Category: cocktails

Cocktail of the Week – Bronx

Bronx

Last week I highlighted that most iconic and classic of American cocktails, the Manhattan. As an aside in that post I mentioned that all five of New York City’s boroughs (Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan,  Queens, and Bronx) have cocktails named after them. Everyone knows about the Manhattan but I don’t think many know about the other four. I tested this by visiting some local bars and asking for a Staten Island and a Queens, only to have blank stares in return. So consider this a public service message and just another example of my commitment to education and life-long learning!

The Bronx cocktail, like most older cocktails has multiple origin stories. One of which insists that the cocktail was created in Philadelphia! Though it seems that either a Joseph S. Sormani or a Johnnie Solan is responsible for the cocktail. The cocktail itself seems to be a riff on the Perfect Martini, adding orange juice to the drink.

Bronx
The ingredients

Bronx

  • 1 oz. Gin
  • 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
  • 1/3 oz. dry vermouth
  • 1/2 oz. orange juice

Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes, shake well. Strain in chilled cocktail or martini glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Bronx

Before I drank this cocktail I had some worries because it puts me in a unique position. This, I think, is the one of the few cocktails I know solely through my own work. I’ve never had a Bronx made by anyone else. I only have my own efforts to compare with each other. What if I made the cocktail wrong? I worried I might be doing this cocktail a disservice.

It turns out my worries were for naught. The Bronx is delicious. It tastes a lot like a smooth Perfect Martini laced throughout with the citrusy tang of orange juice, which is especially strong at the finish. I only wish I were drinking it in a classier establishment than my apartment…

Cocktail of the Week – Manhattan

Manhattan

I’m a little nervous posting this one. The Manhattan IS the classic American cocktail and has been for more than 100 years and I doubt I can do the cocktail justice. The Manhattan is one of five cocktails named after New York City’s five boroughs (all of which I’ll be featuring here in the upcoming weeks) and was allegedly created in 1870 for a party thrown by Lady Randolph Churchill to honor presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The cocktail has fared better than Mr. Tilden, who won the popular vote but lost in the electoral college (Presidential elections are weird. Gore VS. Bush wasn’t the first time the Democrats paid the price for being “nice guys.”) From such humble beginnings though are legends born. The Manhattan is one of the drinks I use to judge every bar I visit. If it can make a good Manhattan than it might be worth frequenting…

Manhattan
The ingredients

Manhattan

  • 2 oz. rye whiskey
  • 1 oz. sweet vermouth
  • 5 drops Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Fill with ice. Stir well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with cherry.

Manhattan

My pictures aren’t doing this cocktail much justice. I doubt any words I put down here will either. I suppose all I can say is that this is a drink you need to add to your repertoire. It’s imminently drinkable and as we move into fall you’ll find that it has a wonderful warming effect! The actual drink is a delicate blend of sharp, sweet, and bitter that, when you do it right, is just lovely. Wrap yourself in a blanket, park yourself in front of the fire, and enjoy  a nice cool Manhattan.

Cocktail of the Week – White Lady

White Lady

Remember the Sidecar from a couple weeks back? The White Lady is a lot like that. Except it has gin instead of brandy. Oh, and it has an egg white in it! A real Sidecar might have egg white in it as well, I don’t know. When I’m doing research on these drinks before picking which one to make the ‘egg white’ on the list of ingredients is always listed as optional. So, until now I’ve never put one in. Tonight was the night though. The White Lady seemed too simple, too plain, of a drink to omit the egg white and so I dove right in with only a few reservations! (If you are feeling queasy about using egg whites in your cocktails I found this post useful.)

White Lady
The ingredients

White Lady

  • 2 oz. gin
  • 1 oz. triple sec
  • 1/2 oz. lemon juice
  • 1 egg white

Combine all ingredients in shaker. Shake. Add cracked ice to shaker and shake well. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Lemon wheel garnish is optional.

Some bartenders strain twice when using egg white. Do what ever you are comfortable with.

White Lady

Oh, oh, oh! So silky, so smooth! I wish I had not treated the egg whites as optional before! I don’t know if I’d have anything to say about the White Lady if I had skipped the egg white. I have Tanqueray gin right now and it has a more robust flavor profile than Beefeater and despite the sour of the lemon juice and the sweetness of triple sec I can still taste the gin. It’s the only thing disturbing my palate as this drink goes down. It’s the only hiccup in what is a soothingly smooth cocktail.

White Lady

Cocktail of the Week: Grapefruit Garibaldi

Grapefruit Garibaldi

I’ll admit it is getting harder and harder to preface these posts. Do I really need a reason or pretense to make myself a delicious alcoholic beverage once a week and share it with my friends? Who knows, I don’t make any of the “rules” around here. I just slavish obey them like I’m supposed to…

Anyway, it was hot this week. Hotter than it should be in September in Northern California. I keep waiting for people to decide to work together through the tool of government to do something about the ever increasing global temperature but nothing seems to happen… Must be why I keep drinking.

This week’s cocktail is a twist on the popular Italian aperitif, the Garibaldi, which may one day be a cocktail I make on this very blog. It doesn’t have whisky in it though so don’t hold your breath. This tweak of the recipe adds bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey. All things that make the serviceable Garibaldi into something sublime.

Grapefruit Garibaldi
The ingredients

Grapefruit Garabaldi

  • 1 1/2 oz. bourbon
  • 1 oz. Campari
  • 2 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Combine all ingredients in an old fashioned glass. Stir gently until honey dissolves. Add a few ice cubes. garnish with 1/4 grapefruit slice.

Grapefruit Garibaldi

I’m trying to remember where I first heard of this drink, so I could properly credit the source for enlightening me! The Grapefruit Garibaldi succeeds in juggling three very distinct flavors into something delicious without losing the uniqueness of each ingredient. A lovely blend of sweet bourbon, sour grapefruit, and bitter Campari. The only way this drink could be improved is if I was drinking it in a village on the north coast of Italy. Which, to be honest, would be a vast improvement…

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