Category Archives: Gin

Cointreau, Egg-white, Gin, Lemon, Spirits

Hitch’s White Lady

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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/

Gin, Vermouth

Errol’s Martini Special

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Any list involving Hollywood and the consumption of alcohol is incomplete without the mention of a number of celebrities, and Errol Flynn certainly deserves to be on the shortlist.

A man who at 33 was able to consume a bottle of vodka a day and at the same time meet and woo his wife-to-be, the 19 year old daughter of an L.A. County Sheriff’s capt., and all this whilst standing trial for the statutory rape of two minors (he was acquitted by a jury of 9 women and 3 men), must, for better or for worse, be included (having been born in Hobart, Australia, his nickname The Tasmanian Devil seemed doubly apt).

Picking Mr. Flynn’s favourite drink is a daunting task, comparable to guessing which tooth of the buzz-saw hit the board first, as the possibilities are endless. His excursions to so many watering holes (as well as to those establishments which offer more exotic pleasures) are legendary: the Cuban Hotels National and Floridita (including meet-and-greets with Fidel), Hollywood’s Cocoanut Grove and Chasen’s, Jamaica’s Titchfield Hotel, and so on and on. The Cuban mixologist Fabio Delgado Fuentes created this cocktail in his honour: The Martini Special:

1½ oz gin (Hayman’s Old Tom Gin if available)
¾ oz vermouth (Carpano Antica Vermouth i available)
2 drops Orange Flower Water
Dash Verte de Fougerolles Absinthe Verte
Dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass. Twist Lemon Peel over glass and discard [1]

[1] This variation was supplied by Savoy Stomp and reduces the orange flower water from the original 1/6 oz. to a few drops – http://savoystomp.com/2009/03/18/martini-special-cocktail/

Gin, Vermouth

The Gibson

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When Bill Simpson (Gary Merrill) offers Karen Richards (Celeste Holm) a Gibson by stating, “Karen, you’re a Gibson girl.” during the famous birthday party sequence in the 1950 film “All About Eve”, he was simply describing “the cool, urban superiority of the Gibson” (Roger Angell, The New Yorker) over the taste of the suburban crowds of olive-chewers.

 Although the Gibson is a 100+ year-old drink pre-dating any film reference, it remains a classic alternative for the suave cosmopolitan, or those who would like to appear as such: from Roger (Cary Grant, “North by Northwest”), Frasier (“Frasier”, Ep: Dinner at Eight) and Philip Marlowe (“The Long Goodbye”) to Maxwell Smart (Don Adams, “Get Smart”, Ep: The Five-Forty-Eight) and Stan (“American Dad!”) with June Rosewood at her Hollywood mansion.

In recent years it also remains, with a number of other cocktails, a preferred order for some of the  “Mad Men” characters, see also “The ‘Mad Men’ Cocktail Guide” at http://goo.gl/Lyzf6m.

  • 2 oz Gin
  • ⅓ oz dry vermouth
  • garnish with a silver-skin onion

Stir well in a shaker with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, then garnish and serve.

Gin, Lemon, Sugar Syrup, Water (carbonated)

Stanley’s Tom Collins

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Poor old dad, the “Father of the Bride” (1950), preparing gallons of Martinis in expectation of his guests’ wishes at his daughter’s wedding announcement, spends the evening mixing every and all drinks but Martinis, among many: Old Fashioneds, Bourbon & Sodas, Mint Juleps, Tom Collins’, Rum & Cokes, and straight up Scotches. Let’s pick on one:

  • 1½ oz Gin
  • 1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 oz carbonated water
  • ½ sugar syrup

Mix the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a tall glass with ice, top up with soda water, garnish and serve.

Source: drinksmixer.com

Gin, Vodka

The Vesper Martini

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The beloved catchphrase “shaken not stirred” can first be found in Ian Fleming’s  novel “Diamonds are Forever” (1956), but surprisingly, the first to speak it in a Bond film is Dr No in the film by the same name in 1962. The first time Bond places this order himself can be admired in “Goldfinger” (1964).

