Tag Archives: French Vermouth

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Zanzibar Cocktail

The countdown to the last “Cocktail” continues.

Say it with me, “FOUR!”

Zanzibar Cocktail
(6 People)
The Juice of 1 1/2 Lemons. (1/2 oz Lemon Juice)
1 Glass Gin. (1/2 oz Anchor Junipero Gin)
3 Glasses French Vermouth. (1 1/2 oz Perucchi Vermouth Blanco)
1 or 2 Dessertspoonsful Sugar Syrup. (Pinch Caster Sugar)
If desired, 1 Spoonful Orange Bitters. (3 dash orange bitters)
Shake well and serve with a piece of lemon rind.

With the sweetness of the Perucchi Vermouth Blanco, I went light on the sweetener in the Zanzibar.

This is an interesting cocktail, essentially a Vermouth Sour with a touch of gin, it’s really quite enjoyable. Light and refreshing, it is nearly the polar opposite of the short sharp shock of a traditional Gin Sour. A great aperitif Cocktail, and another to add to the list of enjoyable Savoy Low Alcohol Beverages.

Since we were going light on the amount of Gin in this cocktail, I also didn’t feel shy about using something as strong and juniper heavy as the Anchor Junipero.

Recommended.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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York Special Cocktail

First, just a reminder that today, Sunday, Feb 27, 2011, is our monthly exercise in folly, Savoy Cocktail Book Night at Alembic Bar. If any of the cocktails on this blog have captured your fancy, stop by after 6 and allow the skilled bartenders (and me) to make them for you. It is always a fun time.

The countdown to the last “Cocktail” continues.

Say it with me, “SIX!”

York Special Cocktail
4 Dashes Orange Bitters. (4 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters)
1/4 Maraschino. (3/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur)
3/4 French Vermouth. (2 1/4 oz Perucchi Blanc)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass. (Squeeze Lemon Peel over glass and drop in.)

Well, it isn’t exactly a Chrysanthemum Cocktail, but it isn’t bad. It’s probably too sweet with the Perucchi Blanc Vermouth and that much Maraschino Liqueur.

A question I’ve had, that no one seems to be able to answer, is: When did “Extra Dry Vermouth” become the dominant style?

You’d think, if something is called “Extra Dry” it would be differentiating itself from something else. Say, plain old “Dry” Vermouth.

I often wonder if the Blanc/Bianco style might have been dominant for longer than we generally admit.

If so, the transition from Martinez to Martini would have been not such a big deal, mostly about changing the color of the drink.

Blanc/Bianco Vermouth does mix A LOT better with Genever than “Extra Dry” Vermouth.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Yellow Rattler Cocktail

First, just a reminder that Sunday, Feb 27, 2011, is our monthly exercise in folly, Savoy Cocktail Book Night at Alembic Bar. If any of the cocktails on this blog have captured your fancy, stop by after 6 and allow the skilled bartenders (and me) to make them for you. It is always a fun time.

Thus begins the countdown to the last “Cocktail”.

Say it with me, “TEN!”

Yellow Rattler Cocktail
1/4 Orange Juice. (3/4 oz Fresh Orange Juice)
1/4 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Perucchi White Vermouth)
1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)
1/4 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Anchor Genevieve Gin)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass, with small crushed pickled onion.

In his 1922 book, “Cocktails: How to Mix Them,” Robert Vermeire notes, “This Cowboy’s cocktail is similar to the Cooperstown Cocktail, but, a small bruised white onion is used instead of the bruised fresh mint sprigs.”

I guess your average Cowboy Bar didn’t have, say, Mint around, so instead, they’d substitute a pickled onion. Makes TOTAL sense to me.

*cough*

Uh, anyway, this is pretty much a Bronx cocktail with a pickled onion as a garnish.

As such, not entirely awful, and to be honest, the Anchor Genevieve, hey, Cowboy Gin if there ever was one, goes a long way towards salvaging this cocktail.

