Gin Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Retro Food For Modern Times

27
May
2020

The Clover Club

I was walking Holly and Oscar in the park one morning when I found a four-leaf clover. That time feels like a million years ago but it was on February 10th so only about 100 days ago.

Whilst I am not superstitious by nature, this felt like an omen. Things were going pretty well. Holly was settling into her new home with us, it was a glorious summer morning, all seemed well with the world. What could possibly go wrong?

Within weeks if not days? Welcome to the shittiest year of all of our lives.

It’s enough to turn a girl to drink!

I was thinking about that day recently. One of the ways I have been idling away my time is to do a heap of Buzzfeed quizzes…you know the sort…”Tell us which pizza toppings you like and we’ll describe your perfect vacation”. Mostly these are terrible and I would be a little embarrassed to admit doing 1-5 per day but occasionally you find one that gets you right in the sweet spot.

Such was the case with the quiz “We know exactly what cocktail you are craving tonight”.

Turns out, I was craving a Clover Club. Now I had, up to that point, never tasted a Clover Club. But, I looked at the ingredients – Gin, raspberries and lemon – these are a few of my favourite things! And suddenly, yes, I was craving one!

I decided to break out the Babycham glasses I bought when I was in Rye last year. How cute are they? I have been saving them for a “special occasion” but you know what? If not now, when? I was inspired by this post on Foodie Crush to seize the day a bit more!

A Brief History of The Clover Club

The Clover Club is an American cocktail from the Pre-Prohibition era, dating all the way back to 1896. A group of men, who called themselves The Clover Club used to meet at the Bellevue – Stratton Hotel in Philadelphia. The Clover Club was invented for them to drink. I find the idea of those olden day men sitting around drinking foamy pink cocktails adorable!

We totally LOVED The Clover Club! The Fussiest Eater in the World said it was the best cocktail he had drunk since 1997! Who knew he was keeping a list….

I used the recipe for The Clover Club via Liquor.com which you can find here.

If you like sweet / sour fruity cocktails then the Clover Club is for you! It may not bring you good luck but it will brighten up your day!

Have a great week friends, stay safe! Let me know what cocktail you get if you do the quiz!

27
Dec
2017

History Happy Hour – The Flamingo

categories: Apricot Brandy, Cocktail, Gin, History Happy Hour

So, I made this Flamingo cocktail today with the idea that I would post it in the usual time it takes me to post anything – a month, six weeks, some time in the yet to be disclosed future. But then I opened my email and discovered that today, December 26 in the way back of 1946 was the day that Bugsy Siegel opened the Pink Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada.

I’m not a big fan of posting too quickly because I like to ~~procrastinate~~ carefully curate what goes into these pages.

It’s why the quality is usually so high…😂

But some opportunities are too good to miss.

And how pretty is this? It’s a gorgeous, glorious, fabulous pink! Perfect for drinking at the most fabulous, magnificent , luxurious resort in the world….or just, you know, at home…

Siegel, called “the mobster with the beautiful blue eyes” by Cesar Romero named the resort the Flamingo after his girlfriend Virginia Hill who was a leggy redhead.

The opening of the Pink Flamingo Casino was a total clusterf**k. Bad weather kept many of the Hollywood celebrities who had been invited to the opening away. The rooms weren’t finished so gamblers took their winnings elsewhere. By the end of the first week, the Pink Flamingo had lost $300,000 in revenue. By the end of its first year of operation it had earned nothing!

Siegel was shot to death in 1947.

A memorial to him still exists in the current Flamingo complex.

Far from being a clusterf**k, the Flamingo cocktail is a total delight!

Gin, Apricot Brandy, lime juice and Grenadine make it delicious!

A maraschino cherry gives it some vintage glamour. It’s not in the recipe but it does make it gorgeous!

