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Posts Tagged ‘Italian Vermouth’

Low Alcohol Sips

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

*As recently published in the Weekly Dig.

by Pink Lady + Hanky Panky

Memorial Day is nearly upon us, marking the beginning of summer (even if we’ve been having lousy, rainy weather). For the ladies of LUPEC that means its time to turn to light, refreshing cocktails. As the days become longer and warmer we like to focus on those spirits that are a bit lower in alcohol, making them perfect for the social occasions of summer that can sometimes span an entire day … such as that barbeque you’ll be hitting this Monday. Here’s a primer on some of our favorites.

Campari is a bitter Italian aperitivo. The full recipe is a closely guarded secret, but we do know that it is flavored with, among other things, rhubarb, bergamot and orange peel. When the temperature rises, pour it over ice and top with soda. If you find this too bitter, split the Campari half and half with sweet vermouth and enjoy your Americano.
Widely known for its role in James Bond’s cocktail of choice, the Vesper, Lillet Blanc is a refreshing French aperitif from Podensac in Bordeaux. It’s a blend of Bordeaux wines, fruit liqueur and quinine. At only 17% alcohol by volume, Lillet is the perfect fit for afternoon drinking on the porch. Serve Lillet on the rocks with a twist of orange. Or try the recently available Kina Lillet.

We usually associate vermouths with Martinis and Manhattans, but in the summer these fortified, aromatized wines are the perfect sip for a warm afternoon. A good choice with which to begin is Martini Bianco, a blend of dry white Italian wines flavored with vanilla and aromatic herbs.

Salut—here’s to summer!

HALF SINNER, HALF SAINT
2 oz French Vermouth
2 oz Dry Vermouth
.5 oz Herbsaint
Lemon twist
In a rocks glass, combine the vermouths over ice. Float the Herbsaint. Garnish with the lemon twist.

CIN-CIN!

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The Real Hanky Panky

Posted in Ada Coleman, Weekly Dig, tagged , , , , on March 10, 2011| 2 Comments »

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

by Pinky Gonzales + Pink Lady

Women’s History Month is upon us! Today we’ll raise a glass to bartending forebroad Ada Coleman, creator of the Hanky Panky, which is also the namesake drink of LUPEC Boston founder, Misty Kalkofen.

Coleman was the first head barman at the famed American Bar in London. As the story goes, “Coley,” a mixologist of reputable character who could trash-talk with the best of them, invented the drink for a colorful bar regular. Coleman spoke of it herself, to a London newspaper in 1925:

“The late Charles Hawtrey … was one of the best judges of cocktails that I knew. Some years ago, when he was over working, he used to come into the bar and say, ‘Coley, I am tired. Give me something with a bit of punch in it.’ It was for him that I spent hours experimenting until I had invented a new cocktail. The next time he came in, I told him I had a new drink for him. He sipped it, and, draining the glass, he said, ‘By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!’ And Hanky-Panky it has been called ever since.”

Coleman worked at the American Bar at the swank Savoy Hotel from 1903-1926, during the cocktail’s coming-out era in Europe. Owners renamed their establishments “American Bars” as a selling point—a way of distinguishing them from mere pubs or gin & tonic joints. The American craft of mixing up Sazeracs, Martinis, Ramos Gin Fizzes and the like became all the rage. Coleman’s barstools saw the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, WC Fields, Prince of Wales and Mark Twain.

Bartender Harry Craddock filled Ada’s role managing the bar in 1924, after he had left dry America for work abroad. In 1930, he published The Savoy Cocktail Book, an Art Deco gem & many a bartender’s bible. In it, for the first time, is the printed recipe for the Hanky-Panky, below. Mix one up as you toast Coley whose spirit lives on in the likes of modern bartending broad, LUPEC’s own Hanky Panky.

HANKY-PANKY
The original, from the Savoy Cocktail Book

2 Dashes Fernet Branca
1/2 Italian Vermouth
1/2 Dry Gin

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.

CIN-CIN!
FOR MORE GREAT STORIES AND LORE, VISIT LUPECBOSTON.COM.

