Gentleman Caller

My handsome Gentleman Caller

My Eve app is telling me I am fertile right now.  I guess that is why I wanted to devour this handsome fella at the dog park today.

Alas, no man has come a calling in a while so I'll just have to drink my sorrows in this Gentleman Caller.  

This is one of those drinks that has classic specs and can be quite versatile.  In fact, I originally made it with the rhum agricole, but changed it to gin when I saw we had too many rum drinks on the menu. Is that possible?  I think not. 

This drink has been names one of the best cocktails of 2016 and has been published in a St-Germain cocktail book called How To Drink French Fluently.  In the book I subbed out the hard to find genet for St-Germain.  See?  I told you it was versatile.

Aperitif and digestives are an essential part of the ritual for eating and drinking.  We are a restaurant/bar and our cocktails are tailor made to go with that experience of eating and drinking in harmony.  The Gentleman Caller is a light aperitif cocktail consisting of Aperol, Fino sherry, Genepy and gin.  The bitter full brightness of the Aperol and Genepy (an herbal French liqueur) prepare the mouth and belly for food, opening up all your flavor receptors.

The Gentleman Caller was inspired by one of my favorite sherry cocktails, The Adonis, from the Savoy Cocktail Book.  A fine dry sherry like a Fino or Manzanilla is so elegant and complex.  This drink manages to enhance and balance that elegance with other equally complex ingredients. Its a sexy drink too.  Served in a Nick & Nora glass, so named for Nick & Nora Charles in the Thin Man Movies of the late 1930's and 40's.  Nick Charles was a scoundrel but a gentleman all the same.  The Gentleman caller...I like the name as men order the cocktail because they want to be one, and women because they want to have one.

Gentleman Caller

• 1 oz Fino sherry
• 1 oz Gin
• 3/4 oz Aperol
• 3/4 oz Genepy

stir and serve up in a chilled Nick & Nora glass.  Garnish with a twirly mustache of a lemon twist.  I love mustachioed gentleman.  LeSigh!

Life After Tales of the Cocktail

Just add gin and Campari...

My friend Lee saddles up to my bar on the last day of Tales.

"Abigail, can you make a Negroni?"

"Is this a joke?", I snap.

"I have really been enjoying them lately and I though maybe you would know how to make one."

"Come here and let me kiss you, you wonderful beautiful man!"

Yes, of course I can make a Negroni.  And when a riverboat captain comes into my bar on the last day of Tales to ask if I can make one because he has recently discovered that he likes them, I am reminded why I learned to make Negronis.  And Boulivardiers and Americanos and all those other cocktails.  We have started a movement.  And while it is fun to celebrate ourselves and nerd out about ice and pat our selves on the back with awards, I am glad I have friends like Lee who remind me why I am really doing this.. who I am reaching out to and how important those people are the other 361 days it is not "Tales".

Thank you Lee.  I hope you enjoyed your Negronis and come back for more.

Negroni Week

In honor of Negroni Week, we are doing a host of variations at SoBou.  A carbonated classic version, a mezcal version and even a sherry version because it is also Sherry Week!

Here is a popular nergroni variation from last year's summer menu.  

Dizzy Blonde Negroni

Build in soda siphon, batching for 7 cocktails

7 oz  Gin,

7 oz Aperol

7 oz Dolan dry vermouth,

3 ½ oz Cointreau,

3 ½ oz water

served carbonated from a soda siphon into a OF glass filled with ice

Garnish: Grapefruit twist

Both the soda siphon and the batched cocktail should be kept cold in the freezer or refrigerator to get maximum fizziness from the siphon.

This is a light aperitif cocktail.  It would pair well with cured meats, cheese, olives and pickles.  Brunchy food, it would be divine with a quiche.

Good Morning!

Huey P Long giving Cocktail lessons.

If ever there was a town well versed in the Hair of the Dog, New Orleans surely is the shining city on the hill.  Morning drinks are an entire sub category here in the land of 24 hour bars.  The Lovely Ladies of Uptown think nothing of starting the day with a fortifying Brandy Milk Punch.  Every dive bar in the French Quarter makes a glorious Bloody Mary with spicy pickled green beans and okra.  And you can get these drinks to go, thus taking a invigorating perambulation while you take your tonic to shake that dog that bite you the night before. Perhaps the most famous New Orleans morning drink is the Ramos Gin Fizz.

