Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails – Boston

*Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston as originally published in The Weekly Dig.

by Pink Lady

The history behind the great classic cocktails keeps us interested, but it’s often the quirky names that draw us in. With Halloween approaching, let us turn our attention to morbidly named libations, such as the Corpse Reviver.

Judging by name alone, you mistake this cocktail for a modern, icky club-land creation, possibly of the same ilk as the Mind-eraser. It’s easy to feel intimidated by a drink with such a name, and how are there four or five different versions of it? The simple answer is that this fine concoction was actually more of a category of cocktail than a singular drink itself, much like how many people will ask a bartender for their house list of “martinis” nowadays.

“[The Corpse Reviver] originated at the turn of the twentieth century, sometimes merely as the ‘reviver’ or ‘eye-opener’,” writes Ted Haigh in Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. Quite simply, the drink is the hair of the dog of yesteryear. It has committed over 100 of service to hungover individuals, breathing life where ethanol fumes once lingered and restoring equilibrium and balance to mind and body.

The Corpse Reviver No.1 contains Italian Vermouth, Apple Brandy, and Brandy. According to Harry Craddock, the drink should be taken “before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.” Tell that to your boss next time you “need steam” and see what happens. It’s just another reminder that we were born in the wrong decade.

The Corpse Reviver No. 2 is the one you will most commonly encounter today. We think it’s a delight when made with Bluecoat gin, Vieux Carré Absinthe and Combier L’Original triple sec. Of this drink, Harry Craddock warns: “Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.”

Do bear this in mind as you make your rounds this Halloween.

CORPSE REVIVER NO.1

Adapted from the Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock

.75 oz Italian Vermouth

.75 oz Apple Brandy or Calvados

1.5 oz Brandy

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

CORPSE REVIVER NO. 2

Adapted from Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails

1 oz Bluecoat American gin

1 oz Combier L’Original Triple Sec

1 oz Liller Blanc

1 oz fresh lemon juice

1-3 drops Vieux Carre Absinthe

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled vintage cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Cin-cin!

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by Bourbon Belle

In Parts I and II, we discussed how to make your own fresh syrups to substitute those artificially flavored and colored store brands products like grenadine, and/or to create a syrup flavor that isn’t commercially available.

Today we’ll be discussing how to make some simple and delicious sweetened preserved cherries for garnishing cocktails, in place of those artificial, borderline florescent cherries we know of today as the “maraschino” cherry.

Maraschino cherries were originally named as such because their earliest recipes included the use of the marasca cherry, preserved in a liqueur made from this cherry, called Maraschino liqueur.

Over the years, Americans began experimenting with different types of cherries as well as with different flavors, leading eventually to the substitution of the marasca cherry with the Queen Anne cherry, (among others) and the addition of flavors like natural almond extract.  Because of a 1912 USDA regulation stating that the maraschino cherry is defined as “marasca cherries preserved in maraschino liqueur” under the Food and Drugs act of 1906, these new adapted cherry recipes had to be labeled as “imitation maraschino cherries”.  Over time these cherries continued to suffer further insult when Maraschino liqueur was substituted with, and then replaced altogether by, a non-alcoholic brine solution for use as a preservative.  There is much dispute whether this brine substitution occurred before or during Prohibition in the United States, but regardless, the end result is the same; what was at one time a natural liquor preserved and deliciously flavored delicacy, became a bleached, brined and artificially colored excuse for a piece of fruit.

Back to basics, I say!  There are many different ways to go about making sweetened preserved cherries, with the most popular being the Brandied Cherry. The following recipe is an adaptation from several different recipes I’ve researched.

BRANDIED CHERRIES

4 lbs dark sweet cherries
2 cups water
1.5 cups sugar
2.5 cups “good” Brandy (something you’d actually consider sipping is a good start)
juice of 1 lemon

Wash, de-stem and pit cherries.  In a large saucepan heat water, sugar, and lemon juice, stirring frequently, until boiling.  Add cherries and brandy and reduce heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Let cool and place in an airtight glass jar. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Other ways to preserve cherries can be even simpler! I’ve preserved cherries in Yellow Chartreuse, and even in St Germain, by simply pitting the cherries and pouring the straight booze over top, making sure the cherries are completely submerged. These cherries need to soak for a minimum of 1-2 weeks, but can last up to several months, as long as the cherries stay beneath the surface of the booze.  Try using your favorite liqueur, but keep in mind, liqueurs on the sweeter side, (as long as the alcohol content is at least 25%) tend to work best.

And here’s a recipe we’re happy to sip through cherry season and beyond:

CHERRY COBBLER
1.25 plymouth
.75 St-Germain
.5 oz fresh lemon
.25 fresh grenadine

Build over ice in a highball glass. Top with soda. Garnish with 2 or more brandied cherries

Cin-cin!

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“I’m from the South, you know…my mother served these at her fifth wedding.”
-Mint-juelp sampling guest at the GRAND yesterday

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Shop & Sip at GRAND (the store) yesterday! Especially those who turned out in seersucker, sundresses and “say something” hats.

For those who missed the event but would like to mix some of these up at home, here’s the recipe. Sip one of these while you ruminate over which pony to put your money on next Saturday. For authentic julep cups to help make your Derby Day festivities as authentic as can be, stop by the Boston Shaker store at GRAND.

CLASSIC MINT JULEP

2 springs of mint
1 oz simple syrup
2 oz Eagle Rare Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Crushed Ice

Pour simple syrup into a glass. Gently muddle one sprig of mint into the simple syrup, then remove mint.

Fill glass with crushed ice, then add Bourbon, top with more crushed ice, and stir.

Garnish with the fresh sprig of mint and enjoy!

Cin cin!

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In the annals of literature on “how to be a proper lady,” there is no volume that instructs how to have a well-mannered bar crawl. We borrowed a page from history to see how a recent night out in search of female bartenders fits the “rules of decorum.” You can check that out in this Week’s Dig, though we don’t suggest setting foot on the path without a cocktail in hand.

Recipes for some of the drinks we tried that night are below…recipes for the ones we sheepishly admit to enjoying when no one’s looking…well, those will have to wait until we’ve had a few of these.

ALASKA

Serve in a cocktail glass.

PEGU CLUB

VIEUX CARRE

1 oz. cognac
1 oz. rye
1 oz. sweet vermouth
1/8 oz. Benedictine
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Mix all ingredients in a glass over ice; stir.

EL GITANO

Shake in iced cocktail shaker & strain:

2 parts Hendricks gin

1 part Meyer lemon simple syrup

.5 part Green Chartreuse

Garnish with a lemon wheel.

SAICAR

Shake in iced cocktail shaker & strain:

1 part Corzo Reposado tequila

1 part Brandy

1 part sour mix (home made, with juice of lemons & limes)

.75 oz Cointeau

Serve in a cocktail glass rimmed with Demerera sugar and salt.

VERDAD Y AMOR

Shake in iced cocktail shaker:

2 parts hibiscus infused tequila

1 part ginger simple syrup

1 part lime

Serve over ice in a glass half-rimmed with ginger powder-salt mixture.

CAVA COCKTAIL

Soak a sugar cube in grapefruit bitters. Place in the bottom of a champagne flute and cover with yellow Chartreuse. Top with cava, garnish with a lime twist.

Check out this post for notes on the SAZERAC.

FRISCO

LAST WORD

Shake well with ice and strain:

3/4 ounce gin
3/4 ounce lime juice
3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur

Serve in a chilled cocktail glass.

AMPERSAND

Stir with ice and strain.

1 part Old Tom gin
1 part cognac
1 part sweet vermouth

Serve up in an old fashioned glass.

NEGRONI

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