Five Classic Cocktails for a Distinguished Gentleman

While times are changing for the better, most men drink cheap beer, highballs, or sugar-filled shots. Thanks to the growing classic cocktail trends in today's large city bars, the growing number of small distilleries and breweries, and television shows like Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire, more and more are becoming interested in better quality products and more traditional drinks. The mid to late 19th century was the Golden Age of mixed drinks, led by the 'grandfather of mixology,' Jerry Thomas, who in 1862 was the first to publish an all-encompassing tome of bartending. Many great drinks and products were lost during Prohibition, and while the practice of drinking well did continue to a lesser extent from the 1930's until the 1960's, it is for the most part the great classics from the Golden Age that survive today. A distinguished gentleman appreciates these drinks for their taste and history, and cares for the manner in which they are made. This sophisticated man knows there is only one Martini, that anything called a "cocktail" must contain bitters, and that an Old-Fashioned must never contain juice or soda. Below are five classic drinks for this distinguished gentleman.

(As per the previous posts on Classic Cocktails for a Fancy Lady, drink-preference should not be gender specific, and the purpose of this post is historical. Furthermore, should any lady deem herself too dangerous to be fancy, any of the following make excellent substitutes as cocktails for a femme fatale.)

Old-Fashioned
This is the drink with the most variations, the source of so many debates, the biggest growing popularity, yet one of the most misunderstood. Thanks to Donald Draper on TV's Mad Men (who, by the way, makes a terrible Old-Fashioned), this drink is now ordered by droves of non-experienced drinkers. This is an exciting trend. The disappointing news is that practices from the dark ages of drinking (the 1970's to the 1990's) are still alive today, and the drink is often ruined or just unrecognizable. It is a finicky drink to maintain the balance of so few ingredients, and of course most everyone prefers his or hers a slightly different way. The drink’s history is a confusing one because it refers to a style and not one particular drink. In the early to mid 19th century, The Sling was a popular mixed drink that contained only spirit, sugar, water, and perhaps a grate of nutmeg. At some point bitters was added to the mix, birthing the “Bittered Sling,” which came be known as the “Cock-tail.” Faster than you can mix one up, variations were born. Fruits here and liqueurs there muddled up the original, and purists and old-farts began to request their Cock-tails the “old-fashioned way.” Over time this simply became an “Old-Fashioned.” Anything beyond the Bittered Sling recipe is not an Old-Fashioned, though very small embellishments included in Jerry Thomas’ variations (namely orange or lemon oil) are welcomed. The recipe below is from “Modern American Drinks” by George Kappeler in 1895, and is the best way to make a proper Old-Fashioned. (Note the absence of juice, muddling, soda, or any liqueur.) The type of bitters and spirit is up to the drinker and trying new combinations makes for a multitude of exciting options (try brandy and Peychaud’s, tequila and chocolate, or gin and Boker’s for example).

2oz whiskey
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1/2tsp of sugar (or one small sugar cube)
1 piece of lemon peel

Dissolve the sugar with a little water in a whiskey-glass [Old-Fashioned or rocks glass]; add bitters, a small piece ice, a piece lemon-peel, and whiskey. Mix with a small barspoon and serve.

"A small piece ice" can be substituted today with a few nice cubes (don't ruin the drink with small, watery ones), and the lemon peel can be swapped for orange if you please. Express the oil of the peel over top of the drink for best effect. A common practice is to soak the sugar in both water and bitters before adding ice and spirit.

Sazerac
Ordering this drink more than five years ago would have gotten you strange looks. Because of its history and fantastic taste, it was and is an obscure favourite among cocktail enthusiasts. Many claims are made to it being the oldest cocktail, but this is not true. We’ve tracked its inception to 1850's New Orleans in a slightly different form than we most often enjoy now. The Sazerac is the product of two smart men: one who imported the Sazerac de Forge et Fils, and the other who changed the name of his bar to "Sazerac House," where the cocktail was first made and became popular, thus naming it the "Sazerac Cocktail." Peychaud's bitters was literally made down the street, so it was the obvious choice. The first printed recipe in 1908 called for “good whiskey” (which in New Orleans means straight rye) at which point Cognac had become less abundant. The drink's flavour is dry and spicy, and the union of Peychaud's, absinthe, and rye (or Cognac for that matter) is something truly special. Again, the process of making the drink is important for both flavour and anticipation, so follow it closely. Use a good quality spirit, preferably a higher-proof and spicy rye, absinthe if you can, raw sugar, and lastly you can substitute Bitter Truth Creole Bitters for Peychaud's (but go with one fewer dash as it's more potent).

2 oz straight rye whiskey [or Cognac]
1 sugar cube
2-3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
Absinthe
Lemon peel

Fill an Old-Fashioned or Sazerac glass with cracked ice. Put the sugar in a mixing container, add the bitters and a little water and let dissolve. Add the whiskey, fill with ice, and stir. Dump the ice out of the glass and pour in a little absinthe, and roll around to coat the glass before discarding. Strain the whiskey mixture into the glass, then express the oil from the lemon peel over top and drop it into the glass.

Manhattan
This one is the probably the most famous and enduring of all classics, enjoyed by many in literature and film, particularly gentlemen, but also by bad-news ladies like Marilyn Monroe in “Some Like It Hot.” Vermouth entered the mixed drink equation sometime in the 1870's, drastically changing things for generations to come. Suddenly cocktails weren't just spirits with small additions of liqueurs, bitters, sugars, and sometimes fruits. Now spirits shared the spotlight or even had a supporting role in many popular drinks. Arguably the first of these was the Manhattan, made at the Manhattan Club in, yes, Manhattan. Its first mention was in the 1870’s, its first recipe in 1884, and the closest recipe to what we use today appeared in 1892. Early incarnations included maraschino, absinthe, gum syrup, and no whiskey specification, but the drink simplified over time. The type of whiskey and bitters are still optional, and like the Old-Fashioned make for very different drinks. A higher-proof whiskey mixes better, with rye being drier and spicier and bourbon being fuller and sweeter. Always stir, never shake, serve up and not on the rocks, and the garnish is always optional.

