Hello, sucker!

by Pinky Gonzales

...This was the standard greeting you'd likely receive from the jovial, peroxide blonde manning the house at one of several Manhattan speakeasies during Prohibition. Of course, this would foreshadow the spending of all your dough, on illegal hooch and tips for the showgirls. You'd happily fork over $25 (back then no chump change) for a fifth of Scotch, or $2 for a pitcher of water if you brought your own "booster", and whatever else followed. The place would probably be packed, open a few hours later than all the rest, and the wisecracking, witty pal of Mae West named Texas Guinan would be seeing to it you were having a darned good time.

(Ouch! Dancer Drena Beach, 1926.)

Before being seduced into the world of club ownership through bartending and guest emceeing, Texas started out in Vaudville, then in Westerns as an actress and producer. 1917's The Wildcat introduced America's first movie cowgirl.

Her nite club career included "the grandaddy of speakeasies," the El Fey Club, opened in 1924 with gangster Larry Fey. Later came Club Intime, a Dorothy Parker hangout and subterranean spot near Times Square where entry would involve a steep staircase, two bouncers and a peephole. There was also the Rendezvous, the 300 Club, the Argonaut, the Century, the Salon Royal, and Tex Guinan's.

Infamous for being hauled off to the pokey on a regular basis and having her joints shut down by Feds, Texas enjoyed having the band strikeup "The Prisoner's Song" on her way out the door. And always would she deny selling anything but "mixers" to at her clubs, noting "a man could get hurt falling off a bar stool!" Re-opening after raids, she would sometimes wear a necklace of gold padlocks just to show the cops there were no hard feelings.

She worked tirelessly until age 49, when she was stricken by illness and passed away. 12,000 attended her 1933 funeral procession in Manhattan, and a month later to the day of her death, Prohibition was repealed.

Looks like a Women's History Month toast is in store for this gal!

Scoff Law Cocktail (what else?)

1 oz rye whiskey
1 oz dry vermouth
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz green Chartreuse (or pomegranate grenadine according to some recipes - also excellent)
2 dashes orange bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Cheers!

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.

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)

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.

Pearl Rivers

Born in 1849 in Pearlington along the Mississippi River, Eliza Jane Poitevent became the first woman owner and publisher of a major daily newspaper in the United States, the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Eliza began her career as a poet under the pen name Pearl Rivers. In 1870 she was offered the position as literary editor at the Picayune. Against the wishes of her family she moved to New Orleans and joined the male work force as the first woman in Louisiana to make a living at a newspaper. Two years later Eliza married Col Alva Morris Holbrook, the owner and publisher of the Times Picayune.

In 1876 Holbrook died, leaving the paper $80,000 in debt. Eliza's family encouraged her to declare bankruptcy, but Eliza persevered and at the age of 27 she became the editor and publisher of the Times Picayune. Although some of the staff left, the majority remained at the paper showing their loyalty to Eliza. Under her management the Picayune evolved into a family paper which included departments for women, children, fashion and household hints. As a philanthropist, Eliza used the editorial page to speak out against cruelty to animals. Eliza incorporated elements of the modern syndicated newspaper, thereby tripling the circulation of the Times Picayune from 1880 to 1890.

And now a toast to Pearl Rivers!

Cocktail a la Louisiane
1 oz Rye
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Benedictine
3-4 dashes Absinthe
3-4 dashes Peychaud Bitters
Stir in a glass with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass in which has been placed a maraschino cherry.

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!

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!

Drinkin' Dames in Classic Cinema

This past week the ladies of LUPEC Boston had the pleasure of gathering at Barbara West's house for a night of toasting the drinkin' dames of classic cinema! Good times and good cocktails were had by all! Featured cocktails included:

Ginger Rogers
1 oz Gin
1 oz Dry Vermouth
1 oz Apricot Brandy
4 dashes Lemon Juice

Barbara West
2 oz Gin
1 oz Dry Sherry
.5 oz Lemon Juice
Dash of Angostura
Lemon Twist

Roman Holiday
1.5 oz Vodka
.5 oz Punt e Mes
.5 oz Sweet Vermouth
.5 oz Orange Juice
Thin Orange Slice Garnish

Ann Sheridan
1.5 oz Dark Rum
.5 oz Orange Curacao
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice

Marlene Dietrich
2 oz Rye
.5 oz Curacao
2 Dashes Angostura
Lemon Twist
Flamed Orange Twist

Barbara West also provided us with a list of famous drinkin' moments in cinema. A few of the favorites...

1930 Anna Christie - Greta Garbo orders a whiskey with ginger ale on the side. She then adds, "Don't be stingy, baby."

1937 Every Day's a Holiday - Mae West and others drink Bellinis. This movie also introduced the famous one-liner, "You should get out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini."

1942 Casablanca - Humphrey Bogart pours Ingrid Bergman a Champagne Cocktail then says his most famous line ever, "Here's looking at you kid."

1955 Guys and Dolls - Marlon Brando orders a Milk Punch served in a coconut for Jean Simmons and himself. He tells her that at night they put a preservative in the milk. When Jean Simmons asks what they use Marlon Brando answers, "Bacardi." Jean Simmons asks if Bacardi has alcohol in it and Marlon Brando answers, "Well, just enough to stop the milk from turning sour." They drink six of them.

1959 Some Like It Hot - Marilyn Monroe makes Manhattans for her and her girlfriend in bed while on a train.

Cheers to Barbara West for being a fabulous host!

Anne Whitney

Revered poet and sculptor, Anne Whitney was a passionate opponent of slavery and advocate for women's rights. Using her art to reflect her political beliefs, Whitney sculpted the busts of many suffragists and abolitionists including Lucy Stone, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frances Willard.

In 1875 Whitney was commissioned for a statue of Samuel Adams which was contributed to the national capitol building by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter she won first place for a commission for a memorial for William Sumner. Entries for the commission had been anonymous. Upon learning that the winner was a woman, the judges denied Whitney the commission. Having been an ardent supporter of Sumner's political campaign against slavery, Whitney decided to complete the statue using personal funds and contributions from friends. At the age of 80 she completed the statue and donated it to the city of Cambridge. The statue is now located outside Harvard Law School on an island at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Church Street.

Queen Anne
1.5 oz Bourbon
.75 oz Dry Vermouth
.75 oz Pineapple Juice
2 dashes Peach Bitters
Shake and Strain