eBook Diffordsguide Top40

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SIMON DIFFORD’S HAND PICKED TOP 40 COCKTAILS

MY TOP 40 COCKTAILS, BY SIMON DIFFORD

MY TOP 40 I’ve discovered, created and tasted a lot of cocktails, many thousands in fact. The 11th edition of my book, Difford’s Guide to Cocktails, has over 3,000 recipes, all made personally by me in my private London bar. Hard work and a lot of enjoyable evenings. So, when my team invited me to select my Top 40 I thought it would be a piece of cake. Not so. With so many delicious drinks to choose from it was certainly a challenge. I hope you enjoy my selection. They are the drinks I look forward to because I know I’ll enjoy them. Whatever your favourite spirit and flavour profile you’ll find a drink to suit you, hopefully more than one. Cheers, Simon Difford CEO and Editor-in-Chief


MY TOP 10 1. NEGRONI 1½ shots London dry gin, 1½ shots Campari Bitter, 1½ shots sweet vermouth. Pour all the ingredients into an ice-filled glass, stir and garnish with an orange zest twist.

Bitter and dry, but very tasty. This no namby-pamby drink is traditionally assembled and mixed directly in the glass. There is something about a Negroni that does not suit fussing about with mixing glasses and strainers. To garnish with a lemon slice is a heinous crime, but I am quite partial to a fat orange wedge. The Negroni takes its name from Count Camillo Negroni and sometime between 1919 and 1921, while drinking at the Casoni Bar (later named Giacosa) on Tornabuoni Street in Florence, the Count is said to have asked for an Americano 'with a bit more kick'. He was a regular customer at the bar and bartender, Fosco Scarselli, answered the request by adding gin to the Count’s favourite aperitif, the Americano. The combination became the Count’s new regular drink and other patrons of the bar soon started to ask for “one of Count Negroni’s drinks”. After a while the drink simply became known as a Negroni.


2. MANHATTAN SWEET 2½ shots bourbon whiskey, ⅛ shot maraschino syrup (from cherry jar), 1 shot sweet vermouth, 3 dashes Angostura Bitters. Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist (discarded) & maraschino cherry.

I must confess to preferring my Manhattans served sweet, or perfect at a push. The Manhattan is complex, challenging and moreish. Best of all, it's available in a style to suit every palate. Various origins for this drink abound. They include: in November 1874 at New York City's Manhattan Club for Lady Randolph Churchill, sometime in the 1880s by a man named Black who kept a place ten doors below Houston Street on Broadway, and by a Col. Joe Walker on a yachting trip in New York. That last story is the most recent I have come across and comes courtesy of Barry Popik’s website barrypopik.com where Barry notes an entry in the ‘Daily Journal’, Racine, Wisconsin, 8 March 1899. The article purports that Col. Joe Walker ran the then-famous Crescent Hall Saloon in New Orleans, at the corner of Canal and St. Charles Streets and that some years before he went on a little yachting trip with a party of friends while in New York. “By some oversight the liquid refreshments in the icebox were confined to Italian vermouth and plain whisky, and it occurred to the colonel that a palatable drink might be made by mixing the two. The results were so good that he experimented a little on his return to New Orleans, and soon perfected the Manhattan cocktail, as it is known today. It was christened in honor of his friends on Manhattan island, and the fame of the decoction soon spread all over the country. The true Manhattan cocktail is always made with Italian vermouth, but at half the places where they undertake to serve them, French [dry] vermouth is substituted, and the fine flavor is altogether destroyed. French vermouth is a sort of wine, while Italian vermouth is a cordial, pure and simple. They are as different as milk and molasses. A cocktail made from the French brand is no more a Manhattan cocktail than it is a Spanish omelette.”


