Villa Zarri, Bologna Italy

When an invitation to visit a local Brandy distiller on the outskirts of Bologna, Italy came up last week I almost did not go. Italian Brandy? Unheard of!

Then my friend assured me that this was the finest brandy in all of Italy...and then somehow my afternoon magically rearranged itself to allow this trip to be taken with ease...so why not I thought? 

It turned out to be a highlight of our trip, and as for that bold claim? I now believe it to be one of the best brandies not only in Italy but even (queue the Jeremy Clarkson voice)...in the world.

Located about 10 minutes outside of Bologna's town center in a compound dating back to 1578. The Villa was restructured in 1729 and thanks to some loving restorations over the years it looks much the same today as it did in the eighteenth century.

Guido Zarri in front of the boiler of his Alambic Charentais

Guido Zarri's family has been working with brandy for three generations starting with his maternal grandfather Leonidas Zarri. They purchased the Pilla, a small company based in liquor Murano (Venice).

The company was later transferred to Castel Maggiore (Bologna) and under the guidance of his father, Guido made a very important development with the Brandy Oro Pilla. He went into business in the late 70's and sold the brand Oro Pilla to Amaro Montenegro in 1988. 

The old Oro Pilla distillery located next to Villa Zilla.

In 1986 he started a small production of Brandy Cognac inspired by the goal of creating in Italy, a Brandy DOC. Keeping his small distillery in Villa Zarri, baptized by the name of the old house that lies in front of the distillery, he turned to craft production as a passion project to produce a Brandy which over the years has become increasingly valuable (and good!).

This vessel is used to preheat a batch of wine to speed the distillation process.

Starting only with fresh white wine made from the Trebbiano grapes grown in the local Toscano and Romagna regions, the Villa runs 24/7 during harvest season.

Wine in brought in by truck from local producers and stored in these large stainless steel vessels.

Each batch is started by boiling approximately 7500 liters of fresh wine with an A.B.V. of approx 10%. Since the alembic's boiler holds only 2500 litres it takes 3 batches of the first distillation called the "blank" which has an ABV of around 30-35% to make one full batch (approx 700 litres) of the "aquavite de vino" which has an A.B.V. of approx 70%.

The condenser cools the alcohol vapors collected from the boiler very slowly and gently.

The aging process results in a net loss of approximately 3% of the total amount of liquid produced per year. After 10 years 30% of the original liquid has been lost to evaporation, a.k.a. the "Angel's Share".

So for every 7500 liters of wine they start with, to produce a 10 year old vintage they only net approx 450 liters of aged brandy. A 20-22 year vintage, only half of that. This is why good brandy is so expensive!

The stainless steel holding tanks, each hold approx 5,000 liters.

As each batch is distilled, the heads (the first part of the run) and tails (the end of the run) are saved in separate containers to be used later in proprietary ways to enrich the flavors of the final product. These containers are kept behind the steel fence in the photo above, and not accessible without the presence of the proper official, so at the wrong time of day even a small equipment failure can cause large disaster!

The aging process begins in (new) 350 liter barrels of French oak from the forests of Limousin and dell'Allier. When the brandy is aged in new oak for that first year, it absorbs color, tannins and aromas from the wood.  

The origin of the oak makes a large difference. For example, the forests of the Limousin are predominately Farnia oak which have a coarser grain and are richer in content of phenol's like catechinic tannins. Oak from dell'Allier has finer veining and is rich in vanillin.

Bottling Room (all done by hand)

The Allier oak, with it's slower growth rate, has a fine, close grain which isolates the aging liquid from the outside environment to a greater degree than the relatively wide grains of the faster growing trees from Limousin. This is fine for wine but spirits need to breath more as they age than a wine does. This is why they use both woods, to get the best of both worlds.

When taking Bologna's idea microclimate for aging spirits into account, this access to the outside world becomes key. Bologna's gentle seasons provide just enough change in temperatures to really allow the spirit to take deep long breaths each year as the cold air contracts the liquid into itself and the hot season pushes it out. 

After the first year it is racked into depleted barrels (which have been used for more than 4 years) and left there for the rest of the aging period. In the old barrels, through the pores of the wood and "breathe" of the seasons, the brandy loses alcohol, absorbs oxygen and develops its true flavors.

Guido showing us some of the new high-end bottles  they are using for their current vintages.

This phase is very slow. It takes a great many years to evolve and get a great Brandy distillate. Guido insists that his Brandy is totally natural and does not add coloring, flavoring or sweeteners. All Villa Zarri Brandies are aged a minimum of 10 years. 

Today his oldest Brandy is a 22 year old vintage! Also bottled (Vintage 1988) is a Brandy flavored with tobacco leaves (Kentucky tobacco) from local Tuscan growers. (I was lucky enough to acquire bottle #967 of the limited run of 1400 bottles, and have included a review below.) 

