Category Archives: Cointreau

Cointreau, Egg-white, Gin, Lemon, Spirits

Hitch’s White Lady

Leave a comment

Alfred Hitchcock’s favourite cocktail, at least when visiting Harry’s Bar in Venice, was the White Lady; his treatment of ladies, and for that matter of actors in general was less gentlemanly. Tippi Hedren, who had starred in one of the director’s best known films ”The Birds” (1963) later commented:

”Hitchcock was more careful about how the birds were treated than he was about me. I was just there to be pecked.”

The White Lady

  • 1½ oz gin
  • ¾ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 oz Cointreau
  • and 1 egg white shaken over ice [1]

If one listens to that song for long enough, one begins to have sympathies for the birds. Please make it stop.

[1] ”The Globe and Mail” – http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/wine/orson-welles-alfred-hitchcock-and-the-four-best-gin-cocktails/article24909884/

Brandy, Cointreau, Grenadine, Lime, Liquers, Pineapple

The Singapore Sling

Leave a comment

From Johnny Depp‘s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998):

  • 1 oz gin
  • ¼ oz Cointreau
  • ¼ ROM Bénedictine
  • ½ oz fresh lime juice
  • 2⅔ oz pineapple juice
  • ½ oz cherry brandy
  • ⅓ oz grenadine
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes, shake and strain into high-ball glass. Garnish with pineapple and cocktail cherry. For the professional: try a mezcal on the side.

Cognac, Cointreau, Lime, Tequila

The Departini

Leave a comment

Created for the launch party of the film “The Departed” (2006) and in honour of Martin Scorsese, who finally raked in the directing Oscar which had eluded him despite films such as “Raging Bull”, “Taxi Driver” and “Goodfellas”.

  • 2 parts Tequila
  • 1 part Cognac
  • 1 part Cointreau
  • 1 Tablespoon agave nectar
  • squeeze of lime juice
  • lemon
  • wedge for garnish

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake well, strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon wedge.

Cognac, Cointreau, Lemon, Rum

Maggie Smith’s “Between the Sheets”

Leave a comment

Known by most today for her roles as Violet Crawley in ”Downton Abbey” [2010-15] or Minerva McGonagall in the ”Harry Potter” franchise, one forgets that Maggie Smith had a distinguished, even illustrious career before being typecast as elderly dowager or schoolmarm, raking in two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes along the way.

”The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1969) established her as a serious actress and a number of comedies such as ”Murder by Death ” (1976) and ”California Suite” (1978) as well as star-vehicles à la Agatha Christie’s [”Death on the Nile” (1978) and ”Evil Under the Sun” (1982) kept her in the public eye, but her best work seemed to go mostly unnoticed: ”Travels With My Aunt” (1972), ”A Room With a View” (1985). ”Gosford Park” (2001), ”Ladies in Lavender”(2004) and more.

The Between the Sheets Cocktail, the drink Maggie Smith offers Peter Ustinov (a.k.a. Hercule Poirot) in ”Evil Under the Sun” (1982) dates back to 1930s Paris, either a Harry MacElhone(Harry’s New York Bar) creation or the apéritif du jour for working girls in French brothels; either way …

  • 1 oz. white rum
  • 1 oz. Cointreau
  • 1/2 oz. lemon juice
  • 1 oz. cognac
  • cocktail glass

Shake rum, Cointreau, juice, and cognac well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of lemon.