lemon juice

The Jack Rose is a cheerily pink cocktail that was all the rage back in the 20s and 30s. Despite the frivolity of its color, its flavor immediately announces it as a serious drink, worthy of attention. The masculinity-conscious man who would shun it due to its girlish hue foolishly limits himself. As my authority may not be sufficient to establish this point, I yield the floor to none other than Ernest Hemingway, in his classic The Sun Also Rises:

At five o’clock I was in the Hotel Crillon waiting for Brett. She was not there, so I sat down and wrote some letters. They were not very good letters but I hoped their being on Crillon stationery would help them. Brett did not turn up, so about quarter to six I went down to the bar and had a Jack Rose with George the barman. (Ch. VI)

Of course, it could be that the choice of drink is supposed to be symbolic of Jake’s lack of manful fortitude — I’ll take my chances.

1 1/2 oz. applejack

1/2 oz. lemon or lime juice

1/2 oz. grenadine

Shake or stir on ice, serve straight up with a lime garnish

Applejack is brandy made with apples, but it is not called Calvados because it is made in the United States, and Calvados can only be made in France. Compared to Calvados, applejack has a more whiskeyish flavor. It is also more affordable. Laird’s applejack costs about $20 a bottle and seems to be somewhat easy to find.

Applejack happens to be close to this blog’s heart thanks to its role in the ruin of Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange in the era of the Jack Rose:

Whitney’s dishonesty was of a casual, rather juvenile sort. Associates of the day have since explained it as a result of an unfortunate failure to realize that the rules, which were meant for other people, also applied to him. Much more striking than Whitney’s dishonesty was the clear fact that he was one of the most disastrous businessmen in modern history. Theft was almost a minor incident pertaining to his business misfortunes.

In the twenties the Wall Street firm of Richard Whitney and Company was an unspectacular bond house with a modest business. Whitney apparently felt that it provided insufficient scope for his imagination, and with the passing years he moved on to other enterprises… He had also become interested in the distilling of alcoholic beverages, mainly applejack, in New Jersey. Nothing is so voracious as a losing business, and eventually Whitney had three of them… When one loan came due he was forced to replace it with another and to borrow still more for the interest on those outstanding. Beginning in 1933 his stock exchange firm was insolvent, although this did not become evident for some five years…

In 1933, Richard Whitney and Company… had invested in between ten and fifteen thousand shares of Distilled Liquors Corporation, the New Jersey manufacturer of applejack and other intoxicants…

Unhappily, popular enthusiasm for the products of the firm, even in the undiscriminating days following repeal, was remarkably slight. The firm made no money and by June 1936 the price of the stock was down to 11. This drop had a disastrous effect on its value as collateral, and the unhappy Whitney tried to maintain its value by buying more of it. (He later made the claim that he wanted to provide the other investors in the company with a market for their stock, which if true meant that he was engaging in one of the most selfless acts since the death of Sydney Carton.)… Mention has been made of the tendency of people in this period to swindle themselves. Whitney, in his effort to support the stock of Distilled Liquors Corporation, unquestionably emerged as the Ponzi of financial self-deception. (J.K. Galbraith, The Great Crash, pp. 166-167)

Cheers, to better luck and better judgment than Richard Whitney’s!

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A Gin Bloody Mary?

by Jen on February 22, 2011

I am not one to turn down a late morning cocktail.  The Bloody Mary has long been one of my favorites, but last year I stopped drinking vodka and never looked back (well…except for once in awhile…).

The Bloody Mary is an awesome early morning drink because it’s chock full of tomato and veggie goodness.

I’m willing to bet that it’s the most nutritious cocktail out there–especially the way I make them. I love veggies so I add a few spicy green beans and olives to the traditional celery garnish.

There’s a version of the Bloody Mary called the Bloody Maria where you substitute tequila for the vodka. We haven’t ventured too far in Tequilaland (maybe we will this year!) but I was willing to swap in gin and see what happened.

I make a very imprecise Bloody Mary and don’t bother to measure all the ingredients.  Everyone likes their Bloody Maries a little different–more Tabasco, less horseradish.  I think it’s a drink that is best made to your taste.

Don't forget the celery salt rim!

The Recipe

Wet the rim of a pint glass with a lemon and coat it in celery salt.

Add some ice cubes and an ounce and a half of gin (or vodka if you’re not on board for this experiment)

Start with 1/2 teaspoon of horseradish, a dash each of Tabasco and Worcestershire, a shake of black pepper, and a squeeze of a lemon.

Stir and taste. Add more as you see fit. I at least double the horseradish and Worcestershire.

Garnish with AT LEAST a celery stick adding spicy green beans, olives and whatever you’re moved to.

ENJOY

Load that sucker up with veggies galore!

The Verdict

Disappointingly, my gin Bloody Mary tasted exactly like a vodka Bloody Mary. All the delicious flavor of the gin was masked by the strong spices. I’m going to have to look elsewhere for a favorite morning gin drink, and admit that vodka does have its place on our cocktail shelf. No point in wasting gin!

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Happy New Year!

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.

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The Aviation

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.

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The Sidecar

by Will on September 23, 2010

This is a cocktail that nearly everybody likes. It is one of the more gender-neutral cocktails I’ve come across: it does not come across as particularly masculine or feminine. It seems to have been invented around the time of World War I, so it’s proven itself. This is how I like to make it:

1 1/2 oz. brandy (the real stuff, not that sweetened crap the Hiram Walker sells; I use Korbel)

1/2 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 oz. Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Stir or shake with ice, serve straight up in a cocktail glass with a lemon slice as garnish

The big question, of course, is which of the grand old liqueurs to use. Both are much better than a generic triple sec. Cointreau makes more of a crisp, sweet sidecar, while Grand Marnier makes it less sweet and a bit more complex. Last night I tried making it with equal parts of the two, and I have to say I think I like that best.

I’ve heard the claim that this should be made with cognac rather than brandy. If you have more money than you know how to spend, then sure, I’ve no doubt that’s a little better. But it seems like a waste of money to me.

Incidentally, I used to live a few miles from the place where Cointreau is made. It was one of the city of Angers’s few claims to fame, along with the fact that the kings of England used to reside there back in the Plantegenet era. But there’s so much history every place in Europe that they dwell on it less than I do.

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The Tom Collins

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.

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