Genever - its a Dutch thing

by Pink Lady

When I studied abroad in Ireland my junior year, I was shocked to learn that my Irish roommates preferred Budweiser to Guinness. The American import was pissier and more expensive than their native stout, yet none of the lads would be caught in the pub with a Guinness in hand. I chalked this up to the tendency to always want what you haven't got, and related to their impulse to eschew the familiar for the exotic.

This is not necessarily so, however, in Holland, where every fourth bottle of spirits sold is a bottle of genever. I learned this fun little fact from Bols brand ambassador Simon Duff at the Juniperlooza seminar at Tales of the Cocktail, and decided to put this theory to the test by contacting up my good friend Alexander, who hails from Amsterdam.

"Do you drink genever at all? Is it popular at home in Holland?" I texted him quite out of the blue last week while working on this week's Weekly Dig column about different types of gin.

"Yes I do! I have a bottle in my freezer! It's running low. Reminds me of my dad. I only drink it on special occasions..." he responded immediately.

So, there you have it folks, straight from the tall Dutchman's mouth. The stuff is indeed popular in Holland, if impossible to come by in the US.

We had a chance to try a small sip of both jonge and oude genever while in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail, and sampled it again at a recent meeting chez Bourbon Belle. President Hanky Panky managed to smuggle several bottles back to the states with her on a trip to Amsterdam last spring.

The strong juniper flavor inherent in genever makes no bones about being a great-great-great grandparent to the modern dry styles of gin we know and love today. That said, its fuller and gads maltier than the stuff you put in a modern gin and tonic, a totally different gin-drinking experience. It is indeed special stuff, and though the real Dutch spirit is hard to come by in the United States, Genevieve by the San Francisco-based Anchor Distilllery stands in as a delicious take on the product.

So here's the ultimate challenge: get your friends who live in London to smuggle you back some Old Tom Gin and your very own tall Dutchman to return from Holland with a suitcase full of Hollands. Then mix them up in alternating batches of the following cocktail, as Seamus Harris of Bunnyhugs did and reported on here this past June.

Martinez
Recipe adapted from Imbibe! by David Wondrich

1 dash of aromatic bitters
2 dashes of maraschino
1 oz Old Tom Gin or Genever
2 oz Italian vermouth

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This drink is believed to be a predecessor to the modern martini, and was originally concocted with Old Tom Gin. The genever version is delicious as well. I wonder -- what would happen if I served this to the next person who requested "a martini" at the restaurant where I work...hmmm...

Cin-cin, or as the Dutch say, Proost!

More fun and easy ways to create your own cocktail

by Bourbon Belle

Wishing for a drink that you just haven’t been able to find at your beloved watering hole? Or dreaming about making the perfect cocktail to suit a specific taste? It’s surprisingly easy to concoct a well-balanced cocktail in the classic style, so long as you keep a few basic rules of thumb in mind.

One of the earliest known definitions of the term “cocktail” comes from the May 1806 issue of The Balance, and Columbian Repository, a Hudson, N.Y.-based weekly newspaper of yore: “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters ...”

So let’s start with the spirit of your choice—Bourbon's as good as any. Next, you’ll want to sweeten it up for balance. Let’s go traditional and throw in some sweet vermouth. Following the cocktail "definition," we’re going to add some bitters; Angostura bitters make for a traditional Manhattan. Now, let’s make an original by including a flavor you’d like to impart into your drink. What goes well with Bourbon? How about … peaches! Let’s add a touch of peach liqueur—Mathilde Peches is my personal choice. And now you have your own twist on a traditional cocktail, made to suit your own flavor preferences.

Just remember: a spirit, a sweetener, a bitter (fresh citrus juice is also great for balancing out the sweetness) and water (in most cases, just consider the melting ice sufficient).
Cin-cin!

BOURBON BELLE

3 ounces Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1/2 ounce Mathilde Peches Liqueur
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth (Martini & Rossi or Cinzano preferred)
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fill a shaker with ice and add all ingredients. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

More fun and easy ways to create your own cocktail follows this same concept. Take a drink you like, and just put a little spin on it!

Maybe you LOVE a classic Negroni, but sometimes prefer something a touch more smooth. Try another original created by one of our LUPEC ladies called the Contessa. Change up the Campari for Aperol (Campari’s less bitter cousin-as quoted from Hanky Panky the Weekly Dig 7.2.08-7.9.08) and even out the portions of all three ingredients.

Contessa

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add:
1.5 oz Beefeater Gin
1.5 oz Aperol
1.5 oz Cinzano sweet vermouth

Stir and strain in a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with an orange twist

How about a classic Sidecar variation? Swap out the traditional brandy for Belle de Brillet, a pear flavored Cognac, for a smooth and delicious Pear flavored Sidecar.