)

Henry C. Ramos invented the Ramos gin fizz in 1888 at his bar, the Imperial Cabinet Saloon on Gravier Street, in New Orleans Louisiana. It was originally called the New Orleans Fizz, and is one of the city's most famous cocktails. Before Prohibition, the bar was known to have over 20 bartenders working at once, making nothing but the Ramos Gin Fizz - and still struggling to keep up with the demand. During the carnival of 1915, 32 staff were on at once, just to shake the drink. The drink's long mixing time (12 minutes) made it a very time consuming cocktail to produce.

The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans also popularized the drink, as did governor Huey P Long’s fondness for it. In July 1935, Long brought a bartender named Sam Guarino from the Roosevelt Hotel to the New Yorker Hotel in New York City to show the staff there how to make the drink, so he could have it whenever he was there. The Museum of the American Cocktail has newsreel footage of this event. The Roosevelt Hotel group trademarked the drink name in 1935 and still makes it today.

The twist that we do at SoBou is to add some house made hibiscus syrup to turn the drink pink, like our Elephant, BarBar.  We also add some Bitterman’s Orange Cream Citrate, like the old time soda jerks used to use to give the drink and extra kick.  With the healing power of protein from the cream and egg, refreshing cooling citrus, sweet and dry from the hibiscus, I’d say this would bring you back from the brink of any illness.

SoBou Gin Fizz

2 oz Beefeater Gin

1 1/2 oz cream

1 egg white

1 oz simple

3/4 oz lemon/lime

1/2 oz hibiscus syrup

dash of vanilla

1 dropper full of Bitterman’s Orange Cream Citrate

Dry shake, without ice, then add ice, shake long and hard.  In a large chilled glass add some soda water on the bottom, pour slowly to build a rich thick creamy head. Top with more soda if necessary.

Keeping Up with the Collins

I must be homesick for NYC...more specifically, my home in Red Hook, Fort Defiance.  Lately my former job and co-workers have been showing up in my dreams.  I figured out that when outside forces threaten me, my sub-conscious goes to my "safe place", The Fort, to work out the problems.

Enough with Psychology 101!  Get to some drinks!  

In honor of the Collins section we used to have at Fort Defiance, I have created my own Collins section at SoBou for our Spring Menu.  Entitled "Keeping up with the Collins", it is a list of refreshing twists on the classic Collins (gin and fizzy lemonade).  I also threw in our most popular cocktail, The Faubourg Tall Boy since it is a combination of a Tom Collins and a Kir Royal.  




Michael Collins
1 1/2 oz Powers Irish Whiskey
3/4 oz Lemon
3/4 oz Lavender syrup

Shake, stop with soda in a collins glass, garnish with fresh lavender



Cumberbatch Collins
1 1/2 oz Gin
3/4 oz lemon
1/2 oz Benedictine
dash of simple
2 slices of cucumber

Shake, stop with soda in a collins glass, garnish with Cucumber



Joan Collins
1 1/2 oz Square One Basil Vodka
3/4 oz lemon
1/2 oz simple
muddled strawberry

Shake, stop with soda in a collins glass, garnish with basil



Phil Collins
1 1/2 oz Barrel aged Bols Gevever
3/4 oz Cointreau/simple
3/4 oz lemon

Shake, stop with soda in a collins glass, garnish with fresh thyme

The Next Battleground: The Old Fashioned

Yes! 19th Century Old Fashioned

In recent years, we historically minded bartenders have fought the good fight for the case of the Martini.  A Martini is a drink consisting of Gin, Vermouth and sometimes bitters with a twist.  They are not made with vodka and no vermouth, and they are not Dirty.  They certainly DO NOT have any fruity thing like Apple pucker, pom or choco tacked on to the front of them.  They can be served in a martini glass, though I prefer an classic Nick & Nora.  If you like Vodka in a martini glass with no vermouth, you just ordered chilled Vodka in a Martini glass.  That, in no way, is a Martini.  If you do not like the taste of vermouth (and I keep my vermouth chilled and fresh so you really should like its delicious taste) then no amount should go into your Vodka drink.  Since Vodka, by its very nature, has no odor or taste, it won't matter if I make your drink "dry" or extra dry.  I splash or a full ounce, all you will taste will be vermouth.   


