Soyer au Champagne

While dairy is not an ingredient I associate with cocktails, there are a number of cocktails in the book that feature it, include the Soyer au Champagne:

• 2 dashes maraschino liqueur
• 2 dashes pineapple juice
• 2 dashes orange curaçao (or Grand Marnier)
• 2 dashes brandy
• champagne
• 1 tablespoon vanilla ice cream

In a parfait glass, combine the maraschino liqueur, pineapple juice, orange curaçao and brandy. Fill with champagne. Add the vanilla ice cream on top. Serve with a spoon and a straw.

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The Seelbach Cocktail

Champagne is tightly associated with New Year’s, and it also happens to be an ingredient in classic drinks such as the Seelbach Cocktail:

• 1.0 ounce bourbon (venerable Old Forester was specified)
• 0.5 ounce Cointreau
• 7 dashes Angostura bitters
• 7 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• 5.0 ounces champagne

Pour the bourbon, Cointreau and bitters into a champagne flute and stir. Add the champagne. Stir again, and garnish with an orange twist.

This drink was named for the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky and was created in 1917. The recipe was lost during Prohibition but rediscovered in 1995, so I am certain this qualifies as vintage.

Satan’s Whiskers

Over the holiday I managed to get my hands on some authentic curaçao, so I decided to try Satan’s Whiskers:

• 0.5 ounce gin
• 0.5 ounce dry vermouth
• 0.5 ounce sweet vermouth
• 0.5 ounce orange juice
• 2 teaspoons orange curaçao
• 1 teaspoon orange bitters

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Back when I made the Park Avenue Cocktail I discovered that there is a difference between orange liqueurs such as curaçao, triple sec and Grand Marnier. Unfortunately, it is apparently impossible to get good curaçao in North Carolina due to its antiquated spirituous liquor laws. The brand Dr. Cocktail recommends, Gabriel Boudier, is even harder to find, as it isn’t available at either Binny’s or Total Wine, but Senior Curaçao (another of his choices) can be had, just not in North Carolina. It’s also cool to note that Senior Curaçao is made on the island of Curaçao, so let’s hope it is authentic.

The Fogcutter (Early)

Here is my third and final attempt at the Fogcutter. This one is from the book and attributed to Don the Beachcomber:

• 2.0 ounces Barcardi Gold rum
• 0.5 ounce Plymouth Gin
• 1.0 ounce Pisco Brandy
• 1.0 ounce orange juice
• 2.0 ounces lemon juice
• 0.5 ounce orgeat syrup
• 0.5 ounce cream sherry

Shake all ingredients except the sherry with ice cubes. Pour into a chimney glass, and add more ice to fill. Float the sherry on top.

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Hanky Panky

I wanted to get back to exploring real vintage cocktails, so I made one from the beginning of the 20th century, the Hanky Panky:

• 1.5 ounces gin
• 1.5 ounces sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes Fernet Branca

Stir well with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a small swathe of orange peel over the surface of the drink.

When this cocktail was named, “hanky panky” wasn’t yet a term for sexual mischief. Instead it referred to black magic. When you read the ingredients for this cocktail you might think “bah, it’s just a sweet martini” but, oh, it is so much more. The magic comes from how superb this drink is compared to its simplicity.

The Fogcutter (Trader Vic’s)

Having just received my Fee Brothers Orgeat Syrup I decided to try The Fogcutter again, using the recipe from Trader Vic’s:

• 2.0 ounces light Puerto Rican rum
• 0.5 ounce gin
• 1.0 ounce brandy
• 1.0 ounce orange juice
• 2.0 ounces lemon juice
• 0.5 ounce orgeat syrup
• 0.5 ounce sherry

Shake with cube ice, strain into a glass, and fill with crushed ice.

First off, this is a huge cocktail. Most of the cocktails I’ve been making have around one and a half to two ounces of spirit. This has close to four. I had to change the glass I was planning to serve this in to leave room for ice.

Back Porch Lemonade

This is another favorite of mine from bluezoo, and thanks to Chad Lobner I’m able to share the recipe for Back Porch Lemonade:

• 2.00 ounces Troy and Sons moonshine
• 1.50 ounces Sour Mix
• 0.75 ounce Ginger Syrup
• Lemon wedges

Muddle the lemons and add rest of ingredients. Shake and strain over a crushed ice filled mason jar rimmed with sugar.

Moonshine is a spirit made from corn that is popular in the Appalachian region of North Carolina, which is near where I live. While North Carolina doesn’t really have the whiskey tradition of Tennessee or Kentucky, we do take our moonshine seriously. I grew up in a “dry county” – one in which it was illegal to sell alcohol – but there were always places people “in the know” could go to find “white liquor”. Quite frequently it was sold in the same jars used for canning, normally made by Mason or Ball.