Belle de Brillet Sidecar

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add:
2 oz Belle de Brillet
.5 oz Cointreau
.5 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake gently and strain into a chilled cocktail glass that has been rimmed with raw sugar.
Garnish with an orange wheel

The sky's the limit. After all, as Imbibe! author David Wondrich writes, "the small, idiomatic differences...are the mixographer's delight!"

Cin-cin!

The Measure of Success

I never thought I would become attached to a kitchen tool. That is, until I met the Oxo angled measuring cup. The 2 oz measuring cup, shown on the right, allows one to accurately measure amounts as small as one quarter ounce. In addition to ounces, their are interior markings for tablespoons and the more traditional exterior markings for milliliters and cups. Mr. Jigger you have served me well, but from now on this detail oriented cocktail lover will be angling for Oxo. Let's put that quarter ounce line to use.

The Hoskins Cocktail
2 oz Plymouth Gin
.75 oz Torani Amer (or Amer Picon)
.5 oz Maraschino Liqueur
.25 oz Cointreau
1 dash orange bitters

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a flamed orange peel.

Cheers!

The Green Hour

After 95 years of being a big no no, absinthe is once again legal in the United States. Here in Boston we are fortunate to have wonderful liquor retailers such as Brix and Downtown Wine and Spirits so finding the two available absinthes, Lucid and Kubler, is a simple enough task. But what do you do once you've made that purchase?

Traditionally the consumption of absinthe was highly ritualized. At the end of a long, arduous day folks would meet for the green hour. With a glass of absinthe in hand, people would gather around an absinthe fountain. From multiple spigots ice water would slowly drip over sugar cube laden slotted absinthe spoons. As the glasses of absinthe slowly clouded over from the bottom up those waiting to imbibe would catch up on the day's news and local gossip. Once the liquid was a uniform, pearly color the absinthe was ready to drink. Obviously not many of us today have an absinthe fountain hanging around, but you can easily replicate this process at home with a small pitcher of ice water, spoons and your good friends.

Of course as lovers of all things cocktail, the ladies of LUPEC love to use our absinthe to mix up something tasty during our green hour! Here are a few recipes to get you started.

Chrysanthemum Cocktail

2 oz French Vermouth

1 oz Benedictine

3 dashes Absinthe

Stir ingredients with ice. Strain into your favorite chilled vintage cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.

Corpse Reviver (No. 2)*

.75 oz Dry Gin

.75 oz Lillet

.75 oz Cointreau

.75 oz Lemon Juice

1 dash Absinthe

Shake ingredients well with ice. Strain into your favorite chilled vintage cocktail glass.

* In The Savoy Cocktail Book author Harry Craddock noted "Four of these taken in quick succession will unrevive the corpse again."

Fascinator Cocktail

2 oz Dry Gin

1 oz French Vermouth

2 dashes Absinthe

1 mint sprig

Shake ingredients well with ice. Strain cocktail through a tea strainer into your favorite chilled vintage cocktail glass.

Are you still thirsty and feeling a bit adventurous? Pull out your favorite recipes that call for pastis and substitute absinthe. Remember that absinthe can be kind of a bully, so start by using small quantities and then adjust to taste.

Cheers!

gin and vermouth -- two tickets to paradise

by Pink Lady

The LUPEC Boston column in this week's issue of the Weekly Dig stars two spirits that have become less and less vogue in the age of the extra extra dry, extra extra dirty vodka martini: gin and vermouth. I will save discussion of the "original" martini recipe (and modern bastardizations thereof) for a later date. For now, let's get to know these two glorious spirits a little better. They are key ingredients in a good many endangered cocktails, as LUPEC Boston member and Drinkboston founder Barbara West explains beautifully here. To coax these classics back from beyond the grave you will need to cozy up to both.

So, vermouth: qu'est-ce que c'est?

It's simply fortified wine aromatized with herbs and spices. As the story goes, vermouth was invented in Italy in the 1780s by Anthony Carpano -- allegedly it was grandma's recipe -- and the name is derived from the German term for key ingredient wormwood ("Wermuth"). Vermouth herb & spice blends are as protected and proprietary as recipes for gin botanicals, and can contain something on the order of 40 - 50 ingredients. Carpano's original vermouth was sweet and red; about a generation later, French herbalist Joseph Noilly invented a dry vermouth based on the delicate, dry white wines and local plants of his region, and also made with wormwood (which is also a key ingredient in Absinthe; more info on that in next week's column.)

Vermouth was originally referred to according to its country of origin, especially in old cocktail books. Italian vermouth references the sweet stuff and French vermouth references dry. Grazie, Antonio! Merci, Joseph!