A selection of Villa Zarri Brandies in their tasting room.

The range currently includes a 10 year, 18 year, 21 and 22 year releases as well as a range of (naturally) flavored brandies including a walnut liqueur, a cherry brandy and a coffee brandy. Especially well suited (and desirable) for cocktail mixing is the cherry brandy. 

Villa Zarri 10 year and Cherry Brandies

Their cherry brandy is made using both sour (durone della marca) and sweet (nero secondo) cherries which are steeped in the brandy for two full months creating an amazingly deep and rich cherry brandy (yet it is also somehow very light!) - with all natural ingredients. Simple and elegant it's perfect to sip on its own, but will lend itself well to classic cocktail recipes. This is truly how cherry brandy would also have been made "back in the day".

Check out the entire range here: http://www.villazarri.com/eng/home.asp

1988 Vintage Villa Zarri Tobacco Brandy

Villa Zarri 21 year old Tobacco Brandy

A cigar to drink? Created for those who want to enjoy their cigars with brandy to the next degree. It is bottled at full strength, without any dilution with water, after a long period of aging. It is based on a blend of brandies from 1987 and infused briefly with local Tuscan Tobacco leaves. (Kentucky)

The producer describes the expression as being "Clear and warm, refined with a bright amber color. Elegant and aromatic nose with a very fine smell of sweet spices, cinnamon, vanilla, grapevine flowers and cloves. On the palate this brandy is full, warm, spicy and fresh."  

They also caution moderation as it does contains nicotine!

VILLA ZARRI ANTICO BRANDY ITALIANO 

CON SELEZIONE DI TABBACO TOSCANO

21 YEAR OLD - VINTAGE 1988
ITALIAN TOBACCO FLAVORED BRANDY
SCORE:  96 points

NOSE: Tobacco right there in the top, big and bold! Underneath though I found the notes of the cinnamon and vanilla, even a hint of the clove. This is a strong Brandy at 90 proof and that heat comes through on the nose, though not unpleasantly so - there is a softness there too for such a strong spirit. Full of character and inevitably met with a "wow!" and a quick second whiff. 23/25.

PALATE: Velvety. Smooth and slippery in the mouth. Several layers of flavor come on quickly. The deep, well-balanced brandy base arrives first with a nice big oak flavor and hints of leather. Subtle cherry and grape flavors make a brief appearance. The notes on the nose of cloves, cinnamon and vanilla show up mid way, giving way to the tobacco on the finish. 24/25

FINISH: The tannins are so soft as to be nearly absent, however they are present and provide excellent structure. A beautiful, long finish with full hits of fresh tobacco leaf along with further expansion of the baking spices present on the nose and palate. 24/25

BALANCE: Unique. Come on, a tobacco Brandy? I have no idea how they pulled it off - but even my own mother, who is a non-drinker and certainly not a smoker, enjoyed the overall effect of this spirit. She took a sip and closed her eyes as she was taken back to her paternal grandfather's tobacco farm which she visited often as a child. That's what a great spirit should do! The tobacco does not overwhelm, it's big and forceful while remaining subtle at the same time. As charming as it is unique. Considering the task they undertook with this ambitious mix, I'd say the product us a huge success and deserves the highest of marks.  25/25

Highly Recommended

MORE PHOTOS ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE: http://on.fb.me/GRTYHl

Ward's Cocktail

From the "Miscellaneous Mixed Drinks"  section at the back of Hugo Ensslin's Recipes for Mixed Drinks. (1916-1917)

Ward's Cocktail


1 1/2 ounces (45 ml) Chartreuse green
1 1/2 ounces (45 ml) brandy (or cognac)
1 piece orange


Arrange the orange peel in the bottom of the glass to form a circle, fill up with finely cracked ice (get out the lewis bag and mallet for this one), add the Chartreuse and brandy and decorate with fresh mint. 

What a great way to enjoy Chartreuse. The orange peel adds nice fresh citrus. The mint gets right in your nose, reminiscent of a nice julep. The brandy provides structure, evening out and supporting the Chartreuse's intense herbal profile.

This drink is all about the Chartreuse though. I know the original recipe says you can use "different cordials", and I see no reason why you could not. It just works so amazingly well with the Chartreuse that the only reason I can think of not to use it, would be because you were out of it!

The Flip

Mixology Monday January 17, 2011

This is my first MxMo so pardon the lengthy post, if you poke around my site you'll find several more long posts on drinks and their histories.

My original recipe, the "Mountain Flip", which is made with Stranahan's, Averna and Chartreuse yellow, is at the very bottom if you want to skip ahead.

