Stomping Through the "Savoy" (2006–2007)

[thirtyoneknots]

Church Parade Cocktail

2/3 Plymouth Gin (1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin)

1 Dash Orange Curacao (Brizard)

4 Dashes Orange Juice

1/3 French Vermouth

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass

After the last few "cocktails" I was kind of excited that I would get to make one with an actual portion of booze.

Then I decided to google and find out more about Church Parades.

Dum, de dum, English and Scottish tradition, parades of church goers walking from here to there.  How Quaint.  Certainly could use a drink before one of those sorts of things.  Oh look!  The most (in)famous Church Parades of all are the Orange Marches in Northern Ireland...Oh, wait one second:  Orangemen, Orange Juice, Orange Curacao, English Gin...Goddamn it!

I can tell you it looked like this before I poured it down the sink:

Frankly, it could use some bitters, if for no other reason than poetic license.

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Kind of surprised you didnt like that very much, it looks harmless enough if a bit insipid maybe (more or less a Bronx variation). I could see a dash of orange bitters helping it a bit.

[eje]

Yes, the Church Parade Cocktail itself would have been significantly improved with the addition of a citrus twist or a dash or two of bitters.

Cinzano Sparkling Cocktail

In a wineglass put 1 lump of Sugar, 2 dashes of Angostura, 1 dash of Curacao (Brizard Orange Curacao), 1 teaspoonful of Brandy (generous teaspoon Pierre Ferrand Ambre), 1 lump of ice (uh, oops, forgot).

Fill up with Cinzano Brut (Rotari Brut Rose), stir slightly, and squeeze lemon peel on top.

As far as I can tell, Cinzano Brut either no longer exists, or has been renamed. There are a few Cinzano sparkling wines imported into the US; but, the only one I could find was the Asti. I imagine that is a long way from the Brut, so substituted the Rotari.

For the price (~$9), it is really a pretty good sparkling wine.

Anyway, another perfectly delicious sparkling wine cocktail.

[eje]

Clam Juice Cocktail

1 Dash Celery Salt

1 Dash Lemon Juice

1 Dash Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoonful of Tomato Catsup (Oh my, that sounds delicious! How about 2 oz home made tomato juice, instead!)

1 Glass Clam Juice (3 oz clam juice)

(1 1/2 oz Rain Vodka)

(1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish)

(1 dash Rancho Gordo Rio Fuego Very Hot Sauce)

Use medium-size glass and stir well in ice. (Roll ingredients in ice between cocktail shakers. Strain into ice filled glass and give it a good grind of black pepper. - eje)

Note: This recipe is from the "New and Additional Cocktails" section of the second edition of the Savoy Cocktail Book from 1934.

First time I've tried this "Caesar" type thing. Kind of enjoyed it. OK, I did add a little vodka to the recipe.

In any case, I often find Bloody Mary's a bit thick. Using the clam juice thins out the tomato juice. It's not too clammy or anything, more of a hint of the sea. Nice, really. The Rancho Gordo Very Hot Sauce and horseradish give it a little bit of a kick.

[jmfangio]

Clam Juice Cocktail

1 Dash Celery Salt

1 Dash Lemon Juice

1 Dash Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoonful of Tomato Catsup (Oh my, that sounds delicious!  How about 2 oz home made tomato juice, instead!)

1 Glass Clam Juice (3 oz clam juice)

(1 1/2 oz Rain Vodka)

(1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish)

(1 dash Rancho Gordo Rio Fuego Very Hot Sauce)

Use medium-size glass and stir well in ice.  (Roll ingredients in ice between cocktail shakers.  Strain into ice filled glass and give it a good grind of black pepper. - eje)

Note: This recipe is from the "New and Additional Cocktails" section of the second edition of the Savoy Cocktail Book from 1934.

First time I've tried this "Caesar" type thing.  Kind of enjoyed it.  OK, I did add a little vodka to the recipe. 

In any case, I often find Bloody Mary's a bit thick.  Using the clam juice thins out the tomato juice.  It's not too clammy or anything, more of a hint of the sea.  Nice, really.  The Rancho Gordo Very Hot Sauce and horseradish give it a little bit of a kick.

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Actually, with your addition of the vodka and horseradish, this sounds pretty good. I still have a bit of my homemade wasabi infused vodka sitting in the freezer, so I'll give this a try with that.