Many Americans fear vermouth in this modern age of drinking, as The Spirit World's post on the topic articulates. Perhaps your first encounter was with vermouth that had gone stale for lack of use in your parent's liquor cabinet? Lesson learned, you shouldn't have been dipping into their stash while they were out of town, anyway. In any event, I implore you to give vermouth another try as a grown up. It's cheap enough to buy a few bottles, taste and compare, and discover on your own what you like best -- and what works best in different cocktail recipes. Married...with Dinner conducted a vermouth-by-vermouth in home taste test, the results of which are very enlightening.

My most recent vermouth "a-ha!" moment came with the purchase of a bottle each of Extra Dry and Sweet Vya at Brix in the South End. It's expensive for sure, retailing for $25 whereas other bottles in the category hover around $7 - $10, but Vya is a truly worth it investment, especially if you can find a way to write off alcohol purchases. Vya Extra Dry is light, herbaceous, and melon-y; Vya Sweet is warm, complex, citrus-y and spicy -- it reminds me of sipping my Swedish Pop-pop's glug by the fire on a snowy New Year's Eve in Vermont.

And for you gin-shy folks...

I actually did have a gin-cident circa my freshman year of college. I do not speak of what ensued that night and I didn't touch the juniper scented stuff for nearly a decade thereafter. Then I fell in love with classic cocktails and it was only a matter of time before my vodka days were numbered. If I can do it, you can too.

What really brought me back was the gin tasting we did at our very first LUPEC meeting in February 2007. It was an aggressive re-entry but it got me over the initial hump, and also taught me a very important lesson: not all gins are created equal. I found Hendrick's, with its crisp, clean flavors and fresh cucumber notes t be a great gateway gin. I also like the then locally unavailable Blue Coat Gin that a friend had smuggled across state lines for our hostess from the "City of Brotherly Love." I also learned as we tasted each gin side-by-side that it is the botanical blend of Tanqueray that my mind and palate equate with my gincident, not gin or it's juniper flavors. Et voila, I am now officially a gin girl.

I'm sure you've tried Absolut Citron or Grey Goose Orange; gin is just a few steps away from those flavored neutral grain spirits. Here are a few starter cocktails to get you going:

The Pegu Club
So refreshing & delicious, this is the one that REALLY brought me back to gin, at Taste of the South End last year. I had about seventeen of these.

1.5 oz Plymouth Gin
.5 oz Orange Curacao
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Orange Bitters

Blue Skies
Tried this again recently at our April '08 meeting at Barbara West's house -- so delicious!

1 oz Applejack
1 oz Gin
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
1 or dashes grenadine
Shake with cracked ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!

The French 75
What better way to sneak gin into the glass of an unsuspecting gin-phobe? By adding lemon, sugar, and champagne...

2 oz Gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar or 1 tsp simple syrup
Champagne

Cin-cin!

The Pink Lady Cocktail

by Pink Lady

Hopefully you all caught the debut of the LUPEC Boston column in this week's issue of The Weekly Dig. As promised, here's a little more info on our favorite recipe for the Pink Lady, and a few notes on why I thought it an appropriate choice as the very first cocktail for our very first Dig column.

At first glance The Pink Lady appears to bear all the trappings of a "girly" drink - a feminine name, an approachable frothiness, a pastel hue. But the Pink Lady is no drink for the faint of heart: its tart-dry flavor is a far cry from the cloyingly sweet "girly" cocktails we're wary of in this modern era of drinking. And its boozy gin & apple brandy base packs a whallop. As Eric Felten wrote in his Wall Street Journal column on the topic, "though a tasty drink worthy of inclusion in the cocktail canon, the Pink Lady has found its reputation dogged by association with a dubious aesthetic." It is a cocktail that is easily underestimated. After enjoying one or two of these, though, I'm sure you'll agree: ladylike as she is, the Pink Lady kicks ass and takes names. She's a LUPEC kind of gal. Our favorite recipe is below:

Pink Lady Cocktail

1-1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz applejack
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz grenadine (preferably homemade)
1 egg white

Combine ingredients in a shaker and shake vigorously without ice.
Add ice; shake continue vigorous shaking.
Strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass.

There are two classic cocktail lessons inherent in the making of a Pink Lady:

Lesson #1: Quality of ingredients: your drinks will only taste as good as the stuff you use to make them. Most of the cocktails the ladies of LUPEC Boston are intent on reviving were invented in the days before preservatives kept juices intact for weeks on end. When trying them out at home, you too should use the freshest ingredients you can find. For the Pink Lady you'll need fresh lemons and we highly recommend using homemade grenadine: the flavor is leaps and bounds beyond the stuff you can buy in a bottle, and it's really simple to make. Hanky Panky's recipe is below.