I could go on, but you know what I am talking about, right?  PS...if you really are afraid of Gin, try my Vesper.  It has converted 9 out of 10 dirty vodka drinkers when made by my hands.  What really helps is the story, and that is where we bartenders can flourish and nail the sale.

Em..No, thanks. 20th Century Old Fashioned.

While this battle obviously rages on, I see a new battlefield opening up.  The Old Fashioned.  I'll admit, as a young drinker, I was besotted with that mush of orange and cherry.  It was like a Shirley Temple for grown ups.  I always knew it was too sweet and asked for extra bitters and eventually requested no sugar at all.  Extra bitters, no sugar, nice cherries, bitter orange rind, the 20th Century Old Fashioned (as we called it at Fort Defiance) is not a terrible drink in the right hands.  Some drinks still demand this fruity slush, such as the Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned.


But a true Old Fashioned is from the 19th century and one of the oldest cocktails ever made, hence the name and the fabulous story that goes with it.  Bartenders...convert your customers with the story of how the Old Fashioned got its name and see your educated customers flourish with your sales.

The Story of the Old Fashioned

May 13th, 1806 Hudson, NY- the first recorded date of the definition of the word cocktail.   Spirit, bitters, sugar, water.  Boom.  That is it easy peasy.  It was basically a bittered Sling.  It was a drink, singular, like the Martini, not a class of drinks (see above).  Introduce ice and fresh citrus peel and you have got a more modern looking Cocktail.  More specifically, you have what we at Fort Defiance called the 19th Century Old Fashioned.  But when did the drink become old fashioned?  Well flash forward to the 1860's-1880's.  This is bartending's first golden age, the days of Jerry Thomas, Only William and the Bon Vivants.  You have all sorts of mustachioed barkeeps in vests and diamond stick pins making all sorts of drinks, lighting Blue Blazer's on fire and putting on a show behind the bar (sound familiar?).  Well an old timer would stumble into one of these new-fanagled saloons and order a Cocktail, you know, the DRINK.  Well these wise ass bartenders or "Mixologysts", as they called themselves, would ask what kids of fancy cocktail the old timer wanted.  After all they were trained and well versed in all sorts of cocktail creations, fizzes, flips, bucks, improved cocktails etc...


"No!  Just stop high there, fancy pants!", I imagine the salty old timer saying.  "I just want a cocktail, an OLD FASHIONED cocktail!"  There is the magical moment in the story.  "And shave that mustache, you hippie", he might have added in my imagination.


And there is how the Old Fashioned got its name.  So mix one up...its so easy to do at home and I can do it even when the cupboards are bare.  That reason is probably why the Old Fashioned is the most popular drink in this household.  The cupboards are often bare.  


Raise a glass to the old timers who just want an Old Fashioned cocktail!


The 19th Century Old Fashioned
2 oz Spirit (Whiskey, rum, tequila, gin etc...)
sugar cube or bar spoon of simple syrup or maple or honey
Bitters (oh just have fun and pick 1 or 2)
Citrus Twist


Build in an Old Fashioned glass (duh) and stir in big rocks.  Twist a spiral or large swath of citrus.  Mostly Lemon, but lime for rum is awesome and grapefruit for tequila and mezcal rocks my world.  This drink gets better as it sits.

Don't Go Crazy But...

...Fortified wine and alcohol has been proven to actually help the overweight PREVENT diabetes!  Good thing I am really into creating vermouth, amaro and sherry cocktails now.  And lower alcohol drinks are very refreshing and pair well with food.  


As always, I should stress that this applies to moderation, moderation, moderation.  But still, as a gal with a bit of extra goose in her caboose who likes to eat and drink, this makes me feel a bit better.


Think I'll celebrate with a Juju Martini.  Julia Child (her hubby called her Juju) loved this upside-down version of a classic Martini.  It is a delightful aperitif for what looks like a fine Spring-like day.

