Classic cocktail history lesson
- 1. Classic Cocktail History Lesson The Sad Sorry of Three Classic Cocktails (original recipes included)
- 2. Classic Cocktail # 1 The Gin Cocktail
- 3. The Classic Gin Cocktail Mellow, Smooth, and Strong How to Make a Classic Gin Cocktail Put a cube of demurara sugar in a tumbler glass (also known as an old fashion glass) • Add ½ ounce of water • Add 4 to 5 dashes of bitters • Add 2 ounces of Genevieve or Bos Gin • Add 2 cubes of ice Twist a swatch of thin cut lemon peal over the top
- 4. What You Get Today Sweat, Pink, and Diluted The classic Gin Cocktail has long gone extinct. The closest approximation to the Classic Gin Cocktail is an Old Fashion Cocktail. Order one today, and you’ll likely receive a sweet mixture of whisky, sugar, bitters, a cherry, and an orange wedge, topped off with some soda (or worse 7-up). Not exactly its sophisticated predecessor.
- 5. So What Happened? At the beginning of the 19th century there was no drink more popular than the Gin Cocktail, but by 1910 it was essentially extinct. What Happened.? Gin styles changed. Up until 1880 or so, when someone asked for “gin”, they were generally refering to Dutch style gin (aka gnever): a rich malty, lightly junipery thing that’s essentially flavored whisky. But then light-bodied, sharp-flavored, London-style gin moved in and the older stuff fell out of style. Suddenly this mellow soft gin cocktail was transformed into something nervous and edgy, and
- 6. Classic Cocktail # 2 The Manhattan Cocktail
- 7. The Classic Manhatan Cocktail Smooth, Rich, and Elegant How to Make the Manhattan Club’s Manhattan Stir well with cracked ice: • 1 ½ ounce straight rye whisky (Rittenhouse or Wild Turkey) • 1 ½ ounces of Martini and Rossi Red Vermouth • 2 dashes of orange bitter Strain in chilled cocktail coupe and twist a swatch of thin-cut lemon peal over the top • 1 ½ oz straight rye whiskey (Rittenhouse or Wild Turkey)
- 8. What you Get Today Too Strong, Too Fruity, and Too Sweet Unlike its predecessor, the contemporary Manhattan contains significantly less vermouth than it does Whisky. Order a Manhattan Today, and you’ll be presented with a cherry filled concoction, made with blended whisky or bourbon, replete with maraschino cherry juice.
- 9. So What Happened? The Manhattan began its life as the house drink at the Manhattan Club in New York back in 1980, where it was made with equal parts rye whisky and vermouth, and NO maraschino cherry juice. So what Happened? The rise of the Martini (and with it drier drinks). Over the years, as the Manhattan lost ground to the Martini, bartenders started making Manhattans drier and drier, with less and le.ss vermouth. But whisky is not gin, and to fight the harshness that
- 10. Classic Cocktail # 3 The Singapore Sling
- 11. The Original Singapore Sling How to Make The Original Singapore Sling Combine in a tall collins glass: • 1 ounce Tanqueray gin • 1 ounce Bols cherry brandy or Herring cherry liqueur • 1 ounce Bnedictine (optional) • 1 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice Add ice, fill with chilled club soda, and hit with three dashes Angostura bitters
- 12. What You Get Today Fruiting Concoction fit for a Novelty Umbrella Order a Singapore Sling at the Raffle Hotel in Singapore, which claims to have invented it back in 1915, and you’ll get a sickly sweet, fruity mess of juice and syrup with a little gin buried in it.
- 13. So What Happened ? Though the Raffle Hotel claims to have invented the Singapore Sling back in 1915, it actually goes back at least to the 1980 , and was not particularly associated with the Raffle Hotel until 1920. So what happened? The fruity novelty cocktail won out. The main problem isn’t that the original formulation was lost, but rather
- 14. Lesson Learned? 1) Always order by ingredient! 2) Maraschino cherry juice is never the answer!