3. NATURAL DAIQUIRI 2½ shots light white rum, ¾ shot lime juice, ½ shot sugar syrup, ½ shot water. Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Invention of the Daiquiri is credited to Jennings Stockton Cox, an American engineer at the turn of the 20th century who was working at a Cuban iron-ore mine near the small town of Daiquirí. The Daiquiri is an easy drink to make, just three ingredients shaken with ice, but achieving the perfect balance to produce a truly sublime cocktail requires methodical measuring of each ingredient according to a tried and tested formula. Convention calls for a 8:2:1 formula (2 shots white label Cuban rum, ½ shot lime juice and ¼ shot sugar syrup). I use this formula when using aged rum, but a refreshing classic Natural Daiquiri should be made with a light white rum such as Bacardi Superior. After much experimentation I have discovered the 10:3:2 formula I specify here works best. Making your own double strength sugar syrup (one cup water to two cups of caster sugar) strangely works better than the best packaged syrups, and is easier to measure accurately than spoons of granulated sugar. Dilution is also a crucial factor, hence my adding water when shaking with double frozen, just out the freezer, ice.


4. MARTINEZ 2 shots old tom gin, ¼ shot dry vermouth, ¾ shot sweet vermouth, ¼ shot Maraschino liqueur, 1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters. Stir ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and/or orange zest twist.

Probably the forerunner of the Martini, the first known recipe for this drink appears in O.H. Byron's 1884 ‘The Modern Bartender’ where it is listed as a variation to the Manhattan. Its first standalone recipe book listing appears in Harry Johnson's 1888 ‘Bartender's Manual.’ Although the drink appears in his 1887 ‘Bartender’s Guide’ (as a variation), there is no evidence that Jerry Thomas invented the Martinez and significantly he omits the drink from the earlier 1862 edition of his ‘Bartender's Guide’. Many claim that one Julio Richelieu created the drink in 1874 for a goldminer and that the drink is named after the Californian town of Martinez, where that unnamed goldminer enjoyed this libation. Drinks historian David Wondrich and others believe the Martinez was first made using Dutch oude genever as this was the style exported to America long before English Old Tom gin or London Dry gins. I do like a genever based Martinez but being an Englishman I’m biased towards the use of Old Tom, a vintage style of gin with London origins. I also favour the use of dry and sweet vermouth, one balancing the other and adding complexity.


5. MIZU WARI 2 shots of blended Scotch whisky, topped up with water. Fill a glass with ice and stir until water forms in the base of the glass. Add more ice and continue stirring to cool the glass. Strain the water from the glass, pour the whisky into the glass and top with ice to the brim. Stir whisky and ice, adding more ice to keep level at the brim. Lastly, add water and briefly stir some more. Garnish with a lemon zest twist (discarded) and mint sprig.

This is simply whisky and water, but as with the Japanese tea ceremony, observing the time and care taken over making it and the prolonged anticipation contributes greatly to the finished drink. And you thought an Old Fashioned took a long time. Pronounced "Mi-Zoo-Ware-E", this literally translates as "mizu" = water and "wari" = divide, thus the whisky is simply cut with water and served over ice. The ratio is personal to both the drinker and bartender and varies between 1:2.5 and 1:4 whisky to water. It is common in Japan for diners to drink mizu wari in place of wine with their meals and the light whisky flavours combine excellently with Japanese food. Extremely thin, delicate glasses are used and the thickness and quality of the glass is considered key to Mizu Wari in Japan.


6. PISCO PUNCH 2 slices orange, 3 fresh marinated pineapple wedges, 2 shots pisco, ¾ shot pineapple marinade, top up with soda (club soda). Muddle orange and pineapple in the base of a shaker. Add pisco and pineapple marinade. Shake with ice and fine strain into an ice-filled glass. Top with no more than two shots of soda water. Garnish with a pineapple wedge.

