Savoy Hotel Special Cocktail (No. 2)
2 Dashes Dubonnet. (.5ml Dubonnet Rouge)
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
2/3 Plymouth Gin. (1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.
This is a perfectly fine Martini, and all, but I would probably only really rate it as an “OK” cocktail on technical merit. Mostly, because it is so close to being a Martini.
The use of only 2 dashes of Dubonnet Rouge is really one of those puzzling things. Even being generous, as I am here, it really doesn’t even do much to pink up the cocktail, let alone add flavor. To be honest, I’m not even sure I could tell this cocktail in a blind taste test from one made with just French Vermouth and Plymouth Gin.
Anyway, while it is only an “OK” cocktail, well made, there are far worse things than Plymouth Gin, French Vermouth, a dash of Dubonnet, and an orange twist.
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.
Savoy Hotel Special Cocktail* (No. 1)
1 Dash Absinthe. (Sirene Absinthe Verte)
2 Dashes Grenadine. (5ml Small Hand Foods Grenadine)
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Beefeater Gin)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top.
* Peter ninth Earl of Savoy, brought to England, as his wards, eighty-three of the most wealthy and beautiful girls in France. He then married them to the most powerful nobles in England. That is why he wore armour.
On the Roselyn cocktail I complained about pointless and gratuitous en-pinkening of cocktails. Well, at least in the case of the Savoy Hotel Special (No. 1), there’s enough of interest here that you don’t mind it is slightly pink.
One thing I have noticed is a gross discrepancy in the size of bar spoons. To alleviate the questionable measuring in using them, I have decided to begin deploying a device called an Urban Bar Spoon. On one side it has a 5ml measure and on the other a 2.5ml measure. Going forward, for liquid items like grenadine, lemon juice, and others not typically kept in dasher bottles, I’m going to use a 2.5ml per dash standard. A bit large, I know, but I am also probably making the cocktails on the large side.
Edit: Fix typo in bar spoon size.
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.
Satan’s Whiskers Cocktail (Straight)
Of Italian Vermouth (1/2 oz Carpano Antica), French Vermouth (1/2 oz Dolin Blanc), Gin (1/2 oz Plymouth Navy Strength Gin) and Orange Juice (1/4 oz Valencia Orange Juice, 1/4 oz Sour Lemon Orange Juice), two parts each; of Grand Marnier one part (1/4 oz Grand Marnier); Orange Bitters (Regan’s Orange Bitters), a dash. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Satan’s Whiskers Cocktail (Curled)
For the Grand Marnier in the foregoing Cocktail, substitute the same quantity of Orange Curacao (1/2 oz Bols Dry Orange Curacao). Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
To be honest, I’ve never really been all that thrilled with the Satan’s Whiskers cocktail. It’s a great name, but all too often it isn’t a well balanced or interesting cocktail. Kind of like the Bronx, the quality of orange juice is almost a little too important.
The Saturday before, I headed down to the Farmers’ Market with the idle goal of finding some sort of interesting orange related fruit for the drink. Anything. Clementines, Satsumas, whatever. In my heart of hearts, I really hoped for some seville oranges, as one of the suppliers often carries them during their brief season. No seville oranges, but there was an odd box of small citrus marked, “Sour Lemon Oranges”. When I picked them up to look at them, the farmer woman said something like, good for salads and cooking! Give them a try!
The picture above shows them with a quarter of a navel orange behind. You can see they are quite small and quite seedy. The meat is off yellow and the inner fruit peel greenish. They are really sour. I think possibly even more sour than lemons. They made a pretty fantastic honey mustard marinade for a pork tenderloin.
Anyway, back to drinks.
The recipe is a bit odd, I can’t think of another in the book written in this “parts” style. I decided to base it on 1/4 oz “parts”, as that would get me near the usual 2 1/4 oz cocktails.
A fresh-ish bottle of Carpano gives this a nice spice to go along with the sweetness.
As far as the difference between 1/4 oz of Bols Orange Curacao and 1/4 oz of Grand Marnier, I’ll be darned if I could tell the difference with all the other ingredients in this cocktail. And since the gin is such a small proportion, I figured Navy Strength Plymouth wouldn’t be a bad idea. It definitely wasn’t.
Maybe Satan’s Whiskers aren’t so bad after all!
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.
Salome Cocktail.
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Junipero Gin)
1/3 Dubonnet. (3/4 oz Dubonnet Rouge)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
While I am unclear exactly what this combination of Dry Vermouth, Dubonnet Rouge, and Dry Gin has to do with the beheading of John the Baptist, it is a fine, light libation.
An orange or lemon twist wouldn’t kill anyone, nor would a dash of bitters. Still, this is quite pleasant.
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.
St. Mark Cocktail
1/6 Groseille. (1/2 of 3/4 oz Small Hand Foods Grenadine)
1/3 Burrough’s Beefeater Gin. (3/4 oz Beefeater Gin)
1/6 Cherry Brandy. (1/2 of 3/4 oz Cherry Heering)
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Still no Groseille (aka Red Currant) syrup, so am using Grenadine. Haven’t found a commercial source, and I just can never quite get the timing right to make it myself. Red currants are only available at the Farmers’ Markets for, like, a day in California.
Interestingly, Jennifer Colliau has made Groseille every year and we even briefly had it at Heaven’s Dog. However, the timing was just not right for the St. Mark Cocktail. Well, besides, she describes the flavor in this blog post as tasting, “more like fake grenadine. Real grenadine, as I make it anyway, is very rich and pomegranate-y, and the groseille is more red fruit flavored and floral.” So that is not all that compelling a reason to search it out or make it.
