Oh, the days grow short when we reach September. Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson got that right in “September Song,” didn’t they? Cheerful it’s not, but for a year in my early 20s, the only music I could stand to hear was Weill’s. I was adrift, and politically charged cabaret numbers — often sung in a language I did not understand — somehow anchored me. I downed plenty of whiskey back then (and still do), but as with music, my taste in drinks was growing up. It was then that I first made a martini, first tasted absinthe and could, for the first time, call myself a regular at a New York bar — one where an indulgent bartender might sometimes pop onto the sound system the Lotte Lenya tape I just happened to have in my backpack.

Albertine Cocktail

Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

Cabaret Cocktail

1.: Swirl a few drops of absinthe in a chilled coupe. Shake the other ingredients with ice in a mixing glass, then strain into absinthe-coated coupe. Garnish with cherry.