Rudyard Kipling in 1889 described the Pisco Punch as being “Compounded of the shavings of cherub’s wings”. This exquisite drinks creation is usually credited to Professor Jerry Burns of San Francisco’s Bank Exchange. However, its origin could lie in the late 1800s, when the drink was served aboard steamships stopping in Chile en route to San Francisco. The Bank Exchange was a ballroom that opened in 1854 and survived the earthquake and fire of 1906. Its popularity never waned and only Prohibition brought about its demise. Much of the Bank Exchange’s notoriety was due to the Pisco Punch. The recipe was handed down from owner to owner in absolute secrecy. Duncan Nichol, the Scottish immigrant who owned the bar from the late 1870s until it closed, inherited it from the previous owners, Orrin Dorman and John Torrence, and is thought to have carried it to his grave. However, Alfredo Micheli (who went by the nickname Mike) was employed at the Bank Exchange and spied on Duncan Nichol to learn how to make this legendary drink. After he believed he’d learnt the secret he left to start serving at a newly opened competitor to the Bank Exchange, Paoli’s on Montgomery Street.


7. SAZERAC ½ shot absinthe, top up with water (cold), 1½ shot cognac V.S.O.P., 1 shot bourbon whiskey, ¼ shot sugar syrup, 3 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters, 3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters. Pour absinthe into an ice-filled glass, top with water and leave to stand. Separately stir other ingredients with ice. Discard contents of the glass (absinthe, water and ice) and strain contents of stirring glass into absinthe-coated glass. Garnish with a lemon zest twist (discarded).

The rounded, distinctive flavour of this classic New Orleans cocktail is reliant on one essential ingredient: Peychaud’s aromatic bitters created by one Antoine Amedee Peychaud, who opened a drug and apothecary store at 437 Rue Royale (then No. 123 Royal Street), New Orleans in 1834. Here he created an ‘American Aromatic Bitter Cordial’ and marketed it as a medicinal tonic. Antoine Peychaud advertised his bitters in local newspapers and many New Orleans bars served drinks prepared with them. One such bar was the Sazerac Coffee House at 13 Exchange Alley, owned by John B. Schiller, also the local agent for a French cognac company ‘Sazerac-du-Forge et Fils’ of Limoges. It was here, sometime between 1850 and 1859, that a bartender called Leon Lamothe is thought to have created the Sazerac, probably using Peychaud’s aromatic bitters, Sazerac cognac and sugar. A combination of the phylloxera aphid (which devastated French vineyards) and the American Civil War made cognac hard to obtain so forcing the recipe to change to a base of more locally made Maryland Club rye whiskey, retaining a dash of cognac and adding a splash of the newly fashionable absinthe.


8. MARGARITA 2 shots blanco tequila, 1 shot triple sec, 1 shot lime juice, 1 spoon agave nectar / syrup, 3 drops Margarita bitters (optional). Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with salt rim and lime wedge.

The Margarita can be considered a Tequila Sour, or a Tequila Sidecar, and two variations of this classic cocktail date back to the 1930s: the Tequila Daisy and the Picador. Both, however, lack the distinctive salt rim. There are many people who claim to have invented the Margarita, which, as Spanish for "daisy" and a popular woman's name, would have been a very common name for a drink. Of the many claimants it is socialite Margaret Sames who is most widely identified with the drinks creation, apparently during a Christmas party in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1948. The story goes that she thought nothing of it until, when flying home to San Antonio from Acapulco airport, she saw a bar advertising 'Margarita's Drink', a cocktail with exactly the same ingredients as her own.


9. SPRITZ AL BITTER 3 shots Prosecco sparkling wine, 1½ shots Campari Bitter, top up with soda (club soda). Pour ingredients into an ice-filled glass and lightly stir. Garnish with an orange zest twist.

Popular in northern Italy, especially in Venice and the Veneto region where it is pronounced ‘Spriss’ (from the German verb Spritzen, meaning spray or splash), this aperitif cocktail's origins date back to the end of the 19th century when Venice was still part of the Austrian Empire. During this period, German soldiers drank the local wines of Veneto in taverns where they were billeted but they often diluted these with water to achieve a similar alcohol content to the beer they were more accustomed to drinking. Hence, the Spritzer, a combination of equal parts white wine and soda water. In Veneto, the Spritz al Bitter is made with the traditional white wines of the Veneto region, Pinot Grigio, Soave or Prosecco. The bitter liqueur used varies according to personal taste with Campari perhaps the driest. Other popular bitter liqueurs used include Aperol, Gran Classico, Select or Cynar. It is usually garnished with a slice of orange but sometimes an olive depending on the liqueur used. According to Gruppo Campari, in Veneto, around 300,000 Spritzes are consumed every day. That’s more than 200 a minute.