[eje]

Claridge Cocktail

1/3 Dry Gin (1 oz Boodles Gin)

1/3 French Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat Dry)

1/6 Apricot Brandy (1/2 oz Rothman and Winter Orchard Apricot)

1/6 Cointreau (1/2 oz Cointreau)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

I just got this new Apricot liqueur from Rothman and Winter. I was really hoping with it's delicious fresh taste of apricots, and wonderful scent of apricot eau de vie, the Claridge would be a home run.

In some ways, it is a very good feature of the Apricot Liqueur. You can really taste it. On the other hand, the cocktail itself is a bit subtle and single noted.

I felt like a little something was missing. I was a little worried, though, if you added a lemon twist, you would lose the delicate smell of the apricots. And if you added peach bitters, you might lose the delicate balance between the cointreau and apricot liqueur.

Maybe a different gin or a dash of one of the lighter orange bitters?

Going on the evidence from jazzyjeff's photo here, it appears Craddock was also involved in the bar at Claridge's in London. Most likely this cocktail was named after that hotel.

A cocktail with the same ingredients and proportions is called the "The Frankenjack" in Judge Jr's "Here's How" and in the Savoy Cocktail Book. Judge Jr. sez "The Frankenjack" was, "Invented by the two proprietors of very, very well-known Speakeasy in New York City."

[bostonapothecary]

I felt like a little something was missing.  I was a little worried, though, if you added a lemon twist, you would lose the delicate smell of the apricots.  And if you added peach bitters, you might lose the delicate balance between the cointreau and apricot liqueur.

Maybe a different gin or a dash of one of the lighter orange bitters?

i would think you just need to lose the cointreau.... it is too compartive. you need a contrast. i look forward to trying that drink as soon as i get ahold of some of that apricot eau de vie....

hmm. you have the liqueur and alpenz also makes a non liqueur version.

i wonder what the origional drink used?

[eje]

Actually, with your addition of the vodka and horseradish, this sounds pretty good.  I still have a bit of my homemade wasabi infused vodka sitting in the freezer, so I'll give this a try with that.

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Well, your addition of Wasabi infused vodka makes it sound even better to me!

Apparently, a bartender in Canada lays claim to have inventing the Caesar (or Bloody Caesar) in 1969 to commemorate the opening of a new restaurant*. Why it took someone 35 years to think of adding vodka to the Clam Juice Cocktail and come up with a new name, I have no idea. Also, it is apparently the number one most popular cocktail in Canada.

*Caesar Cocktail(The Art of Drink Article by Darcy O'Neil)

[eje]

i would think you just need to lose the cointreau.... it is too compartive. you need a contrast. i look forward to trying that drink as soon as i get ahold of some of that apricot eau de vie....

hmm.  you have the liqueur and alpenz also makes a non liqueur version.

i wonder what the origional drink used?

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Yeah, maybe leave out the Cointreau and just add a dash of Orange Bitters.

Unlike "Peach Brandy", I don't know of any instances where "Apricot Brandy" in a cocktail means "Apricot Eau de Vie" and not "Apricot Liqueur".

I mean, Kirsch is pretty rarely used in cocktails, and Apricot Eau de Vie is an even more rare spirit than Kirsch. My impression is, in the areas where Apricot Eau de Vie is common and appreciated, they are not that big on the cocktails. Parts of France, Germany and Austria.

But, I don't know for sure. If it is a prohibition era cocktail, would Apricot Brandy have meant home distilled apricot brandy?

[bostonapothecary]

maybe dr. cocktail could clear up the availability of fruit eau de vie's. they might have been more economically viable then as opposed to now. i bet they would be more popular today if they weren't so expensive.

inspired by recent cocktails posted from your savoy journey and trying to make a vieux carre blanc i just ran out and bought every fruit eau de vie bottling a big liquor store i know had. the manager said that most of the bottles had been sitting there for years and most had huge discounts on them. i paid grey goose money per ounce or less for every bottle.

trimbach framboise

g. e. massenez poire williams

clear creek blue plum

clear creek pomme (8 years in french oak casks)

bonny doon nectarine

this will be a fun evening off.

[Mayur]

Fruit eaux de vie are super-cheap in France, comparatively speaking. Whether they were cheaper in the US/UK is a different issue, of course, but bog-standard stuff is pretty darn cheap (in the US $15-20 range) in many liquor stores of my acquaintance in NYC. It's not the best, but who knows what kinds of standards they exercised for these things back in the 1890s-Prohibition era?