Grenadine

Combine equal parts pomegranate juice (Pom, par example) and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp orange flower water for every 1/2 cup pomegranate juice used. Cool.

Lesson #2: Eggs in cocktails: We know, we know. The whole "egg thing" is a really weird concept for many classic cocktail novices, but I promise you, your trip down classic cocktail lane won't be nearly as fulfilling if you can't get over it. As you cozy up to the raw-egg-in-a-drink idea, ask yourself: when is the last time you ever heard of someone in America actually getting salmonella? And if I offered you a taste of delicious raw batter from the cookies I've just whipped up, would you decline? I thought not. If you're still having doubts, check out this recent article in the New York Times: see, eggs are HUGE in New York.

Once you're ready to take the egg plunge, get your biceps ready. For egg cocktails to reach the delicious, frothy state that is their hallmark, you've got to shake the bejesus out of them. First, however, the egg white must be emulsified, hence the instruction to combine all ingredients in your shaker and give 'em a good shake BEFORE adding ice. A very insightful post on the topic can be found on the Robert Huegel's Explore the Pour blog: the author advocates shaking ingredients ten times, then add just slightly more ice than the amount of standing liquid in your shaker.

After adding ice, shake...and shake...and shake...and shake your Pink Lady, remembering all the while that egg cocktails take time -- a LONG time -- but once they are perfect and complete in your cocktail glass, just seconds from slipping down your throat, they are oh so worth the labor and the wait.

Like anything worth doing, really.

Cin-cin!

Pink Lady photo borrowed from the Thinking of Drinking blog.

A toast to those who can run 26.2 miles

In two and a half weeks, 1,250 runners of the Boston Marathon will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity. Let's support these athletic, ambitious ladies!

Casey is one woman who will be running, in honor of her grandmother, to improve the lives of those affected by Alzheimer's and promote research and effective treatments. If you'd like to donate to this cause, click here.

If you know of any other fabulous broads running the marathon in support of their causes, please post a comment with the link to their donation page so LUPEC readers can share their support!

May your feet fly, ladies. I'll be toasting you with an Aviation at Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square.

Aviation

1 1/2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
Maraschino cherry (optional)

Shake the gin, maraschino liqueur, and lemon juice well with ice; then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry, if desired.

Going to the Chapel!

Today was a big day for the ladies of LUPEC Boston. No, it's not because we're so excited about Women's History Month starting tomorrow we can't even stand it! It's because one of LUPEC Boston's very own tied the knot today!

That's right, today Miss Contessa became a Mrs. She and her beloved just couldn't let Leap Day go by without doing something special...so they got hitched this morning at city hall! Then it was off to Harvard Square to get matching nuptial tattoos.

A very special wedding reception was held in their honor this afternoon at Silvertone. LUPEC Boston was very well represented. We were positively overjoyed when the bride & groom made their grand entrance , looking as picture perfect as the figurines atop a wedding cake.

Let's raise a glass of one of these to the nuptial couple this weekend!

Tin Wedding Cocktail

1 oz brandy

3/4 oz sweet vermouth

3/4 oz gin

2 dashes orange bitters

Stir in mixing glass with ice & strain. Serve in a cocktail glass.

Wedding Belles

3/4 oz gin

3/4 oz Red Dubonnet

1/2 oz orange juice

1/2 oz cherry flavored brandy

Shake in iced cocktail shaker & strain. Serve in a cocktail glass.

Nina Simone: The High Priestess of Song

by MiMi

Protest singer, jazz vocalist, pianist, temperamental diva and American civil rights heroine, Nina Simone remains one of the most important musicians in American music history.

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21 in 1933, Simone started playing the piano at the age of four, and made her concert debut when she was just ten years old. During her recital, her parents were moved to the back of the hall to make room for white people. She refused to play until they were brought back to the front.

She wanted to be the first black concert pianist and was one of the first black women to be classically trained at Julliard. She started playing jazz and pop music in clubs in the mid-1950’s while at Julliard to supplement her income, changing her name to Nina Simone, possibly to protect her classical standing. She never intended to sing, but started when a club manager told her she would lose her job if she didn’t. She became instantly popular, and was known for her inventive style that incorporated jazz, Bach, pop, soul, folk, gospel, and show tunes.

She had a majestic onstage presence, and was known for her love/hate relationship with the audience. She sang with such raw power and soul; if you didn’t like it, you could get out.
She paid great attention to the musical expression of emotions, and could range from intense highs to melancholy tragedy in a single concert or album. She was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in the sixties, but it was kept secret until after she died.