Earlier this month I wrote about eggnog or "Egg Nogg" as it was sometimes written. Like eggnog, the "Flip" is more of a class of drinks, with many variations rather than being a singular recipe. The term "Flip" was first used in 1695, to describe a mixture of beer, rum and sugar, which was heated with a red-hot iron.

Both drinks are defined as being made from spirits, eggs, sugar and spice - the only difference being that eggnog adds milk or cream.

When researching the flip I came across an earlier version of the chart presented by "Dr. Rush" in 1813, which I had used in the eggnog post to illustrate it's status as a drink of ill repute.

The chart below was first published by Dr. John Coakley Lettsom in 1789, for the benefit of the "Philanthropic Society", and was seemingly the inspiration for Dr. Rush's chart.

I then found in "Gentleman's Magazine", reference that Lettsom's list here was "derived from (hints from) his friend, Dr. Rush"....so the men appear to have been acquainted and may have worked on this together.
Here's the earlier list published by Lettsom.

FLIP RECIPES THROUGH TIME

1792 - An earlier American recipe for the Flip, from a book titled "The American Geography" by Jedidiah Morse. While describing the amount of rum produced in New England the previous year, the Flip recipe was added as a footnote.

No less than 4783 hogsheads of New England rum were distilled and exported from this state last year, besides the home consumption, which was not inconsiderable *

* New England rum is distilled from molasses imported from the West Indies. It may be a question worthy of consideration, whether the molasses, which is annually distilled in New England, by being mixed with water, would not afford a drink cheaper, more palatable, and more nourishing, than that which is made from the rum distilled from it, and treble in quantity? If so, all the labour and expense of distillation might be spared, and converted to more useful, and perhaps to more lucrative manufacture or agricultural purposes. New England rum is by no means a wholesome liquor. Dr. Douglass has asserted, "That it has killed more Indians than their wars and sickness. It does not spare white people, especially when made into flip, which is rum mixed with small beer and Muscovado sugar." 

Further historical recipes included (among may others, this is by no means a complete list):

1801 - "American herbal; or, Materia medica" by Samuel Stearns:

This kind of liquor is made by putting a spoonful of brown sugar into about five or six jills (sic/gills) of malt beer, which is then warmed by putting a hot iron into it, called a logger-head ; afterwards, half a pint of rum or brandy is added, and the mixture well stirred with a spoon. Then a little nutmeg is grated on the top, which makes the flip fit for (y)ule.

This quantity is enough for four men....Flip is also made with spruce beer, instead of malt, and then it is called callabogus.

1810 - "Critical pronouncing dictionary" by John Walker, the Flip is defined simply as a "drink made of beer and rum".

1822 - "The Cook's Oracle" by William Kitchiner, we are given this recipe for the flip, which would be reprinted, nearly word-for-word, in several publications over the next 20-30 years:

"Keep grated Ginger and Nutmeg with a little fine dried Lemon Peel rubbed together in a mortar. To make a quart of Flip: - Put the Ale on the fire to warm, - and beat up three or four Eggs with four ounces of moist Sugar, a teaspoonful of grated Nutmeg or Ginger, and a quartern of good old Rum, or Brandy. When the Ale is near to boil, put it into one pitcher, and the Rum and Eggs, &c. into another ; turn it from one pitcher to another till it is as smooth as Cream.

This recipe remains the standard until the 1850's when new variations start to appear in print. 

In 1855, Peterson's magazine published this recipe:

Egg Flip.—Beat up in a three-pint jug four newlaid eggs, omitting two of the whites; add six large lumps of sugar and rub these well into eggs; pour in boiling water about half a pint at a time; and when the jug is nearly full, add two tumblers of brandy and one of rum. 

1858 - Lewis Feuchtwanger in his book "Fermented Liquors" gives another hot Flip recipe:

Flip.—To 1/3 of a gallon of white beer (Berlin), add 1/4 of a pound of sugar, 1 drachm of fine cinnamon, a few cloves, a little ginger, 1 pint of Jamaica rum, and 4 eggs, the yellow of which is muddled. The beer, spices, yellow of the eggs, and rum are heated and well stirred together; they are then added to the first and drank hot.

1862 - Jerry Thomas's original 1862 collection of flip recipes, though extensive, did not include any "cold flip" recipes. Organized by Jerry into a chapter entitled "Flip, Negus and Shrub" he included recipes for "Rum Flip" (2 versions), Ale Flip, Egg Flip (2 versions), and a Brandy Flip.


In the 1882 reprint there appeared the addition of Cold flip recipes for Brandy, Rum, Gin, Whiskey and Port Wine.

I've included his hot and cold recipes for the "Rum Flip":

145.

