Episode 63: Brown Derby

  • 2 oz. bourbon

  • 1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice

  • 1/2 to 3/4 oz. honey syrup (to taste, see note)

  • Optional garnish: Grapefruit twist

Combine bourbon, grapefruit juice, and honey syrup in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake until well chilled, about 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled stemmed cocktail glass. Pinch grapefruit twist over top of glass to express oils and add twist to drink. 

Note:
Honey syrup: simply mix equal parts hot water and honey, stirring or shaking until dissolved, and let cool completely before using. Syrup will keep, refrigerated, up to 2 weeks.

According to Dale DeGroff’s 2002 book, “The Craft of the Cocktail,” the Brown Derby was created at the Vendôme Club in Los Angeles in the 1930s, and it was named for a popular Hollywood Haunt called the Brown Derby. The Brown Derby was a diner chain in LA with domed buildings built to look like brown derby hats.

While the recipe for the Brown Derby cocktail appeared in the book “Hollywood Cocktails” in 1933, it turns out that an identical cocktail called the De Rigueur was published in England’s “The Savoy Cocktail Book” in 1930. There’s no way to be certain if the Brown Derby was ripped off from the De Rigueur or if they were both just invented independently of one another. Either way, the Brown Derby became way more famous and popular than the De Rigueur.

A bartender and cocktail authority Jeffrey Morgenthaler said,
“Honey is this weird ingredient that can tie flavors together when you need it to. And by some miracle it sits in this perfect place between bourbon and grapefruit.”

Episode 54: Sazerac

  • 1/4 ounce absinthe, or anise liqueur

  • 1 sugar cube

  • 3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters

  • 2 ounces rye whiskey

  • Lemon twist, for garnish

Add absinthe to a well chilled old-fashioned glass and swirl it around to coat the glass. Discard any excess absinthe that pools in the glass.
In a separate mixing glass, soak the sugar cube with the bitters and muddle to crush the cube.
Add the rye whiskey and plenty of ice and stir for about 30 seconds.
Stain the cocktail into the absinthe-rinsed glass.
Gently squeeze the lemon twist over the drink to release its oils. You can use it to garnish the rim, but traditionalists say it should never be dropped into the actual cocktail.

The Sazerac is New Orleans most famous cocktail, and some people claim it’s one of the oldest American cocktail recipes ever recorded. There are two origin stories, but both of them involve a now defunct brand of cognac, Sazerac de Forge et Fils, and a pharmacist and Creole immigrant named Antoine Amédée Peychaud, who invented Peychaud’s curative bitters.

One story has it that the owner of a New Orleans bar, originally called the Merchants Exchange Coffee House, started importing Sazerac cognac and changed the name of his bar to the Sazerac Coffee House. He created a cocktail by adding absinthe and a locally produced cocktail bitters to his imported French cognac, and the rest is history.

The other story says that Antoine Peychaud invented the cocktail himself as a way to boost sales of his medicinal bitters. Either way, we know the Sazerac was invented in New Orleans sometime between the 1830s and the 1850s, and we know that in the 1870s, when phylloxera almost completely wiped out France's wine and brandy production, the cognac in the Sazerac was replaced with American rye whiskey, which remains the main ingredient in the cocktail today.

Along with Rye whiskey and peychauds bitters, the Sazerac also contains a sugar cube and an absinthe rinse, though other anise flavored liqueurs were used when absinthe was illegal in the US.

This classic wasn’t just popular in the mid-nineteenth century though. In the late 2000s, at the height of the cocktail culture resurgence, many bartenders were moving backward from prohibition era cocktails to even older recipes. Not only were old fashioned cocktails making a comeback, so were old fashioned spirits like Rye whiskey. Before the mid 2000s, the majority of American whiskey drinkers preferred Bourbon, but in their quest for balance and flavor, mixologists discovered that the dry spiciness of rye made for better mixed cocktails than the sweeter bourbon. Between 2007 and 2008, sales of Rye whiskey spiked by 30 percent.

Also, In 2007, the nearly century old ban on Absinthe in the United States was finally overturned, so absinthe suddenly flooded the bar scene in the United States.

Suddenly all the high-end cocktail bars in the country had both absinthe and rye on their menus, and they make up two out of four ingredients in a Sazerac. Ten years earlier the Sazerac was almost completely forgotten outside a few specialty bars in New Orleans, but thanks to cocktail historians like David Wondrich, by 2007 it was on cocktail menus across the nation. In 2008, the Louisiana Legislature voted to make the Sazerac New Orleans’ official cocktail, and by 2009 it was everywhere.

Some bartenders prefer to use an anise flavored liqueur rather than absinthe, and some prefer a mix of peychauds and angostura bitters rather than peychauds alone. But almost all bartenders agree that a Sazerac should always be stirred, never shaken, and should always be served without ice in an oversized rocks or old-fashioned glass.

Episode 35: Whiskey Sling

  • 1 teaspoon of powdered or superfine sugar

  • 1 oz water

  • 2 oz rye whiskey

  • Ice (one big cube is more impressive if you have it. If not, any ice will do.)

Stir sugar into water to dissolve. Add rye whiskey & ice & stir to combine. A garnish wouldn’t have been traditional in the 1700s but we added a lemon twist for a little flair and color.

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Other than punch, we weren’t drinking many mixed drinks in the 1700s, but we were cutting a lot of our spirits with water as we drank them. Toddies, Grog, & Slings were all popular in this era, and they were are all forms of spirits mixed with water. The main difference between them was how much water was mixed in. Basically, a Sling is stronger because it has a bit less water than a Toddy, and unlike Toddies which were usually warm, Slings could be served either warm or cold. Both usually had sugar added, and often were topped with some grated nutmeg, especially if served warm.

