Subway Cocktail

[Pan]

Speaking of which, what's the Jewish element in this, a dash of Manischewitz?

[=Mark]

I hope you're not suggesting:

     1 oz genever gin

     1 oz London dry gin

     1 oz Irish whiskey

     1 oz tamarind juice

     1/2 oz Falernum

     2 dashes Strega

Shake well with cracked ice, strain into chilled large cocktail glass, float 1/2 oz of pisco on top and garnish with slice of rum-pickled ginger?

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Whoa! It's like you're reading my mind or something. Spooky.

You forgot: garnish with a well-washed, sterilized and polished NYC subway token.

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That may be difficult as tokens are no longer sold, and an MTA card would not have the same cachet...

[Splificator]

Okay, so after some lab work I've come up with my contender. Before I get into it, though, here are the criteria I was working with:

1) It should have five ingredients (for the Boroughs, natch)

2) It should reflect both New York's rich past and its dazzling future

3) It should reflect New York's ethnic and cultural diversity

4) It shouldn't be a minor variation of a pre-existing cocktail

5) You should be able to assemble it in a New York minute

6) It should taste good

So...

The Subway

Combine in cocktail shaker:

2 oz Plymouth gin

1/2 oz aged Dominican or Puerto Rican rum (for the Express) or dry sherry (for the Local)

1/2 oz unsweetened coconut water

Shake well with cracked ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass that has been rinsed with Punt e Mes; position a mint leaf on top, as it it were Central Park.

The gin is for history: it reflects the city's Dutch/English past and it used to be popular with the African American community. The Asian/Caribbean/tropical coconut water is for the future. The rum and sherry are Hispanic and the Punt e Mes is Italian. That leaves the emerald-green mint leaf for the Irish and, I'm afraid, nothing for the Jews, unless we can agree to consider the mint a bitter herb.

As for criterion 6, others will have to judge. When's the shake-off?

--DW

P.S. You can get the coconut water in Hispanic or Asian groceries, or there's a new, high-end brand that's starting to show up in health-food stores and the like. The rum I used was Brugal anejo.

Edited to remedy crappy proofreading.

Edited October 28, 2004 by Splificator (log)

[slkinsey]

That sounds very interesting. Especially the gin/rum combination. Not something that would ever have occurred to me -- but, then again, that's why you're the pro and I'm not.

I didn't have too much time to do any refinement of my idea, which was significantly less ambitious. I just wanted to make something that sounded like it might have been consumed during the early years of the subway. Anyway, as written the acid isn't balanced and the applejack doesn't come through enough. I added around a half-ounce of 1:1 simple syrup to balance it, but I'd be more inclined to balance it by cutting back on the lemon juice in the future. I'd also use either a straight applejack (I used Laird's blended), or would use the blended stuff in equal proportion to the rye.

Found a recipe for the Third Rail cocktail that included dark rum, applejack, brandy and a few dashes of absinthe.

[cdh]

Interesting looking drink, Splificator--

How about rinsing the glass with a mixture of Punt e Mes and slivovitz? The plum aromatics might work well in this drink, and you've got the missing Jewish element in the mix, and bring the total number of liquid ingredients to 5. The mint leaf as garnish shouldn't count against the ingredient limit, I don't think.

Edited October 28, 2004 by cdh (log)

[Splificator]

That sounds very interesting.  Especially the gin/rum combination.  Not something that would ever have occurred to me

It wouldn't have occurred to me, either, until I came across it enough times to realize that a) it wasn't a typo b) it wasn't a joke and c) I should try it. There are a couple of rum/gin combos in the "Jamaican Jollifiers" section of the Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book that, it turns out, work pretty nicely.

Did the subway token make it into your final product, Sam? Without it, though, yours definitely sounds like one of the Old Waldorf drinks, which ain't a bad thing.

And slivovitz? Why not? I should be a mensch and go out and buy some.

--DW

[markovitch]

my good friend Brooklyn Josh (prospect park) gave me a 'brass monkey'' many years ago: old E and orange juice. kind of like a ghetto mimosa.

some of these drink ideas sound fantastic.

makes me think tho... maybe i'll start a thread.

[slkinsey]

So, I had some time to tweak mine:

1.5 oz : applejack

1.0 oz : straight rye whiskey (101 proof is what I've been using)

0.5 tsp : yellow Chartreuse

0.25 oz : fresh lemon juice

0.25 oz : 1:1 simple syrup

dash : Fee Bros. aromatic bitters

Shake hard with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon and a clean NYC subway token.

[Splificator]

Sam--

This sounds like a very serious contender indeed. I'll have to try it. (Do you know where to get the tokens cheap?)

I've done a little tweaking as well, on the "Express" version (the one with the rum), said tweaking consisting of ratcheting the gin back a little to 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 oz. Otherwise it has this...alcoholic taste. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Old English 800 and orange juice. Now that's a Subway Cocktail. Sunny Delight or Tropicana?

[slkinsey]

No idea where to buy tokens. I have several subway tokens (from several different cities) in a large dish I use whenever I have to empty my pockets of loose change in foreign currencies.

The subway token garnish, while kind of fun, is a little problematic actually. Since the drink includes citrus and is shaken rather hard, it's not exactly see-through. So it's hard to see the token sitting on the bottom of the glass. One possible solution might be to use a spiral of lemon zest cut with a channel knife and thread the token onto the peel.

[Pan]

You may or may not be able to buy loose tokens at the New York Transit Museum Store. Their catalog shows various fancy-schmancy ways to buy tokens, like in a $75.00 lucite set, pendants, coasters, etc. You could always ask, but considering how much of a killing they're making on these tzatzkes, I doubt they'd sell an old token at a reasonable price.

I have some tokens that I could rustle up for a suitable fee, however.

[JAZ]

One possible solution might be to use a spiral of lemon zest cut with a channel knife and thread the token onto the peel.

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Or you could carve a facsimilie out of a disk of lemon rind.

[Splificator]

Or you could carve a facsimilie out of a disk of lemon rind.

I was thinking kumquat. I like yours better.

[slkinsey]

Kumquat, along with lemonquat, sunquat and all the other members of the -quat family, has the advantage of having an edible rind, though.

[Splificator]

Kumquat, along with lemonquat, sunquat and all the other members of the -quat family, has the advantage of having an edible rind, though.

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Does that include paraquat (gratuitous '70s reference to go with those Brass Monkeys)?