—Which Dibdin has immortalized as the favorite beverage of sailors (although we believe they seldom indulge in it) —is made by adding a gill of rum to the beer, or substituting rum and water, when malt liquor cannot be procured. The essential in "flips" of all sorts is, to produce the smoothness by repeated pouring back and for ward between two vessels, and beating up the eggs well in the first instance; the sweetening and spices according to taste.

146. Rum Flip.

(Another method.)

Keep grated ginger and nutmeg with a little fine dried lemon peel, rubbed together in a mortar.

To make a quart of flip:—Put the ale on the fire to warm, and beat up three or four eggs with four ounces of moist sugar, a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg or ginger, and a gill of good old rum or brandy. When the ale is near to boil, put it into one pitcher, and the rum and eggs, &c., into another; turn it from one pitcher to another till it is as smooth as cream.

Cold Rum Flip. (From 1882 re-release)

(Use large bar-glass.)
Take 1 teaspoonful of powdered sugar, dissolved in
a little water.
1 wine-glass of Jamaica rum.
1 fresh egg.
2 or 3 lumps of ice.

Shake up thoroughly, strain in a medium glass, and
grate a little nutmeg on top.

1882 also saw the first release of Harry Johnson's "New and Improved (Illustrated) Bartender's Manual" which included a Brandy Flip, Claret Flip, Port Wine Flip and Sherry Flip. I guess he had a thing for wine-based flips. His Brandy Flip was described thus:

Brandy Flip
(Use a large bar glass.)
1 fresh egg;
3/4 tablespoonful of sugar;
3/4 glass of shaved ice
1 wine glass full of brandy(Martell);


Shake the above ingredients well in a shaker, strain into a flip or other fancy bar glass, and grate a little nutmeg on top, and serve.


1884 - "Modern Bartender's Guide" by B.O. Byron lists all chilled flip recipes including the Brandy, Gin, Glasgow, Port Wine, Sherry and Whiskey flips.

1895 - George Kappeler's  "Modern American Drinks" does away with the hot flip altogether and lists a dozen flip recipes, all iced:

Ale Flip.

Beat up one egg with half a tablespoonful fine sugar, then fill the glass with ale; mix well with the egg and sugar. Grate nutmeg on top and serve.

Brandy Flip.

A mixing-glass half-full fine ice, one tablespoonful fine sugar, one fresh egg, one jigger brandy; shake well, strain into thin glass. Grate nutmeg on top.

Egg Flip.

One fresh egg, one tablespoonful fine sugar, one jigger sherry in a mixing-glass half-full fine ice; shake well, strain into thin glass, grate nutmeg on top.

Gin Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Egg Flip, substituting Tom gin for sherry.

Glasgow Flip.

Beat up a fresh egg with one tablespoonful fine sugar and the juice of one lemon. Put this preparation in a long thin glass, add a lump of ice, fill up with a cold bottle of imported ginger ale; mix well. Serve.

Golden Flip.

One pony maraschino, one pony yellow chartreuse, half a tablespoonful fine sugar, one egg; shake well in a mixing-glass half-full fine ice, strain into a fancy bar-glass, grate a little nutmeg on top.

Jamaica Rum Flip.

Fill a mixing-glass half-full fine ice, add half a tablespoonful fine sugar, one egg, one jigger Jamaica rum; shake well, strain into a fancy barglass. Serve with a little grated nutmeg on top.

Port Wine Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Jamaica Rum Flip, substituting port wine for rum.

Rum Flip.

Prepare same as Sherry Flip, using the kind of rum desired by the customer in place of sherry.

Sherry Flip.

Break a fresh egg into a mixing-glass; add one tablespoonful fine sugar, fill the glass half-full of fine ice, add one and a half jigger of sherry; shake well, strain into a fancy bar-glass. Serve with a little grated nutmeg on top.

Whiskey Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Sherry Flip, substituting whiskey for sherry.

Yankee Flip.

Prepare in the same manner as Sherry Flip, using one jigger apple brandy in place of sherry.

(I must say, a very tasty sounding list..)


1889 - Charles Henry Cook in "Curiosities of ale and beer", describes a hot flip recipe, which by then had become something of a relic.

Flip, once a popular drink, and not altogether without its patrons in the present day, is made in a variety of ways. The following receipt is a good one. Place in a saucepan one quart of strong ale together with lumps of sugar which have been well rubbed over the rind of a lemon, and a small piece of cinnamon. Take the mixture off the fire when boiling and add one glass of cold ale. Have ready in a jug the yolks of six or eight eggs well beaten up with powdered sugar and grated nutmeg. Pour the hot ale from the saucepan on to the eggs, stirring them while so doing. Have another jug at hand and pour the mixture as swiftly as possible from one vessel to the other until a white froth appears, when the flip is ready. One or two wine glasses of gin or rum are often added. This beverage made without spirits is sometimes called Egg-hot, and Sailor's Flipcontains no ale. A quart of Flip is styled in the Cook's Oracle a "Yard of Flannel."