[thirtyoneknots]

Fruit eau de vie is sort of an interesting category for me. I work as a bartender at a sort of upscale (high quality and expensive food, wine, and cocktails; but no dress code) restaraunt in a medium-sized fairly conservative college town. When we opened back in January, the bar had on display bottles of Poire William and La Captive Calvados, both with captive fruit in the bottle. By April or March we had gone through 4 bottles of the pear and two or more of the calvados. Since then we have moved none. The bar manager is irritated by this and asks why we arent selling the stuff. Well, aside from these beverages being highly seasonal tipples in my mind, they are something that can only sell themselves -- once (well, not the calvados, except I don't think that particular one is very good). People see fruit, especially things like pears or whatever, and expect it to be sweet, and it's not at all. It also does not have the characteristic mellowness of wood-aged spirits, and the funk of straight-from-the-still liquor can be an acquired taste. Couple this with the fact that people try to drink poire william warm in a snifter, like brandy, and you get very few repeat calls for the product (fwiw, I prefer this one cold). The novelty of such products will sell themselves to customers, just like it sold itself to the management (they do make nice display pieces). Anyways, that, basically, sums up why I think fruit eau-de-vie is not a big seller in the US (also often expensive).

Now in cocktails I think they are very interesting. At home I have a sweetened version of poire william (Brizard) as well as an imported kirsch (cant get the Trimbach ), barak palinka, Brizard Apry and a few others. The trick with apricot brandy in the old recipes is that you can rarely be sure wether thay are talking something like Apry or something like barak palinka. Indeed, this seems to have even confused contemporaries. The Hotel Nacional Special in Baker unambiguously calls for dry apricot brandy, 1 tsp, essentially an aromatic accent. However, all recipes or variations for this drink on cocktaildb.com indicate the use of liqueur, which then becomes the sweetening agent. This makes for a disgustingly sweet concoction and so then other recipes omit the pineapple juice and switch to slightly drier white rum. The drinks are now alltogether unrelated, essentially a slightly floral apricot daiquiri that is still most likely going to be too sweet, from the original pleasantly complex and more balanced version.

What I like to do, especially in recipes like the Claridge, where the sweetness level allows, is to try it with both. Sometimes it then becomes obvious which was meant, and sometimes you find that they both have merits. It is fun though.

-Andy

PS: A couple of months ago at a Glenrothes tasting even I had an opportunity to taste some straight-from-the-still single malt scotch, at around 65-70% abv. If it had just been handed to me to identify I probably would have guessed kirsch. It's interesting how eau-de-vie of all kinds taste so similar. It seems that the barrel brings out their true personalities.

[eje]

Crap, Andy reminded me there are a few examples where dry apricot brandy is called for instead of the liqueur.

I think Mr. Wondrich even calls for it in at least one drink in "Killer Cocktails" or "Esquire Drinks".

Hop Toad, maybe?

...Little later...

Ah, yes, I knew we'd had this discussion before. Little slow on the uptake some times:

Apricot Brandy/Barack Palinka/Hop Toad

Well, I do have some Zwack Apricot brandy around. I'll have to give the Claridge/Frankenjack a try again with that or the Haus Alpenz stuff.

[bostonapothecary]

i think my maximum threshhold for sweetness is a 2:1 manhattan with a spoonful of something (benedictine) on top of it....

i would whether to go apry to eau de vie based on hitting those sugar levels.

cointreau is sweeter than sweet vermouth. so at a 1/2 oz. in the claridge it eats up a whole lot of your sugar allowance.

i think that alot of the eau de vie's taste really similar because their flavor is constructed mainly of essential oil which is only a small part of what defines flavor. acid and brix is also a big part. it is really hard to differentiate things when you omit the two other variables.

i'm gonna try the claridge tonight with nectarine eau de vie and creole shrub.

the savoy is coming in handy....stimulating some pretty cool discovery.

[thirtyoneknots]

i think my maximum threshhold for sweetness is a 2:1 manhattan with a spoonful of something (benedictine) on top of it....

i would whether to go apry to eau de vie based on hitting those sugar levels.

cointreau is sweeter than sweet vermouth. so at a 1/2 oz. in the claridge it eats up a whole lot of your sugar allowance.

i think that alot of the eau de vie's taste really similar because their flavor is constructed mainly of essential oil which is only a small part of what defines flavor.  acid and brix is also a big part. it is really hard to differentiate things when you omit the two other variables.

i'm gonna try the claridge tonight with nectarine eau de vie and creole shrub.

the savoy is coming in handy....stimulating some pretty cool discovery.

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A dash of bitters can help alleviate perceived sweetness, a drop of Regan's may be just the thing to help this recipe come to within your palate's liking. I think perhaps reducing the amount of apricot liqueur to about a tsp or so may help as well (the flavor is so powerful on that). If using eau de vie, though, you'd probably want to keep the preportion at least the first time if you're trying to reign in sweetness. Of course acids would help too but this flavor combination looks too nice to adulterate it with citrus.