10. BLOODY MARY 2 rings yellow bell pepper, 2 shots vodka, 3 shots tomato juice, ¾ shot sherry cream (med/swt), 8 drops Tabasco hot pepper sauce, 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 2 pinches celery salt, 2 grinds black pepper. Muddle pepper in base of a shaker. Add other ingredients, rock rather than shake with ice and fine strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with salt & pepper rim plus celery stick.

The creation of the Bloody Mary is generally credited to Fernand Petiot. Whether this was in 1920, when he was a young bartender at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, or in America, during the 1940s is not clear. If Petiot first created the Bloody Mary around 1920, then it is said the name was borrowed not from the English Queen Mary I, whose persecution of Protestants gave her that name, or from the silent movie actress Mary Pickford, but from one of Petiot's customers, apparently the entertainer Roy Barton. He had worked at a nightclub (or knew a bar) called the Bucket of Blood in Chicago, where there was a waitress known as 'Bloody Mary', and he said the drink reminded him of her. If Petiot invented the Bloody Mary in New York, where he worked at the St. Regis Hotel certainly from the end of Prohibition, then he may have had assistance in its creation from Serge Obolansky, the manager of the hotel, who is said to have asked him to spice up his 50-50 blend of vodka and tomato juice.


THE REST OF THE BEST


ADONIS

AIR MAIL

2 shots Tio Pepe fino sherry, 1 shot sweet vermouth, 2 dashes orange bitters.

2 shots golden rum, ¼ shot honey sugar syrup, ½ shot freshly squeezed lime juice, ½ shot freshly squeezed orange juice, top up with brut champagne.

ALASKA #1

ALBERTO MARTINI

(SAVOY RECIPE)

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist. Thought to have been created in 1886 to celebrate the success of a Broadway musical. A surprisingly delicate, dry, aromatic oldie.

Shake first four ingredients with ice and fine strain into an ice-filled glass. Top with champagne. Garnish with a mint sprig. Adapted from a classic recipe, which first appears in the 1949 Esquire's ‘Handbook for Hosts’. This is a potent drink and the name could be a reference to airmail being the quickest way of getting a letter from A to B. This old classic is basically a Honeysuckle served long and topped with champagne, making this one of the better champagne cocktails.

2½ shots London dry gin, ¾ shot yellow Chartreuse liqueur, 1 shot Tio Pepe fino sherry, 3 dashes orange bitters. Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist. In his 1930 'The Savoy Cocktail Book', Harry Craddock writes, "so far as can be ascertained this delectable potion is NOT the staple diet of the Esquimaux. It was probably first thought of in South Carolina – hence its name." The addition of dry sherry is recommended in David Embury's 1948 'Fine Art of Mixing Drinks'.

1¼ shots London dry gin, 1¼ shots dry vermouth, 1 shot Tio Pepe fino sherry, ½ shot triple sec liqueur. Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist. In W.J. Tarling's 1937 ‘Café Royal Cocktail Book’ the invention of this cocktail is credited to A.J. Smith. Dry, complex and aromatic; an equal parts gin and vermouth Martini with a good dose of fino sherry and a splash of triple sec.


ALGONQUIN

BAMBOO #1

½ fresh pineapple ring, 1½ shots straight rye whiskey, ¾ shot dry vermouth, 1 dash Peychaud's Aromatic Bitters.

2 shots Tio Pepe fino sherry, 2 shots dry vermouth, ¼ shot triple sec liqueur, 3 dashes orange bitters.

Muddle pineapple in base of a shaker. Add other ingredients, shake with ice and fine strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry. One of several classic cocktails accredited to New York City's Algonquin Hotel in the 1930s. Its true origins are lost in time. A dry aromatic aperitif-style of cocktail; if you don't want this drink frothy then stir instead of shake.