(Side note: The term "Yard of Flannel" has been attributed to the appearance of the liquid when "tossed back and forth from one pitcher to another at arm's length.")

1891 - in William Schmidt's "The Flowing Bowl", the flip is given as a hot recipe, "punch style" of course:

One and a half quarts of beer are heated to boiling, with a stick of cinnamon, a small piece of ginger, two or three cloves, and some lemon-peel; meanwhile mix the yolks of four eggs with a large wineglassful of rum or arrack, two or three tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar, and a small spoonful of corn-starch; add this, while continually stirring, to the beer; pour it a few times from one vessel into another, strain through a sieve, and serve in cups.

So we reach the twentieth century and find that the flip has become an old drink, on it's way out of style, but still "not altogether without its patrons". No longer popularly prescribed to ward off a cold or other sickness, it was now more commonly served cold, and taken whenever the mood struck.

The flip then, was really a drink for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By the 1900's it had transformed from a way to ward off the winter cold into a full fledged cocktail, and then by the mid-to-late twentieth century, it had fallen back into obscurity.

1917 - In the last book written by a working bartender in NYC, Hugo R. Ensslin gives some of the best (and strangest..whiskey-peppermint?) advice on the building of a cold flip:

1936 - Frank Meier, of the "Ritz" bar in Paris included this page on Flips in his book "The Artistry of Mixing Drinks".

1948 - David A. Embury, in "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" gives these words on the flip:

FLIPS A Flip is any wine or liquor shaken up with sugar and a whole egg. The usual proportions are 1 teaspoonful sugar or sugar syrup, 1 whole egg, and 2 ounces liquor to each drink. Shake with cracked or finely crushed ice and strain into a small Sour or Delmonico glass (about 3 to 4 ounces). Decorate with a dash of nutmeg.


Which sums up the cold flip nicely. 


After all of this, I had to play around with the recipes. For this one though, I stuck with the cold flips. I've heard that Cocktail Kingdom will be producing Blue Blazer mugs before too long...so when those are in I'll play with hot flip recipes. Until then, here are a few cold flip variations that I enjoyed.

Rum Flip

1 ounce (30 ml) Angostura 1919 Rum
1 ounce (30 ml) Smith & Cross Rum
1 fresh laid egg
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon water
2 dashes Angostura bitters


(Alternatively you can shake ingredients without ice, then with - this is the old "pre-double shake" style of building an egg drink)


1) Combine bitters, water and powdered sugar at bottom of a shaker and stir until sugar has dissolved.

2) Add one whole (fresh as possible) egg and muddle or stir the yolk to break it up.

3) Fill tumbler 3/4 full with finely cracked or crushed ice.

4) Add the two ounces of rum. 

5) Shake hard for 60-90 seconds, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with fresh ground nutmeg.

The classic rum flip. The lack of milk or cream provides more room for the spice flavors from the nutmeg and bitters to come through. When combined with the egg's thick silky texture, and the deep flavors of the dark rums, I must say I'm "flipping" out over how good this is. It really is a well balanced drink, providing room for all the flavors to stand both together and alone, which is the hallmark of a great drink recipe.

Using the same method of construction, here are a few more variations:

Yankee Flip

2 ounces (60 ml) Laird's apple brandy.

1 fresh laid egg

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon water

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fresh grated nutmeg on top.

I went with Laird's 7 1/2 year apple brandy here. It's apple flavors came through nicely.

_______________________________________

Mountain Flip (the Lab)

1 ounce (30 ml) Stranahan's "Straight Rocky Mountain Whiskey"

1/2 ounce (15 ml) Averna Amaro

1/2 ounce (15 ml) Chartreuse Yellow

1 fresh laid egg

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon water

1 dash Scrappy's Orange bitters

1 dash Elixir Vegetal

Fresh Grated Nutmeg on top.

Egg Nogg

You just never know what you will find when you start digging. Eggnog in general, or "Egg Nogg" as it was often spelled, is a truly ancient drink appearing in many of the very earliest texts.

Apparently, by 1813, Eggnogg was on the "naughty" list. According to"Dr Rush" in "The Panoplist, and missionary magazine: Volume 5; Volume 8" that is.

Better stick with a "small beer"!!!

Eggnog is a class of drinks, not a specific drink. There is no one "right" recipe, there are many variations to match many tastes. Jerry had his take, which is what my original idea for this post was based upon. I decided to add a few more nineteenth century recipes as well as the edifying flowchart above.

Jerry Thomas Egg Nogg 1862

Hmm, then in 1878 we have this submission from Mr. Leo Engel...

...notice any similarities?

Leo Engle everyone. Really...really?

Still, it's a recipe worth repeating. Here I'll do it again.

