Photo: Nick Frey
Heading out on the town tonight and don’t feel like drinking your usual beverage? Wondering if there’s something different out there that can really wet your whistle? Today we’re going to go through some classic cocktails to liven up your night but more importantly your taste buds! Old school cocktails are rarely ordered nowadays with so much else to choose from on the market, but even with all the newer cocktails out there the older ones don’t get the credit they deserve. Up until about 30 years ago there really wasn’t much to choose from when you hit the town for a night out. Sure, there was beer (and a very limited variety at that), but wine came in a cardboard box unless you were wealthy and knew what you were looking for, lollipop drinks (which a bloke shouldn’t be seen drinking anyway) were almost 2 decades away, apart from that it was spirits. So if you wanted something nice besides beer, it was a cocktail. Now, the old cocktails are very different from today’s 10 ingredient monstrosities which have so many sweet ingredients in them to make it easy to mask a ridiculous amount of alcohol, in order to help you get wasted quickly. When you think of old cocktails they are generally 2, maybe 3 ingredients; taking 2-3 ingredients, mixing them with ice and making them palatable is a very subtle art. Let’s take a look at a few.
Martini
The most classic and well known of cocktails, associated with James Bond, Ernest Hemingway and many others. No doubt many of you think you’d look stupid wearing jeans, t-shirt and trainers sipping a martini in a bar or club, and you’d be right. You can always just ask for it in a tumbler though, problem solved. The martini is right up there in the alcohol stakes – 3 parts gin to 1 part vermouth, garnished with an olive or twist of lemon peel. The vermouth takes some of the edge off the gin which is the main player, it is a very edgy and hard drink, but very refreshing. Different gins will give it different flavours eg Tanqueray will give your martini spiced notes whereas Bombay Sapphire will give it a more floral, fruity flavour. If it’s too much for you, ask for it to be shaken (traditionally called a Bradford), which will yield a bit more water in the drink and tone it down a bit.
Sidecar
A French cocktail, the ingredients are 8 parts Cognac to 2 parts orange liquer (Cointreau, triple sec, Grand Marnier) with a squeeze of lemon juice. Clearly the Cognac is the main player here, with the orange liqueur acting as a sweetening agent and an extra dimension of flavour. This is one for all the darker spirit drinkers out there and is very hard due to both the Cognac and Cointreau having 40% abv. If it isn’t sweet enough for you you could always ask for a greater ratio of orange to Cognac.
Mai Tai
A summer winner as far as cocktails go, this one is a potent but delicious rum based cocktail. The ingredients are 6 parts white rum, 6 parts dark rum, 3 parts orange curacao, almond syrup and fresh lime juice. Despite the large hit of alcohol, it is a fruity and full flavoured cocktail and very different to the typical before dinner cocktails such as the above two already mentioned due to its lack of mouth puckering astringency. Give it a try, you certainly won’t regret it.
Margarita
Another summer favourite, if you are into sour tasting things this is the cocktail for you. I’ve never been able to drink them because I find them so sour I get that cringe on my face typical of when you bite straight into a lemon. It is roughly 4 parts tequila to 2 parts triple sec and 1.5 parts lime/lemon juice. The key to margaritas especially is decent quality tequila – I’ve tasted margaritas made on bad tequila that tasted absolutely vile, and those made on really good tequila that weren’t too bad.
Mint Julep
The official drink of the Kentucky Derby, this is one for the bourbon crowd. The ingredients are simple: bourbon, mint, sugar, water. The mint is slightly bruised to release its essential oils with some sugar added to add sweetness and finally some water to take the edge off the alcohol. This is a seriously fragrant and refreshing cocktail, made obvious by the fact that every year at the Kentucky Derby (it gets damn hot in the south) nearly 120,000 of them are sold
Rusty Nail
One for the Scotch drinkers out there, this 2 ingredient concoction will have your taste buds partying. The ratio is traditionally 1 part Scotch to 1 part Drambuie, but many Scotch drinkers find it too sweet and order less Drambuie. The hardness of the Scotch is mellowed by the thick, syrupy spices in the Drambuie, making it a perfect cocktail for winter when you want something that warms you up a bit. It isn’t so much a before dinner aperitif but something best sipped after due to its heavy flavours.
Manhattan
Another one for the bourbon drinkers, the Manhattan is another famous cocktail invented in – you guessed it, Manhattan. Made in much the same way as a martini, the ingredients are 3 parts bourbon or rye whiskey to 1 part sweet vermouth with a dash of bitters and garnished with a Maraschino cherry. Canadian whiskey can also be substituted or Scotch whiskey in which case it would be called a Rob Roy. It is traditionally stirred through ice.
So there is a list of cocktails to get you started on your Saturday night festivities. A word of warning – they are best for starting the night; if you decide to get into them when you are already “merry” you’re going to be in for a world of hurt the next day. Some of these cocktails are traditionally served in glasses that only go well with formal ware and can come with garnishes on the side, so as I said before, order them in a tumbler without garnish on the glass and it won’t look ridiculous. Cheers!
The Men's Domain 