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist. A classic and all but forgotten cocktail from the 1940s. For sophisticated palates only.

BENTLEY 1½ shots calvados brandy, 1½ shots Dubonnet Red (French made), 2 dashes Peychaud's Aromatic Bitters. Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into an empty glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist. Adapted from Harry Craddock's 1930 'The Savoy Cocktail Book'. Dry, spiced wine impregnated with apple - pretty damn good.


BLOODY BLOOD & SAND (DIFFORD'S RECIPE) ¾ shot blended Scotch whisky, ¾ shot Lagavulin 16yo malt whisky, ¾ shot cherry brandy liqueur, ¾ shot sweet vermouth, ¾ shot blood orange juice. Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist. The original Blood & Sand cocktail was created for the premiere of the 1922 Rudolph Valentino movie, ‘Blood & Sand’. My 2014 adaptation amplifies Scotch notes with the addition of Islay whisky and uses blood orange juice to add colour and flavour. An equal parts Blood & Sand works due to the smoky influence of Islay single malt whisky and the rounding citrus notes of blood orange juice.


COCKTAIL DU VIN

ESPRESSO MARTINI

1½ shots V.S.O.P. cognac, 1¼ shots sauvignon blanc white wine, 1½ shots fresh pressed pineapple juice, ¼ shot sugar syrup (1 water : 2 sugar).

2 shots vodka, 1½ shots espresso coffee (hot), ½ shot sugar syrup (1 water : 2 sugar), ¼ shot coffee liqueur.

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a vanilla pod.

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with 3 coffee beans.

Created by Dick Bradsell and adapted from his 1983 'Vodka Espresso' invented I created this drink in 2003 and named at the Soho Brasserie, London. Forget the drink U.S. Cocktail but sense the 'Vodka Red Bull', this is the cocktail prevailed. A relatively dry cocktail connoisseur's way of combining caffeine where the vanilla combines beautifully and vodka. with the cognac and the acidity of the wine balances the sweetness of the pineapple juice.


HABERDASHER 1½ shots bourbon whiskey, 1 shot dark crème de cacao liqueur, ¼ shot Fernet Branca, ¾ shot Green Chartreuse liqueur, ¾ shot double (heavy) cream, ¾ shot milk. Stir the first 3 ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Dry shake Chartreuse and cream (without ice) and layer by carefully pouring over the surface of drink. (Whip cream to ensure it floats.) Garnish with cocoa and a mint leaf. Discovered in January 2013 at Pouring Ribbons, New York City. Chocolaty bourbon with a freshening herbal blast of Fernet Branca, smoothed by sipping through a Chartreuse cream head. The ultimate after-dinner drink.

HONEYSUCKLE DAIQUIRI 2 shots light white rum, 4 spoons runny honey, 1 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 shot freshly squeezed orange juice. Stir honey with rum in base of the shaker until honey dissolves. Add lemon and orange juice, shake with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a mint leaf. Adapted from a recipe in David A. Embury’s 1948 ‘Fine Art of Mixing Drinks’.

IN-SEINE

KING'S JUBILEE

1 shot cognac V.S.O.P., 1 shot bourbon whiskey, 1 shot elderflower liqueur, ⅛ shot absinthe, ½ fresh egg white.

2 shots light white rum, ¾ shot maraschino liqueur, ½ shot freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass (without ice). Garnish with white grapes on a stick.

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass. Garnish with a lemon zest twist.

I created this in 2006 at The Cabinet Room, London. The name is a reference to the Parisian district of St-Germain lying on the left bank of the River Seine and also a nod to the use of absinthe and its pre-war ban in France, partly due to the belief that it induced insanity. Elderflower liqueur mellows and boosts floral notes in the cognac while the merest dash of absinthe dries and adds a robust hint of aniseed.

Recipe adapted from W.J. Tarling's 1937 'Cafe Royal Cocktail Book - Coronation Edition' in which Tarling credits this drink's creation to Harry Craddock, the then head bartender of the American Bar at London's Savoy Hotel. If there is such a thing as a 'Rum Aviation', then this is surely it.