Still, unless you REALLY like pickled onions, its not one of those things that you’re probably going to be making any time soon.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Yellow Daisy Cocktail

Yellow Daisy Cocktail*
(6 People)
2 Glasses Gin. (1 oz Ransom Old Tom Gin)
2 Glasses French Vermouth. (1 oz Vermouth Perucchi Blanc)
1 Glass Grand Marnier. (1/2 oz Clement Creole Shrubb Orange Liqueur)
Before shaking add a dash of Absinthe. (1 dash Duplais Verte Absinthe)

*Not only the favourite drink, but also the one made famous, if not invented, by Richard William (” Deadwood Dick ”) Clark, recently deceased (84): onetime Custer scout, Pony Express rider, Deadwood Gulch stage coach guard, Inspiration for all the (64) Deadwood Dick novels of E. L. Wheeler ; friends off Wild Westerners, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Poker Alice Tubbs, Calamity Jane, Madame Mustache and Diamond Dick Turner or Norfolk, Neb. : Clark is buried on Sun- rise Mountain overlooking Deadwood Gulch, S. Dak.

So, let me get this straight, this Gin drink, which probably came from Nina Toye and A.H. Adair’s 1925 “Drinks Long & Short” is a Cowboy drink?

I did my best to rough it up a bit, using the vaguely whiskey flavored Ransom Old Tom. I suppose I could have gone a bit further and used Anchor’s thoroughly rambunctious Genevieve Gin, but I killed that bottle trying to breath some life into the White Wings Cocktail.

On the other hand, this isn’t bad at all, along the lines of a Martinez. My notes for the drink were, “If this is what the Cowboys were drinking, count me in for some pony breaking.”

I was reading Ummamimart the other month, and Payman Bahmani wrote about Perucchi Vermouth from Catalonia: Happy Hour: Vermouth Perucchi. I was intrigued enough to comment on the post, and later when I wrote up the Turf Cocktail, I lamented the fact that Perucchi wasn’t available in the Bay Area. Shortly thereafter, David Driscoll commented on the post saying, “Uhhhhh…….we sell Perucchi at K&L. Just ask!” I guess between the time of Payman’s post and when I wrote about the Turf, unbeknownst to me, Perucchi had become available in the Bay Area. So ask I did, and shortly thereafter picked up a bottle of the Blanc and Red Vermouth from Perucchi.

Vermouth Perucchi is new to me. From what I can tell, they make three Vermouths: Red, Blanc, and Extra Dry. This is definitely the Blanc, not the Extra Dry. I really like it, but it is very much along the lines of a White Carpano Antica. Fairly sweet, with a strong vanilla element. Not as herbally intense as many of the Italian Bianco Vermouths, or even the Dolin Blanc. I’ve found myself drinking a lot of it with a splash of Cocchi Americano, or an Italian Amaro, and soda.

Anyway, the Perucchi Blanc works really well in the Yellow Daisy, complementing both the Clement Creole Shrubb Orange Liqueur and Ransom Old Tom.

Oh yeah, why not Grand Marnier? Laziness. I would have had to trek all the way down to the basement to track it down and the Creole Shrubb was handy. Well, also, Creole Shrubb just seemed a bit more Cowboy-esque, than Grand Marnier. Or at least Pirate-ey.

When I was mentioning the Yellow Daisy on the book of faces, Erick Castro made the amusing comment, “I love the Yellow Daisy. Especially, cause it’s not a daisy & not very yellow.”

Which got me thinking: Oh, uh, yeah. What’s the oldest Gin, French Vermouth, and Orange Bitters Cocktail recipe, predating the Martini? The Marguerite. What kind of flower is a Marguerite? Why it is a Yellow Daisy.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Wyoming Swing Cocktail

Wyoming Swing Cocktail
The Juice of 1/4 Orange. (Juice 1/2 Clementine)
1/2 Teaspoonful Powdered Sugar. (1 tsp Homemade Orgeat)
1/2 French Vermouth. (1 oz Vya Vermouth)
1/2 Italian Vermouth. (1 oz Carpano Antica Vermouth)
Shake well and strain into medium size glass, and fill with soda water.

One of those nights where I could really use a drink after work. Looking forward to a cocktail called “Wyoming Swing”! Surely it must at least have whiskey!

Wait!?

Crap, it’s a not-tail! Vermouth, Orange Juice, and Soda.

Damn it.

Well, I chose to spice it up a bit with Orgeat, just for varieties’ sake, instead of plain sugar. Why not?

Actually, it surprised me how enjoyable a drink this was.