Here’s the recipe – Enjoy!!!!

https://mixthatdrink.com/flamingo-cocktail/

04
Dec
2016

French Pink Lady

categories: Cocktail, Gin

How can I have been doing this so long and never have spoken about my unabiding love for the movie Grease? I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have watched it. And I always wanted to be in a cool girl gang like The Pink Ladies. However , today we are not going to talk about my want to be this type of pink lady:

But about a classic cocktail of the same name – possibly the inspiration for the name of the aforementioned girl gang as I believe the Pink Lady was popular drink in the 1950’s. My “French” take on the classic Pink Lady is that, traditionally applejack is an ingredient in a Pink Lady. However, Applejack was not available in my little suburban bottle shop so I subbed in Calvados. Using French Apple brandy is also a teeny homage to one of the Pink Ladies, Frenchie!

So, in the infamous words of Rizzo, “Okay girls, let’s go get ’em”

The Pink Lady has been around for decades, according to the fount of all knowledge Wikipedia, it was already well known in the Prohibition era. It was also the drink of choice of choice of Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield. I’m not sure if she is holding a Pink Lady in the picture below but it’s pink so let’s put two and two together and raise a glass with Jayne! OMG…how glamourous is she! If just ONE day of my life I could have that sort of va-va-voom I would die happy!

Don’t let the sweet and innocent look of the Pink Lady lull you into a false sense of security. This is not girly drink made from sugar and spice and all things nice. The Pink Lady packs a punch! It almost straight gin, topped up with Applejack / Calvados, with a dash of grenadine, a splash of lemon juice and an egg white being the non-alcoholic components.

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French Pink Lady

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Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

45ml gin
22.5 ml calvados
7.5 ml lemon juice
1–2 dashes grenadine
1 egg white
Maraschino cherry for garnish

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Instructions

Pour the gin, calvados, lemon juice and grenadine into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes.
Shake vigorously.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

I am on a work trip to Canberra for the next few days. There will be precious little time for sight-seeing in our Capital city but I’ll try to fit in a run and see if I can get some photos to share with you all. And right now I need to go pack my bag for the flight tomorrow morning!

Have a fabulous week and remember – think pink!

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17
Sep
2016

Tanis Inspired Cocktails #3 – The Navigator

categories: Cocktail, Gin, Grapefruit, Podcasts, Tanis

The huge reveal of Tanis Episode 209 was that The Navigator is…

Yeah right, as if I’m going to spoiler that!

No way! You have 21 fascinating episodes of murder, madness, conspiracy and stray right feet washing up on beaches before you can get to that reveal. Having said that, there’s no need to be daunted, the Tanis back catalogue is still small enough that you could binge listen to it all in a weekend.

So get onto it. It is actually one of those things that is also worth a second (or third ) listen.

You could have a Geoff Van Sant moment and grab a beer while you listen. Or, even better, make this super dry, super citrussy cocktail called The Navigator.

The Navigator & Clues to Tanis

The Navigator is to Eld Fen what the runner is to Tanis. Basically, to get there you need one. And you also need a map.

But maybe not a map like this.

Because even when you have a Navigator / Runner, you can only get to Eld Fen / Tanis when the stars don’t align.

As soon as I heard about the stars not aligning my first thought went to the line from Space Oddity, “And the stars look very different today”. I don’t think it’s at all relevant but except maybe for the writers tipping their hat and giving a little nod to the late, great Mr David Bowie. I hope it’s that and the twist about to come is not aliens.

The Navigator Cocktail

I found this on the ever reliable, always excellent Difford’s Guide.

Dry Gin, Limoncello and Pink Grapefruit Juice…three of my favorite things! I added some additional lemon juice to mine. I figured that if I was going to cut open a lemon from the garnish, I may as well use some of it in the drink too!

This is so good! The stars all align with The Navigator. It is:

Lipsmackingly dry from the gin
Sweet from the limoncello
Sour from the lemon juice
Bright with a hint of bitter from the grapefruit.

It’s like a flavour explosion in your mouth.

The Navigator could easily become one of my favorite cocktails!