Juju and Paul...J'adorable!

Juju Martini


2 1/2 oz Noilly Pratt french vermouth
3/4 oz Gin (I like Plymouth in this one)
dash Orange bitters
Lemon Twist.


Stir over cracked ice in a mixing glass, strain into chilled coup when very cold. Garnish with a lemon twist, expressing the oils onto the surface of the drink.


Alcohol Helps Prevent Type 2 Diabetes, Especially in the Overweight
[Wine Spectator]

The Speakeasy

This week I was lucky enough to appear on my friend and comrade in cocktails, Damon Boelte's radio show, The Speakeasy.  Have a listen!  It was so good to be back in a radio booth, even if it was in shipping container attached to the back to a pizza joint in Bushwick.  My dad was a radio broadcast journalist so this kind of stuff comes quite naturally to me.  It was an extra special episode as he was still recovering from his win at Star Chefs for best mixologist!  We had a great time and enjoyed some fine pizza and beer.  It was a perfect Sunday afternoon...if I had a job that actually allowed Sunday afternoons.  We are already planning an all musical episode with booze songs.  Rock-n-Roll and Booze..well its just too perfect!

Swag Cocktail

I collected some of my loot (yes, all survived unbroken in my luggage) from Tales of the Cocktail and made a nice refreshing cocktail on this sunny hot NYC day. I used my ice spear mold to make a nice tall drink with Summer Edition Beefeater Gin and Sence Rose nectar. This is the same Rose nectar they use in the $21 cocktails at Daniel. But I'll make it for you for fee...if you come over before I run out. And bring more tonic!

Swag Cocktail

2oz Beefeater Summer Edition Gin
2oz Sence Rose Nectar
Fentiman's Tonic Water
3 lime wheels

Pour ingredients over 3 ice spears in a tall Collins glass. Garnish with lime wheels in glass.

Maya's Flying Greyhound

Not Maya. She needs to be a bit older...

Today I had the honor of meeting Ms. Maya Rose, the newborn daughter of my dear friends Rachel and Ross. Mr and Mrs Cocktail Daddy were there too, so I guess I should not have been surprised to be offered a Corpse Reviver no. 2 soon after my arrival.

We played, bounced and sang to baby Maya harmonies from Big River, but when our glasses were empty it was time for me to play again. I looked in the fridge and found some luscious pink grapefruits. One was squeezed and then tossed in a shaker with Plymouth Gin, Maraschino liqueur and a touch of Creme de Violette. Voila! A Flying Greyhound!

Maya, I hope you go down to sleep like the drink; sweet and easy! And I think I may have found my calling as the bartending babysitter! I do love milk cocktails....

The Empire Room

Right across the street from the Irish pub famous for being "The Bar That Banned Danny Boy" is the entrance to the latest throwback to the golden age of cocktails. The Empire Room in the Empire State Building may have been a former post office, but the cocktail palace has been outfitted in retro art deco splendor. The circle theme in the newly restored lobby are echoed in the decor; on the carpet, circular cozy bar stools and even mammic lighting fixtures. And the C shape of the bar would make Stephen Colbert proud.

Lux chandeliers with teardrop crystals and mirrored back bar help light up the room. As did the flashing lights from the Fire Marshall's tests of the alarm system. Yes, it is opening day and there are some kinks that still need to be worked out. But the staff, dapper barkeeps in white jackets, vests and ties and beautiful hostess gals in black dresses and pearls, were eager to serve up classic cocktails. But I have to say, hearing the New Yawk-ese of the Fire Marshall announcing that this was only a test, was a fun reminder of the real working class roots that created this historic building in the first place.

I have always been partial to the Deco masterpiece that is the Chrysler Building and have heard tales of the glorious state of decay that the fabled Cloud Room is in. But that room is still a myth to me. The mad men behind the Cambell Apartment have brought The Empire Room to reality. And in the cocktail wasteland that is mid-town, it is a welcome addition. In fact, last year during a Mad Men sponsored promotion, my Cocktail Daddy (and new Daddy, Ross) and I were sorely disappointed with the weak cocktail lists at supposed "New York Cocktail rooms".

