Monkey Gland

I already told you about the fact that in the roaring 20s, spirits were often mixed with sugar, sweet vermouths and juices to conceal the poor quality of the spirit. 

This probably happened in almost every (speakeasy) bar at that time. But some of those bars tried to uplift the recipes by adding other flavourful and aromatic ingredients such as Absinthe. 

This mixed drink of a very nice example of such a recipe. And do have a good look at the coupe, it’s a thrift shop find that might as well data back to those exciting years. 

Monkey Gland

Ingredients

60 ml Dry Gin

20 ml Fresh orange juice

5 ml Grenadine syrup

2,5 ml Simple syrup

3 dashes of Absinthe

Method

First, we prepare the coupe by either rinsing it with a few dashes of absinthe or just spraying the interior of the glass. I always have a small spray bottle with absinthe on my bar which makes life easier. Add ice to cool down the glass. 

Add all other ingredients (so, everything but the absinthe) to your shaker with enough ice. Give it a good shake and double strain it into the chilled coupe (remove ice first!). Garnish with a nice piece of orange peel. Unfortunately, I had no fresh oranges left, so I used a dehydrated slice. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Angel

When we mix a longdrink with rum, the mixers that first come to mind are coke (Cuba Libre!!!), ginger-ale or ginger beer. In this Gatsby-style highball drink we use tonic. The combination of rum and tonic was a bit new and unusual for me, but your tastebuds adapt pretty fast. 

Without the intention to stereotype, I do feel this is a nice aperitif which will probably be liked by most ladies at your next “roaring 20s”-party. 

Angel

Ingredients

50 ml Havana Club 5y Rum 

10 ml House of Broughton Rose syrup

Tonic

Method

This hassle-free drink can be built directly into your longdrink glass. Fill the glass with ice cubes, add rum and syrup, top with tonic. Give it a few gentle stirs. Possible garnish: a dried rosebud.

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Classy drinks from Babylon, the movie

This year (and maybe even longer because I absolutely love it…) Double Strainger will focus on the ‘roaring 20s’. I will spotlight and create prohibition and speakeasy-style drinks and think about how drinks were mixed and served in that specific period in time. 

I’m incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to work with Paramount Pictures for the Belgian release of their new movie “Babylon”, starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
More info on the movie is below the recipes. 

In this post and the linked socials, I’m spotlighting three iconic classic cocktails starring in this film. I had lots of fun mixing and sipping them. I hope you’ll enjoy them too. Make sure you don’t miss the fun reel on Instagram, where you’ll see me in action, shaking these beauties. 

From the official list of cocktails linked to this movie, I selected three drinks that really represent this era of class and taste: The Classic Martini, The Corpse Reviver and The Orange Blossom.

The Classic Martini is THE iconic drink of this period. The origin of the recipe is a bit unclear, as is the case for most cocktails. This drink was probably served first to John B. Rockefeller in 1911, by a bartender at the Knickerbocker hotel. It’s questionable because Jerry Thomas already mixed Sloe Gin with vermouth and bitters around the 1880s. 

The classic Martini is also one of the favourite base recipes for bartenders to experiment on. It was the original base from which many other modern classics have been developed, like e.g. The Espresso Martini, The Breakfast Martini, The Cosmopolitan, … even the Manhattan and Rob Roy are very similar recipes. 

The gin-based Corpse Reviver (also known as the Corpse Reviver II) is one of the better-known cocktails published in the Savoy Cocktail book, one of the classic references for mixed drinks. 

The Orange Blossom, at last, was one of the more trendy party drinks during the roaring 20s. Good quality spirits were hard to find and bartenders often mixed questionable spirits with juices and fortified wines to hide the poor taste of the badly produced spirits. 

The Classic Martini

Ingredients
60 ml Dry Gin
30 ml Dry Vermouth
1 dash of orange bitters

Method
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir well to chill and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a piece of lemon peel as a garnish or toss in an olive on a spear. 

About next week... Babylon The Movie

About next week… 
At the start of this year, I already announced that Double Strainger would now focus on the “roaring 20s”, with speakeasy and prohibition-style drinks.

Guess what???