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Naughty but Nice

Posted in Weekly Dig, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

*The latest ruminations from LUPEC Boston, in case you missed them in The Weekly Dig.

by Pinky Gonzales

One of America’s most famous 1940s-era cabarets once glittered in our very own backyard. The Latin Quarter stood on quiet Winchester Street in the tiny Bay Village neighborhood, a cherry pit’s throw from where the old (and doomed) Cocoanut Grove nightclub once sparkled.

The Latin Quarter was known for its elaborate, “naughty but nice” revue. Featuring 6-foot-tall showgirls dubbed “long-stemmed roses,” national acts and Golden Era cocktails, this Parisian-inspired nightspot aimed high and ruled the roost for over two decades, spawning the big shows of Las Vegas. When owners Lou Walters (Barbara’s dad!) and Sonja and E.M. Loew (Loew’s Theatres) were bringing in half a million dollars per year, they redirected profits into building an LQ Miami, then the now-legendary LQ Times Square.

But after the Cocoanut Grove burned down in ’42, a damper was put on Boston’s nightlife. Officials temporarily closed LQ and 51(!) other area establishments to ensure they were up to code on fire inspections.

A happy remnant of this nearly forgotten place has been preserved for us today: 176 cocktails, once poured by their bartenders, recently reprinted as Latin Quarter Souvenir Book of Cocktails & How to Mix Them by Halliwell Hobbes, an LQ historian. The book serves up both sterling classics and festive sips like Diamond Fizz, Americano, Bosom Caresser, Honey Bee, Harvard, Marconi Wireless and the potion we give you here. Thanks, LQ.

ANTS IN THE PANTS

1 1/2 oz gin

3/4 oz Grand Marnier

3/4 oz Italian (sweet) vermouth

Dash fresh lemon juice

Shake with cracked ice, strain into a cocktail glass and ornament with peel of a lemon.

Also on the list of libations at the Latin Quarter:

BETWEEN THE SHEETS

1 oz Brandy (or Cognac)

1 oz Cointreau (orange liqueur)

1 oz Gin

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

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What We’re Drinking: One Nation Under Dram*

Posted in Weekly Dig, tagged , , , , , , on July 2, 2009| 1 Comment »

Old Hickory Cocktail

Old Hickory Cocktail

*LUPEC Boston’s latest ruminations, in case you missed ’em in this week’s Dig…Special thanks to Pinky Gonzales who supplied this week’s suggested cocktail!

by Pink Lady

LUPEC dons our stars and stripes to celebrate the birth of our nation this week. We do so by raising a glass—after all, drinking is our national heritage.

Alcohol has been part of America since the arrival of the earliest colonists, with the tavern situated at the center of colonial life. Often one of the first permanent structures erected in some colonies, taverns were the only public buildings and doubled as a space for meetings, trials and even religious services. They played a key role in developing early business and commerce in young America.

This was the era of “dram drinking,” taking small amounts of alcohol throughout the day, all day, every day, starting with a pick-me-up in the morning and ending with a put-me-down at night. “Drinking on the job” was the norm: Craftsmen quaffed while they crafted, hired hands drank in the fields, sailors sipped at sea and so on. The commonly held belief that alcohol was medicinal and healthy, and water would only make you sick, further enabled our national bender.

In the decades after the Revolution, the spectacular bender raged on. Government figures from 1790 show annual per-capita alcohol consumption amounted to 34 gallons of beer and cider, five gallons of distilled spirits and one gallon of wine.

And early Americans were totally OK with that. In the words of a colonist from Georgia, “If I take a settler after my coffee, a cooler at nine, a bracer at 10, a whetter at 11, and two or three stiffners during the forenoon, who has any right to complain?”

Certainly not us. We toast that fierce independence with a drink famously tippled by Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.

OLD HICKORY COCKTAIL

1 small shot French vermouth

1 small shot Italian vermouth

1 dash orange bitters

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Pour the two vermouths into a bar glass and add the dash of orange bitters and the two shots of Peychaud bitters. Fill with cubes of ice and stir well. Strain into a serving glass. Twist a piece of lemon peel over, then drop it into the glass.

CIN-CIN!


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