by Jen on January 1, 2011
We served this drink at Will's birthday brunch last May, and it quickly topped my list of favorites.
We started the evening off with a French 75, which may be one of my favorite drinks of 2010.
Start with a teaspoon of sugar in a champagne or Collins glass.
Douse the sugar with a half ounce of lemon juice, add an ounce and a half of gin, and top it off with champagne.
Give it a quick stir and BOOM! delicious.
Please note: this is not a drink for the faint at heart, as the gin and champagne combine to produce a very strong drink.
We accompanied the French 75 with a rousing game of Cheez-it Scrabble in three different languages.
by Will on December 29, 2010
ReadyMade blog suggests that we make this cocktail:
Hoitoi
* 2 oz. dry gin
* 3/4 oz. grapefruit juice
* 1/4 oz. Campari
* 2 oz. champange
* Angostura bitters
Gin and grapefruit juice? And Campari? In the winter? And bitters to boot? And champagne?!
We may just have to try this, before 2010 has expired.
by Will on December 1, 2010
In England, this is a traditional Christmas drink. I tried it the first time about a year ago at a bar, but it wasn’t until I made it for myself that it won me over. It’s a pretty serious drink, for those already well versed in gin and Angostura.
1 1/2 oz. gin (I’d recommend Hendrick’s gin or something else with spicy, as opposed to floral, overtones)
Several dashes Angostura bitters
Stir on ice, serve straight up in a cocktail glass.
This drink has its origins in the coastal cities of England and its colonies, two centuries ago. Seamen, in pubs while on shore, would take the drink as a general curative. Gin was supposed to be a remedy for numerous illnesses, from the plague to gout. Angostura bitters, meanwhile, were and are an effective means of combating stomach sickness.
Sante!
by Will on October 21, 2010
This is a cocktail that practiced and worldly connoisseurs will often name as their favorite. I’ve served it to a number of guests and they almost always are wildly enthusiastic about it.
1 1/2 oz. gin
1/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur
1/8 oz. creme de violette
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
Shake or stir, serve straight up with a cherry garnish
Now, two of those ingredients are rare and somewhat pricey. Most people don’t just have them sitting around. But I can assure you that if you buy a bottle of each, they will last you a very long time. Both liqueurs have such forceful flavors that they can only be used in tiny amounts. Also, the gin needs to be a fairly smooth, flowery gin like Beefeater, not a spicy gin like Hendrick’s.
The cocktail’s origins are obscure. It seems to have had the misfortune of being invented right before Prohibition, and thus it did not really establish itself the way that martinis and Manhattans had been able to. I have evidence that the aviation is now making a comeback, though, as the bartenders at the fancy places nearby are familiar with the recipe. I hope the trend continues.
by Will on October 17, 2010
1 1/2 oz. or thereabouts gin
1 1/2 oz. or thereabouts grapefruit juice (fresh or not)
Serve on ice in a tumbler or old-fashioned glass with a salted rim
The salty rim makes the drink. This is a refreshing drink good for a hot day. It is miles better than its vodka-based cousin, the Greyhound. I know nothing whatsoever of its provenance, so I must be uncharacteristically short-winded in recommending it.
by Will on October 6, 2010
1 1/2 oz. London dry gin
Add tonic water to taste
Garnish with slice of lime. Serve on ice in an old fashioned or highball glass.
Yeah, of course it’s an obvious one. The name describes the recipe. But I’m in a hotel room here, OK? Simplicity is of the essence. Also, the G&T is a great staple because it’s one of the few drinks almost impossible to screw up. That said, I’ve come across bartenders who have somehow found a way.
Like many alcoholic beverages, the gin and tonic got its start as a medicinal product. Researchers found that quinine was a silver bullet that made people insusceptible to malaria, which had been plaguing the British navy down in the tropics. But how do you get the seamen to consume quinine, a very bitter alkaloid? The best answer the British came up with was to mix it with a sweetener and some booze. It worked! The French dealt with the same issue by creating Dubonnet.
Similarly, the French liqueurs Benedictine and Chartreuse, and the Scottish liqueur Drambuie, were initially supposed to be all-purpose medicines. I believe the Chartreuse people still claim that it is health-enhancing. Whiskey was the result of Scottish monks’ years searching for a “water of life” that would make them live longer. Cognac resulted from similar efforts in France. Bitters have a calming effect on the stomach, and so were once used by navies to battle mal de mer. The Italian family of bitters, such as Campari, were supposed to be good for the liver. Vermouth was created as a vehicle with which to take wormwood, which was used to treat something or other. So many drinks we think of as simple refreshments were once marketed as medicine. It’s a rather funny irony of history.
by Will on September 15, 2010
When I was young, I recall that Tom Collins mix was something frequently in the fridge, competing for space with the orange juice and whipped cream and the like. So it was inevitable that I would try a Tom Collins at some point. I like them, and moreover they’re one of several good ways to wean people off of vodka (boring!) and on to gin (it actually has a flavor and scent — imagine that!).
In the day, by which I mean, late 2009, there was Schweppes Tom Collins mix at most stores. You just mixed it with gin and there was your Tom Collins. But then, for reasons unknown, Schweppes discontinued it’s mix. But that’s OK, because fresh ingredients make a better drink anyway.
1 1/2 oz. gin
1 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 oz. simple syrup
Mix ingredients, serve in Tom Collins glass on ice, topped off with club soda
The name Tom Collins comes from a weird joke that was popular in New York in 1860 or so. You’d run into someone and tell them that Tom Collins had been talking a lot of smack about them. Then you’d tell them that Tom Collins was hanging out at the bar around the corner. So your victim would go looking for a non-existent person. What is supposed to be funny about that, I’m not sure. There was not a lot to do back then.
by Will on August 29, 2010
This drink is on the sweet side, which I think is what most people are looking for in a drink, especially those who are just getting started.
The Benicia Cocktail:
1 1/2 oz. London dry gin
1 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. Italian blood orange soda
1 dash grenadine
Combine the gin, vermouth, and soda in a mixing glass. Stir with ice. Add the dash of grenadine to the cocktail glass. Serve straight up with a cherry garnish.
Yes, cheapskates, Gallo vermouth and Rose’s grenadine will do just fine. Don’t you dare sub vodka for the gin.
This cocktail is my variation on the
Bronx cocktail, a classic cocktail created more than 100 years ago back east, and very popular in the day. The Bronx is a great drink that I often serve to people who say they don’t like gin and/or vermouth, because it tends to cure people of their irrational fear of both, in one fell swoop.
I tried to keep with the spirit of the original name by naming this drink after a peripheral city in the metropolitan region I live in. Benicia has no zoo, but boasts some very pretty sites and a community of interesting artists.
Fun Fact!: there was a time when Benicia was the capital of California.
by Will on August 25, 2010
Above: the visible hand
This is a drink that’s good when it’s quite hot out.
- 1 oz. gin
- 1 oz. Campari
- 1 oz. sweet vermouth
Serve on ice, with a lemon peel garnish
Supposedly the name comes from an Italian count named Negroni, who liked to order this at his local cafe. Orson Welles was a big fan. The key ingredient is the Campari, a very bitter Italian aperitif, which Jen describes as tasting “like vomit.” I disagree.
True confession: when we were camping, and didn’t have any sweet vermouth, I tried doing one of these with red Gatorade instead. It tasted just fine.