LAVENDER MARGARITA 2 shots tequila (100% agave), 1 shot freshly squeezed lime juice, ½ shot lavender sugar syrup. Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

LEFT BANK MARTINI

I created this cocktail in 2006 at the Cabinet Room, London; lavender lime and tequila combine harmoniously.

2 shots London dry gin, ½ shot elderflower liqueur, ½ shot chardonnay (Chablis) white wine, ¼ shot dry vermouth.

THE LAST WORD COCKTAIL

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass. Garnish with a lime zest twist.

1½ shots London dry gin, ½ shot Green Chartreuse liqueur, ½ shot maraschino liqueur, ½ shot freshly squeezed lime juice, ¼ shot chilled water. Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lime wedge. This vintage classic was first documented in Ted Saucier's 'Bottoms Up' in 1951 where its creation was attributed to the Detroit Athletic Club. It was practically forgotten until championed by the team at Pegu Club, New York City in 2005. The Detroit Athletic Club was established in 1887 by a group of privileged young men who enjoyed amateur athletics. In 1913 a group of the city's prominent automotive and industrial leaders re-established the club and commissioned architect Albert Kahn to design the magnificent six-story Clubhouse. Completed in April 1915, and standing at 241 Madison Avenue in Detroit's theatre district, this still houses the exclusive club to this day.

I updated this recipe in 2013. Older? Yes. Wiser? Perhaps. Drier palate? Definitely. Hence, seven years after creating this drink I reduced the elderflower liqueur from 3/4 shot to 1/2 shot and I also reduced the vermouth from 1/2 to a 1 /4. An aromatic, dry blend. Modern bartending convention would suggest that this drink should be stirred. However, it’s much better shaken. Go easy with the spray of lime zest oils - this delicate drink is easily over powered with any more than a fine mist.


DE LA LOUISIANE #4

MALTY DRY MARTINI

1 shot straight rye whiskey, ½ shot Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur, 1 shot sweet vermouth, ⅛ shot absinthe, 2 dashes Peychaud's Aromatic Bitters, ¾ shot chilled water.

2½ shots genever , ½ shot dry vermouth.

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry. Recipe adapted from Stanley Clisby Arthur's 1937 book 'Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em' in which he wrote, “This is the special cocktail served at Restaurant de la Louisiane, one of the famous French restaurants of New Orleans, long the rendezvous of those who appreciate the best in Creole cuisine. La Louisiane cocktail is as out-of-the-ordinary as the many distinctive dishes that grace its menu.” It’s a rye-based Sweet Manhattan made even sweeter with herbal Bènèdictine liqueur. Originally made with equal parts rye whiskey, Bénédictine DOM and sweet vermouth, unless you have a sweet tooth reducing the liqueur as per this recipe makes for a more balanced drink. This is our favoured version of this famous New Orleans cocktail.

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled a glass. Garnish with a chilled orange or lemon zest twist. A drink promoted by Bols since the launch of Bols Genever in 2008. Using a genuinely malty jenever produces a deliciously retro take on the modern Dry Martini.


MINT JULEP COCKTAIL 12 fresh mint leaves, 2½ shots bourbon whiskey, ¾ shot sugar syrup (1 water : 2 sugar), 3 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters. Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a julep cup half filled with crushed ice. Churn (stir) the drink with the crushed ice using a bar spoon. Top up the cup with more crushed ice and churn again. Repeat this process until the drink fills the cup and serve. Garnish with a mint sprig dusted with icing sugar. Like so many cocktails, the humble Mint Julep’s origins are the subject of heated debate. Today it is closely identified with America’s Deep South, famously served at the Kentucky Derby. However, the name derives from the Arabic word 'julab', meaning rosewater, and the first