Like Toddies, Slings were definitely one of the most popular drinks in America for a very long time and appeared in print many times over the years. In fact, when the word “cocktail” first appeared in print in a Hudson NY newspaper in 1806, it was described to the reader as a “bittered sling” meaning that along with the water, sugar, & spirits; bitters were added.

At that time in cocktail history, mixed drinks also weren’t usually spirit specific. You could substitute any spirit you wanted and it would still be considered the same mixed drink. Gin was probably the most popular liquor for a sling at that time, but whiskey was very popular as well.

Episode 20: The Whiskey Sour

Makes 2 cocktails

  • 4 oz. Whiskey (I prefer Rye Whiskey)*

  • 2 oz. Lemon Juice**

  • 1 oz. Simple Syrup**

  • 2-3 dashes Aromatic Bitters

  • 1 Large Egg White  (1 oz if using pasteurized egg whites)

  • Maraschino Cherries for garnish

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker without ice, adding the egg white last. Shake vigorously without ice for about 20 seconds. This is called dry shaking, and it helps to incorporate the egg white without watering down the drink too much.
Add plenty of ice and shake again for 15-20 seconds more. Strain well into coupe glasses. Even if your shaker has a built in strainer, I like to double strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove any shards of ice or egg white.
Garnish each with a cocktail cherry.

*Bourbon is popular for whiskey sours, but I much prefer Rye Whiskey because it’s a bit less sweet and has a slight spiciness that compliments the lemon juice.
** To make simple syrup heat equal parts sugar and water until sugar is completely dissolved. Can be done in the microwave. Cool before use.
You can adjust the ratio of simple syrup and lemon juice in the cocktail to taste if desired.

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The whiskey sour has a long history. It was probably developed as a scaled-down, individual version of a traditional citrus and whiskey punch.

Jerry Thomas included a recipe in his book in 1862, but even then the sour was probably a century old or more. His version didn’t include an egg white, but to me, it feels a little too simple without it. At some point people started adding soda to the recipe, but they stopped when they realized shaking the drink flattens the fizz.

The egg white was eventually added because it adds a frothy, creamy mouthfeel that really transforms the cocktail into something special. It goes down smoother and looks nicer in the glass too. We know that adding a raw egg white to a cocktail can make some people nervous, but as long as you’re using fresh, good quality eggs it really is safe for most people. You can also use pasteurized egg whites if you’d feel more comfortable.

After prohibition the whiskey sour waned in popularity for a few decades, but it came back in a big way in the 1950s and 60s. Unfortunately, this was also the era of convenience foods and food-product innovations, and the pre-prohibition era recipe that included fresh lemon juice, sugar, and egg white was replaced with sour mix.

Fortunately, in the late 1990s the craft cocktail movement began, and a vast number of classic cocktail recipes were resurrected. Since then, many bars ditched the sour mix for a recipe much like the one above.

Episode 18: The Whiskey Highball

  • 2 oz Bourbon or Rye Whiskey

  • 4 to 6 oz Soda Water

  • Ice

  • Lemon garnish (optional)

Fill a highball glass (8-10oz tall narrow glass) with ice. Pour whiskey over ice and top off with soda water. Some recipes insist stirring can squelch the bubbles in the soda, so there’s no need.

Garnish with a lemon wheel, wedge, or curl if desired.

highball

This is probably the simplest and easiest cocktail we’ve ever made on the show, but that doesn’t mean this drink doesn’t have a rich and storied past.

Historian Jessica Norris says that “Most folks agree that the Highball started out as a sparkling brandy cocktail with the English gentry in the 1790s, when Johann Jacob Schweppe had just set up his first soda shop in London.”
Some say a bartender named Patrick Gavin Duffy was likely the one who brought the drink to the U.S. in 1895 in the form of a scotch and soda.

As for the name of this simple classic drink, one origin story claims it came from 19th century English golf club bars, where “ball” meant “whiskey” and “high” referred to the tall glass it was served in.
Other people say it may have come from nineteenth century railroad signals. On American railroads, if a globe or ball was raised up high on a signal post, it meant “clear track ahead” and showed the conductor that the train could pass through without stopping. As dining cars started serving cocktails in tall glasses, they adapted the “high ball” signal and attached it to this classic beverage.

Episode 8 - Classic Manhattan

  • 2 ounces rye whiskey (or bourbon if preferred)

  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth

  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters

  • Luxardo maraschino cherries, for garnish

Combine whiskey, vermouth, & bitters with plenty of ice in a mixing glass. Stir well until frosty cold and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with maraschino cherries.

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Interesting fact: History suggests that the Manhattan cocktail was created at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, specifically for a banquet in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The success of the banquet is said to have made the drink fashionable.

However, there are prior references to similar cocktail recipes called "Manhattan" and served in the New York City area. One account says it may have been invented in the 1860s at a bar on Broadway near Houston Street.

Episode 6 - The Old Fashioned

  • 1 sugar cube

  • 3 or 4 drops aromatic bitters

  • 2 or 3 drops orange bitters (optional)

  • Water

  • 2 oz rye whiskey

  • Orange twist

Place sugar cube in an old fashioned or rocks glass. Add bitters and enough water to moisten cube, then crush with a bar spoon or muddler. Add whiskey, stir to combine, and finish with an orange twist and a large ice cube.

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Interesting fact:

When the word “cocktail” was originally coined, it didn’t mean a category of drinks, but was actually referring to a specific mixed drink that we know today as the Old Fashioned.

The recipe first appeared in print in The Balance and Columbian Repository in Hudson, New York in 1806.

“Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, in as much as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a democratic candidate: because a person, having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else.”