Didn’t stop me from pouring myself a glass of whiskey afterward.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Will Rogers Cocktail

Will Rogers Cocktail
1/4 Orange Juice. (3/4 oz Orange Juice)
1/4 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Vya Dry Vermouth)
1/2 Plymouth Gin. (3/4 oz Plymouth Gin, 3/4 oz Bols Genever)
4 Dashes Curacao. (1 tsp Bols Dry Orange Curacao)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass.

I’m not quite sure how to handle a figure quite so mythic to the early part of the 20th Century as Will Rogers.

The best thing I could find about him is this kind of long video segment from some time in the 50s, but I still don’t think it conveys the extent of his influence on popular culture during the depression as the Cowboy Poet, Philosopher and voice of reason.

Well, if there’s a cocktail named after him, the first thing I tried to find was some information about whether he did in fact take a drink now and then.

I did find a google book result from a speech he gave shortly after the enactment of prohibition, it comes from a book, “In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century”.

I have often said that wish the wets would become so soused they would be speechless and couldn’t say anything, and that the drys would become so perfect that the Lord would come down and take them away from here–and that would leave the country to the rest of us who are tired of listening to both of them.

Aside from this sensible bon mot, I find not a whole lot of evidence against Will Rogers either as a dry or wet, particularly, though some other quotes indicate he may have had some familiarity with Whiskey.

The cocktail itself is an inoffensive draught, a slightly orangey Dry Martini.

I am bulking up the the bog standard modern Plymouth with a bit of Bols Genever for body and maltiness.

I hadn’t tried the Vya Dry Vermouth for a few years, and this evening it was either that or Martini & Rossi Extra Dry at the Grocery. I am unclear I made the right choice. It was, as usual for me, the more expensive choice. But, I don’t know, there is a surprising amount of bitter character to the Vya dry vermouth. And, as a friend once remarked, “it doesn’t really taste like Vermouth. More like mulled wine.”

Well, it doesn’t really hurt anything in the Will Rogers.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Whizz-Bang Cocktail

First, just a reminder that Sunday, Jan 30, 2010, is our monthly exercise in folly, Savoy Cocktail Book Night at Alembic Bar. If any of the cocktails on this blog have captured your fancy, stop by after 6 and allow the skilled bartenders (and me) to make them for you. It is always a fun time.

Whizz-Bang Cocktail
2 Dashes Absinthe. (2 Dash Absinthe Duplais Verte)
2 Dashes Grenadine. (1 tsp. Small Hand Foods Grenadine)
2 Dashes Orange Bitters. (2 Dash Angostura Orange)
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth)
2/3 Scotch Whisky. (1 1/2 oz Highland Park 8 Year Old, MacPhail’s Collection)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass.
I suspect the source of this cocktail is Robert Vermiere’s 1922 recipe book, “Cocktails: How to Mix Them”. He notes, “Recipe by Tommy Burton, Sports’ Club, London, 1920. This cocktail is named after the high-velocity shells, so called by the “Tommies” during the war, because all you heard was a whiz and the explosion of the shell immediately afterwards.”

From the wikipedia article:

Tommy Atkins – or Thomas Atkins – has been used as a generic name for a common British soldier for many years. The precise origin is a subject of debate, but it is known to have been used as early as 1743. A letter sent from Jamaica about a mutiny amongst the troops says “except for those from N. America (mostly Irish Papists) ye Marines and Tommy Atkins behaved splendidly”. The surname Atkins means “little son of red earth”, a reference to the soldiers in their red tunics. Tommy (a diminutive of Thomas), meaning twin, has been a very popular English male name since Saint Thomas Becket was martyred in the 12th century.

For all the not so subtle menace implied by the name and the quote, this is a fairly easy going and drinkable cocktail. A sort of Rob Roy variation, the dry vermouth allows the Scotch to come more to the fore, even with the few embellishments. I got this Absinthe in a small tasting bottle a while ago, and am finding it pleasant, though a tad less assertive compared to other Absinthes I sometimes use. I suppose that isn’t entirely a bad thing for mixed drinks.

You sometimes get requests for Scotch Cocktails and there are not really all that many options. The Whizz-Bang would be a nice change up from the usual Bobby Burns, Rob Roy, Affinity, Blood and Sand, Laphroig Project, and Penicillin Cocktails.