2oz whiskey
1oz sweet vermouth
2-3 dashes bitters

Add ingredients to a mixing glass, add ice, stir, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a real cherry, or a citrus peel (optional).

Martini
The Manhattan-style cocktail at times contained gin instead of whiskey, which became known as the Martini - the same drink save the spirit choice. The origins of the Martini are some of the most disputed of them all, numerous ones appearing around the same time, but the concept remained the same. The Turf Club is the simplest, while The Fourth Degree contained absinthe, and The Martinez contained maraschino and twice the amount of vermouth. The later and most popular incarnation, The Dry Martini, made an important change in recipe: swapping Italian vermouth for French. As time wore on after Prohibition, Martinis got drier and drier, reducing the vermouth down to smaller and smaller amounts. In the later half of the 20th century good-quality vermouths were harder to come by and the lack of knowledgeable bartenders left it sitting on shelves instead of fresh and in the fridge, and the vermouth became essentially non-existent. Furthermore, James Bond confused many by calling his Kangaroo Cocktail a "Vodka Martini" (which even confused the Bond girl). A classic gentleman does not drink a Martini with vodka, though will sometimes drink it dry. However, a Martini without dry vermouth or bitters is not a Martini. Below is the classic 1890's version, in which you can reduce the amount of vermouth and swap the orange peel for a lemon if you please. The olive is a later addition, and can mask the flavours of the drink, but to each his own. Be sure to use fresh vermouth - it is wine and should be kept in the fridge and will spoil and then ruin your drink. Choose a good gin and a great vermouth.

2oz gin (Old Tom traditionally, but London Dry works just fine)
1oz dry vermouth
1 dash orange bitters

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Squeeze a piece of orange peel over top.

Negroni
In 1860’s Italy, Gaspare Campari invented the most famous of amari, aptly named Campari, before settling down and opening a cafe. The signature drink there was the “Milano Torino,” combining Campari from Milan and Cinzano vermouth from Turin then topped with soda. The early 20th century brought an influx of American tourists, among whom the drink found popularity and was renamed the “Americano.” (It found popularity elsewhere too, even being the first drink James Bond ever ordered). In 1919, Count Camillo Negroni asked the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, at the Caffe Casoni for a stronger version of this drink by swapping the soda with gin. This drink subsequently became wildly popular in Europe. In 1947, iconic director/actor Orson Welles was working on his film "Cagliostro" in Rome, and spoke to reporters about his new favourite drink, The Negroni, saying "the bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you - they balance each other." It wasn't long before the drink became popular in the U.S., though in the more American style it was enjoyed up rather than on the rocks. The three ingredients balance and accent each other beautifully, and as such the Negroni structure has been used for numerous variations and new concepts. The most notable - drinks also worthy of a distinguished gentleman - are the Boulevardier, which replaces the gin with bourbon, and the Old Pal, which switches gin for straight rye and Italian vermouth for French. While Campari is very bitter and therefore an acquired taste, it's a worthwhile one, and the Negroni is a drink bound to be in your life for good.

1oz London Dry gin
1oz Italian vermouth
1oz Campari

Add ingredients together and stir with ice. Strain over rocks in an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a slice of orange a piece of lemon peel.



[Photo: Cary Grant]

Five Classic Cocktails for a Fancy Lady

Taste should not be gender-specific. Good food and drink are enjoyed by any, and there shouldn't be "manly" drinks and "girly" drinks - but there are. There are a few reasons for this:
- Generally, women taste things differently than men - they tend to be more sensitive to flavour, particularly bitter. Because of this sensitivity, women often have more distinguished palates. (Again, this is a generalization, but scientific research does support it).
- In western culture, the woman was seen as the weaker sex and therefore shouldn't be enjoying the same things men do, such as strong drink. This is particularly true for cocktails in the first half of the twentieth century when many a book and magazine told women what they should be drinking in order to be a proper and all-around good lady. These drinks were colourful and sweeter.

In the dark ages of bartending (the 1970's-1990's) the above points were interpreted into drinks involving copious amounts of sugar, artificial colour, drinks with 'feminine' names, and a lot of vodka so as to further disguise the taste of alcohol. Many of the classics had both pretty colours and names but also happened to be great drinks, and strong ones at that. These cocktails were not gender-specific, or often started as a "gentleman's drink" (see the Clover Club) before becoming popular amongst the female folk, likely due to the media and populace deciding that a pink drink should be for a woman.

For this list, I'm taking inspiration from the 1920's to 1940's in particular, when men were gentlemen and women were ladies, and there were excellent drinks on both sides to be enjoyed by all. Should you wish to drink like a fancy lady of the time, below are some classic suggestions.

Clover Club
This light and pink drink predates Prohibition when it was enjoyed by the members of the Philadelphia men's club of the same name. By the 1930's, it had lost popularity, and 1949's "Handbook for Hosts" from Esquire placed it in the "something for the girls" section. If made properly this drink can be drier than expected, using fresh raspberries and not artificial liqueurs or commercial sweeteners. The Okanagan Spirits liqueur is an excellent substitution for real raspberry, tasting both dry and natural. If using a home-made raspberry syrup, bump up the gin and juice or lower the sugar amount. Below is the recipe from Pourhouse in Vancouver, which is fairly close to the recipe of old:

1.5oz London Dry gin
0.5oz fresh lemon juice
0.5oz simple syrup
0.5oz Okanagan Spirits Raspberry Liqueur
1 egg white

Combine ingredients and dry-shake. Then add ice and shake again. Strain into a cocktail coupe.  