So lets get to the drinks. I started with The Astor, a tasty mix of Bombay Sapphire Gin, lemon and orange juice, Batavia Arrack and sencha tea. The orange juice was fresh squeezed, but overpowered the rest of the ingredients in the drink. Still a tasty concoction, maybe with a different gin, or a lighter hand with the juice. My poor flamed orange peel got scorched and did not make a pretty presentation, but this seemed like another opening day kink that will work itself out.

Honoring the sacred Prohibition Gin, there are many gin cocktails on the menu and each uses a different gin. My second cocktail highlighted the particular gin better. The Empire, the signature drink of the room, is made with Bluecoat Gin, orange liqueur, raspberry-orange marmalade and topped with champagne. I overheard a bartender telling a customer it was sweet, and mine was. Especially was since he forgot to add the champagne. But while I contemplated asking him if he forgot it, he made another one and rushed over to my glass (I thoughtfully made room by taking a few sips) and filled it to the brim with tasty bubbles. To be fair, the proper glassware, a larger glass to warrant the $16 price tag, was MIA, but again it was the first day. The twirly whirly peel garnish was gorgeous on this drink. In fact all the garnish looked beautiful. I was disappointed that there was not nicer tools, however. The bar napkins were thin, the picks were branded with a vodka and there is no cold draft ice here. Perhaps I have become a snob about these things, but these are the little touches that make some other bars so special. And since the environment is a big factor in The Empire Room, I'd like to see that Deco lux across the board. Especially if I am paying $14 a cocktail.

Another thing missing opening day was the food. Truffled popcorn, sliders and other popular bars snacks will all be available soon. Oh hum..I guess I'll have to go back. Twist my arm.

The kinks are minor and I look forward to trying some other classics on the menu soon with my dashing Cocktail Daddy! I love me a nice Bramble and their berries look luscious. Its certainly a nice place for a midtown after work drink.

Wear something nice and shiny, sweetheart. Something that shows off yer figure!

"Off The Menu-The Empire Room"
[NY Times]

We Can Do It!

PAMA Pomegranate Liquor invites you to celebrate Rosie the Riveter's 90th Birthday!

March 12th would have been the 90th Birthday of this true American Icon. In her honor, LeNell Smothers created a cocktail that embodies her can-do spirit that has captured the hearts and minds of Americans for decades.

Join us on Tuesday March 9th From 6-8pm at Rye House (11 W. 17th st) for a Rosé the Riveter cocktail to toast this true American Icon!

LUPEC NY founding members Lynnette Marrero and Eryn Reece will be slinging cocktails for Rosie's birthday behind the bar at Rye House, a new American gastropub nominated for multiple Time Out Reader's Choice awards.

LeNell herself might also make an appearance via Skype from Mexico! Don't miss this chance to drink once again with LeNell Smothers!

If you are a Tweeter RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/rosietheriveter

Three Centuries of Gin

Pineapple Julep

Last week during the Snowpocalypse 3.0, the Summit Bar hosted a Fish n' Chips n' Sips event honoring 300 years of Gin cocktails. Plymouth, Beefeater and Beefeater 24 each took on a century's worth of classic Gin cocktails. Dashing barmen Simon Ford, Chris Patino and Jamie Gordon were our tour guides through 300 years of classic Gin Cocktails.

I decided to go chronologically and start with Mr. Ford in the 19th Century. Plymouth Gin was used as it is the oldest gin in this pantheon. I like Plymouth because it has a nice light, clean flavor. When playing Bartender's Choice at a local watering hole in NYC, they will often ask what spirit and if your prefer it shaken (with citrus) or stirred (boozy as hell). Well you can imagine RyeGirl often goes for a boozy Gin cocktail, and she usually gets served the Bijou. Its one of those equal parts cocktails that can start to all taste the same after you have had a few...so take my word for it and do not have a few. Not only will everything taste the same, but your head will spin and you might end up in the gutter! Or at Gutter!

19th Century recipes

Bijou Cocktail
Source: Harry Johnson’s Bartenders Manual 1888
1 Part Plymouth™ Gin
1 Part Dry Vermouth
1 Part Green Chartreuse
1 Dash of Orange Bitters

Stir with shaved ice and strain into a cocktail glass (preferably a coup). Garnish with a cherry and a squeeze of lemon peel for the oils.

