That’s about how long it takes to get from Seattle to Singapore, if the gods of air travel are feeling benevolent and you happen to have the wind at your back (and a short layover in Tokyo sure doesn’t hurt). But in 1902, 20 hours was the length of time it took to get from… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Spirits
In Praise of Difficult Drinks, Part I: The Ramos Gin Fizz
In a world of drinks populated by bottles of cheap lager, vodka and Red Bull and anything-and-Coke, it would seem that the Ramos Gin Fizz is destined for extinction. With its long list of ingredients–including cream and raw egg white, plus the difficult-to-find orange flower water–and the physical effort involved in its mixing–most bar manuals… Continue Reading
Longevity
On the back cover of the 1937 bartending manual Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em, by Stanley Clisby Arthur, there’s a bit of drinking-related doggerel attributed to George C. Wailes, entitled Longevity. After two days of television images depicting rising flood waters, devastated cityscapes and a complete breakdown in civil order, this… Continue Reading
Gettin’ Jerry With It, Part II: the Knickerbocker
Prompted into action by Slakethirst, I’m venturing back to the Old Testament of mixology, Jerry Thomas’ 1862 How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant’s Companion. Not that this one has been forgotten, at least not recently: In the past year alone, this 19th-century punch with the Old New York monicker has been listed in two… Continue Reading
Easy Does It
Born in a Prohibition-era bar in Havana, christened with the establishment’s name (along with a close relative, the Floridita Daiquiri), witness to a thousand awkward moments as Hemingway mumbled nearby over his Papa Dobles, the Floridita happens to be one of the most counter-intuitive, paradigm-shifting drinks I can think of. It also happens to be… Continue Reading