known written reference to a cocktail-style Julep was by a Virginia gentleman in 1787. At that time it could be made with rum, brandy or whiskey, but by 1900 whiskey had become the preferred base spirit. Indeed in his 1862 ‘The Bartender’s Guide: How to Mix Drinks’, Jerry Thomas calls for cognac, a dash of Jamaican rum and a garnish of berries and orange slices. He also lists a Julep variation made with gin and one calling for ripe pineapple as well as the now ubiquitous whiskey version. Common perceived wisdom has it that the Julep originated in Persia, or thereabouts, and it travelled to Europe (some say Southern France) where the rose petals were substituted for indigenous mint. The drink is then believed to have crossed the Atlantic where cognac was replaced with peach

brandy and then whiskey - the Mint Julep we recognise today. The remodelled US style mint julep reached Britain in 1837, thanks to the novelist Captain Frederick Marryat, who complained of being woken at 7am by a slave brandishing a Julep. He popularised the drink through his descriptions of American Fourth of July celebrations and praise such as the following: “I must descant a little upon the mint julep, as it is, with the thermometer at 100, one of the most delightful and insinuating potations that was ever invented, and may be drunk with equal satisfaction when the thermometer is as low as 70... As the ice melts, you drink. I once overheard two ladies in the room next to me, and one of them said, ‘Well, if I have a weakness for any one thing, it is for a ‘Mint Julep!’ - a very amiable weakness,

and proving her good sense and taste. They are, in fact, American ladies, irresistable.” When making a Mint Julep it is important to only bruise the mint as crushing the leaves releases the bitter, inner juices. Also be sure to discard the stems, which are also bitter. It is imperative that the drink is served ice cold. Cocktail etiquette dictates that the shaker containing the mint and other ingredients should be placed in a refrigerator with the serving vessel for at least two hours prior to adding ice, shaking and serving. Variations on the Mint Julep include substituting the bourbon for rye whiskey, rum, gin, brandy, calvados or applejack brandy. Another variation calls for half a shot of aged rum to be floated on top of the bourbon-based Julep.


OLD FASHIONED COCKTAIL (CLASSIC RECIPE) 2½ shots bourbon whiskey, ½ shot sugar syrup (1 water : 2 sugar), 3 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters. Stir one shot of bourbon with two ice cubes in a glass. Add sugar syrup and Angostura and two more ice cubes. Stir some more and add another two ice cubes and the rest of the bourbon. Stir lots more and add more ice. Garnish with an orange zest twist. As with the Martini, the glass this cocktail is served in has taken the name of the drink. Its origin stems from the adaptation and renaming of a similar drink known as the Whisky Cocktail which was shaken and served up. Who did the adapting and renaming is unknown. The muddling of fruit in the American version of an Old Fashioned is said to

have originated with a bartender called Martin Cuneo at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky, USA who made the drink for a Kentucky Colonel (and bourbon distiller) named James E. Pepper sometime between 1889 and 1895. The connection between the to the Pendennis and the Old Fashioned is supported by the 1931 book, 'Old Waldorf Bar Days', by Albert Stevens Crocket but the book’s recipe doesn’t mention muddling fruit in its recipe and other references to the Old Fashioned without fruit predate this 1931 publication. The US practice of muddling fruit in this drink probably originated during Prohibition as a means of disguising rough spirits. It is almost unknown in England and as Crosby Gaige wrote in 1944, "Serious-minded persons omit fruit salad from Old Fashioneds."


PENICILLIN COCKTAIL 2 spoons runny honey, 1 shot Lagavulin 16yo malt whisky, 1 shot blended Scotch whisky, ¼ shot ginger liqueur, ¾ shot freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stir honey and whisky in the base of a shaker to dissolve honey. Leave honey spoon in shaker, add other ingredients and stir again. Shake with ice and strain into an ice-filled chilled glass. Garnish with candied ginger. Adapted from a recipe by Sam Ross at Milk & Honey, New York City. Smoke and honey with subtle spice and plenty of Scottish attitude.

LA PERLA

THE PURITAN

THE STIG

1½ shots tequila (100% agave), 1½ shots Manzanilla sherry, ¾ shot pear & cognac liqueur.

1¾ shots London dry gin, ½ shot dry vermouth, ¼ shot Yellow Chartreuse, 1 dash orange bitters, ½ shot chilled water.