Simone recorded over forty albums over the course of her life, each progressing in artistic control over the next one. She becomes more and more vocal about racial prejudice over the years; after 1964 the civil rights message became standard in her recording repertoire.
She recorded songs such “Mississippi Goddam” – her response to the bombing of a church that killed four black children and covered “Strange Fruit” – Billie Holiday’s anthem about lynchings of black men in the south. After Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered she sang “Why? The King of Love is Dead.” She turned Lorraine Hansberry’s play “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” into a civil rights song. This song became the “National Anthem of Black America.”

When you raise a glass to toast the weekend, let's toss one back for the late, great Nina Simone, whose birthday was yesterday and whose legacy lives on in song!

Chorus Lady
Juice of 1/4 orange
1/3 Gin
1/3 French Vermouth
1/3 Italian Vermouth

Shake well and strain into a medium glass, add slice of orange and a cherry.

By Jove! Now That's The Real Hanky-Panky

by Pinky Gonzales

Ada Coleman, American Bar, London

Hanky-Panky (n. slang)

Various definitions from the Oxford English to the American Heritage Dictionaries include "questionable or underhanded activity", "sexual dalliance", "trickery, double-dealings", shenanigans", "hocus-pocus".

I like the Hanky-Panky. It's got a great backstory, mysterious etymology, association with our president (LUPEC Boston's that is, not the doofball in D.C.), and is simply a fine cocktail, back from the brink of extinction.

First of all, our own "Hanky Panky" (her LUPEC alias) has turned another year older this week, so from all of us, HP: Happy Birthday! And while she may be down in NYC engaging in first-class shenanigans, here at the blog we're spinning old records, nibbling groovy party snacks, and meditating on the origins of the following drink (whip one up & join us):

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.

or, two:

Hanky-Panky (recipe courtesy of John Gertsen)

1/4 oz. Fernet Branca

1 oz. Cinzano Rosso

2 oz. Beefeater Gin

Stir and strain into a cocktail glass. Squeeze the oil from an orange peel on top.

The drink, created in the 1920's, is a variation on the original (sweet) Martini. It nicely utilizes the herbalicious Italian liqueur Fernet Branca. In spirit, it reminds me of another punchy drink with a potentially-overwhelming-but-not herbal liqueur element, the Alaska, made with Chartreuse.

According to it's word origins at mindlesscrap.com , "About 150 years ago, British master magicians used to swing handkerchiefs with one hand to keep viewers from noticing what they were doing with the other. This practice was so common that the use of a hanky came to be associated with any clandestine or sneaky activity. It's thought that since magicians used the words hocus-pocus, a rhyming word was added to give it pizzazz."

Who created the Hanky Panky? The first head barman at the famed American Bar in London, who happened to be a broad named Ada Coleman. 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 overworking, 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. I wonder if Twain was sitting at Ada's bar when he wrote: “The cheapest and easiest way to become an influential man and be looked up to by the community at large was to stand behind a bar, wear a cluster diamond pin, and sell whiskey. I am not sure but that the saloon-keeper held a shade higher rank than any other member of society.”

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.

And speaking of Bibles, check out this theory on the origin of the term hanky-panky:

"It's been plausibly suggested that hocus-pocus is a corruption of the genuine Latin words hoc est enim corpus meum, "for this is my body," spoken during the consecration of the Roman Catholic Mass when the wine and wafer are said to be transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Some experts, presumably non-Catholic, think hocus-pocus itself was then corrupted into the word hoax." (Cecil Adams, from The Straight Dope)

The Catholic Church, hocus-pocus. Ada Coleman, Hanky Panky. Shenanigans. I'll drink to that.

Hanky Panky, a.k.a. Misty Kalkofen, Head Barman at Green Street, Cambridge MA
(Photo courteousy of Matt Demers)

Love and other stuff!

It's the romantic day of the year...according to Hallmark, anyway.

Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day gives us all good reason to kick back a few. Here are some LUPEC approved vaguely pink concoctions to get you through:

Bourbon Belle suggests...

The French Velvet

In a champagne flute add equal parts

Guinness

Champagne or Sparkling Wine

.25 oz Chambord

Sounds like a delightfully butch take on V-Day, n'est-ce pas? Thanks, BB!

Moscow Mule didn't think Sex on the Beach sounded dreamy & romantic enough. Instead, try...

Bachelor's Bait

1 1/2 oz gin

1 egg white

1 dash orange bitters

1/4 grenadine

Shake in iced cocktail shaker & strain. Serve in a cocktail glass.

Is it bait for the bachelor or bait for the objet d'amour? Thanks, MM!

Now let's all raise a glass to love and the color pink!

Atten-Hut!