French 75
A refreshing start to your evening, particularly a celebratory one due to the addition of sparkling wine. As with any drink, it should be made dry so as to awaken your palate and if so it makes an excellent aperitif. Created in 1915 by Harry MacElhone at the New York Bar in Paris, it was named after the WWI French 75mm field gun - which “packed quite a punch." German officers famously order it at Humphrey Bogart's bar in 1942's "Casablanca." Cocktail historian David Wondrich suggests increasing the gin to 2oz and serving over ice in a Collins glass. While this tastes better, I prefer the drink in more elegant attire. Here is the Savoy Cocktail Book recipe from 1930:

2/3 gin [1oz]
1/3 lemon juice [0.5oz]
1 teaspoon powdered sugar [0.5oz simple syrup]

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a Champagne glass or cocktail coupe, then top with chilled Champagne or a dry sparkling wine (Brut).

Sidecar
This cocktail's origins are of some dispute, as so many are, but while the Ritz Hotel in Paris claims its birthplace, there are earlier and more reputable sources that differ. Harry MacElhone's 1922 cocktail book "Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails" gives credit to Pat MacGarry at Buck's Club in London some time after WWI. It was named after the motorcycle sidecar in which an American army captain was driven to the Paris bistro where the drink was created for him. It is essentially a Brandy Daisy, a style of drink dating to the mid 19th century. There are several recipes, namely the "French school" which has each ingredient at equal parts, and the "London school," which has 2:1:1 brandy to liqueur to lemon. David Embury's very influential "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" in 1948 recommends 8:2:1. I like my drinks dry, and below is my go-to recipe. Avoid the sugar rim, a practice that popped up in the 1930's and is both sticky and unnecessary. This drink is fruity but boozy and perfect for an elegant lady who has come in from the cold. It also happens to be Cointreau's signature drink, a liqueur represented by the fanciest lady alive today: Dita Von Teese.

2oz Cognac or other brandy
0.5oz Cointreau
0.5oz lemon juice

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.

Champagne Cocktail
In the 19th century this drink was one of the very first variations on the “cock-tail,” a combination of spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. Embellishments were inevitable, and the best of them is likely the addition of brandy (technically making this a “Brandy Champagne Cocktail”). Adding this extra punch to the equation balances the sugar much better. This cocktail has shown up in both literature and film, most famously in 1957’s “An Affair To Remember” with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and again in “Casablanca.” Don’t skimp on the bitters, and be sure to use a very dry sparkling wine lest the drink be cloyingly sweet.

1 raw sugar cube
Several dashes of aromatic bitters (Angostura)
1oz Cognac or other brandy (optional)
Champagne or dry sparkling wine

Drop the sugar into a Champagne coupe or glass and soak it in the bitters. Pour in the brandy, then top with the wine. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Arsenic and Old Lace

This one is a little more obscure, but perfectly fit for a classic lady in that it’s floral, light purple in colour, and dry. Descending from the pre-Prohibition Attention Cocktail, this one hails from the 1940’s and was considerably more dry. Modern recipes for both are basically the same, with the Attention having the addition of orange bitters, which makes for a more interesting drink with a less interesting name. The name comes from the black comedy play from 1939 which was later adapted by Frank Capra into a film starring Cary Grant. The story revolves around a drama critic who tries to protect his homicidal aunts who like to murder old men with poisoned elderberry wine. The recipe below changes the classic one by reducing 0.5oz of pastis to an absinthe rinse. Absinthe makes the flavour more complex, but is more potent than pastis and can overwhelm the drink so no more than a rinse is necessary. It employs crème de violette, an ingredient lost for decades until a few years ago. The quality of this violet flower liqueur will determine the overall quality of this drink, so be sure to avoid overly perfumey artificial ones and to balance accordingly.

1.5oz gin
0.5oz dry vermouth
0.25-0.5oz crème de violette
Absinthe rinse

Rinse a cocktail coupe with absinthe by pouring a little into the glass and spinning so it coats the inside before discarding the excess. Stir gin, vermouth, and violette with ice, and strain into the coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist and express the oils over the top of the drink.

Next post (which you can see here) I'll be sharing another five classic cocktails for a lady, then we'll get into those for the gentlemen.
[The science of taste and intoxication and how they relate to gender can be found in the science section of this site.]

New Year's Eve Cocktails

What better night to enjoy some Champagne or sparkling wine than New Year's? Should you be in a cocktail mood, here are some delicious drinks containing sparkling wine perfect for celebrating the arrival of 2013. We'll start with some classics and move on to more contemporary sippers.

The best choice of sparkling wine for mixing is always dry. In fact, the best wine for any use is almost always dry. Also, be aware of the acidity you're adding to the drink when you top with sparkling wine. The carbonic acid will affect the sweetness of your drink, despite the sugar content in the wine itself, which is one of the reasons to choose something dry. When mixing your other ingredients, balance things on the sweeter side, and likewise don't be surprised if you find your drink too sweet before topping with the wine as it will be dried out. French 75's, for example, should be a little sweet before you top them.

A great choice for any use is cava, as these tend to be great quality for how much you pay. Prosecco is great for the same reason, and they also tend to be dry so are excellent choices. Should you choose a North American sparkling wine or a Champagne, look for a "Brut" or "extra Brut", which means the wine is dry (i.e. not sweet). "Sec" refers to high levels of sugar, which is something you want to avoid if mixing (and in my opinion, something you should avoid altogether).

The Champagne Cocktail
1 raw sugar cube
Several dashes of Angostura or other aromatic bitters
Top with Champagne or sparkling wine

Drop the sugar cube into a Champagne flute and soak with the bitters. Top with sparkling wine. 
Garnish with a lemon twist.

This drink dates back to the 1850's and is the first recorded variation on the "cock-tail," a combination of spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. Later variations included the addition of Cognac or brandy, which is in my opinion an excellent choice and I suggest going with 1/2oz. Should you have no sugar cubes on-hand, the original recipes call for 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, or 1 teaspoon of 1:1 simple syrup. Twist as always means just the peel of the lemon with the pith cut off, which you squeeze over the top of the drink to extract the oil.