Next Wednesday (January 18) a new Paramount movie is hitting the big white screens in Belgium. From Damien Chazelle, BABYLON is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

The story fits my blog like a silk white glove, holding a delicate coupe of expensive Champagne. So yes, I’m extremely happy to announce that next week I’ll be working with Paramount Pictures to showcase some of the delicious and classy drinks that appear in this movie. Keep an eye on our blog and socials… you really don’t want to miss this.

Birmingham Sour

If you visit cocktailbars once in a while, the New York Sour won’t be a complete stranger to you. It’s a perfectly crafted whisky sour with a float of bold red wine. It takes some skill and experience to serve this drink Instagrammable. You need a good layer of egg whites (or a substitute) and the red wine can’t mix too much with the rest of the drink. 

I can easily imagine that such a delicate serve wasn’t really possible in speakeasy bars, during the prohibition. It would be more likely something like this drink, the Birmingham Sour. 

This drink contains the same ingredients, but with a completely different cocktail as a result. 

Yes, you should read that again. 

While the New York Sour gives you a separate taste experience between the wine and the rest of the cocktail, the Birmingham Sour mixes the flavours from the start. This means the typical notes from the wine are strongly diluted but added directly to the flavour profile of the cocktail. Interesting at least.

Since my wife and I are both Italy fans, I picked a bottle of good quality Chianti Classico for the red wine. And of course, we enjoyed the rest of the bottle with a good meal. 

Birmingham Sour

Ingredients

60 ml Rittenhouse Rye whiskey

30 ml Freshly s6queezed lemon juice

20 ml Cane sugar syrup

10 ml Perano Chianti Classico 2019 (Red wine)

Method

Add all ingredients to a shaker with lots of ice. Shake hard and fine strain in an Old Fashioned glass with fresh ice. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Vendetta

When mixing a drink from a recipe in a book, always analyse the recipe first. The Vendetta seems a sweet(er) variation on The Godfather (=even parts mix of whisky and amaretto). Maraschino liqueur adds a sweet cherry flavour, but in my opinion this drink gets a bit too sweet and sticky. Let’s see how I would handle this. 

I guess spirits were different during the prohibition and the roaring 20s. Whisky was often no whisky at all, but unaged (or very young aged) moonshine with a high alcohol level. A higher alcohol level will balance much better with half a recipe of sweetness. Also, Rye whiskey would add much more flavour to this drink than any other type of whisky. I have searched through my bottles for a Rye whiskey with a higher alcohol level. I’m also comparing bottles of amaretto to pick the best one for this job, slightly less sweet and much more flavour. 

P.S. I have noticed that several recipes from this book limit the base spirit to 40ml? I think it’s a pretty good idea for bars to put a cap on the amount of alcohol in each drink. It also connects with the trend to have several “unit” drinks on the menu. 

Vendetta

Ingredients 
40 ml Rye Whiskey (I used Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey, 110 Proof)
20 ml Amaretto
20 ml Maraschino liqueur

Method
Add everything to a mixing glass with lots of ice. Stir cold and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations. 

The Garrison

Happy New Year to all our readers and followers. 

As promised this year I’ll be focussing on speakeasy, prohibition, and roaring 20s Gatsby-style drinks. The Peaky Blinders Cocktail book will be my most important source of inspiration, but I’ll adapt the recipes to my personal taste and story. 

I think that in the prohibition period, drinks were mostly made with local products. You had to use what was available and what wouldn’t attract too much attention. 

The first drink I’ll try for this series is the flagship drink of the book: The Garrison, named after the famous bar of the Peaky Blinders.

In the book, this recipe is basically a Gin Sour upgraded with blackberry liqueur. Since I’m out of blackberries and blackberry liqueur (in summer we have these in our garden), but our city is known for its blueberries (Blueberry Fields is worth a visit in summer)… I swapped the liqueur. The result was satisfactory, but it wouldn't hurt to use slightly more gin. 

The Garrison

Ingredients

40 ml Gin (I used Arduenna Gin)

15 ml Cane sugar syrup

15 ml Freshly squeezed lemon juice

20 ml Blueberry liqueur

Method

Add all ingredients to a shaker with lots of ice. Give it a good shake and double strain in a coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.