Posted by Paul Clarke, April 18, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
What, you thought Manhattan was the only borough of New York that had a drink named after it? We’ll get to the Brooklyn later, but Staten Island and Queens? Well, sorry—better luck next time.
Like its namesake, The Bronx cocktail has taken a beating over the years. It all started out well (with origins at the old Waldorf-Astoria back when that was the place to drink), but when Prohibition hit, the Bronx became ... popular. This was a bad thing, you see, because all sorts of rotgut gin were being mixed into cocktails, and the Bronx was one of those that had enough other stuff in it to somewhat obscure the vile taste of the booze. By the time Repeal rolled around, many drinkers had lost a few layers of stomach lining to Bronxes and others of its ilk. As a result, it was remembered with so much ill will that the drink practically disappeared.
Let’s be honest: The Bronx is unlikely to be anyone’s favorite drink. But while it’s not exactly bottled excitement, The Bronx is actually pretty good, and surprisingly refreshing. Be sure to use fresh-squeezed orange juice (and if you add a dash or two of Angostura bitters, you’ve got a somewhat tastier Income Tax Cocktail on your hands), and approach it with an open mind. There are some things from the past worth revisiting from time to time.
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, February 29, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? That kinda week, eh? Here you go. Cheers!
When I was a kid, one of my mother’s closest friends was in the habit of slyly pointing out that she’d had only twelve (or thereabouts) birthdays—this, despite the fact that she was a middle-aged mother of three. Her punchline of course—and note I never said it was a good one—was that she was born on February 29, a date that only appears on the calendar when leap year rolls around.
Hey, look at today’s date! As you might expect from such a benign oddity, the day has spawned its own cocktail. The Savoy Cocktail Book states, “This Cocktail was created by Harry Craddock, for the Leap Year celebrations at the Savoy Hotel, London, on February 29th, 1928. It is said to have been responsible for more proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been mixed.”
I can’t attest to Craddock’s claim, but I can back up the notion that the Leap Year is a very engaging concoction. Mildly sweet, with a faint touch of bitterness, the cocktail is tasty enough to be enjoyed regularly while we wait for the next February 29 to roll around.
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, October 12, 2007 at 5:30 PM
Let's get this weekend started right. Here's a cocktail to kick things off. Need more than one? That kinda week, eh? Here you go. Cheers!
You could call the Last Word the true zombie of the cocktail world. Unlike the Zombie—that venerable tiki concoction which was constantly altered over the years, but which never actually disappeared—the Last Word was created and was then promptly forgotten for decades, before being brought back to life—rising from the grave, as it were—stronger and more powerful than ever.
The Last Word dates to Prohibition, as far as anyone can tell, and except for a brief mention in Bottoms Up!—a 1951 cocktail manual by Ted Saucier—the drink languished in obscurity until about four years ago, when Seattle bartender Murray Stenson dusted off the recipe and began serving the drink to customers at Zig Zag Café. Fast-forward to the present day, and the Last Word is a fully revived classic, gracing the bar menus in cities around the globe. More popular now than it ever was in its youth, the Last Word is a surprisingly tasty balance of four ingredients working in perfect unison. Mix one up this weekend, and make up for lost time.
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, August 17, 2007 at 5:30 PM
Let's get this weekend started right. Here's a cocktail to kick things off. Need more than one? Here you go. Cheers!
Record delays. Overbooked flights. Security lines.
Does anyone remember when flying was fun?
In its early days, aviation was just about the most dashing thing around, and the whole idea of taking to the sky was as fantastic a dream as any. Back then, it was all leather flight jackets and pilot’s goggles, the roar of the propeller and the wind in your hair; now, we’re stuck with cramped seats, missed connections, and walking around in public in our socks.
Aviation’s glory days even inspired the creation of a cocktail. Once the secret-handshake drink of the cocktail cognoscenti, today this drink is as common as an extended layover. A mixture of gin, lemon juice and maraschino liqueur, the Aviation is a very friendly introduction to classic cocktails--and let’s face it, if you’re flying this summer, you’re going to need a drink.
Why is it called the aviation? Because the drink's earliest printed recipe (in 1917) called for the inclusion of creme de violette (creme Yvette was a notable proprietary brand), a violet-flavored and colored liqueur that gave the drink a cerulean hue that brought to mind the wild, blue yonder. Production of creme Yvette was discontinued decades ago, but fortunately, a new violet liqueur from Rothman & Winter appeared in New York last month; starting this month, it should start trickling into California. Keep an eye out for a bottle, so you can mix up an authentic aviation.
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, July 13, 2007 at 4:15 PM
As promised on Wednesday, Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles returns here with a recipe to do you up right for the weekend. Drink up! —The Serious Eats Team
Photograph by Paul Clarke
If you look at the gin rickey and think it’s nothing but a gin and tonic without tonic’s bittersweet bite, you’d be mostly correct. Dismiss it as a G&T wannabe, however, and you’re missing out on one of the great joys of summer. Created in a Washington, D.C., bar called Shoemaker’s during an especially brutal heat wave in the 1890s—before the advent of air conditioning, you’ll note—the gin rickey is like an effervescent Frigidaire. Refreshingly bubbly and pleasantly bitter, this Gilded Age cooler demonstrates how your great-grandparents made it through the summer alive.
Gin Rickey
Squeeze the juice from 1/2 of a well-washed lime into an ice-filled 10-ounce Collins glass. Add 2 ounces London dry gin, toss in the lime shell for color, and fill the glass with chilled club soda. Some prefer to add a touch of sugar or simple syrup; the rickey really doesn’t need it, but if you’d like a sweeter drink, go for it.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