Speaking of Jennifer, I’ve finally gotten too lazy to make my own grenadine and am using Small Hand Foods Grenadine instead. Hers is better anyway.
The St. Mark Cocktail is very intensely cherry and red berry flavored. To be honest, I think it is probably a little too intense. If I were making it for anyone else, I would make it slightly larger and turn it into a long drink, straining it over ice and topping it up with soda. Oh wait, then it would just be a Singapore Sling! Ha!
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.
Royal Cocktail (No. 3)
1/3 Gin. (3/4 oz Plymouth Gin)
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
1/3 Cherry Brandy. (3/4 oz Cherry Heering)
1 Dash Maraschino. (1 dash Luxardo Maraschino)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass, with cherry.
In “Barflies and Cocktails”, Harry McElhone notes this is a “Recipe by Otis Mackinney, from the Hotel Royal, Nice, 1908.”
I liked this a lot more than the previous Royal Cocktail, but it is still not quite there for me.
A dash of Peychaud’s Bitters, or maybe even Absinthe, would go a long way towards making this a truly exciting 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.
Royal Cocktail (No. 2)
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Plymouth Gin)
1/3 Cherry Brandy. (3/4 oz Cherry Heering)
Stir well and strain into cocktail glass.
Went with Plymouth, as it seemed like it’s slightly dark flavor profile would complement the Cherry Heering.
While I stick with that decision, this cocktail just isn’t that interesting. It’s perfectly fine and all, but just doesn’t do much for me.
Sorry for the crap photo. Wrestling with the new paradigm, and not inspired enough with this slightly insipid cocktail to re-do the photo. Insipid cocktail, insipid photo.
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.
Roselyn Cocktail.
2 Dashes Grenadine. (Bar Spoon Homemade Grenadine)
1/3 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Beefeater’s Gin)
Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top.
For some reason, I just felt like going with the actual instructions for a change and shaking this.
Only a very, very slight difference from the preceding “Rose Cocktail (French Style No. 1)”, I can’t say the Roselyn is exactly anything ground breaking. Another slightly sweetened and en-pinkened Dry Martini. Not that there is anything wrong with that, per se. It’s just if you’re going to go around pinkening Martinis, doing it with Peychaud’s or Angostura Bitters would be a lot more flavorful than grenadine.
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.
As these Rose Cocktail (French Style) are all pretty much variations on the same thing, it seemed sensible to tackle them all in the same post.
The components seem to be booze (gin and/or kirsch), red sweet fluid (Cherry Heering, Grenadine, or Syrup Groseille) and French Vermouth.
Rose Cocktail (French Style No. 1)
1/4 Cherry Brandy. (1/2 oz Cherry Heering)
1/4 French Vermouth. (1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
1/2 Dry Gin. (1 oz Plymouth Gin)
Stir well and strain into cocktail glass.
The first of the French Rose Cocktails is the most “Martini-like”. Not bad, but a bit plain, along the lines of a slightly fruity Dry Gin Martini.
Rose Cocktail (French Style No. 2)
1/4 Cherry Brandy. (1/2 oz Cherry Heering)
1/4 Kirsch. (1/2 oz Clear Creek Kirsch)
1/2 Dry Gin. (1 oz Plymouth Gin)
Stir well and strain into cocktail glass.
French Rose Cocktail No. 2 is the booziest, being 3/4 booze and 1/4 liqueur. If you make this, give it a good long stir. Even then, I didn’t find it all that appealing.
Rose Cocktail (French Style No. 3)
1 Teaspoonful Grenadine.
1/2 French Vermouth.
1/2 Kirsch.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
That sounds OK, but looking through Harry McElhone’s “Barflies and Cocktails”, I found the following receipt:
Rose Cocktail
2/3 French Vermouth (1 1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth)
1/6 Kirschwasser (1/2 of 3/4 oz Clear Creek Kirsch)
1/6 Syrup Groseille (1/2 oz 3/4 oz Homemade Grenadine).
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass, with cherry. Original Recipe by Johnny, of the Chatham Bar, Paris.
Now to me that is something interesting, along the lines of the Rose Cocktail (English Style) or the Chrysanthemum Cocktail. A nice, light, vermouth heavy cocktail, not overly sweet. With a good quality vermouth, this makes quite a pleasant appetizer, and it is more than worthwhile messing around with the proportions to find the exact ratio which is exactly to your taste.
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.
Rose Cocktail (English)
1 Dash Lemon Juice.
4 Dashes Grenadine. (1 Generous Bar Spoon Homemade Grenadine)
1/4 Apricot Brandy. (1/2 oz Rothman and Winter Blumme Marillen Apricot Eau de Vie)
1/4 French Vermouth. (1/2 oz Noilly Prat Original Dry Vermouth)
1/2 Dry Gin. (1 oz Plymouth Gin)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Frost edge of cocktail glass with castor sugar.
OK, I cheated. While it is unclear whether this recipe should be made with Apricot Liqueur or Apricot Eau-de-Vie, I just couldn’t justify the sugar rim if I made it with Apricot Brandy. And boy is it good with Apricot Eau-de-Vie. Such a nice combination of flavors.
Just on the edge of tart with fruit coming from the grenadine and eau-de-vie. A balance near what you’d expect from a red wine like a Pinot, it is tart and dry enough that the sugar rim makes sense. Highly recommended, one of the tastier cocktails I’ve made in a while, despite the somewhat finicky measures and obscure ingredients.
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.