It's Mixology Monday again! This month we are, with our host Jimmy's Cocktail Hour, exploring Variations.

Here in Boston the ladies of LUPEC have been very excited with the recent availability of the Rothman and Winter Creme de Violette. It's always thrilling to have a new product available, but in this case this is a new old product which opens up yet another window into cocktail past. In honor of our new favorite spirit we are going to take a look at three cocktails featuring gin, creme de violette, absinthe and french vermouth.

Within my modest collection of cocktail tomes I found the first recipe for the Atty Cocktail in The Savoy Cocktail Book.
ATTY COCKTAIL
1/4 French Vermouth
3 dashes Absinthe
3/4 Dry Gin
3 dashes Creme de Violette
Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.
Now we adore all of the ingredients in this cocktail and think it is delicious. However when looking for a cocktail to showcase the Creme de Violette this would not be our first choice so let's continue on to some other variations...

Thumbing through Patrick Gavin Duffy's Official Mixer's Manual we find the Attention Cocktail.
ATTENTION COCKTAIL
1/4 French Vermouth
1/4 Absinthe
1/4 Gin
1/4 Creme de Violette
2 Dashes Orange Bitters
Stir well with cracked ice and strain.
Once again, all things we love, but equal parts doesn't really work for us. The strength of the Absinthe overpowers the other ingredients.

Jones' Complete Bar Guide has the following recipe:
ATTENTION
1 oz gin
1/2 oz Pernod
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz creme de violette
2 dashes orange bitters
Ah...we're getting closer. The increase in the base spirit created a nice platform for the other flavors. Truth be told, we used Ricard instead of Pernod...desperate times call for desperate measures. The Ricard still was a bit powerful, but seemed to complement the Creme de Violette rather than battle it as was the case with Absinthe.

Sticking with Mr Jones we find the Arsenic and Old Lace. From the name alone we have very high hopes!
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
1-1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Absinthe or substitute
1/4 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz creme de violette
Once again we used Ricard and it was good, but we miss the bitters.

So in conclusion, there is no conclusion. As women dedicated to our cause we will happily continue our research!

Cheers!

Oh my goodness! I almost forgot two very important things!

A huge shout out to Eric Seed, the man behind the availability of Creme de Violette. Besides having the cutest daughter in the world who claps when she eats head cheese, through Haus Alpenz he is making amazing products available to us! Please check out his website and encourage your local retailers and bars to carry his products.

For an updated variation on the Arsenic and Old Lace head over to this post on Cocktail Chronicles where Paul Clarke checks out Simon Difford's Flower Power Martini.

The Hello Girls

In 1917 General "Black Jack" Pershing began his search for bilingual switchboard operators to improve communication between commanders and troops on the European front. The women needed to speak French, be college educated and single. Over 7000 women applied and 450 were selected. Upon completion of military and Signal Corps training at Camp Franklin Maryland the ladies were issued their Army regulation uniforms complete with US crests, Signal Corps crests and dog tags.

By the end of the war over 200 women had served oversees as part of the Hello Girls. The women had been sworn into service, were considered combatants and one of their own, Grace Banker, was awarded the Distinguished Medal of Service by Congress. However, upon returning to the States the Hello Girls were denied veteran status as all military regulations had been written in the male gender. One of the operators, Mearle Eagan Anderson, spent fifty years advocating on behalf of the Hello Girls. Her diligence was rewarded in 1978 when President Jimmy Carter signed a bill recognizing the service of the Hello Girls and awarding them veterans status.

And now a (Mixology Monday) toast to our bilingual fore-broads!

The French 75
2 oz Gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar or 1 tsp simple syrup
Champagne

Shake the gin, lemon juice, and sugar in an iced cocktail shaker. Strain into a champagne flute. Fill with Champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Cheers!

The Cradle of the Cocktail and the Women Who Rocked It!

Last night the lovely ladies of LUPEC Boston gathered at the home of Pinky Gonzalez to raise our glasses to the women of New Orleans. We nibbled on Shrimp "Arnaud," fried okra, fried oysters, jalapeno cornbread, and "Bananas in Jackets"/"Nuts in Sticks." And we washed it all down with the following delicious cocktails!

Pimm's Cup
Pimm's No 1
Lemon Juice
Simple Syrup
Ginger Ale
English Cucumber

Obituary Cocktail
2 parts Gin
1/4 part Dry Vermouth
1/4 part Absinthe
Stir and Strain

New Iberia Cocktail
2 parts Brandy
1 part French Vermouth
1 part Sherry
3 drops Tabasco
Shake and Strain

Sazerac
1 sugar cube
7 drops Peychaud Bitters
1/2 oz water
2 oz Rye
Splash of Herbsaint
Muddle the sugar cube, bitters and water in a mixing glass. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add rye. Stir with ic e for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled old fashioned glass that has been rinsed with Herbsaint. Garnish with oil from a lemon peel.

