|
|
Named for the Algonquin Hotel on 42nd street in New York, this cocktail gained popularity after Prohibition as the hotel became known for the regular lunch gathering of Alexander Woollcott, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Harpo Marx and others. It’s still served at the hotel today, but you don’t have to go there to try one. Nor do you have to be a member of an exclusive roundtable lunch group. It’s a breeze to make and the ingredients are easy to find.
Algonquin 2 oz rye whiskey 1 oz dry vermouth 1 oz pineapple juice
Stir with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
According to David Wondrich, this drink is even better with a few dashes of orange bitters. He recommends Fee Bros. West Indian but also suggests using a squeeze of orange peel. There’s definitely an improvement with the extra kick of orange, but you also have to pay
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
The Toronto combines two things we love: rye whiskey and Fernet-Branca. Some accounts suggest that this drink was originally made with Canadian whisky which makes sense, especially considering that it’s called the Toronto cocktail. But there’s more to love when you make it with rye. We haven’t written too much about Canadian whisky. It’s a popular spirit, to be sure, represented by a multitude of brands in most liquor shops. We have nothing against the smooth flavor of Canadian whisky, but there’s a reason it doesn’t appear very often in recipes.
Canadian whisky (spelled without the “e”) is a blended product. Blended in this context refers to a spirit made by combining a pure distillate with neutral alcohol. For example, Laird’s Applejack comes in two varieties, a pure, bonded apple brandy and a blended version. The bonded Applejack is made entirely from distilled cider wine, whereas the blended version contains
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
This Drink of the Week week is actually three drinks in one. The Eastern Sour is the first of a small family of sour cocktails invented by none other than Trader Vic, one of the founding fathers of the mid-century Tiki movement. Although it isn’t as complex or as difficult as many Tiki drinks, for some people that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The more ingredients—or often, the more obscure the ingredients—the less likely most folks will be able to execute the recipe. At least that was my theory as I looked for a tropical style drink to post this week. I thought we needed a change from all of the Manhattan variations I have been posting.
My source of reference is a groovy little iPhone/iPad app called Beachbum Berry’s Tiki+. This app was developed with the full endorsement of Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and it’s filled with recipes
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
As most of us settle into a weekend of turkey dinner leftovers in all of their various forms, it made sense to feature another riff on a popular classic—not that this is actually a leftover—the Greenpoint is a nice cocktail in it’s own right. However, since most drinks evolve from some earlier recipe, I guess this is as much a variation of a Manhattan as a turkey sandwich as a variation of roast turkey. It’s important to mention that in addition to evolving from the Manhattan, the Greenpoint is actually one of the Brooklyn neighborhood variants spawned by the Red Hook. It won’t be the last that I feature, but it might be the best.
Since the basis for the Greenpoint is the Red Hook, and by extension, the Manhattan, it should come as no surprise
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
There’s a reason we have so many delicious cocktails that are related the the Manhattan. Because of its simplicity, the Manhattan formula lends itself to a variety of substitutions that can transform what is already a perfect classic into something unexpected and wonderful. It doesn’t happen every time, but when it does, it’s worth the effort. Here’s one example. When it was first created by Vincenzo Errico in 2004 at Milk & Honey in New York, the Red Hook which is named for the New York neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough quickly spun-off a number of variations from its admirers.
A Manhattan is typically two parts whiskey and one part sweet vermouth. It’s fair to say that the vermouth is the dominant flavor. Instead of vermouth, the Red Hook calls for the complex and bitter Punt e Mes. Even at half the volume, Punt e Mes exerts its personality on
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
As far as I am aware, there’s nothing truly oriental about the cocktail this week. It appears in the Savoy, not some asian bar manual. It is accompanied by a story that mentions the Philippines—do we really believe that? It may be an early 20th century recipe, but unfortunately it’s not a very popular one. That’s a shame because it’s a decent drink.
I’ll try just about anything that has rye whiskey, especially if it also has sweet vermouth. But the Oriental also has lime and curaçao which takes the flavor in an unexpected direction. I guess that sorta makes it a Manhattan Sour.
Oriental 1.5 oz rye whiskey .75 oz orange curaçao .75 oz sweet vermouth .5 oz fresh lime juice
Add ingredients to a shaker with ice, shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino or brandied cherry.
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
“And the nominees for Best Supporting Cocktails are. . .” Wait, “Best what?” Ok, that’s crazy, but if the Academy asked me who should be nominated for this category, I’d steer them toward this recent article in the New York Times. Have a look at some of the Oscar-contender-inspired cocktails and you tell me who should win! In the past, my wife and I have often hosted Oscar parties, but this year, like the last several, we have chosen to keep it simple so we can enjoy the event on our own. That doesn’t mean we aren’t shouting at the television or cheering our own selections from this year’s ballot. Still, party or not, it’s a lot more fun with a good cocktail, so imagine my delight when I spotted the Jeremy Renner cocktail in the Times this morning. I just had to try it.
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
The Vieux Carré was first created in 1938 by Walter Bergeron, head bartender at the Hotel Monteleone which, in addition to housing the unusual rotating Carousel Bar, is considered the gateway to the French Quarter for which the drink is named. The Vieux Carré (French for “old square”) is as much a fixture of the New Orleans cocktail scene as the Sazerac, and it’s another reminder of the golden age of mixology.
If you are a fan of spirit-forward drinks, this is another one for your house menu. Upon making it, you might recognize that this is just a Saratoga sweetened with Benedictine. Ok, there’s Peychaud’s bitters too, and by this logic, any cocktail is just another version of something else. You could say it’s like a Monte Carlo, or a variation of the La Louisianne, but these are all just riffs on the Manhattan. If
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
Locke-Ober is the third oldest restaurant in Boston and the birthplace of our Drink of the Week. Supposedly invented in 1898 to honor one Martin M. Lomasney for winning the election to a seat in the state’s legislature, the cocktail is named for the city’s Ward 8 which historically supported Lomasney. Although this story is disputed by some, few can deny this is a tasty cocktail.
There is also disagreement on the exact proportions of this drink, but most folks recognize the same ingredients. You occasionally see Canadian Club used as the base spirit, but it really should be rye whiskey. You need a lemon and an orange and a bit of grenadine. I had one of these at the M & S Grill a while back and it was very nicely executed. Some prefer it on the rocks, but I like mine served up. How you decide
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
This weekend is Repeal Day, the anniversary of the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution which ended Prohibition. Since the day is not quite upon us, I thought I would feature a cocktail that became prominent during Prohibition, or you might say because of prohibition. The name refers to the limit of a country’s sovereignty along its sea borders. In other words, in order to escape US jurisdiction (and Prohibition), would-be drinkers had to travel twelve nautical miles away from the coastline in order to enjoy their favorite cocktail.
Like the Scofflaw, this Drink of the Week pokes fun at our “Noble Experiment”, but in this case, it’s more than just words. At the time, since it was not illegal to drink alcohol, only to manufacture, sell and transport it, anyone with a boat could head a mere three miles out, buy whatever they wanted and drink
Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
|
Antique/Vintage Store Spotlight:
 Coupe, Balls Stem |
 Coupe, Flared and Fluted |
 Coupe, Teardrop Stem |
|