¾ shot calvados brandy, ¾ shot Macchu pisco, 1 shot elderflower liqueur, 1 shot sauvignon blanc white wine.

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist.

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with a lime zest twist.

An often overlooked classic which is thought to have originated at the end of the nineteenth century. Vermouth enhances the aromatics; Chartreuse and orange bitters add a hint of sweetness and complexity; gin underpins the whole drink.

I created this drink in 2006 at The Cabinet Room, London. Named partly for the 'St-G' on the screw cap of StGermain and partly after 'The Stig', the mysterious racing driver on the 'Top Gear' TV series. Whiter than white but yet mysterious.

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lemon zest twist. Adapted from a drink created in 2010 by Jacques Bezuidenhout, San Francisco, USA. Dry salty sherry with dry salty tequila, sweetened with pear and cognac liqueur.


SUCCULENT BLOOD

VANILLA DAIQUIRI

VESPER DRY MARTINI

2 shots mezcal, 1 shot blood orange juice, ¼ shot cinnamon syrup (2:1), ⅛ shot Taylor's Velvet Falernum liqueur.

2 shots light white rum, ½ shot freshly squeezed lime juice, ¼ shot sugar syrup (1 water : 2 sugar), ¾ shot chilled water.

2 shots London dry gin, ⅔ shot vodka, ⅓ shot Lillet Blanc.

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a dehydrated blood orange slice.

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

I created this cocktail in February 2014 after misreading the recipe for a Sangre Dulce by Regina Butler at Blackbird Bar in San Francisco. I used Valet Falernum in place of Fernet Valet but liked the result. The name came about as mezcal is distilled from agave plants which are categorised as ‘succulents’, meaning they are thickened and fleshy, allowing them to retain water in arid climates.

The classic 'Natural Daiquiri' with a hint of vanilla.

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lime zest twist. This variation on the Dry Martini is said to have been created by Gilberto Preti at Duke’s Hotel, London, for the author Ian Fleming. He liked it so much that in 1953 he included it in his first James Bond novel, ‘Casino Royale’. In chapter seven Bond explains to a Casino bartender exactly how to make and serve the drink: “In a deep champagne goblet. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet (now called Lillet Blanc). Shake it very well until it’s

ice-cold, then add a large slice of lemon peel.” When made, 007 compliments the bartender, but tells him it would be better made with a grain-based vodka. He also explains his Martini to Felix Leiter, the CIA man, saying, “This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.” In chapter eight, Bond meets the beautiful agent Vesper Lynd. She explains why her parents named her Vesper and Bond asks if she’d mind if he called his favourite Martini after her. Like so many of Bond’s love interests Vesper turns out to be a double agent and the book closes with his words, “The bitch is dead now.” Many bartenders advocate that a Martini should be stirred and not shaken, some citing the ridiculous argument that shaking will “bruise the gin.” If you like your Martinis shaken (as I do) then avoid the possible look of distaste from your server and order a Vesper. This Martini is always shaken, an action that aerates the drink, and makes it colder and more dilute than simply stirring. It also gives the drink a slightly clouded appearance and can leave small shards of ice on the surface of the drink. This is easily prevented by the use of a fine strainer when pouring.


WHISKEY SOUR (DIFFORD'S RECIPE) 2 shots bourbon whiskey, 1 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice, ½ shot sugar syrup (1 water : 2 sugar), 3 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters, ½ fresh egg white. Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with a lemon slice and cherry on stick. A 4:2:8 sour formula. Smooth with a hint of citrus sourness and an invigorating blast of whiskey.

WIDOW'S KISS 1½ shots calvados brandy, ¾ shot Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur, ¾ shot Yellow Chartreuse liqueur, 2 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters. Stir all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a mint leaf. Created before 1895 by George Kappeler at New York City's Holland House. Fantastically herbal with hints of apple, mint and eucalyptus. This classic is often made with green Chartreuse - I prefer mine with half yellow and half green and dare I say shaken.

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