Episode 71: Brandy Cobbler

  • 3 ounces brandy or cognac

  • 1/2 ounce simple syrup

  • 1 to 2 ounces club soda, to taste

  • Orange slices and seasonal berries, for garnish

Line an old-fashioned glass with orange slices and fill with crushed ice, Then pour in brandy and simple syrup. Stir to combine, and top with soda. Add the fruit & berry garnishes (skewered or piled on top of the ice).
Serve with a straw and enjoy.

Cobblers became popular toward the end of the 1830s, around the same time that the ice trade in the US was expanding, making it easier to create cocktails with loads of ice. Much like a julep, cobblers call for crushed ice and plenty of it.
In fact, no one is exactly certain where the name cobbler comes from, but according to David Wondrich, it may have something to do with the “cobbles” of ice the cocktail is built on.

Originally cobblers were always made with wine or fortified wine. The sherry cobbler was definitely the most popular variety, but in Jerry Thomas’ 1862 bartenders guide he also includes recipes for a Catawba wine cobbler, a claret cobbler, a Hock cobbler (British term for German white wine) and a sauterne cobbler.

But sometimes cobblers were made with stronger spirits. Jerry Thomas also included a whiskey cobbler recipe in his book, and according to David Wondrich, Brandy cobblers were also super popular in the 1850s, especially in New York.

Once you have crushed ice and sliced citrus, building a cobbler is very easy to do. The one thing to keep in mind though is that Jerry Thomas insists that special attention needs to be paid to how it’s presented. 

“The cobbler does not require much skill in compounding, but to make it acceptable to the eye, as well as to the palate, it is necessary to display some taste in ornamenting the glass after the beverage is made.” He even includes an illustration of how a cobbler should look.

Episode 33: The Sex on the Beach

  • 2 ounces vodka

  • 1/2 ounce peach schnapps

  • 1 1/2 ounces orange juice

  • 1 1/2 ounces cranberry juice

  • Ice

  • Optional Garnish: Orange slice, maraschino cherry, cocktail umbrella  

Fill a hurricane glass or a large highball glass with ice. Pour vodka, schnapps, & orange juice over the ice, and then slowly & carefully top with cranberry juice for a layered effect. Garnish with an orange slice, a maraschino cherry, and a cocktail umbrella. Serve with a straw to stir the drink together.

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By the 1980s, American cocktail culture had lost it’s way a bit. We’d moved as far as possible from the carefully crafted, well balanced cocktails of the past and replaced them with anything and everything sweet, fruity, colorful, and easy to make. If you could taste the alcohol, you were doing it wrong.

Vodka was especially popular in the 80s, as was orange juice (boxed not fresh), along with fruity flavored liqueurs, tropical flavors, bright colors, layered cocktails and shots, and drinks with sexy names.

When it comes to typical cocktails of the 1980s, the Sex on the Beach has it all!

As for the drink’s history, one origin story claims that a bartender named Ted invented the drink in 1987 at a Florida bar called Confetti’s. He says he was challenged to a peach schnapps sales contest and invented the sex on the beach to appeal to spring breakers. Unfortunately for this story, the recipe had appeared in print in 1982, 5 years before Ted claimed to have “invented” it.

The more likely origin story is that a bartender simply combined the Fuzzy Navel (made with orange juice and peach schnapps) and a Cape Codder (made with vodka and cranberry juice) into one fruity concoction.

Either way, people loved a sexy name, and when TGI Friday’s added the drink to their cocktail menu, it reached 80s cult cocktail status.

There are several variations on this cocktail. Some people add Chambord berry flavored liqueur. Some add pineapple juice. Some recipes even replace the cranberry juice with grenadine. This version is by far the most common and popular though.

Episode 23: Ramos Gin Fizz

  • 1 egg white

  • 2 oz. Old Tom gin

  • 2 to 3 tsp powdered sugar (to taste)

  • ½ oz. lemon juice

  • ½ oz. lime juice

  • 3-4 drops orange blossom water (plus more for garnish)

  • 1 oz. heavy cream

  • 3 drops real vanilla extract (optional garnish)

  • Orange twist garnish (optional) 

1.    Place egg white in the bottom of a cocktail shaker tin. Add gin, sugar, lemon & lime juices, & orange blossom water. Shake vigorously for at least two minutes. (This is a DRY shake, do not add ice yet or it will melt and water down the drink.)

2.    Add heavy cream and plenty of ice. Shake for about 15 seconds more, or until the drink feels icy cold in your hands.

3.    Add about 1 ½ oz soda water to the bottom of an 8-10 oz collins glass. Slowly strain the cocktail into the glass. You want the glass to be full, but you don’t want the foam to come over the top of the glass.

4.    Allow the cocktail to sit for at least one minute, then stick a straw through the center of your cocktail and gently push it all the way to the bottom of the glass a few times to make a hole for more soda. Remove the straw and slowly add a thin stream of soda water until the meringue foam rises about an inch or two above the glass.

5.    Garnish with another drop or two of orange blossom water, 3 drops of vanilla extract, and an orange twist.

6.    Add a fresh straw to the center of the drink just before serving.

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The Ramos Gin Fizz was created in 1888 by Henry Charles Ramos at the Imperial Cabinet Saloon in New Orleans. It was an instant hit, and before long the bar was often filled with 20 bartenders and "shaker boys" dedicated to making Ramos Gin Fizzes.

In his Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em, Stanley Clisby Arthur writes, "the corps of busy shaker boys behind the bar was one of the sights of the town during Carnival, and in the 1915 Mardi Gras, 35 shaker boys nearly shook their arms off, but were still unable to keep up with the demand."

It’s no wonder it was so hard to keep up with demand, as the original instructions say that you’re supposed to shake the cocktail for 12 entire minutes to the get the foam right. Thankfully modern bartenders have found a much more efficient way to froth the egg whites in only 2 minutes. The instructions are still a bit complicated and time consuming, but this cocktail is so delicious you’ll be glad you made the effort. The end result is rich and creamy but oddly light at the same time. The flavor is almost like an orange creamsicle all grown up.

Most modern recipes call for simple syrup, but the original used powdered sugar so that’s what we went with. The addition of vanilla extract is a bit controversial. Some say it was Ramos’ secret ingredient, while others insist that he never used it. I think it adds something though, but you’re free to leave it out.

This cocktail also sometimes known as the New Orleans Fizz, and fun fact, Huey P. Long was said to have been a big fan. Some people think of it as a morning drink because the cream and egg white fill and line your stomach while the gin is a bit of the hair of the dog.