Egg Nogg (Adopted from Jerry Thomas, 1862)


Ingredients


1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 fresh laid egg
2 ounces Cognac brandy
1 ounce White Rum
2 1/2 ounces milk


Combine the sugar and water, stir, then add the milk and egg and stir again. Add the ice and then the spirits. Shake hard for 60-90 seconds at a minimum. Strain into "Collins" glass and grate fresh nutmeg over the top. 

....It's good, try it.

Pick-Me-Ups

The "Eye Opener" (per Charlie Paul, 1902)

Early America was awash with booze, and the sheer quantities that an average person drank on a regular basis would make a frat boy blanch. The old timer's were better practiced as well, and had many different remedies to make you feel better after a night of over-indulgence.

They were called "eye openers", "pick-me-ups", "morning daisies" and the like. Eggs and absinthe were commonly mixed with lemon juice, shaken and soda water added. The reported effect being to "calm the stomach".

As long as humans have been getting cock-eyed on harsh hooch, they have been looking for ways to feel better in the morning. Rather than make an exhaustive all encompassing history in one post, the "pick-me-up" shall be a continuing series featuring a mix of recipes I'd probably dare not try, some history, and at least one that I have tried.

Here's the "Pick-Me-Up" that started it all for me. It comes from Charlie Paul's 1902 classic, "Recipes of American and other Iced Drinks". Basically an advertising vehicle published by the "McCorquodale & Co.., Ltd for Farrow & Jackson, Limited", it's a treasure trove of elaborate etchings of typical (and not so typical) equipment of the day, and includes many good recipes.

My favorite illustration in the book has to be the "Imperial Shaker". If this was installed in a bar I would make my way to see it in action for sure. Finally, to be able to ask for a "Ramos" with a clean conscience!

Charlie's "Pick-Me-Up" went like this:

"PICK-ME-UP, OR BRACER" L.D. (Long Drink)


Use a large soda-water glass, which half full with chipped ice ; squeeze a whole lemon in ; add half teaspoon of Angostura bitters ; then pour in a bottle of seltzer water, stir well with long spoon, and serve with straws.


Surprisingly, no alcohol! This is a truly refreshing drink with herbs to settle the stomach (in the Angostura bitters), bubbly water and lemon juice to help replenish and rehydrate and lots of bubbles to get things moving. A nice morning or afternoon bracer no matter what your current state.


Of course, this being 1902 the temperance folks had not yet completely won out, and morning cocktails were still relatively common. For the chap looking for a morning "histening", and doesn't feel like a "Daisy" or "Tossing a Ball", his remaining choices included the popular Eye Opener". (For more on this "lingo", see my post).


Some "Eye Opener" recipes called for "old whiskey", rum, or brandy, along with absinthe. Some even called for green creme de menthe. Most called for egg. I liked Charlie's recipe with the mix of brandy and rum.


EYE OPENER. S.D. (Short Drink)


Fill tumbler with chipped ice ; put in a teaspoonful of powdered sugar and a new laid egg ; add a liqueur-glassful of brandy, and a liqueur-glass of rum ; then shake well and strain off.

My Adaptation

Eye Opener


1) Fill shaker with chipped ice and add 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar.

2) Add new laid egg, 1 ounce of brandy, and one ounce of Pusser's rum. 

3) Shake very hard for 2-3 minutes. Wrap the shaker in a towel first if your hands not used to holding a cold shaker.

Then enjoy! This is a yummy "energy" drink!

A "liqueur-glassful" in Charlie's parlance would have been a 2 ounce glass. Four ounces of booze in the morning would get you going, but I'm not sure it would be in a good direction. Take it easy on yourself and use 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of each at the most. 


If your lucky enough to have access to a fresh laid egg, then this is a treat well earned. If not, hit up that neighbor with chickens, find the right stand at the farmer's market, or get the best eggs you can. 

Mmmm, fresh eggs. Thanks girls!

I used the Christian Brother's VSOP. A nice choice for mixing, and the only one I have right now. The rum was a harder choice. In 1902, London would have offered many choices of rum, and the only direction given here is simply "rum".


With egg and brandy, I wanted dark, sweet rum. The Pusser's seemed a perfect choice with it's deep demerara notes ringing of sweet toffee rather than bitter caramel. I wanted something with some "zing" too since there is no citrus juice in this recipe.


I practically gave it the "Ramos" treatment, shaking for a good 2-3 minutes. The results were surprisingly good. Even with access to fresh eggs, it's not an ingredient I use often when mixing drinks. This came out with the mouth-feel of a milk shake, or maybe just a good frothy eggnog. The Pusser's really helped with that illusion with it's apple and toffee flavors giving way to vanilla, nutmeg and even a hint of roses.



Now for one I wasn't brave enough to try. 