(Shake Your Own) Ramos Gin Fizz
Egg White
2 parts Gin
1 part Simple Syrup
1/2 part Lemon Juice
1/2 part Lime Juice
3 drops Orange Blossom Water
1 1/2 part Cream
Club Soda
Put all of the ingredients except cream and ice into a shaker. Shake. Add the cream and ice. Shake hard for 10 minutes. Strain into a collins glass leaving 1/2 an inch for soda. Add soda and garnish with a long orange spiral.

Vieux Carre
(created by Walter Bergeron, Head Bartender, Hotel Monteleone c 1937)
1/2 tsp Benedictine
dash Peychaud's
dash Angostura
1/3 Rye
1/3 Cognac
1/3 Italian Vermouth
Stir and Strain

Keep checking back this week for posts about the great broads of New Orleans!

The Biograph Blonde

Born in Chicago on June 18, 1895, Blanche Sweet was one of the great actresses of silent film. Although not as well known as her contemporaries, Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, Sweet made over 120 films.

Born into a show business family, Sweet was first carried onto the stage when she was eighteen months. She spent her childhood dancing with the Gertrude Hoffman troupe and made her film debut at the age of 14. Sweet worked for several film houses during her long career, including American Biograph. At that time performers' names were not listed in the credits, so she became known as the Biograph Blonde. She gained a place in history in 1913 when she starred in America's first full length feature film, Judith of Bethulia. One of Sweet's most famous roles was the lead in the first film version of "Anna Christie," the first Eugene O'Neill play to reach the screen. Although she had a beautiful speaking and singing voice, Sweet's career plunged with the advent of "talkies" as movie executives began promoting new performers to draw attention to the new style of film.

Now a toast to Blanche Sweet, the Biograph Blonde.

Soft and Sweet
1 oz Gin
1 oz Orange Juice
.5 oz Amer Picon
.5 oz Curacao
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Cheers!

Call Sign Chayka

On this day in 1963 Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space. Out of more than four hundred applicants, Tereshkova was one of five women selected to join the female cosmonaut corp in February, 1962. Tereshkova was seen as a particularly worthy candidate because of her meager upbringing in a small village outside of Moscow and also because her father had died as a war hero during World War II.

The female cosmonaut corp went through rigorous training, including weightless flights, isolation tests, centrifuge training, spacecraft engineering and parachuting. However, despite extensive training the female cosmonaut corp was never fully integrated into the cosmonaut corp. The creation of the corp and the flights of women in space were primarily used for propaganda purposes by the Soviet leadership.

Khrushchev hand selected Tereshkova to be the first of the five women of the female cosmonaut corp to fly in space. On June 16, 1963 she flew on Vostok 6 under the call sign Chayka as the first female and the first civilian to fly in space. She orbited the earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space. That was more flying time than all American astronauts combined at that time. None of the other four members of the female cosmonaut corp ever flew and the next Russian woman to travel in space was Svetlana Savitskaya 19 years later.

And now a toast to Valentina!

Russian Cocktail (verbatim from The Savoy Cocktail Book)
1/3 Vodka
1/3 Gin
1/3 Creme de Cacao
Shake well, strain into cocktail glass, and tossitoff quickski.

Cheers!

Amendment XIX

On this date in 1919 Congress proposed the 19th amendment which, upon ratification, would guarantee women the right to vote.

The history of the suffragist movement began in 1848 at the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. In 1840, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Unfortunately they were relegated to the balcony as mere observers because they were women. As a result they decided to hold their own convention "to discuss the social, civil and religious rights of women." At the Women's Rights Convention Stanton presented her Declaration of Principles, a document based on the Declaration of Independence which highlighted women's subordinate status. The Declaration of Principles included 12 resolutions, one of which states "That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise." This set in motion one of the most important eras in women's history.

As the Civil War began the convention continued on a regular basis. The emphasis, however, was turned toward the emancipation of slaves. The belief was that upon emancipation slaves and women would be afforded rights equal to white men. The war ended and the government perceived the issues as two separate causes. Abraham Lincoln declared, "This hour belongs to the negro."

In response Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass created the American Equal Rights Association in 1866. The goal was to join the cause of sexual equality and racial equality towards the common goal of universal suffrage. Unfortunately the ratification of the fourteenth amendment in 1868, which defined "citizenship" and "voters" as male, and the ratification of the fifteenth amendment in 1870, which granted black men the right to vote, led to a temporary division in the suffragist movement. Stanton and Anthony created the more radical National Women's Suffrage Association in New York. In Boston, the more conservative American Women's Suffrage Association was created by Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe and Henry Blackwell.