Twitter: #Bijou

The Next Drink Mr. Ford served up was from a gorgeous flowing punch bowl. It was called a Pineapple Julep. That the same and the sweet light taste immediately led me to thinking about The Kentucky Derby. To be honest, if a Mint Julep is not made proper-like, I can only stomach one of the Classic Derby drinks. But this Julep I could see myself drinking all day long while I saunter about in my Derby hat. This might be a great punch to have backstage for all up special VIP's at the Boyd's Kentucky Derby party this year.

Pineapple Julep
Source: Jerry Thomas 1862 (Served as a punch)
4 Parts Plymouth™ Gin

4 Parts Raspberry Syrup
4 Parts Maraschino Liqueur
4 Parts Fresh Orange Juice
1 Bottle of Sparkling Wine

Peel, slice and cut pineapple into a glass bowl, add the juice of two oranges, raspberry syrup, maraschino, Plymouth™ Gin, a bottle of sparkling wine and a pound of ice; mix and orname

nt with seasonal berries and serve in a flat glass.

Twitter: #PineappleJulep

Once we get into the 20th century, Cocktails begin to take on a familiar shape. They all become strange variations of the Manhattan and its accompanying Boroughs. The Income Tax below is a Sweet Vermouth version of The Bronx. And yes, Virginia, there was a Brooklyn, a Toronto, even a Red Hook during this time as well! I can totally see my Great Grandfather

sipping on this cocktail while waiting for my Great Grandmother. They met at the Waldorf-Astoria and worked there when Johnnie Solon did. Maybe that is why my Gramps was heavy in the sweet vermouth in his Manhattans.

20th Century recipes

The Income Tax Cocktail
Source: Johnnie Solon, Waldorf-Astoria early 1900’s

1 ½ Parts Beefeater® London Dry Gin
½ Part Sweet Vermouth
½ Part Dry Vermouth
1 Part Fresh Orange Juice
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice. Shake and strain. Garnish with an orange twist.

Twitter: #IncomeTax

The Last Word is another great equal parts classic cocktail and one of my favorites. A version with Rye is on the back on my business card. I have been told that that is the Final Ward since Phil Ward liked to make that drink. But create it? Mr. Patino shrugged. If we have learned anything from our extreme cocktail geekdom, it is that there are a million versions and variations on everything. Somebody may have slapped a name on it, or maybe they just called it a Last Word with Rye. Go to Mud Puddle books and find out for yourself!

The Last Word
Source: Frank Fogarty, Detroit Athletic Club 1920s
¾ Part Beefeater® London Dry
¾ Part Lime Juice
¾ Part Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
¾ Part Green Chartreuse

Combine all ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice. Shake and strain. Garnish with a maraschino

cherry.

Twitter: #LastWord

Jamie Gordon took us headfirst into the 21st century with some loves aromatic cocktails that played with the new foodie obsession that out society is going through now. Spices that compliment or enhance the Gin's botanical and fresh seasonal ingredients are clearly the way of the 21st century. The Beefeater 24 even has three additional botanicals added; two teas (Japanese sencha and Chinese green) and grapefruit peel.

London's Indeed Calling

21st Century Recipes

London’s Calling
Source: Jamie Gordon, 2010
2 Parts Beefeater 24™
2 Parts Paprika-Infused Fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice
1 Part Chardonnay Honey Syrup*
2 Dashes Lemon Bitters

*To make chardonnay honey syrup, use one part chardonnay, one part honey and one part water; then add in a few coriander seeds.

Shake and strain into a coup glass, and garnish with discarded zests of grapefruit and lemon.

Twitter: #LondonsCalling

Chamomileon Collins
Source: Jamie Gordon, 2010
1 ½ part Beefeater 24™
1 part Fresh Lemon juice
¾ part Chamomile Syrup*
Top Lavender Soda

*To make chamomile syrup, use one part strong chamomile tea and one part sugar.