Breaking News Update!

Between my making this cocktail and the post hitting the schedule, I heard from Craig Lane, of Bar Agricole. He wanted to put the cocktail on the menu there and was looking for source corroboration for the story related to its origin.

I provided the quote from Robert Vermeire and he asked if I was interested in the specifics of the version at their restaurant. Well, of course!

We decided to use the Sutton Cellars Brown Label vermouth, which synced up rather nicely with the palate of Famous Grouse. It was one of those recipes that didn’t require much tweaking after that. 1.5 oz Scotch, .75 oz Sutton Vermouth, 1 barspoon Grenadine, 2 dash Orange Bitters (ours), 2 dash Absinthe (Leopold’s).

Clearly a field trip to check out the Bar Agricole version is in order!

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Whisper Cocktail

Whisper Cocktail
(6 People)
2 Glasses Whisky (3/4 oz Thomas Handy Rye)
2 Glasses French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Noilly Prat Dry)
2 Glasses Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)
Pour into a shaker half full of cracked ice. Shake (I stirred) well and serve.

This cocktail is very simple to make and is a great favourite in the West Indies.

Since this drink seems to have been sourced from a British book, “Drinks Long & Short” by Nina Toye and A.H. Adair, I guess it refers to the British West Indies, which historically were comprised of, “Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bay Islands, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Croix (briefly), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago (from 1797) and the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

Interesting, that they were drinking Gin (West Indies Cocktail) and Whisky in the British West Indies, and not so much Rum. I guess the habits of the home land die hard.

I do wonder, however, if it shouldn’t have been Scotch, if it was the British, rather than American Whiskey. Well, so it goes.

Since this is 2/3 Vermouth, I figured I might as well deploy some sort of Cask Strength Spirit, in this case the Thomas Handy Straight Rye Whiskey of a few years ago (2006, I believe). I mean, it is just a “Perfect Manhattan”, having both French and Italian Vermouth, but I guess it is pretty rare that that a Manhattan would be made an equal parts cocktail. More along the lines of the Affinity Cocktail, especially if made with Scotch.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Whiskey Special Cocktail

Whisky Special Cocktail
(6 People)
3 Glasses Whisky. (1 1/2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon)
2 Glasses French Vermouth. (1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth)
1/2 Glass Orange Juice. (1/4 oz Orange Juice)
Pour into the shaker and shake, adding a little nutmeg serve with an olive.

This is a very dry cocktail.

Sorry about the picture there, exposure problem due to pushing the film and forgetting to turn on the meter.

So, not only is this a “very dry” cocktail, but it is also a very weird cocktail.

Dry Manhattan with a bit of orange juice, nutmeg, and an OLIVE?

Really?

All right, there we go, we’ll do it.

Shudder!

Well, if you like Dry Manhattans, I guess this might be an interesting, uh, change of pace for you. If not, you can probably give this not very Special cocktail a skip.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

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Whip Cocktail

Whip Cocktail
1 Dash Absinthe.
3 Dashes Curacao.
1/4 French Vermouth.
1/4 Italian Vermouth.
1/4 Brandy.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

When I was researching this cocktail, I discovered it in Robert Vermiere’s 1922 “Cocktails: How to Mix Them”.

In that he says, “This cocktail is well known amongst the naval officers of the Mediterranean Squadron. It is composed of: 1/8 gill Absinthe Pernod; 1/8 gill of French Vermouth; 1/8 gill of Brandy; 1/8 gill of Curacao; Shake until Frozen. In Egypt they call it “Kurbag,” which is the Arabic word for whip.”

So, in Vermeire’s world, the Whip is an equal parts cocktail.

Figured I’d give that a go.

Whip Cocktail

1/2 oz Jade PF 1901 Absinthe
1/2 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz Clement Creole Shrubb Orange Liqueur
1/2 oz Osocalis Rare Alambic Brandy

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

Just coming off of the nearly undrinkable Which Way Cocktail, it’s interesting to see how much difference the moderation of a bit of vermouth adds to the enjoyment of the drink.  Well, that and some variety of taste from Orange Liqueur instead of Anisette.

This isn’t bad, not bad at all, and it didn’t need the rejiggering given to it by the Savoy editors.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.