But since Bond’s tastes have changed over the years …

“Goldfinger” (1964):
Mei-Lei: “Can I do anything for you, Mr. Bond?”
James Bond: “Uh, just a drink. A Martini, shaken, not stirred.”

“Casino Royale” (2006):
Bond: [after Bond has just lost 10 million in the game] “Vodka-martini.”
Bartender: “Shaken or stirred?”
Bond: “Do I look like I give a damn?”

“Quantum of Solace” (2008):
Bond: “I don’t know. What am I drinking?”
Flight bartender: “Three measures of Gordon’s Gin, One of Vodka, Half a measure of Kina…”
Mathis: Kina Lillet.”
Flight bartender: “Kina Lillet, which is not Vermouth. Shaken well until it is ice cold. and served with a large, thin slice of lemon peel. Six of them.”

… the Martini named after Vesper Lynd (“Casino Royale”) seemingly represents the Bond taste better than the classic Martini:

  • 1 oz Vodka
  • 3 oz Gin
  • 1/2 oz Lillet Blonde
  • garnish with lemon peel

“Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?” (from the novel “Casino Royale”, Chapter 7).

Gin

Nick & Nora’s Dry Martini

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Nick & Nora’s Dry Martini

Nick Charles: “What are you drinking?”
Guest: “Nothing, thanks. Nothing.”
Nick Charles: “Oh, that’s a mistake.”

Reporter: Is he working on a case?
Nora Charles: Yes.
Reporter: What case?
Nora Charles: A case of scotch.

When in doubt, seek professional advice:  

  • 1½ oz Beefeater Gin
  • ½ oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth

Nick Charles: “The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a dry Martini you always shake to waltz time. Add ingredients to a mixing glass and fill with ice, stir, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a small Spanish olive without pimento.”

Brandy, Gin, Rum, Scotch Whisky, Vodka

The Alaskan Polar Bear Heater

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  • ½ oz vodka
  • ½ oz rum
  • ½ oz vermouth
  • ½ oz gin
  • ½ oz brandy
  • a dash of bitters
  • a dash of vinegar
  • lemon peel
  • orange peel
  • cherry
  • add scotch to top off

As the bartender in “The Nutty Professor” commented: 

“You going to drink this here, or are you going to take it home and rub it on your chest?” The drink was tested by experts: “This is totally drinkable – kind of like a weird Manhattan.” … or was that “Yeah, we’re in Manhattan and it’s weird.”?

Gin, Lime

Terry’s Gin Gimlet

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In Robert Altman‘s “The Long Goodbye” (1973), based on the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name but set in decadently seedy 1970ies L.A., this was Terry Lenox‘s favourite drink.

  • 2½ oz Gin
  • ½ oz lime juice
  • ½ oz simple syrup
  • garnish with a lime wheel 

Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice, shake, then strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass filled with fresh ice and garnish.

Gin, Orange

Baby LeRoy’s Gin & Orange

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The 100th post belongs of course to W.C. Fields, the comedian remembered for playing profane, child-hating, boastful, dishonest, lecherous, and on occasion physically violent characters on-screen, and apparently not being the nicest of people off-screen.

If Mae West at least made pro forma attempts of disguising the gist of her lines and quotes in the flimsiest of innuendos or spoonerisms, such as …

”A hard man is good to find.”
(but not“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me.” which is a famous misquote)

… Fields was much more straight-forward with his favourite subject:

”Somebody left the cork out of my lunch.”
”I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.”
”The cost of living has gone up another dollar a quart.”

Since Mr. Fields was not much of a cocktail man, though he did purportedly begin his day with two Martinis, one before and one after breakfast, therefore making it difficult to nail down his drinking habits to one type of drink, the ”Gin & Orange” will have to serve as a stand in: 

During the shooting of ”Tillie and Gus” (1933) Fields spiked the orange juice of his three-year old co-star Baby LeRoy and later, with the toddler staggering across the stage, Fields kept muttering: ”The kid’s no trooper. Look at him, he ain’t no trooper.”

Gin and Orange

  • 3 parts gin
  • 1 part orange juice
  • 1 orange peel

Fill a chilled rocks glass with ice cubes, add all ingredients and garnish with an orange peel.