Savoy Hotel Cocktail
1/3 Crème de Cacao. (1/2 oz Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur)
1/3 Benedictine. (1/2 oz Benedictine)
1/3 Brandy. (1/2 oz Chateau Pellehaut Reserve Armagnac)
Use liqueur glass and pour ingredients carefully so that they do not mix.
My goodness, it has been a while since I have had to make a layered cocktail!
This one was a symphony in brown and not all that unpleasant, as these sorts of things go.
In fact, I could see it complementing a cup of coffee quite nicely.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Russian Cocktail.
1/3 Crème de Cacao. (3/4 oz Bols White Creme de Cacao, errr, no, 3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse!)
1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Beefeater Gin)
1/3 Vodka. (3/4 oz Crystal Head Vodka)
Shake well, strain into cocktail glass, and tossitoff quickski.
To be honest, I don’t really get the combination of Gin and Creme de Cacao, Vodka or no. And to be perfectly honest, you could probably sub in any other relatively clear liqueur and be happier. I know I was, using Yellow Chartreuse instead of Creme de Cacao.
The goofy Crystal Head vodka came in the mail from some company promoting the brand. It is a perfectly fine, if somewhat bland vodka. I think it retails for something like $45 US, more than I ever pay for vodka. Nice skull, though.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Rainbow Cocktail.
1/7 Crème de Cacao. (1/4 oz Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur)
1/7 Crème de Violette. (1/4 oz Rothman & Winter Violette)
1/7 Yellow Chartreuse. (1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse)
1/7 Maraschino. (1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino)
1/7 Benedictine. (1/4 oz Benedictine)
1/7 Green Chartreuse. (1/4 oz Green Chartreuse)
1/7 Brandy. (1/4 oz Chateau de Pellehaut Reserve Armagnac)
Use liqueur glass and pour ingredients carefully so that they do not mix.
For those of you keeping track, the ingredients arranged themselves in the following order, bottom to top: Mozart Black, Luxardo Maraschino, Benedictine/YellowChartreuse, R&W Violette, Green Chartreuse, Brandy.
Every once in a while someone orders this during Savoy Cocktail Nights at Alembic Bar and we all groan. Why, oh why?
It’s true these are all perfectly palatable liqueurs, but this is just such a pain in the ass to concoct. And the whole thing together, while not entirely unpleasant, is a bit of a shock to the system, if you are sensitive to sugar.
I finished it, it is true, more out of curiosity than anything else.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Princess Mary Cocktail.
1/3 Crème de Cacao. (3/4 oz Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur)
1/3 Sweet Cream. (3/4 oz Cream)
1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz North Shore Distiller’s No. 6)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
In his book, “Barflies and Cocktails,” Harry McElhone tells us, “This cocktail was introduced by myself in honour of Princess Mary’s wedding to Lord Lascelles, February, 1922.”
Not quite sure how to break it to him that this is pretty much just an Alexander (No. 1).
The Mozart Black Chocolate is their only non-cream based chocolate liqueur. However, it is made with dark chocolate and fairly flavorful. At least compared to many Creme de Cacao. I suppose it is cheating slightly to use the Mozart in this drink.
However, with the Mozart Black Chocolate, this is not all bad. I mean, if a slightly ginny glass of chocolate milk doesn’t sound “all bad” to you, this will likely appeal. Surely better than the preceding Poppy Cocktail!
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Poppy Cocktail.
1/3 Crème de Cacao. (3/4 oz Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur)
2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Death’s Door Gin)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass.
A cream-less Alexander Cocktail?
As much as I don’t really like the Alexander, the Poppy is even less appealing.
Not at all advised.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Panama Cocktail.
1/3 Crème de Cacao. (3/4 oz Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur)
1/3 Sweet Cream. (3/4 oz Cream)
1/3 Brandy. (3/4 oz Osocalis Brandy)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (How about: Lightly whip cream with a dash of sugar syrup until slightly thickened. Stir brandy and Creme de Cacao together to chill and strain into a cocktail glass. Layer thickened cream carefully onto drink. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.)
OK, I’m cheating. I can’t take the credit for this great idea.
One of the drinks we are serving at Heaven’s Dog is from Charles H. Baker, Jr. and called the “Tiger’s Milk II”. This drink follows the pattern for most cream and spirits drinks and is of typically Baker-esque proportions.
Old brandy 1 1/2 jiggers, Bacardi Gold Seal the same; 1/2 cup each of thick cream and milk, then sweeten to taste. Shake vigorously for at least 1/2 minute with big lumps of ice and serve in a goblet. Dust with nutmeg, or ground mace, or cinnamon.
Uh, yeah, since Baker preferred 2 oz jiggers, that’s, um, 6 ounces of spirits and a cup of half and half. Wheee! That’s a party in a glass, all right.
