Episode 68: Americano

  • 1 1/2 ounces Campari

  • 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth

  • Soda water, chilled, to top

  • Garnish: orange twist

Fill a highball glass with ice, then add the Campari and sweet vermouth. Top with the soda water and stir gently to combine.
Garnish with an orange twist.

The Americano was created by Gaspare Campari, the actual creator of Campari. He opened his own bar in Milan in the 1860s and started selling cocktails made with his namesake aperitif. One of the most popular was called a Milano-Torino. It was literally just equal parts Campari, which was made in Milan, and Italian sweet vermouth, which was made in Torino. The cocktail became especially popular with American tourists, and eventually he added some soda water to give it some effervescence, and he named it an Americano.

Some say that this was especially popular during prohibition when Americans on vacation outside of the US were drinking everything in sight while they had the chance.

The Americano also happened to be the first cocktail ever mentioned in any of the James Bond novels, so after “Casino Royale’s” release in 1953, the Americano blew up here too.

Another fun fact about the Americano, it was actually the precursor to the Negroni. Legend has it that in Florence in the early 1900s an Italian Count named Camillo Negroni asked a bartender to tweak his Americano by swapping out the soda water with gin, and he liked it so much that he named the cocktail after himself.

Episode 55: Hanky Panky

  • 1½ ounces dry gin

  • 1½ ounces vermouth

  • ¼ oz Fernet-Branca

  • Orange twist, for garnish

Fill a mixing glass with ice, and pour in all of your ingredients.
Stir until well chilled and strain into Martini or coupe glass.
Garnish with an orange twist.

The Hanky Panky was invented sometime in the early 1900s by Ada “Coley” Coleman at the world famous American Bar in the Savoy Hotel in London. It was really rare to see women behind the bar back then, but that didn’t stop Coley, who was the head bartender there for over 20 years. She loved creating new recipes, but the Hanky Panky is her most famous creation ever, and it’s still on the menu at the American Bar to this day.

According to Coley, she created the drink for a famous London stage actor Sir Charles Hawtrey. When she retired in 1925, Coley told a newspaper,
“The late Charles Hawtrey… was one of the best judges of cocktails that I knew. Some years ago, when he was overworking, he used to come into the bar and say, ‘Coley, I am tired. Give me something with a bit of punch in it.’ It was for him that I spent hours experimenting until I had invented a new cocktail. The next time he came in, I told him I had a new drink for him. He sipped it, and, draining the glass, he said, ‘By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!’ And Hanky-Panky it has been called ever since.”

The Hanky Panky is made with gin, sweet vermouth, and a bit of Fernet, which is a bittersweet herbal Italian Amaro. Fernet is very strong and a bit overwhelming on its own, but used sparingly in this cocktail it adds a wonderful complexity.

Episode 17: The Martinez

  • 2 oz Old Tom Gin

  • 1 oz Sweet Vermouth

  • ¼ oz Maraschino Liqueur (we used Luxardo)

  • 2 dashes aromatic bitters

  • Orange or lemon twist for garnish

Combine all ingredients (other than garnish) in a mixing glass. Add plenty of ice and stir well to chill. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass and garnish.

martinez

The Martinez cocktail is considered to be the precursor to the modern Martini. It was originally created as a gin-based spin on the Manhattan, and it tastes much more like a Manhattan than a Martini.

Old Tom gin is best to use because it has a sweeter and richer flavor than London dry gin and pairs better with the sweet vermouth and luxardo liqueur.

There is some debate about the cocktail’s origins, but most people agree it was invented in the 1880s in Northern California.
Some say Jerry Thomas invented the drink in San Francisco for a customer who was traveling to Martinez California. His recipe wasn’t officially published until 1887 though, so the cocktail is often credited to another famous barman named O. H. Byron. His recipe for the Martinez was published in 1884 with the simple instructions, "Same as Manhattan, only you substitute gin for whisky."
The city of Martinez however, claims that another local bartender invented the drink there.

Episode 11: The Vieux Carré

  • 1 ounce rye whiskey

  • 1 ounce cognac

  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth

  • 1 teaspoon Bénédictine

  • 2 Dashes of Angostura bitters

  • 2 Dashes of Peychaud’s bitters 

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and fill with ice; stir well for 20 seconds and strain into an ice-filled Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with a cherry.

vieuxcarre.jpg

The Vieux Carré dates back to a famous hotel bar in the 1930s. It first appeared in print in 1937, in “Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em”.

This cocktail is a New Orleans classic, and although the name is French, the pronunciation is pure Creole. Forget your French classes and how you think “vieux carré” should be pronounced. In New Orleans, it’s simply callled a “voo car-ray”.  In French the name means ‘Old Square’ or ‘Old Quarter’, which was the original name for the French Quarter in New Orleans.