Add Beefeater 24™, lemon juice, and chamomile syrup to a mixing glass and shake with ice. Pour over fresh ice into a highball glass, and top with lavender soda. Garnish with a lemon wedge and chamomile and lavender flower.

Twitter: #ChamCollins

Me and My Collins

We ended the night with cake and a birthday song for Mr. Jamie Gordon! And then headed into the blizzard, well fortified from the elements.

Here's to the 22nd century and all the pleasures Gin will bring us until then!

Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin

Love is Like a Bottle of Gin by Cynthia B

I have mentioned on my other blog my love for this project involving graphic artists and the 69 Love Songs concept albums from The Magnetic Fields. But this one fits on RyeGirl. Especially since I have given in to the Snowpocalypse and weird lung infection of 0'10 and am drowning my restless sorrow in gin.

Sin, a natural pairing with Gin, is not really an option as I have recently discovered I actually have very strong moral values. Dang it.

I need another martini. Its going to be a long, lonely life tonight. Thank goodness I have The Magnetic Fields.

The Henry Higgins

The Henry Higgins

Today is a very special day. It is the birthday of my Cocktail Daddy, Kent Pierce!

As a news reporter for Channel 8 WTNH in New Haven, I know he was very busy working during this Snowpocalypse we are having here in the tri-state area. But he did reward himself with a birthday cocktail of a Dry Gin Martini with an olive. I went into my kitchen to raise a glass to the great man and fully expected to make the same but, horror!, I have run out of dry vermouth! Well, I always have that old bottle that has been on my cart for ages, but I would not dare use that for a cocktail in honor of Kent Pierce!

So after settling on some Bluecoat Gin, I searched for a tasty compliment to add the RyeGirl twist to this cocktail. I was thinking of a Martinez instead, but then discovered a bottle of Tremontis Myrtle Liqueur rescued form the Winebow Spirits show on Monday. A touch with the Bluecoat stirred over ice and I had a perfect twist on the Kent Pierce Birthday drink.

I named this drink in honor of the character Kenton played in High School. I was his Eliza Doolittle, natch. I think Professor Higgins, by all counts a worldly and learned man, would have appreciated the Italian twist that brings a dry London gin flavor to the refreshing, very American Bluecoat Gin. Italians don't speak English, and in American they haven't spoken it for years!

Happy Birthday, Darling!

Oh! And if you want to see his hot "Treated, Not Treated" Road report..here it is!

The Happiest of Hours

Ask not for whom happy hour tolls...

It is hard to be on Smith Street in Brooklyn these days and not get pulled into one of my favorite haunts. Renee at Zombie Hut served be the first hot cider of the season yesterday warming my blustery wind tossed soul.

And of course no visit to Brooklyn would be complete without a stop in at The Clover Club. They are moving the staff up there quickly. My bartender was in training the last time I was in, but he knew the drinks and shakes them like a pro now. They still had their summer menu out, and although I was disappointed not to try some fall cocktails, this was assuaged by the fact that the specials were almost half off. That right...a Happy Hour at the Clover Club! Hot damn, that means I can have two! And maybe have some chips fried in duck fat with truffles and just break a twenty!

Since it seemed like a recession special, I decided to take a recession vacation during happy hour. I started with the Roman Holiday; a refreshing collaboration of gin, Aperol, St Germain, Riesling, lemon and soda, served on the rocks in a big thin white wine glass. The grapefruit peel and the grapefruit notes in the Aperol counteracted the sweetness of the St Germain and wine perfectly. I tried imagining myself under Roman skies in a lovely outdoor cafe be romanced by Gregory Peck, but the Riesling just made me think of Gregory Peck from the Boys in Brazil. Ok. Maybe I should be in Bavaria, being romanced by a handsome German prince instead.... Ja, wunderbar.

Next I went to Cuba for a Hemingway Daiquiri. The theme here is the fresh grapefruit. Rum, maraschino liquor, lime, grapefruit and sugar. So simple and yet so delicious.

Two cocktails later (I skipped the chips so I could be a bigger tipper...recession, you know) I was happy! Its a recession miracle! And I was ready to Mambo out of there.

Johnny Castle? Where are you? Baby needs to Mambo!