French 75
1oz gin
1/2oz lemon juice
1 teaspoon of sugar
Sparkling wine

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe or Champagne flute. Top with sparkling wine.

This drink originated at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1915, created by American bar owner Harry MacElhone. The drink was said to "pack a punch like the French 75mm field gun," hence the name. The above recipe is from Harry Craddock's seminal cocktail tome, "The Savoy Cocktail Book," though more modern recipes contain up to 2oz of gin (which I must be honest I prefer). In David Embury's equally as influential cocktail book, "The Art of Mixing Drinks," the recipe claims that Cognac is the true spirit of choice here, lest the drink not be called the "French" 75. However, considering that earlier recipes call for gin and that earlier accounts claim the name comes from the French rifle and not from the spirit, the general consensus is that the drink be made with gin, which in my opinion makes a better drink anyway. Dropping a real cherry into the bottom of the glass adds a nice touch.

Buck and Breck
1.5oz Cognac or brandy
Dash of absinthe
2 dashes Angostura or other aromatic bitters
Sparkling wine

Rinse a small glass or Champagne flute with water. Fill the glass with powdered sugar and throw it out, leaving the glass frosted inside. Pour in the brandy, bitters, and absinthe, then top the glass with cold sparkling wine.

This drink is supposedly created by the grandfather of the cocktail, Jerry Thomas, in the mid 1800's. It is not only a fancy-looking drink, but a more obscure one and very tasty. Should you be without absinthe, absente, pastis, Herbsaint, or pernod will suffice, but be aware of their shortcomings in flavour and complexity in comparison to actual absinthe.

Seelbach Cocktail
1oz bourbon
1/2oz Cointreau
7 dashes Angostura bitters
7 dashes Peychaud's bitters
Sparkling wine

Stir bourbon, Cointreau, and bitters with ice. Strain into a cocktail coupe or Champagne flute and top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a lemon twist.

This was a favourite of mine for a time, and one that I brought to Pourhouse in Vancouver where we included it on our fall menu this year. It comes from the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1917. During Prohibition, the cocktail was lost until the mid-1990's when it was found in the basement of the hotel during renovations. The infamous Gary Regan convinced the hotel management to share their recipe for this spicy drink and now it is available for us all to enjoy. Should you be using other bitters, be aware of their bitterness and adjust accordingly. Bitter Truth Creole Bitters, for example, is more complex and interesting than Peychaud's, but are much more bitters and only require 2-3 dashes.

Death In The Afternoon
1.5oz absinthe
Sparkling wine

Pour absinthe into a Champagne flute and top with sparkling wine (at least 4oz). 

This one was invented by Hernest Hemingway, who was by all accounts a heavy and creative drinker. It was named after his novel published in 1932. This was not the only drink he created, another one of note being the Hemingway Daquiri or Papa Doble, with rum, grapefruit, lime, and maraschino liqueur, which is by all means worth making in the summer. 

Moving on to more modern cocktails, here is a French 75 variation by Dale Degroff using bourbon instead of gin.

French 95
1oz fresh orange juice
3/4oz bourbon
3/4oz simple syrup
1/2oz fresh lemon juice
Sparkling wine. 

Shake the first four ingredients with ice and strain over rocks into a fizz glass. Top with sparkling wine. 

And here are three great original sparkling wine cocktails contributed to this site for previous series.

Jones' Bitter Aperitif (Evelyn Chick, Blue Water Cafe, Vancouver)
1/2oz Amaro Averna

1/4oz Cynar
1/4oz Taylor 10 Tawny Port
Barspoon All-Spice Syrup
Sparkling wine

Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into champagne flute & top with dry cava

All-Spice Syrup:
Boil a tablespoon of crushed allspice berries, one stick of cinnamon, and three cloves in one litre of water. Simmer for 15 minutes on low, then add two litres of sugar. Stir until dissolved, then let cool before bottling. 

The Shibuya Crusta (Shaun Layton, L'Abattoir, Vancouver)

20 ml Hennessy VS Cognac

15 ml Maraschino

30 ml fresh lemon juice

10 ml orgeat syrup

7 dashes Angostura bitters

Cava

Add all ingredients to a shaker tin minus the Cava. Shake, fine strain into sugar decked flute. Top with Cava. Garnish with a long orange peel around the inside of the flute. 

 

And a personal favourite of mine that we still serve by request at Pourhouse, The Bittercup. Two bitter amari along with fresh juices and sparkling wine combine to create a very complex cocktail tasting like bitter strawberry.

 

The Bittercup
1 oz  Campari
1/2oz Fernet Branca
1/2oz real cranberry juice (not cranberry cocktail)
3/4oz fresh grapefruit juice
1/4oz simple syrup
2 oz dry prosecco

Pour all ingredients except prosecco into a shaker. Shake. Taste and balance bitterness with simple syrup (the taste of bitter strawberries is the goal). Double strain into a cocktail glass. Finish with prosecco. 

 

Happy New Year's!

Fernet February: "The Parliament" from The Diamond

Tonight's recipe is a change of pace from what we've seen so far, and a big change of pace for me because of the base: Cachaça. I've never owned a bottle, and I've had very few drinks with it at all. While similar to rum (it's distilled from sugarcane juice, whereas rum is distilled from molasses which is a by-product of extracting sugar from sugarcane), it has a much more raw flavour, and I would describe it as more harsh. It's actually the third most consumed spirit in the world, but a big reason for that is the fact that it's almost all that Brazil drinks (with its national drink being the Caipirinha), and Brazil happens to have a huge population. In fact, only about 1% of Cachaça made in Brazil is exported out of Brazil.

