Episode 12: The Dirty Martini

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• 2 1/2 ounces​ gin

• 1/2 ounce ​dry vermouth

• 1/4 ounce olive juice (to taste)

• Garnish: 1 or 3 good quality green olives (I used a Sicilian variety called Castelvetrano)

Combine gin, vermouth, and olive juice in a mixing glass or shaker with plenty of ice. Stir (never shake - sorry James Bond!) until well chilled and strain into a chilled martini or coupe glass. Garnish with a skewer or pick with either one or three good quality green olives, but don’t serve just two! An even number of olives in a cocktail is considered bad luck!

There had been a few similar cocktails in print a few years earlier, but the first person believed to put a dirty martini together in basically the same way you see them here was the one and only Franklin Delano Roosevelt, sometime in the 1930s or 40s.  

He loved to mix his own cocktails during his afternoon “Children’s Hours”, and he absolutely loved martinis. It’s said that he never mixed them the same way twice, always tinkering with ratios of gin to vermouth, or adding fruit juice or other things just to experiment with different flavors. It’s also said that most of the drinks he served were famously terrible.

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Episode 11: The Vieux Carré

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• 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.

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.

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Episode 10: The Jack Rose

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• 2 ounces Applejack

• 3/4 ounce grenadine, (be sure the ingredients contain pomegranate)

• 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice

• 1 dash aromatic bitters

• Lemon twist (optional)

Combine applejack, grenadine, lemon juice, and bitters in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake vigorously until frosted. Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass. Squeeze lemon twist over surface of drink, skin-side-out to release fragrant oils. Garnish with twist and enjoy!

Applejack is considered America’s first spirit. It was originally made by freeze distilling hard apple cider in Colonial America.

The Jack Rose is made with applejack, grenadine, and lemon or lime juice. It was referenced in print as far back as 1905, but was popular in the 1920s and 1930s, notably appearing in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 classic, The Sun Also Rises. It was also a favorite drink of John Steinbeck.

One quick note on grenadine… Don’t use the neon red grenadine you buy at the grocery store for Shirley temples in this recipe. Real grenadine is made from pomegranate juice and tastes totally different. It’s really easy to make it yourself, but these days it’s also easy to find good quality cocktail grenadine online.

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Episode 9 - The Bee's Knees

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• 2 oz Gin

• 3⁄4 oz Fresh lemon juice

• 3⁄4 oz Honey syrup*

• Lemon twist for garnish (optional)

Combine gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup together in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake until frosty and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist if desired.

*To make honey syrup, combine 2 parts honey and 1 part hot water and stir or shake to combine.

Interesting fact: The bee’s knees was likely invented during prohibition, with the strong flavors of honey and lemon juice meant to mask the flavor of poor quality bathtub gin.
At the time of the cocktail’s creation, the term “Bee’s Knees” meant something was great, or the best. Oddly enough, long before the phrase took on that meaning, it once meant something very very small, as in the size of a bee’s knee.

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Episode 8 - Classic Manhattan

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• 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.

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.

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Episode 7 - (individual) Gin Punch

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• 1 lemon peel

• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 1 ounce lemon juice

• 1 oz cointreau or orange liqueur 

• 1 1/2 oz gin (old tom style preferable)

• Seltzer water

In the bottom of a collins glass, muddle the sugar and lemon juice to release the lemon oils into the sugar. Add lemon juice and stir to try to melt sugar. If you have time, let this mixture sit for a few minutes to dissolve further. Add cointreau, and gin and fill glass with ice. Top off with Seltzer water, & stir to combine. 

Interesting fact: This recipe was adapted for individual servings, but the original Punch recipe dates back to around the Victorian era. It tastes a bit like the Tom Collins that we all know today.

The recipe calls for seltzer, which I assumed was a modern creation, but was actually invented in 1767! Who knew?

This recipe also calls for Old Tom Gin, which is a sweeter, less-botanical style of gin than the more common London Dry style we know today. It was the lynchpin of countless classic cocktails, and was the go-to spirit for mixologists in the 1800s. It largely disappeared thanks to prohibition, but has lately been making a comeback.

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Episode 6 - The Old Fashioned

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• 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.

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.”

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Episode 5 - Blue Hawaiian

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• 1 1/2 oz White rum

• 1 oz Blue Curacao Liqueur

• 1 1/2 oz Cream of coconut

• 2 oz Pineapple juice

• 1/4 oz Lime juice
  
  Combine ingredients in the carafe of a high powered blender. Blend on high until ice is completely crushed and drink is smooth and creamy. Serve in a hurricane glass with a straw. Garnish with fresh pineapple, maraschino cherries, and a cocktail umbrella if desired.

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Episode 4 - Classic Mint Julep

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• 8 Fresh mint leaves, plus a sprig for garnish

• 1/4 oz simple syrup (or more to taste)

• 2 1/2 oz Kentucky Bourbon

• finely crushed ice to fill glass, plus more ice for chilling

Muddle mint leaves with simple syrup in a mixing glass or cocktail shaker. Add bourbon and plenty of ice. Stir until well chilled and strain into a julep cup or rocks glass filled to the top with finely crushed ice. Top off with a mound of ice over the top off the glass & garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

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Episode 3 • Sangaree

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• 1 ounce Port Wine

• 1 ounce Applejack (apple brandy)

• 1 ounce Dark Rum

• 1/2 ounce maple syrup

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

• Apple slices for garnish

• Nutmeg for garnish (freshly grated if possible)
  

Add Port wine, Applejack, Dark Rum, Maple syrup, & bitters to a mixing glass with plenty of ice. Stir well until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with fanned apple slices speared with a toothpick, along with a generous sprinkle of nutmeg. Link to recipe.

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