Erik Adkins shrunk the spirits by about a third, then separated the cream agitation from the chilling of the cocktail. When I asked he how he’d thought of separating the cream out of the drink into a separate element, he said he’d seen a similar drink at Clover Club in Brooklyn, NY. In any case, the Tiger’s Milk II has proven to be a brisk seller at the restaurant, even if it is a bit of a pain to make.
So I am stealing from him and the Clover Club here for my version of the Panama.
Give it a try some time, and you’ll see this Alexander-like drink in a new light.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Fox River Cocktail
4 Dashes Peach Bitters. (1 tsp Fee’s Peach Bitters)
1 Lump of ice.
1/4 Crème de Cacao. (1/2 oz Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur)
3/4 Canadian Club Whisky. (1 1/2 oz 40 Creek Barrel Select)
Use wineglass and squeeze lemon peel on top.
Hmmm…
Looking at this now, it seems like it should be built, old fashioned style, rather than stirred with ice and strained into a glass as I did.
All the same, I was OK with everything here except the lemon twist. I just didn’t like how the lemon combined with the chocolate, peach, and whiskey.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Fifth Avenue Cocktail
1/3 Crème de Cacao. (Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur)
1/3 Apricot Brandy. (Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot)
1/3 Sweet Cream.
Use liqueur glass and pour carefully, so that ingredients do not mix.
This was actually pretty yummy, as these sorts of things go. But, then, I enjoy drinking the R&W Orchard Apricot straight. So, no problem there. Heck, I’d probably have it with my toast in the morning, or on my pancakes, if I didn’t have a pesky job to go to.
I got the Mozart Black Chocolate liqueur a while ago and have failed in my imagination to find uses for it. This was really pretty good. Certainly beats the heck out of Bols Creme de Cacao. I’m just glad that the specific gravities worked out between the two liqueurs.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
The Barbary Coast Cocktail
1/4 Gin. (1 oz Beefeater’s Gin)
1/4 Scotch Whisky. (1 oz Compass Box Asyla Scotch Whisky)
1/4 Crème de Cacao. (1 oz Bols White Creme de Cacao)
1/4 Cream. (1 oz Cream)
Cracked Ice.
Serve in a highball glass. (Fill highball glass with crushed ice, build ingredients in glass, stir until outside of glass frosts over.)
Most other cocktail books seem to either make the Barbary Coast as a shaken “up” cocktail (1/2 oz each ingredient) or as a highball (2oz whiskey, 1/2 oz rest, built over ice, topped with soda).
However, since this is one of the few Savoy cocktails that doesn’t include the instruction, “Shake well and strain into cocktail glass,” I’m pretty sure that wasn’t intended. There is also no mention of soda. I decided to treat it as a “swizzle”. Also, I didn’t have dark Creme de Cacao at the time, but it might be a better choice, just for coloration reasons, than the White. Or if you’ve got it, Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur will bring both color and some nice dark chocolate flavor.
As an aside, with many of the cream cocktails I’m afraid I must admit the routine is, shake, strain, sip, dump. They’re usually too sweet and my doctor has told me to avoid dairy. For what it is worth, against my own best interests, I finished this one.
Also, based on the assumption that this cocktail is named after the San Francisco’s Gold Rush era Barbary Coast neighborhood, I will include the following quote, from Benjamin Estelle Lloyd, writing in 1876:
The Barbary Coast is the haunt of the low and the vile of every kind. The petty thief, the house burglar, the tramp, the whoremonger, lewd women, cutthroats, murderers, all are found here. Dance-halls and concert-saloons, where blear-eyed men and faded women drink vile liquor, smoke offensive tobacco, engage in vulgar conduct, sing obscene songs and say and do everything to heap upon themselves more degradation, are numerous. Low gambling houses, thronged with riot-loving rowdies, in all stages of intoxication, are there. Opium dens, where heathen Chinese and God-forsaken men and women are sprawled in miscellaneous confusion, disgustingly drowsy or completely overcome, are there. Licentiousness, debauchery, pollution, loathsome disease, insanity from dissipation, misery, poverty, wealth, profanity, blasphemy, and death, are there. And Hell, yawning to receive the putrid mass, is there also.
Nice to know things haven’t changed too much…
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Barbara Cocktail
1/4 Fresh Cream. (1/2 oz Cream)
1/4 Crème de Cacao. (1/2 oz Bols White Crème de Cacao)
1/2 Vodka. (1 oz Rain Vodka)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (Shake on some Cocoa Powder to garnish.)
This Alexander variation is one of the only 4 uses of Vodka in the Savoy Cocktail book. I admit, I prefer my Alexanders made with Brandy. But, that’s not really saying much.
By the way, if anyone has advice on better brands of white Crème de Cacao, please let me know. The Bols (US) isn’t bad; but, not the greatest, either. Not a very intense chocolate flavor. I suspect these cocktails would be better with a more full flavored liqueur. Brizard, maybe?
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
