When the host is in the mood for a challenge and imbibers are after attentiveness, no drink is better to serve than the Scofflaw, which highlights a mixer's skills both as drinkmaker and as storyteller. Perfect for occasions when imbibers long for a novel taste backed by a tale worth telling, the Scofflaw hits them as some treasure of the past to which few others are privy.

The Scofflaw's intriguing story from behind the bar, that if imbibers like a drink's story they're sure to be more accepting of its taste. Most who subscribe to this view support it by mentioning the long list of drinks made popular by only loose association with vodka drinkers who've never truly appreciated the lure of dark spirits.

Serve the chilled cocktail glasses. If the Scofflaw isn't served adequately chilled, its ingredients will separate, allowing the whiskey to dominate.

There are few deviations to the Scofflaw's recipe. In fact, it's one of the best preserved drinks from the Noble Experiment. However, Patrick Gavin Duffy, in his 1934 Official Mixer's Manual, does suggest mixing the drink with any balance. Always garnish the Scofflaw with a lemon wedge.

In his American Bar: The Artistry of Mixing Drinks, Charles Schumann suggests making the Scofflaw without orange bitters. This recipe version may be more appealing to those hosts who have yet to find a reliable source for these aperitif powers.

If you find mixing Scofflaws outlasts the drink's story, explain to guests how to get to the bar in Paris that first made this drink - where Hemingway, Gershwin, and the Dolly Sisters drank on more than a few occasions. It's Harry's Bar in Paris' own advice. Knowing its clientele and Americans' difficulty with the French language, the bar ran a standing ad in The Paris Herald before World War II: "Tell your taxi driver 'Sank Roo Danoo'" - the pronunciation of 5 Rue Daunou, where Harry's sits.

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