What's not different about tonight's recipe is that it comes from another bar in Vancouver's Gastown. This area does happen to have most of the best food and drink in the city, so that's not really surprising. Hidden, like so many amazing places are here, The Diamond is on the most famous corner in Gastown, across the street from the statue of Gassy Jack. Now, if you're not very observant, you might have trouble finding it because it's above you. The entrance to The Diamond is just a single doorway leading upstairs to what feels like a secret hideout only you and anyone else who has the password knows about. While this speakeasy sort of feel is exciting as you head up there, enjoy a cocktail and look down on the lights and brick streets of Gastown, it does unfortunately also seem to extend to the service, which has been less friendly than I'd like the times I've been there.
However, the drinks are delicious, the menu is smart and full of great choices (including an "Overlooked" section with such gems as The Chrysanthemum), they're open late, and they even offer weekly bartending classes.

My last visit there was exciting for a few reasons - first, it was really late and everything else was closed which lent itself nicely to the ambience, second, I got to try the The Parliament cocktail featured below, and lastly I also got to try a different, off-the-menu Fernet cocktail created by my bartender for the evening, Patrick. He was kind enough to not only make the cocktail for me very near closing time, but also write me out a recipe, which I will also include below.
The Parliament, created by Diamond co-owner, Josh Pape, is harsh on my tongue - again because I don't have a real taste for Cachaça - is complexified by the Fernet, softened by the honey, and tied together with the lime. It is definitely a well-crafted drink. The "Irish Cabana Boy," as Patrick called it, is kind of a variation on The Trinidad Sour, which features a whole ounce of Angostura bitters balanced by orgeat syrup and lemon. It comes off tasting similar, but much less complicated simply because the two amari, while dense themselves, just don't cut through the way Angostura does (as to be expected). It was delicious and exciting, and the first Fernet drink I had tried of this kind (though I moved on to taste a similar idea at The Keefer the following night, but more on that later). It's an excellent post-dinner cocktail. Both the selections tonight are worth a trip to Gastown, but so is most of The Diamond's menu.
If you feel like a late-night, secretive sort of evening of impressive cocktails while looking down on beautiful Gastown, hit up The Diamond - just make sure you don't miss the entrance or forget the password ;)


(the mL measurements are the indended measurements for these drinks, and the oz listed are approximations for home experimentation. Head to Diamond to ensure these are made properly!)

The Parliament

45mL blanco Cachaça                      (1.5oz)
15mL Fernet Branca                        (0.5oz)
25mL fresh lime juice                       (a little more than 0.75oz)
20mL runny honey                           (2/3oz)

Shake hard and fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Spray with grapefruit oil. Enjoy.


The Irish Cabana Boy

30mL Fernet Branca                       (1oz)
25mL Amaro Montenegro              (a little more than 0.75oz)
20mL lemon juice                            (2/3oz)
15mL orgeat syrup                          (0.5oz)
2 dashes absinthe

Shake and fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

[[ see the Fernet February introduction here ]]
[[ see the "Gastown Swizzle" from L'Abattoir here ]]
[[ see the "Dark and Fernet-y" from Rob Roy here ]]
[[ see the "Chinatown Sour" from The Keefer here ]]
[[ see "Pandemonium" from Veneto Tapa Lounge here ]]
[[ see "The Bittercup" from Pourhouse here ]]
[[ see "The Vested Bartender" from Boneta here ]]
[[ see "Parliament Hill" from The Hideout here ]]
[[ see "The Lucky Lady" from The Refinery here ]]
[[ see "The Denny Triangle" from Jamie Boudreau / Canon here ]]

Photography from Scout Magazine

Review: The Hideout

My lady and I made a trip to Seattle in November for the horror exhibit at the EMP (which was amazing), some vintage clothes shopping, some good food and theater, cheap booze (notably Martin Miller's gin, American rye, Carpano Antica, and a beautiful liqueur de violettes), and of course, some cocktails. I knew I had to visit the Zig Zag Cafe because of Murray Stenson's legacy there and the award-winning cocktail menu, but our other night was a wildcard. So, I used Yelp to find the best reviewed bars anywhere near our location in Seattle, as well as Jamie Boudreau's list of Seattle watering holes, and came up with a short list. We checked out websites, cocktail menus where applicable, and of course, pictures. We ultimately decided on The Hideout based mostly on the look and the general description on their website.

Walking into the Hideout we were immediately excited to see a bar with a very different look than what you usually see. The ceilings were sky-high, the lighting was dark, the mood very casual, and the walls were completely covered in local artwork. According to their site, there are over 70 paintings on the walls, staying for weeks to years, and most of the pieces are for sale.
This art continued in some really interesting ways: there is a vending machine near the washroom that sells only small, quirky art pieces, and there is a book on the bar filled with impromptu drawings and writings done by patrons. (I say vending machine, but it's actually a self-proclaimed robot - the Robotic Art Dispenser named Earl 3.0).
While all of this could impart an heir of pretension and hipster-ism, we didn't get that feeling once we sat down for our drinks. The bartenders were very friendly and skilled, and flipping through the art journal we got a good couple hours of entertainment before reaching our unfortunate alcoholic limit.

While the food menu is very limited, the cocktail menu is excellent. The selection of spirits is large and diverse, and the cocktails are modern but not over-complicated with some really interesting ideas. It includes a new classic, the Trident, and an obscure classic from the Savoy Cocktail Book, the Champs Elysees. On top of this they have the following selections that I feel really show how great this bar is:

The Andy Warhol
A Cosmopolitan and a polaroid picture of yourself
(and there was a collection of these pictures for viewing at the bar)

The Hemmingway
A shot of Hornitos, bottle of Carta Blanca, and a Nat Sherman cigarette

Every drink on the menu looked great, and the last drink we tried seemed like a combination you'd only come up with by being really creative, or really crazy (probably both): The Profanity Hill with Blackstrap rum, Fernet Branca, blackberry preserves, and Gosling's ginger beer. This is one of a very small handful of Fernet cocktails that I don't feel are overpowered by the extremely potent Fernet flavours.
We had the pleasure of being served by the lovely and talented bar manager, Kristen, who actually came up with the Profanity Hill cocktail, as well as one I'm going to share below, the Swan. She was very friendly, made some excellent drinks, and was happy to give me the below recipe, which has become a regular addition to my home menu.

