Seelbach Cocktail

To start the year off right I have a pre-prohibition cocktail to add to your recreational rolodex.  The intriguing combination of champagne, bourbon and bitters brought me to this drink, but the smart flavor is what will keep you coming back.

The legendary Seelbach Hotel of the same name, host to presidents, gangsters, writers, and ne’er-do-wells, is the birthplace of this fine pick-me-up.   According to legend the drink was accidently discovered in 1917 when a bartender topped a manhattan from an overflowing champagne bottle.  The drink gained instant popularity but was lost during prohibition when the hotel stopped serving booze.  Fortunatley for us, the recipe was rediscovered in1995 and put back into circulation.

To make the Seelbach cocktail, start one ounce of bourbon in a mixing glass.  To hold to tradition make sure it is a strong Kentucky bourbon, Woodford Reserve is a good choice.  Add one half ounce Cointreau, seven dashes angostura bitters, and seven dashes peychaud bitters.  Stir with ice until chilled and pour into a chilled champagne flute, top with a dry champagne of your choice, and garnish with an orange twist.  Imagine yourself sitting at the bar with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Woodrow Wilson, and Al Capone sharing a cigar, a fine drink, and a healthy amount of bullshit.

Seelbach Cocktail

1 oz bourbon

½ oz cointreau

7 dashes angostura bitters

7 dashes peychaud’s bitters

champagne

Combine the bourbon, cointreau, and bitters in a mixing glass, fill with ice and stir.  Strain into a chilled champagne flute, fill with champagne and garnish with an orange twist.

Robertino

Today’s delight comes, once again, from the Bar Hemingway.  It is sure to please all members of the fairer sex that you may be entertaining, as well as any gentlemen who stop by.  The Robertino has just the right amount of sweetness to it, the balance impeccably perfected at the esteemed establishment of its birth.

Once again there is not a depth of history involved , it was created in 2005 by one of the bartenders at the Ritz for a regular who frequently brings models, actresses and rock stars into the bar. It is obviously influenced by the Cosmopolitan, but the flavor seems more balanced and enjoyable.

To me this is a drink meant to share with someone, so this will make enough for two.  Start by placing a sprig of fresh mint in a shaker, add two ounces of Grey Goose vodka, and muddle slightly.  Add one ounce of fresh squeezed mandarin orange juice and an ounce of Cointreau.  Lastly add six ounces of cranberry juice.  Fill the shaker with ice and mix.  Pour the contents into two ice filled old fashioned glasses, garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.  Serve while Labelle's Lady Marmalade plays suggestively in the background.

Robertino

2 oz vodka

1 oz mandarin orange juice

1 oz cointreau

6 oz cranberry juice

2 springs of mint

Add vodka and a sprig of mint to a shaker, muddle.  Add orange juice, Cointreau  and cranberry juice.  Fill with ice and shake.  Serve in an ice filled old fashioned glass with a sprig of mint.  Serves two.

Country Gentleman

There is something about the flavor of calvados that reminds me of fall. Maybe it is the apples being harvested, the apple pie on the table or maybe just the bite to match the chill in the air. Whatever the reason I have a handful of calvados cocktails to share with you. The name also inspires images of an Englishman returning to a one of the quaint villages of the Cotswolds after a day in the field for a drink with his mates.

There is no history to be found on this cocktail which leads me to believe that it is a recent creation, but with other recently coined concoctions covered here, it follows in the traditions of cocktails of decades past.

Begin by donning your finest tweeds, then add one and one-half ounce of calvados to an ice filled shaker, add three-quarters of an ounce of Cointreau, one-quarter of an ounce of fresh squeezed lemon juice, and a teaspoon of simple syrup. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon and serve speaking with your best English accent.

Country Gentleman

1 ½ oz calvados

¾ oz cointreau

¼ oz lemon juice

1 tsp simple syrup

Mix all ingredients in an ice filled shaker. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Pegu Club Cocktail

The great gin cocktail quest of 2010 continues with more successes than failures and I have another winner for your drinking enjoyment. The Pegu Club is a fairly simple, easy sipping cocktail, perfect for warm summer nights, the tropics, and while visiting your favorite junta ruled totalitarian state.

This cocktail originated during the 1920s in The Pegu Club in Rangoon. As a far flung outpost of the British Empire, Burma offered few of the creature comforts for which your average Brit yearned, save for a classy gentleman’s club to gather with the boys, enjoy a cocktail, and toast the Queen. The house cocktail spread through the empire and the rest of the world, appearing in Haddocks’s tome, The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930.

This cocktail is a true crowd pleaser. Men and women, gin lovers and haters. Everyone that I have mixed this for has become an instant fan. It has the perfect combination of sweet, sour and bitter, not to mention it packs a pretty hefty punch!

The version I prefer uses two types of bitters, some recipes call for only one. While I have found that the taste difference is nearly indiscernible, I like any excuse to use all the bitters that I can. Start with 2 ounces of gin, I like Plymouth in this drink, but any good London dry gin will work. Next add ¾ ounce of Cointreau and ½ ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice. Kaffir limes are the most authentic, but can be difficult to find. Lastly add a couple dashes of orange bitters, a couple dashes of angostura bitters, shake and serve with a lime slice as garnish.

To Queen and Country!

The Pegu Club

2 oz gin

¾ oz cointreau

½ oz fresh lime juice

2 dashes orange bitters
2 dashes angostura bitters

 Add all ingredients to your shaker, fill with ice.  Shake vigorously.  Pour into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a thin slice of lime.