What’s in a name?

Well, when it comes to cocktails, quite a bit. Indeed, they can be brutally expressive. A case in point is the Suffering Bastard (originally known as the Suffering Bar Steward). Created by famed mixologist, Joe Scialom, in or around 1942 at Cairo, Egypt’s renowned Shepheard’s Hotel where he worked as a bartender, this drink – allegedly a hangover cure – became the cocktail of choice for diplomats and military brass who frequented his bar in the heady days of World War II. In the mix is gin, brandy, Angostura bitters, ginger beer/ale, Rose’s lime juice and ice, all garnished with fresh mint, cucumber peel and a slice of orange. Scialom, fluent in eight languages with a degree in pharmacy, remained in Cairo until 1956 when he was expelled from the country, a hapless victim of the Suez Crisis which followed Egypt’s nationalising of the Suez Canal earlier that year. From there, he moved to Puerto Rico where he became bar manager at the Caribe Hilton, taking to life in the Carribbean like a duck to water.