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The Navigator

Print Recipe

A refreshing dry and tangy citrus cocktail

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

2 shots dry gin
3/4 shot Limoncello
1 1/4 shot freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
1/2 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice
Lemon wheel to garnish

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Instructions

Shake all the wet ingredients with ice.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with the lemon wheel.
Enjoy!

Tanis Speculation

I have no doubt Nic is about to go into the forest again but with whom? Per the first series, you need four. So, Nic, The Navigator and two others.

If I was Nic, I’d take Geoff Van Sant and MK. But then, given the choice, I’d probably take GVS and MK anywhere with me. They’re the best. I think GVS is my secret podcast crush. What can I say, I happen to have a thing for guys with messy hair and alert eyes who like a drink or two. And in my head he looks like Paul from Orphan Black. And that is never a bad thing!

And MK is just the best. She may also be my secret podcast crush!

I can’t wait…the series two final is fast approaching….I will try to align my fourth (and final) cocktail with that happening!

Breaking News!

Ladies of the PNW who need a thrilling secret conspiracy to liven up their lives? GVS is trying dating again. Why not have a beer with him?

‘kay people of the internet, we’re done.

Keep looking!

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13
Mar
2016

History Happy Hour 1764 – The Leland Palmer

categories: Cocktail, Gin, Grapefruit, History Happy Hour, Lemon

It’s baaaaacckkkk!

And what a way to bring it back, even if I do say so myself. Today we a celebrating the 1764 birth of a British Lord, with a drink inspired by our favourite filicidal maniac!

Charles Grey, born 13 March 1764 was the Second Earl Grey and the Prime Minister of Britain from 1830 to 1834. And yes, he is THE Earl Grey that gave the tea it’s name.

Earl Grey Tea, which is traditionally black tea flavoured with bergamot, is reputed to have been made for the Earl by a Chinese Mandarin to offset the taste of the dodgy water at the Earl’s ancestral home.

And today we are celebrating the Earl with my version of a drink named after Leland Palmer, which in turn is a twist on the Arnold Palmer. I know, it’s like going down a rabbit hole isn’t it?

For those of you not of a certain age, Leland Palmer is a character from the tv show Twin Peaks. He is the father of Laura Palmer and ****spoiler alert***** (if you can still have spoilers on something that is 25 years old) later revealed to have killed her whilst under the possession of an evil entity called Bob.

The Leland Palmer cocktail is the creation of Daniel Boelte who was inspired to make it after being hungover at his girlfriend’s house and watching an episode of Twin Peaks. The original Leland Palmer uses jasmine tea, whilst, in honour of the day, I used Earl Grey Tea – as well as being Charles Grey’s Birthday, it’s also my wedding anniversary. So I guess I can switch up my cocktails however I want.

So, did my twist on the Leland Palmer result in unleashing a Bob of cocktail? I ~~am totally, utterly~~ may be slightly biased but I think not. This was delightful!

The bergamot in the Earl Grey combined beautifully with the fresh citrus and the limoncello. The herby notes of the tea also works really well with the botanicals in the gin.

The bitterness in the grapefruit and the tea is balanced by the sweetness of the honey and the limoncello with the lemon adding some zing.

This is totally gorgeous. Everything balances beautifully and you can add as much or little soda as you like depending on your needs. We drank them quite long (ie with lots of soda) over a summer afternoon and it was perfection however I can also envisage drinking it with just a splash of soda in winter in colder months.

Happy Birthday Charles Grey, Happy wedding anniversary to me and the fussiest eater in the world, thank you Daniel Boelte for the original recipe and to Leland Palmer for inspiring you to make a drink.

Here’s the recipe!

Have a wonderful week!

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Tag: Gin

A Brief History of The Clover Club

French Pink Lady

Ingredients

Instructions

The Navigator & Clues to Tanis

The Navigator Cocktail

The Navigator

Ingredients

Instructions

Tanis Speculation

Breaking News!