George J. Kappeler in "Modern American Drinks" listed this recipe in 1895 for a "Pick-Me-Up":


Pick Me Up.


A mixing-glass half full fine ice, half a pony absinthe, one jigger vermouth ; shake well until cold, strain into a star-glass, fill with seltzer.


A half-pony would be 1/2 ounce, so strong on the absinthe but not as ridiculous as some recipes. This is used with a base of 2 ounces of vermouth, shaken and carbonated. You would need to really like your vermouth! It may have done the trick, but in my mind would be an acquired taste for sure.

I do like vermouth, but not that much...and not in the morning, so this one gets my "pass" vote. Let me know if you decide to try it!

Flushing Cocktail

From Jacques Straub's 1914 book "Drinks"

Flushing Cocktail
1/3 jigger (.75 oz) Italian vermouth.
2/3 jigger (1.5 oz) brandy.
1 dash syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters.
1 lemon peel. Stir.
Strain into old-fashion glass and serve.

A nice little Manhattan variation that makes a great aperitif. Sweeter than it's rye cousin of course, but not overly so. In fact, this one seemed remarkably light, and I was left with no cloying aftertaste.

The Sidecar

The sidecar, #5 in my "Embury six" series.

THE SIDECAR

The sidecar was presented by Embury as the classic "must know" brandy drink. Here the choice of cognac or brandy used, and it's flavor profile, drive the proportions of the other ingredients.

Brandy is an ancient spirit, with roots going back to the 12th century. The word brandy is a shortening of "brandywine", which in turn is a derivative from the Dutch word "brandewijn" (which means "burnt wine").

Brandy is certainly my weakest area of knowledge when it comes to the spirit world. I've tended to avoid the whole category and looked to other (and in my mind safer) alternatives to brandy. It's hard to blame anyone for these thoughts after growing up with such disasters as peach brandy, blackberry brandy and the many other artificially created frankensteins that have become popular in the last 50 years.

The more I learn about the "burnt wine", the easier it has become to finally be able to enjoy it.

Armagnac was the first distilled spirit in France, and is made only in the Armagnac region in Southwest of France. It is "single-continuous" distilled in copper stills, and aged in oaken casks from Limousin or Gascony.

Cognac is a term only applied to grape brandy made in the Cognac region of France, and is double distilled in pot stills...and Cognac is what is called for in the original sidecar recipes (along with Cointreau and lemon juice).

The origins of this drink are just as unclear as the first four in the "Embury six" that I have explored. There are two main "origin" stories for this one. There is the "Paris School" and the "London School", each with their own recipe, which I will explore in greater depth later.

A third option, worth keeping in mind, was presented by Dale Degroff in his book "Essential Cocktail".

Dale points out that the word sidecar in the cocktail world refers to a small glass or shot glass that the bar tender keeps for "over-pours". When they miss their mark on their ingredients, and end up with a little left over, they would pour the extra into the "sidecar".

This drink bears a strong resemblance to the "Brandy Crusta", (which hails from New Orleans, and is accredited to a well known Spanish caterer by the name of Joseph Santini around 1852.) There are differences, the crusta calls for bitters and sometimes maraschino and has a sugared rim. Even today, some sidecar recipes include instructions for the sugared rim as part of the garnish.

If bartenders of the day found that the crusta was one of their favorite "overpours" to end up in their "side cars", then it's not too much of a stretch to think that this could be the actual origin of the name.

Since were on a historical journey, let's go ahead and take a look at the two main schools of thought anyway.

The Paris School

The more well known of the two schools, this story has many variables.

Sometime in Paris, during or shortly after World War I, an American Army captain often traveled around in a motorcycle sidecar. One day, when he was under the weather, he requested something that would help him feel better, and the drink was named the "Sidecar", as a tribute to its original patron.

Embury also credits the invention of the drink to an American Army captain in Paris during World War I. He also claimed that the drink was named after the motorcycle sidecar, in which the good captain was driven to and from the little bistro where the drink was born and christened".

I've also read that the captain had the driver bring the motorcycle right up to the bar to order! It then seems to evolve into the captain going to the Ritz Hotel on a regular basis, and this was his favorite drink to ward off the chill of the winter nights. This theory was dramatized in a recent Cointreau advert.

For me, the fact that there is no name associated with the captain, and that there are so many versions of the story out there, it smacks more of legend than fact.

The Paris School Recipe
(1:1:1 ratio)
1 oz Cognac
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz Lemon Juice

This is the earliest known recipe, and it appeared in two books published in 1922; Robert Vermeire's "Cocktails and How to Mix Them", and Harry MacElhone's Harry's "ABC of Mixing Cocktails".






The London School

The story here, is that the sidecar was created at the London Buck's Club in the 1920's. It is most often credited to Pat MacGarry, who was one of the Buck Club's well known bartenders at the time.