Unfortunately in the midst of moving so I probably won't be able to experiment with this til the middle of the week at earliest.

-Andy

And yes, Esquire Drinks calls for quite a few drinks with barack palinka (relative to how common it is), and at least one with apricot liqueur (Paradise, iirc; my book is in a box somewhere). The stuff is fairly cheap (<$20) and a little goes a long way so it's worth a buy. Better than Parfait Amour at least :-P

[eje]

Classic Cocktail

1/6 Lemon Juice (1/2 oz lemon juice)

1/6 Curacao (1/2 oz Brizard Curacao)

1/6 Maraschino (1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino)

1/2 Brandy (1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Frost rim of glass with castor sugar. Squeeze lemon peel on top.

I left off the sugar rim, as it seemed like this cocktail was plenty sweet already.

Sort of an interesting half way point between the Brandy Crusta and the Sidecar, no?

I do kind of wonder if bartenders getting this cocktail mixed up with the Sidecar, is how that cocktail ended up with a sugared rim.

Anyway, quite tasty. Could be a little more tart for my tastes, I suppose.

[TBoner]

Classic Cocktail

1/6 Lemon Juice (1/2 oz lemon juice)

1/6 Curacao (1/2 oz Brizard Curacao)

1/6 Maraschino (1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino)

1/2 Brandy (1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.  Frost rim of glass with castor sugar.  Squeeze lemon peel on top.

I left off the sugar rim, as it seemed like this cocktail was plenty sweet already.

Sort of an interesting half way point between the Brandy Crusta and the Sidecar, no?

I do kind of wonder if bartenders getting this cocktail mixed up with the Sidecar, is how that cocktail ended up with a sugared rim.

Anyway, quite tasty.  Could be a little more tart for my tastes, I suppose.

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This sounds very good. I think I would probably leave off the sugar rim, too. I wonder what this would be like if you pushed that lemon juice up just a hair, though, alleviating some of the sweetness and bringing the tartness more into balance.

I'll have to play with this drink a bit whenever I get over the sinus infection I'm fighting.

[jmfangio]

Classic Cocktail

1/6 Lemon Juice (1/2 oz lemon juice)

1/6 Curacao (1/2 oz Brizard Curacao)

1/6 Maraschino (1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino)

1/2 Brandy (1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.  Frost rim of glass with castor sugar.  Squeeze lemon peel on top.

I left off the sugar rim, as it seemed like this cocktail was plenty sweet already.

Sort of an interesting half way point between the Brandy Crusta and the Sidecar, no?

I do kind of wonder if bartenders getting this cocktail mixed up with the Sidecar, is how that cocktail ended up with a sugared rim.

Anyway, quite tasty.  Could be a little more tart for my tastes, I suppose.

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In some ways, this isn't too far off from a Sidecar variation that I found in an article in Wine Enthusiast magazine, which has become one of my favorites. I made this for a date once, and after taking one sip her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she said, "Wow! Now THAT'S a cocktail!" I'm pasting the recipe as I found it, but I never bother with the sugared rim.

My Favorite Sidecar

Adapted from a recipe by Mark Mendoza, wine director, Sona Restaurant, West Hollywood.

1 lemon wedge

Saucer of granulated sugar

2 ounces Cognac

1 ounce Cointreau or triple sec

1/4 ounce Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1 dash Angostura bitters

1 lemon twist, for garnish

Moisten the rim of a cocktail glass with the lemon wedge, and press the outer rim of the glass into a saucer of granulated sugar, rotating the glass until the entire rim is coated with sugar.

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add all of the ingredients. Shake for approximately 15 seconds. Strain into the prepared glass, and add the garnish.

[eje]

Clayton's Special Cocktail

1/2 Bacardi Rum (2 oz Flor de Cana Extra Dry Rum)

1/4 Kola Tonic (1/2 oz Rose's Kola Tonic)

1/4 Sirop-de-Citron (1/2 oz Monin Lemon Syrup)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Note: I did slightly increase the ratio of booze to syrup in the recipe.

My big regret is I bought Lemon Syrup instead of making it myself.

The Monin is OK. At least it doesn't have corn syrup. However, I didn't realize until I looked at the bottle when I got home, that it does have preservatives, natural flavors, and FD&C Yellow #5.

I know this cocktail would have been at least 200% better with home made lemon syrup. Well, the next time sirop-de-Citron comes up, it's going to be home made.

