Cocktails are back in vogue in the bars, restaurants and suburban homes of the British Isles. Gin and tonic, rum and coke, whisky and water all may do the job, but in their dull predictability they're being pushed aside in favour of the effervescent colour of the cocktail, with its alluring mix of sophistication, exoticism, and sheer tastiness.
Described as a liquid after-dinner mint, the Stinger goes down well with chocolate – but then what doesn’t? The Stinger’s origins are uncertain but it’s mentioned in a 1917 guide and, like other cocktails, became more popular in the States in the 1920s, during the time of Prohibition. As with …
There are just two things about the Singapore Sling that everyone seems to agree on: where it was invented – Raffles Hotel in Singapore – and by whom – Mr. Ngiam Tong Boon, the bartender. It dates from some time between 1910 and 1915, and was originally designed as a …
Of course it all started with a monk. After all they’ve had a hand in the creation of many of our most popular spirits and liqueurs; Benedictine is no different. The original recipe, devised as a tonic by a Benedictine monk at the start of the sixteenth century, was lost …
Buck’s Fizz came about as the result of a missing ingredient. That’s according to the secretary of the Buck’s Club in London. Captain Buckmaster, the club’s founder, enjoyed golfing trips to France. On one of these, in 1921, he was given a cocktail combining champagne, peach juice and another ingredient. …
The German soldiers who ransacked a French village’s supply of wine didn’t know what they were starting. The villagers weren’t going to give up their precious wine that easily! A rescue party led by Canon Felix Kir, the local priest, brought about the derailment of the train carrying the soldiers …
Question As well as a cocktail, is Champagne Charlie: a) The title of a song; b) The nickname given to a famous and charming traveller? Answer Both. The song was a big hit for music-hall star, George Leybourne, in the middle of the 19th century. Through it he became rich …
‘I’d like a sloe comfortable screw, please.’ You think that cocktails with suggestive names are an invention of the 90s? Think again. During the Summer of Love they were having Sex on the Beach. The sixties saw a bit of a revolution in cocktails – or the naming of them …
It’s said that there are two drinks by which a bartender’s skill can be judged. They are a Martini and a Negroni. The Negroni was created at the start of the 20th century for a Florentine aristocrat, Count Camillo Negroni. Bored with his usual cocktail, an Americano, the Count asked …
When the bartender in Ernest Hemingway’s book, Islands in the Stream, was asked for a White Lady ‘… he served her a bottle of that American mineral water with a lady in a white kinda mosquito netting dress sitting by a spring.’ To avoid that mistake, read on! The White …
You don’t have to be an expert cocktail shaker to make a good Tom Collins. Most people will agree: it’s very hard to make a bad one. A Tom Collins is a drink for pleasure and leisure, to be enjoyed with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. The exact quantities of …