The Crash of 1929

I am working a wedding tomorrow and have created the cocktail list for the happy couple. The theme of their gathering is 1929. Not as terrible as you might think. One half of the couple is European, so Prohibition was not really a factor. And while we may be suffering through a terrible economic crisis, why not remember the free wheeling days right before the crash?

The list features some twists on the classics and a new cocktail created just for the happy pairing!

The Floradora was named after the first Broadway musical hit in the 1900's, which originated in London (where the engagement took place). I first enjoyed this drink at the gifted hands of my friend Meliz, who was working at Brooklyn's Sample on Smith st at the time.

Floradora
1 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz framboise liqueur
ginger ale
lime wedge for garnish

The Twentieth Century cocktail seemed like an obvious choice since I have access to loads of chocolate mint. It will make a pretty cocktail with bits of mint floating on the glass like all the money pissed away in the last decade of war and financial decadence.

The Twentieth Century
1 1/2 oz Saaga Vodka
1/2 oz white creme de cacao
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
1/4 oz fresh lemon juice


The Pegu Club Cocktail is a classic cocktail from the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. This is a rare shaken gin drink, so in honor of the frostbite my hands will be getting tomorrow, I have substituted Cointreau with Blue curacao and orange flower syrup for a more festive look.

The Blue Pegu
2 oz gin
3/4 oz Blue Curacao
1/2 oz lime juice
2 dashes Grapefruit bitters
lime wedge or peel for garnish
Orange flower Simple syrup to taste

This drink was created for the couple. It is simple and elegant and very delicious.

Baritarian Rose Cocktail

2oz Saaga Vodka
1/2oz Crème de Violette
Drops of rose water
Lavender syrup
Top with soda water or sparkling wine

There will also be a French 75 punch. And myself in a flapper dress. And Walker in white hot pants and moustache, I hope!

Ahh..good times!

Mad for Gin and Tonic

My favorite hot summer drink in my favorite retro hat

Its day two of Mad Men-athon here as we get ready for the season three premiere this Sunday. Season two has been on all day and has been my soundtrack as I shuffle around the apartment drinking wine ala Betty..I mean...work from home.

But now that the sun has passed below the horizon, its time for a cocktail. So in honor of poor Betty I will jazz up a Gin and Tonic. I used Rouge's Spruce gin which had a funky spruce (go figure) taste I love. Fitting for a Gin from the Pacific Northwest, I think. I also spruced (ha! the puns keep coming!) the gin up with some Bitter Truth Bitters. A couple of dashes of Celery and Lemon to herb it up will do nicely. Then top it off with organic tonic, add lemon wheel and retro straw. Ahh...now I am ready to swizzle my way through the rest of season two and this sultry evening.

Betty's Gin & Tonic
3oz Gin
4oz Tonic
Dash of Celery & Lemon Bitters

All about the Brown

David Chang opened up a corner in his Momofuku Saam bar for a real bar earlier this year. This small area houses only brown liquor and the cocktail creativity of Don Lee (PDT). That is good enough for me.

Having spent all day without food at the NY Bar show, I was looking forward to some greasy products du pork. But how could I resist a bartenders choice with my favorite spirit, Rye?!

I was served a version of the Last Word, a classic with equal parts lime, Maraschino, green chartreuse, and Gin (but in my case, Rye). It was a healthy pour in a thick Japanese rocks glass. It was delicious and actually went quite well with my pork buns, snap peas, muscles, bread and butter (with whipped lardo). Yes...we feasted. But the real stand out was the spicy rice cakes with pork sausage and the BBQ rib sandwich. I want to marry that sandwich and take it to Niagara Falls I love it so much.

Despite the fact that I was ready to waddle out of there, the lovely Anna Margaret blessed us with more food (pusher!) including cookies to go from the Milk Bar next door. Thanks to the cookies in the now greasy bag, I now have eaten nothing but Momofuku for two days now! Boy, am I happy!

Milk Bar Cookie Grease

Happy New Year!

2009 Heights Party Punch aka, Tomas Collins
Gin
White Wine
Lillet
Tonic
Grapefruit bitters

Toss in the fishbowl with some ice and stumble downstairs to party with the boys and ring in the New Year!
Lemon sorbet