All in all, we didn't really have anything negative to say about our experience at the Hideout, other than our disappointment we couldn't drink more (after drinking too much the night before). Great menu, great bartenders, unique decor, and interesting art in all directions. I highly recommend you stop by if you find yourself in Seattle - but for drinks, not for food, as that's just not their thing.
(Their website doesn't seem to have their cocktail menu for you to peruse yourself, but I'm hoping they'll change that soon! If I was deciding on where to go for drinks, their menu would definitely keep them at the top of my list)

The Swan Cocktail
(not to be confused with another couple cocktails online with the same name that feature either very different proportions with Abbott's bitters, or *shudder* stawberry vodka, stawberry liqueur, and creme liqueur. Did I say *shudder* already?)
1&1/2 oz gin
1&1/2 oz dry vermouth
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes absinthe
Combine all ingredients, add ice and shake, strain into a cocktail glass. 

This is a very well balanced cocktail that very interestingly uses a whole 1 and 1/2 oz of dry vermouth - but don't let that scare you if you don't like vermouth. It doesn't taste vermouth heavy at all, but the herbal notes are still present and play well with the gin and absinthe. This is definitely one you must make for anyone who says "I hate vermouth!"
For gin, Kristen used Gordon's. This confused me because Gordon's in my opinion is really not a good gin at all, but perhaps this is a Seattle thing as the bartenders at Zig Zag were using it as well, even on more delicate cocktails. I suggest using something with more interesting herbal character, like Tanqueray, or Hendrick's or Martin Miller's if you have them.

Enjoy! Thanks to Kristen for her skill and hospitality, and thanks to the Hideout for being a great bar.

[[ Check out "Profanity Hill" cocktail here ]]

The Corpse Reviver #2

Today we're going to do a very delicious and refreshing cocktail hailing from 19th century England, but really gaining popularity in the cocktail age of the 1930's. The name is also Halloween-appropriate, even though I'm over a week late...

The History:
The Corpse Revivers are a family of cocktails intended to be hair of the dog, drunk in the morning to cure a hangover. They supposedly showed up in the 1860's, but no recipes were officially published until 1930 in Harry Craddock's seminal cocktail tome, "The Savoy Cocktail Book." Craddock was an American bartender who moved to London during Prohibition, joined the American Bar in the Savoy Hotel in London in 1920 and became one of the biggest names in the art of drink-mixing. He is definitely one of the most influential bartenders as most of us still follow his example and recipes today.

Only a couple kinds of Corpse Revivers survived, the most famous and memorable of which is definitely #2.

The Ingredients:
Should you be new to mixed drinks, here is some general information on the ingredients used in this cocktail:

Cointreau isn't cheap, but you use fairly little in most cocktails. A 375mL bottle, which costs about $18, will last me a few months. It's also comparably priced in B.C. versus most of the U.S., which is always exciting news for us up here.
Cointreau is a high-end triple sec, made by distilling a neutral spirit, infusing it with sweet and bitter orange peels, then bottling it at 80 proof with added sugar. People often use Grand Marnier when a recipe calls for triple sec, but it is actually a curaçao. This uses a brandy base, whereas a triple sec uses a neutral (un-aged) base. While the differences aren't dramatic in a cocktail, I find the taste of Grand Marnier too heavy for light and fruity drinks such as the Corpse Reviver #2, Margarita, or White Lady. 

Lillet is a French aperitif (fortified or aromatized wine or liqueur meant to be enjoyed before food to whet the appetite) consisting of an 85% blend of Bordeaux wines added to a 15% blend of citrus liqueurs. It is aged in oak casks and has a very light and sweet taste. It can can be enjoyed straight or on ice, and is an ingredient in some very delicious cocktails. It runs only about $17 here in B.C. and you can find it in probably any Canadian liquor store. Unfortunately in 1986 Lillet changed its recipe, and is now much sweeter and less bitter than it once was.
Kina Lillet, the original Lillet, which was more bitter ("kina" as in "quina" as in quinine, which was the original bittering agent), is what James Bond asks for by name in his original drink, "The Vesper," in the Casino Royale novel. Cocchi Americano is the best approximation of the original Kina Lillet recipe and is a great product. [2013 Update: fantastic news - Cocchi products are now available in Vancouver so get them while you can!] If you have the option, use Cocchi - it makes for a much more interesting, balanced, and historically accurate drink.
If you get yourself a bottle of Lillet, make sure you refrigerate it with the rest of your fortified wines and after a couple weeks it will start to taste a little funky, so drink up!

As for the absinthe, you can use a pastis or similar substitute. This will give you the anise flavour, but like any ingredient in any food or cocktail, the better quality the parts, the better quality the whole. Absinthe has much more depth, is a little bitter, more herbaceous, and much, much more interesting. Even a few drops make a real impression on the drink, much like a bitters. A very small dash will do the trick, though rinsing the glass or even spraying the glass or the finished drink with an atomizer are more controlled ways to get the anise involved.
Absinthe is not a liqueur, it's not hallucinogenic, and it's not illegal. For more information, should you be interested, I saved all the absinthe information for another post that you can read here.
Be warned, there are no cheap options. However, if you don't drink the absinthe by itself and only use it in cocktails, your bottle will probably last a couple years because you'll only be using dashes at a time. The kinds you can find in BC run about $55-70 per bottle, and if you are going to splurge and get some, I suggest Taboo - which is made right here in B.C. in the Okanagan Valley in the traditional style with wormwood. If you're in the U.S., you have many more options, of which St. George is an excellent one.

As for the gin, any will work and will of course bring out different elements. I suggest using a London Dry style gin as these balance the easiest in shaken drinks and are what the Savoy would have been using in the 1930's. If you have options, try them all and find what you like best.
  For more information on gin, check out these guides on its history, production, types, and brands. 

