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gin cocktails

… including London Dry, New Western, Old Tom and Genever

Chasing the Gibson Cocktail

Gibson Cocktail (detail), photo © 2016 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

Steward: “Cocktail before dinner?”

Thornhill: “Yes, I’ll have a Gibson.”

So begins one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most amusing scenes, the famous club car seduction scene between Cary Grant’s Roger Thornhill and Eva Marie Saint’s Eve Kendall in North by Northwest. Seduction isn’t really the right word; it’s more of a pickup scene between two people who don’t seem to be in the habit of resisting. Grant’s Thornhill seems the type to always have his motor running; clearly, it’s Eve who’s shifting the gears. Continue reading “Chasing the Gibson Cocktail” →

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Tall and Cool: the Gin Rickey

The Gin Rickey (detail), photo © 2016 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

It’s summer of 1883 in Washington DC. The air shines and wavers; you can see it, and you can smell it—the horses, the pavement, the flats of the Potomac River. A few blocks from the White House, on a section of E Street known as “Rum Row,” the dive bars are filling up with journalists, lobbyists, and any legislators who haven’t left town. At Shoomaker’s Bar, sometimes described as the “third room of Congress”, George Williamson is mixing drinks. On the other side of his bar stands Joe Rickey—“Colonel” Joe Rickey of Missouri—who is about to become that rarest of all things, a man with an entire category of drinks named after him.

Continue reading “Tall and Cool: the Gin Rickey” →

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The Tale of the Tuxedo Cocktail

The Tuxedo Cocktail, photo © 2015 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

The mystery of the Tuxedo Cocktail is trying figure out just which Tuxedo we’re talking about. The Tuxedo is more a spectrum of recipes, rather than a single formula. Continue reading “The Tale of the Tuxedo Cocktail” →

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The Automobile Cocktail, Two Ways

The 1903 version of the Automobile Cocktail (detail). Photo © Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

There have been many drinks bearing the name Automobile Cocktail. Two of them are particularly interesting.

Continue reading “The Automobile Cocktail, Two Ways” →

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The X-15, Saturn, and the Finer Points of Bad Behavior

Saturn Cocktail and The Finer Points of Bad Behavior Cocktail (detail), photo © 2015 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

My father introduced me to model airplane kits, and I was hooked. I always enjoyed the fun of learning about the airplanes, selecting the “next one,” working through the pieces of the kit, adding paint and decals, getting my fingers glued together, and finally adding each finished airplane to the growing collection on the shelves above my desk.

One of the last kits I assembled, and the strangest of the lot, was the X-15 rocket plane, Continue reading “The X-15, Saturn, and the Finer Points of Bad Behavior” →

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Two Nights at the Opera

The Opera Cocktail, photo © 2015 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

One of the old-school cocktails that made a comeback in the last fifteen years is the Opera Cocktail.

The Opera is a blend of gin, Dubonnet, and liqueur—and that’s where the story gets interesting.
Continue reading “Two Nights at the Opera” →

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A Martini with Something In It — The Merry Widow Cocktail

The Merry Widow Cocktail

The best description I can think of for the Merry Widow cocktail is that it’s a fancy, vermouth-heavy martini with a touch of herbs and spice.

Continue reading “A Martini with Something In It — The Merry Widow Cocktail” →

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The Lucien Gaudin Cocktail

The Lucien Gaudin Cocktail, photo © 2014 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

The Lucien Gaudin Cocktail is a tribute to the skill and success of one of France’s national fencing champions. He first made his name in the very early twentieth century, went on to become European and world champion, then won two gold medals in the 1924 Olympics, and two more in 1928. A couple more silver medals made him one of the most decorated French medalists in the history of the Olympics.

Continue reading “The Lucien Gaudin Cocktail” →

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The Libertine

The Libertine cocktail, photo © 2014 Douglas M. Ford. All rights reserved.

Last time, contemplating Trader Vic’s Fog Cutter, I pondered the risks of combining multiple spirits—“too many spirits”—in cocktails, and the fine line between great cocktails and trainwrecks.

So it was an interesting moment for my first encounter with the Libertine.

Continue reading “The Libertine” →

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