The Bon Vivant’s Companion

Finished cocktail with mixers

In 1919 an American officer stationed in England concocted the French 75 and named it after a 75mm howitzer gun.  Quaint.  The cocktail wasn’t made ring-a-ding  famous until it appeared at the Stork Club in the 1930’s.   And I must say — looks awfully good served in their champagne coupes (pictured left).

The French 75 is a gin-based drink topped off with champagne, and while there are many versions of this cocktail (apologies to the Stork Club) my favorite is based on the one found in The Art of the Bar:

French 75
1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1/2 fresh lemon juice
Top off with champagne
Garnish with maraschino cherries & lemon twist

Cocktail Notes:
I recommend using Hendrick’s Gin. It’s a floral tasting gin with hints of cucumber, and doesn’t have the tinny, juniper berry, finish common in lesser gins.  Hendrick’s blends easily into classic cocktails without overpowering them.

Shaken or Stirred?
A decision to make before adding champagne, which is carbonated and will do bad things to the pressure inside your Boston shaker….

Shaken:
When you shake a drink a couple of things happen:
*ingredients become thoroughly mixed
*cocktail gets very cold
*ice melts rapidly diluting the drink (it’s little less boozy tasting)

Stirred:
Stirring has a slightly different effect:
*chills drink  (not as cold as shaken)
*blends without diluting, spirits shine through
*creates a nice foamy texture

When combining flavored mixers and citrus to a cocktail I lean toward shaking, but experiment and see what you like best.

Slight Variations:
These are mine, and unofficial, but give the drink a little blush color and another hint of flavor.

In addition to the recipe’s simple syrup you can add:
*a touch of pomegranate simple syrup
or
*a little of the marachino cherry juice

There is a certain romance about classic champagne coupes.  They conjure up images of movie stars in swank lounges having more fun than you will ever have—ever.

But, a girl can dream.

Which was my thought when I came across replicas of the grand coupes that once graced the tables of New York’s legendary Stork Club.  I bought four and sat by the door every day until they arrived — in eco-friendly cornstarch based packing peanuts no less.

Upon arrival I had those babies out of their boxes and filled with champagne in minutes.  Perfect.  Each saucer is wide and its walls are high, holding more than 16 ounces of liquid — an insane single serving of champagne—and you’d only ever fill it to the brim for serious personal reasons or fear of a sudden champagne shortage.  Point is—the saucer’s deep.  This design feature (once lost to the ages) keeps champagne from sloshing around, allowing you to sip standing upright,  not by craning your neck like a giraffe grazing low hanging leaves.  Through the wonder of technology you are now free to wander about without losing the entire contents of your glass — something that should never be attempted with a flimsy wedding-land coupe.

The Stork Club coupes are ideal for champagne cocktails, kir royals, and my new favorite —  Death in the Afternoon. 

Yes, critics will tell you that champagne bubbles will dissipate faster in a coupe due to the large surface area.  So I recommend you drink that cocktail instead of staring at it.

If you want to feel like Cary Grant or Katherine Hepburn — for just a moment — these are the glasses for you.  They can be purchased online through New York First, a company that specializes in all things related to the Big Apple.  The site is laid out like a department store, and it’s a very nice place to wander around.

Retro Champagne Coupes:
$24 (set of two)
$44 (set of four)

I had a cocktail called the Hemingway at The Edison in downtown LA.  Loved it, and began a quest to find just the right types of absinthe and champagne to recreate the drink at home.

(And to impress my friends with how swanky and sophisticated I am.  Which, by the way, takes smoke, mirrors, and research.)

I quickly found out that this cocktail is traditionally called Death in the Afternoon made famous by Hemingway (hence the artistic license at the Edison). “Death in the Afternoon” is taken directly from the title of Hemingway’s non-fiction book about Spanish bullfighting, and according to Harold McGee of The New York Times, a cocktail Papa contributed to a collection of celebrity recipes in 1935.

Hemingway’s instructions:

“Pour one jigger absinthe into a champagne glass.  Add iced champagne until it obtains the proper opalescent milkiness.  Drink 3 to 5 of these slowly.”

While jackassedly funny — as directions go — not so good.  Neither was the resulting cocktail.  Even though Death is a simple mixture of champagne and absinthe, the trick (as always), is in the balance.

So I took Hemingway’s recipe and added some notes.  (Thus editing Hemingway’s original work which is, at best, unchartable hubris)…

Death in the Afternoon
1 ounce absinthe.
1 sugar cube
Top with champagne.

*Drop the sugar cube into the bottom of a champagne saucer (or martini glass), pour 1 oz absinthe slowly over sugar, add ice cold champagne to taste.

Cocktail Notes:
*Moet Chandon was my hands-down favorite champagne in this cocktail,  but unless you’re making it for a party, buy Moet in small bottles.  A 187 ml bottle easily makes two drinks.  You get a high quality champagne without worrying about the bottle going unused — or drinking your face off.

* Unless you adore black licorice, I recommend Bohemian style absinthe for mixed cocktails.  Bohemian absinthe has very little anise (licorice) flavor and, even though it typically comes from the Czech Republic, I found a French brand called Le Tourment Vert (pictured below) that exhibited bohemian qualities. It has a lower alcohol content than most other absinthes (50% compared to 53% or more), and a slight sweetness that mixes beautifully with champagne.  (Think of it as a kinder gentler absinthe that plays well with others.)

*Stick the absinthe in the freezer before making this cocktail.  Room temperature absinthe will warm up, and flatten, the champagne.  Not fun.  Keep it cold and you’ll get a cocktail that is bubbly and crisp.  Cold ingredients also give the cocktail the “opalescent milkiness” Hemingway speaks of.

Drinking 3 to 5 of them is totally up to you….

A few friends came over to help me yell at the TV during the first Obama/McCain debate on September 26th. We dined on cheese-laden pizzas, apple pie, and Obamartinis — a little Obama cocktail I whipped up to take the edge off.

I assumed I was not the first person to try such a punny concoction, and in doing my due diligence – thank you broadband – I was proven right. Most Obamartini recipes were either Kahula or Bailey’s based. And while that may have been delicious, I thought perhaps it was a little too race-based for my taste. Instead, I chose to pull together a bipartisan cocktail that relies on its closest allies for support. Here’ how:

French Grey Goose Vodka or “Freedom Vodka” is the base of the cocktail. Blueberry juice provides the DNC blue, and reaching across the aisle for RNC red, I added a touch of raspberry liqueur for good measure.

Although the Obamartini stands on its own, a flag pin of a garnish lends some gravitas. I obliged with an all-American blueberry, slice of fresh strawberry, and fluffy white marshmallow layered between the two. Marshmallow was key; I needed filler that would float. Pork seemed disgusting and earmarks sink.

Stay tuned for cocktails inspired by the next round of debates!

Obamartini
2 oz original Grey Goose Vodka
1 oz fresh pressed blueberry juice
½ oz simple syrup
¼ oz Chambord
¼ oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
Pour all ingredients over ice into a Boston Shaker
Shake until cold and strain into a martini glass
Skewer blueberry, marshmallow, and piece of strawberry (in that order) onto an olive pick and garnish away.

Repeat as needed.

Other Partisan Pours:

McCain’s Cocktail: The Maverick

The Yukon Sarah