Interestingly, in early editions of "ABC of Mixing Cocktails", MacElhone cites the inventor as Pat MacGarry, "the Popular bar-tender at Buck's Club, London" but in later editions, he cites himself.

Vermiere said in his book, "This cocktail is very popular in France. It was first introduced in London by
MacGarry, the celebrated bar-tender of Buck's Club."

So. you have the two books publishing the recipe for the first time using the Paris School recipe, but pointing to the founder of the "London School" as the originator. Isn't that a bit of a sticky wicket.

The London School Recipe
(2:1:1 ratio)
1.5 oz Cognac
.75 oz Cointreau
.75 oz Lemon Juice

The Embury School

Embury cites the motorcycle sidecar in France theory as the origin, but goes on to change the ratio of the drink to that of his daiquiri, or 8:2:1 ratio, making for a very dry, and much less sweet cocktail.

His view was that this drink was a daiquiri with Brandy, replacing the rum, lemon replacing the lime (lemons and limes were interchangeable ingredients for some time) and Cointreau replacing the sugar or simple syrup as the sweetener.

Sidecar à la Embury

(8:2:1 ratio)

1 part (1/4 oz) Sugar Syrup

2 parts (1/2 oz) Lime Juice

8 Parts (2 oz) Brandy or Cognac

The Modern Sidecar.

Over the twentieth century a sugared rim, triple sec and even concentrated lime juice have been called for in the recipe.

The official IBA recipe follows the "Paris school" recipe and calls for the sugared rim, and lemon rind as the garnish.

Though not commonly ordered, many bars have the sidecar or a variation on their menu. The current Death & Company menu (one of the most imitated in the world) lists a sidecar variation with the addition of Orchard Pear brandy and Benedictine.

Esquire's drink database has a wonderful quote from David Wondrich on this drink. Robert Hess has his own versionas well and talked in his video series about how he, Dale DeGroff, Ted Haigh and David Wondrich all had strong opinions on what was the right recipe. They had difficulty settling on one recipe to put in their "Museum of the American Cocktail Pocket Recipe Guide". (That link is here if you are interested.)

So what do the board of directors at the Museum of the American Cocktail (MOATC) tout as their favorites? Here are recipes from each:

Sidecar - Dale DeGroff, Essential Cocktails (MOATC President)
(2:1:1 ratio)
1.5 oz Cognac
.75 oz Cointreau
.75 oz lemon juice
garnish: Flamed orange peel.

Sidecar - Ted Haigh, cocktailDB (MOATC Curator)
(1:1:1 ratio)
1/3 Cointreau
1/3 brandy
1/3 lemon juice
garnish: not specified

as well as this variation
(3:1:1 ratio)
1.5 oz brandy
.5 oz triple sec
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
garnish: none listed

as well as this variation from his book "Vintage Spirits and Forgotton Cocktails"
The Ritz Sidecar
5 parts very old cognac (1.5 oz)
3 parts Cointreau (9/10 oz)
2 parts fresh lemon juice (6/10 oz)
garnish: none listed
"Shake in iced cocktail shaker, strain tremulously in to chilled cocktail glass."

Sidecar - Robert Hess (MOATC Secretary)
(4:2:1 ratio)
2 oz cognac
1 oz Cointreau
.5 oz lemon juice.
garnish: lemon twist

and from the board of advisers


Sidecar (David Wondrich, Esquire)
(2:1:1 ratio)
1.5 oz cognac
.75 oz Cointreau
.75 oz lime juice
garnish: serve in glass rubbed with lemon juice and dipped in sugar.

Sidecar (Gary Regan, Joy of Mixology)
(3:2:1 ratio)
1.5 oz Cognac
1 oz triple-sec
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
garnish: lemon twist in sugar rimmed glass




NOW WHAT?

So....this is obviously a drink to play with, considering that the best minds in the cocktail world, past and present, have been unable to agree on a formula.

Ted Haigh points out in "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" that "The beauty of this cocktail is that if it is too strong you just decrease the brandy. Too sweet? Add more lemon juice. Too sour? Add more Cointreau."

Garry Reagan makes his point in the "Joy of Mixology" that since there is so much variance in the cognac and brandy worlds, it's impossible to have "one true recipe".

Take his example of Courvoiser vs. Hennessy, the former being "sweet, round and plump" and the latter needing more triple sec and just a tad more lemon juice to balance out.

My advice? Skip the sugar rim and garnish with a lemon peel. Use the Paris School (1:1:1) for the drier cognacs like Hennessy the London School (2:1:1) for the and sweeter cognacs like Courvoiser as your starting points. Play with the ratios until you dial in a flavor profile that you enjoy.

Happy Experimenting!