With the proliferation of women's organizations such as the National Council of Jewish Women and the National Association of Colored Women the suffragist movement continued to gain steam throughout the 1880's and 1890's. During World War I the movement slowed as women focused their energies on the war effort. However, in 1919 years of dedication came to fruition as the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in both houses of Congress. In 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote to all citizens regardless of sex, was passed by President Woodrow Wilson.

And now, the Nineteen Pick Me Up!
1.75 oz Pastis
.75 oz Gin
dash Orange Bitters
dash Angostura Bitters
Sugar to taste
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. (Splash of soda is optional)

Cheers!

M is for the many things you gave me...

This week Mimi and Pink Lady hosted the lovely ladies of LUPEC Boston as we saluted mothers. We shared stories about the important ladies in our lives and discussed some famous mothers as we enjoyed the following delicious cocktails!

The Mother Cocktail
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Cherry Heering
.5 oz Orange Juice
Shake and strain into your favorite vintage drinking vessel.

The Daiquiri
(The favorite cocktail of the famous mother, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis)
2 oz White Rum
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
Shake and strain into a coupe.

The Diana
(Served in honor of the famous mother, Princess Diana)
1.5 oz Gin
.75 oz Dry Vermouth
.25 oz Sweet Vermouth
.25 oz Pastis
Stir and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.



The Mimi
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Apricot Brandy
2 drops Cognac
1 tsp Lemon Juice
2 dashes Grenadine
1 Egg White
Shake vigorously. Strain into a powdered sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

The Pink Lady
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Applejack
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Grenadine
1 Egg White
Shake vigorously. Strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass.

Thank you Pink Lady and Mimi for being wonderful hostesses!

Cheers!

The Speed Queen

On this day in 1953, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. Piloting a Canadair F-86 Sabre that she had borrowed from the Royal Canadian Air Force, Jacqueline took off from Rogers Dry Lake, California and flew at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour.

Cochran's career in aviation began in the 1930's after a friend offered her a ride in an aircraft. While she ran a cosmetics business, Jacqueline began flying lessons at Roosevelt Airfield in Long Island and learned to fly in three weeks. A natural, she earned her commercial pilot's license in two years. Her husband, Floyd Bostwick Odium, was a savvy businessman and saw the commercial opportunities for her and her cosmetics company. Jacqueline named her company "Wings" and began flying around the country in her aircraft promoting her products.

Cochran flew in her first major race in 1934. From that point on she worked with Amelia Earhart in opening races and the field of aviation to women. In 1937 Cochran was the only woman to compete in the prestigious Bendix race. By 1938 she was the preeminent woman pilot in the United States having won the Bendix and set new altitude and transcontinental speed records.

After America entered WWII in 1942, Jacqueline became head of the women's flight training program for the States. As director of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Cochran trained over 1000 female pilots. For her efforts in WWII she received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Jacqueline Cochran died in 1980 at her home in Indio, California. At the time of her death, Cochran held the most speed, distance and altitude records of any pilot, man or woman, in aviation history.

And now a toast to Jacqueline Cochran!

BLUE SKIES
1 oz Applejack
1 oz Gin
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
1 or dashes grenadine
Shake with cracked ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!

Sky Girls

On this day in 1930 Ellen (Marshall) Church became the world's first airline stewardess. In 1928 she approached Boeing Air Transport hoping to become their first female pilot. She was denied the job, but Boeing liked her idea of placing nurses on the planes to help ease the fear of flying among passengers. In 1930 they hired 8 nurses, known as the Sky Girls, for a three month trial. Church was chosen to be the world's first flight attendant serving passengers aboard a 12 hour flight from Chicago to Oakland, CA.
The presence of nurses on flights quelled the fear of flying in the public and air travel became more popular. Soon other airlines followed the lead of BAT and hired nurses as flight attendants. In addition to being a nurse, flight attendants had to be single and under the age of 25. Cabins were small so the flight attendants could be no taller than 5 feet 4 inches and no heavier than 115 pounds. In addition to attending to the needs of passengers, flight attendants hauled luggage, fueled planes and pushed planes into hangars.

After jump-starting the flight attendant profession, Church returned to clinical nursing. During World War II she returned to the air, this time as a captain in the army nurse corps. She was awarded the Air Medal for her wartime heroics. She returned to the states and continued her nursing career in Terre Haute, IN until the time of her death in 1965.

In honor of Ellen Church and all the Sky Girls past and present, cheers!

Aviation
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Maraschino Liqueur
.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Shake with ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!