The Kola tonic seems to be a fairly subtle flavor to me. I kind of get it as an aftertaste. Nothing really strong. It seems like a dash or two of Fee's Aromatic Bitters would really punch this cocktail up.

[thirtyoneknots]

I also somewhat regretted buying Monin Lemon Syrup after tasting it. The best use for it I've found is to hit it with the soda siphon to make your own 7-up. Way better than the bought stuff. A little lime syrup in there is good too, for an even closer approximation, but put at least 2x more lemon syrup than lime.

-Andy

[eje]

I was sort of wondering who the Clayton in Clayton's Special Cocktail was.

Perhaps somewhat coincidentally, gethin just posted this topic:

clayton's kola tonic, anyone familiar with this ?

According to the wikipedia,

Clayton's was "originally blended and bottled by the Clayton Brothers for the Pure Water Company, Battersea, London, in the 1880s"...and is the brand name of a non-alcoholic, non-carbonated beverage coloured and packaged to resemble bottled whisky. It was the subject of a major marketing campaign in Australia and New Zealand in the 1970's & 1980s, promoting it as "the drink you have when you're not having a drink" at a time when alcohol was being targeted as a major factor in the road toll.

With my brain like a sieve I also did not remember that eGullet member bostonapothecary has mentioned Claytons here, here, and here.

[eje]

Clover Club

The Juice of 1/2 Lemon or of 1 Lime (Juice 1 Lime)

1/3 Grenadine (3/4 oz Homemade Grenadine)

The White of 1 Egg (whisk this a bit before adding)

2/3 Dry Gin (1 1/2 oz Tanqueray Gin)

Shake well (Combine above ingredients in boston shaker and shake for a minute or so without ice. Crack the seal on your boston shaker and add ice. Shake well again.) and strain into cocktail glass.

First time I've experimented with "Dry Shaking" the ingredients before adding the ice. It does seem to emulsify the ingredients nicely before chilling, and give the foam a better set.

This is actually a much tarter cocktail than I thought it would be. Quite nice, really.

Different versions of this cocktail from different eras call variously for Groseille (Red Currant) Syrup, Raspberry Syrup, and Grenadine.

The erudite Paul Clarke has a wonderful writeup of the cocktail here:

A Change in Fortune

Edited August 9, 2007 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

i think you omitted the title... "clover club"

a beautiful drink.... was it your first time having it?

serious props to eastern standard for putting it on their cocktail list. and every time i'm in there i see them serving quite a few of them.... hmm. actaully i think they have it on as a pink lady. in anycase its flawlessly executed there.

[eje]

Oh, oops! Thanks for pointing that out. I've added the name.

I know I've had variations on this, like the Chanticleer with Raspberry syrup, and made silver gin fizzes before. Might have been the first time I've made a "clover club" proper.

[eje]

Might as well post its partner!

Clover Leaf

The same as CLOVER CLUB, with a sprig of fresh mint on top.

so...

The Juice of 1/2 Lemon or of 1 Lime (Juice 1/2 Lemon)

1/3 Grenadine (3/4 oz Homemade Grenadine)

The White of 1 Egg (whisk this a bit before adding)

2/3 Dry Gin (1 1/2 oz Boodles Gin)

Shake well (Combine above ingredients in boston shaker and shake for a minute or so without ice. Crack the seal on your boston shaker and add ice. Shake well again.) and strain into cocktail glass.

Interesting, how much difference switching two ingredients makes!

For the Clover Club version, the first smell is that of the Tanqueray Gin, then you get the lime. It really is a tart, lean, gin forward cocktail.

With the Boodles and lemon in the Clover Leaf, you get the lemon, the grenadine, and maybe the mint. I guess there is gin in there; but, I'll be darned if I can taste it.

I guess I would be inclined to call the first Tanqueray and lime drink the "Clover Club" and the Boodles and lemon the "Pink Lady"!

[eje]

Saw this in the paper today:

In Our Glasses: What We're Drinking

Clover Club ($8)

-- What sold us: One of more than a dozen classics on the list at the new San Francisco restaurant, Spruce, this cocktail is fashioned from gin, lemon and Aqua Perfecta framboise from St. George Spirits in Alameda. The fruity flavor, slight sweetness and lemonade-like texture made a fun start to a recent dinner. The drink is served in what might be considered a mini martini glass. But better a smaller drink that stays chilled than a behemoth where the liquor quickly goes warm.

Though, I would quibble with the use of a red liqueur instead of a red syrup. Plus, the author doesn't mention egg white!?