Lastly, always use fresh juice in your drinks! Using mixers or anything from concentrate will ruin your cocktail and waste your ingredients. Lemons are cheap and you can just squeeze them by hand if you don't have any kind of juicer.

The Corpse Reviver #2:

3/4oz London Dry gin
3/4oz Lillet Blanc (Cocchi Americano)
3/4oz Cointreau
3/4oz fresh lemon juice
1-2 dashes absinthe (or other pastis)

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake, then strain into a cocktail glass (double strain to get rid of any pulp).

The Time:
I'm going to go with the first publication of the drink in 1930 rather than it's earliest incarnations in 1860's.

The 1930's were very much the start of modern life was we know it. The public transportation system was implemented in London, frozen foods became commercially available, sliced bread was sold for the first time, and electricity really took over from gas power and other forms of energy. Science was moving forward faster and faster, with Pluto discovered in 1930, the Chrysler Building built, the jet engine patented, sticky tape invented, and for the first time ever, a television drama was broadcast - "The Man With The Flower In His Mouth" was shown on BBC. Unfortunately, it was also a much more depressing (note my choice of word) decade. Unemployment in the UK reached 1 million and war with Nazi Germany became inevitable. The 30's were a dramatic contrast to the "roaring" and "rich" 1920's.

In music, Bing Crosby made his first solo recording, big band swing was just about to boom, and jazz in general was becoming much more popular across the western world and evolving faster and faster. Swing music was very popular amongst young people, and because of its exciting, sexy, and up-tempo rhythm, became synonymous with dance. Swing dancing involved gyrating all over the dance floor and throwing your partner around and *gasp* moving your hips, so swing music and dancing were banned in many dance halls in both England and the U.S.. Thanks to radio, bandleaders like Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Glenn Miller became house-hold names everywhere, not just dance-club-hold names in major cities.

To a lesser extent than America, jazz was happening in London too. Probably the most famous names were composer/bandleader Ray Noble, who was the His Master's Voice studio bandleader, and Al Bowlly, his regular vocalist. The latter had a very unique voice, and released over 1000 recordings from the 1920's until his untimely death during the Blitz in 1941. He was born in Mozambique, but grew up in South Africa before coming to Europe to pursue his musical ambitions, where he was asked to join Fred Elizalde's band at the Savoy Hotel. Yes, this is the very same Savoy Hotel where Harry Craddock created and served some of the most famous cocktails we know today and wrote his "Savoy Cocktail Book." Bowlly was a very important influence on vocalists, often credited with being the first "crooner," and even the first "pop star." Famous names in music were either instrumentalists, composers, or bandleaders, and Bowlly was one of the first, if not the first singer to release jazz /pop records under only his name (rather than the bandleader's name and featuring a vocalist). He was also the first singer to have his own solo spot on BBC radio.

So, for the Corpse Reviver #2, (which I suggest starting your evening with rather than your day) here is the original crooner himself, Al Bowlly - the "Big Swoon" - with Fred Elizalde's Savoy Hotel band, the way it would have been if you were enjoying yourself at the actual Savoy Hotel in late 1920's London.

Al Bowlly - Sweet and Lovely

10 Things You Should Know About Absinthe

Cocktails and mixology are becoming more and more popular, which means that the general knowledge of spirits is increasing. However, absinthe still seems to have a bad reputation, even among people who are better informed. It seems like most people I chat with about spirits reveal that they think either absinthe is illegal, or that we can't get "real" absinthe in North America. Neither of these are true!
Here are 10 quick facts you should know about absinthe:

1) Absinthe is NOT illegal.
It hasn't been illegal for about 20 years now in a lot of countries. The sad part is that it never should have been outlawed in the first place. The only reason that this happened is because of propaganda perpetuated by wine companies in France in the early 1900's when absinthe was becoming very popular and really taking a bite out of wine sales. It wasn't hard to create rumours at the time considering that many artists, writers, and bohemian folk at the time were big fans of absinthe and already had a bad reputation with conservatives at the time. I'll get more into these issues below.

2) Absinthe is NOT hallucinegenic.
This is part of the propaganda. There were even stories in France of regular men drinking absinthe, then going home and killing their families, then claiming not to remember what happened the next day. I'm sure we all knew someone when we were teenagers who got their hands on some absinthe or something similar, drank it, and claimed that they were seeing shit and tripping balls. Yeah, they weren't.
Unfortunately, a few famous artists have contributed to this as well, namely Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde , the latter who described the feeling of drinking it as "having tulips on his legs" when he left the bar. Of course, he's a writer, and people need to stop taking those people so seriously ;)
So, with the evolution of modern science paired with curiosity, it became possible to actually test these things. "Real" absinthe (and I'll get into why "real" is in quotations later) is distilled from, or usually infused with grande wormwood,  which does contain a chemical called thujone, which can cause hallucinations and even death - HOWEVER...
here is the confusion and misinterpretation: the amount of thujone required to have any effect on the human body is extremely high compared to how much thujone can be found in any absinthe. You would die from alcohol poisoning several times over before getting enough thujone into your body to hallucinate.
Bottom line: absinthe is not lethal, hallucinogenic, nor is it any kind of drug other than alcohol.

3) Absinthe is not a liqueur.
Despite what the B.C. Liquor Stores classify it as (as well as numerous websites even as popular as about.com), absinthe has no added sugar, therefore it is not a liqueur. It is not a wine, nor is wine fortified to make it. Because it is none of the above, and it is a distilled alcoholic beverage, it is therefore classified as a spirit.

4) Absente, pastis, anisette, pernod, ouzo, and sambuca (and the list of other Mediterranean anise-flavoured beverages) are not absinthe, nor do they taste the same.
They do taste somewhat similar though, because they all have one flavour in common: anise. Most of these are liqueurs or aperitifs flavoured with anise, but none of them contain wormwood, which is what makes absinthe absinthe. Their flavours are much simpler, lighter, and often sweeter. Absinthe has a very herbal taste, namely of anise and fennel, with a slightly bitter aftertaste from the wormwood, and is fairly potent.
If using it in a cocktail, use very little - in fact, a lot of bartenders and mixologists will use an atomizer to spray absinthe in or over the glass to get the aroma without letting the taste overpower the rest of the drink. Often recipes will call for a measure of pastis, but the drink will be much more interesting with absinthe, and you'll probably only need a dash.

