic of that period. and time. Davey is still remembered for his invention of the colonial beverage in use in the earlier days of Tasmania, Blow My Skul, a cocktail he served in half-pint glasses, at one point consisting of rum, brandy, gin, port, Madeira, sherry and claret. A recipe which is now considered as the original formula can be found in Edward Abbott's The English and Australian Cookery Book, published in 1864. According to Nicholas Shakespeare, In Tasmania, Adventures at the End of the World, Davey, who liked to entertain in shirtsleeves, was a jovial incompetent known as “Mad Tom.” He had the habit of screwing up his forehead if anyone put him on the spot and yelling out “Pondicherry!” On royal birthdays Tom Davey handed out the free rum, distributing it out of a rum keg in front of the Governor’s House. He was seen a regular in the local pubs, drinking with the lower classes, a bar called Stocker’s being his favorite hangout. On April 9, 1817 Davey handed over his position to Governor William Sorell. Considerable grants of land were then made to him, but he was not at all successful as a settler, and he sailed to England from Sydney in August 1821, leaving his wife and daughter in Tasmania. Davey died in London on May2, 1823.