5) Absinthe is not made by magic, fairies, or in bathtubs.
It's actually made a lot like gin, in that a neutral grain spirit is infused with herbs. Wormwood has been used for about 4000 years for its medicinal properties, but it wasn't used in distillation with anise and fennel as absinthe until the late 18th century. Traditional absinthe was redistilled from a grape spirit, then infused with botanicals. Absinthe will also often be steeped with certain herbs, such as the wormwood, during production, to ensure that a good amount of chlorophyll is in the mix, which plays a chemical role and provides a natural green colour. This steeping also gives the spirit its potent herbal flavours and aromas.

6) Absinthe can vary in colour, but it is never neon green.
If you see a bottle of absinthe that is bright, neon green, it's coloured artifically. Actually, if you can see the colour of the absinthe in the bottle at all, it's probably not a good one. Because chlorophyll is sensitive to light, proper absinthe should be in a dark glass bottle to protect it from chemical change. Absinthe can also be clear in colour and still be absinthe, and can even be coloured red by steeping in certain flowers.

7) Just because the bottle says "absinthe" does not necessarily mean there's absinthe inside.
This is the most sad and confusing part of all. Because absinthe only somewhat recently became legal, it's not properly regulated in most countries. Regulations on spirits define how they're made, aged, etc, and ensures that if you drink from a bottle labeled "bourbon," for example, you're actually drinking bourbon.
Using bourbon as the example, regulations state that it must be distilled from at least 51% corn, made in the United States, distilled at no higher than 80% alcohol, put into new, charred oak barrels at no more than 62.5% alcohol, and bottled at no less than 40% alcohol. Very specific.
Absinthe, at the moment, has no such regulations whatsoever (except in Canada where the only regulation is the amount of thujone per volume allowed in the final product, which is not only kind of pointless, but is also very different province to province). This means, technically, that I could piss into a bottle, label it absinthe, and legally sell it as such in liquor stores in a lot of different countries. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but just be aware that there's often funky business going on.
The important lesson here is to do a little research, look up a review, read the label, avoid the neon green colours, etc, before you buy your bottle. As with any food or drink, it's always a good idea to avoid artificial additives if you can, as there is no reason for alcohol to have added flavours or colours other than to save money or mask cheap production (ex. Jose Cuervo), or as a gimmick (ex. Bols triple secs or bright green absinthe - but there are exceptions to the colour category).
A great way to go here in Canada, is to just buy Taboo. It's made in the Okanagan Valley with grande wormwood, and it's very good.

8) Enjoying absinthe properly requires only water.
NEVER set your absinthe on fire. You're ruining the flavour and burning off the alcohol, which is a waste. How did this come about? Well, once you know, you probably won't want to do it again. As far as I can find in my research, the reason for this originally is because absinthe got so popular (and banned) that people everywhere were trying to make it, and make it cheaply. Making things cheaply means dangerous by-products and awful taste, and setting the absinthe on fire sometimes got rid of both. Sometimes. In the 1990's, more advertisements and rumours and movies started showing this as a tradition, and unfortunately a lot of people came to think this is the proper way to enjoy it. In fact, there is no evidence that this burning ritual was ever used before the 1990's. This means, first of all, that cheap, crappy modern absinthes asking you to set shit on fire should be avoided like the plague, and secondly, that movies like "From Hell" which showed Johnny Depp in 19th century London setting his absinthe alight are factually inaccurate. Czech, or "Bohemian" absinthe is advertised to be enjoyed this way. Of course, most Czech absinthe is not really absinthe because they contain no wormwood (it's actually called absinth without the "e"), and most of them are cheap and terrible. I don't see how any spirit that calls for itself to be set on fire (which means they want you to burn something out of the liquid) can be good. This includes you, sambuca.
The traditional, or French way to enjoy absinthe is to pour the absinthe into a glass, rest a slotted spoon holding a sugar cube over top of the glass, then drip ice cold water into the absinthe. Slowly, the colour will change to opaque and milky. The reason this happens is because certain herbal oils (such as the wormwood and fennel) are not soluble in water. This is called "louche." Absinthe can be enjoyed anywhere from 1:3 to 1:7 absinthe:water. Some don't even require a sugar cube, such as the above mentioned Taboo, which is not very bitter at all.

9) It's not cool or badass to drink absinthe.
Ok, so this one is not factual but rather just my opinion. Again, I come back to the weiner you knew in high school (though actually I heard a couple of these stories this year and I'm long out of high school) who found a green liquid, whether it was absinthe or not, set that shit on fire with his friends, drank what after the burning was probably the equivalent of wine, then told everyone it's the coolest ride, dude. I met some folks this year who went into an alley with some cheap crap to set it on fire and meet the green fairy like they were 14 and just found their grandma's medicinal marijuana. It probably tasted awful and didn't even get them that drunk. Anyway, I'm being a little pretentious, but everyone knows THAT guy. The "I'm so high right now" guy. The "dude, I got so fucked up this weekend man bra" guy. I hate that guy.

10) Absinthe is good. 
If you don't like the flavour of anise, which is similar to licorice, you won't like it much, but there are a lot of other interesting herbal flavours involved. Honestly, I mostly use mine as a dash here or there in particular, delicious cocktails - partially because I feel so guilty about how much I payed for it and I want it to last forever. A bottle will run you $55 in BC, so definitely make sure you enjoy it and enjoy it properly. As always, you can head down to the states for a lot more selection at a lot cheaper (Taboo, which is made right here in B.C., is a lot cheaper to buy in Seattle).