Next week, it's Beer Day (in Iceland), it's 20 Years Since the World Trade Center Bombing and 60 since the discovery of DNA. Join us in a celebratory drink.
...so today we are drinking a Sunshine Cocktail #1.
Probably the least famous of The Beatles, George Harrison, AKA "the quiet Beatle", didn't die young enough to be immortalised at the height of his fame, like John, or live long enough to become an elder statesman, like Ringo and Sir Paul.
And, even though he wrote Here Comes The Sun, his talent was rather overshadowed by his peers - among them Eric Clapton, who stole Pattie Boyd from him, a romance that inspired Leyla and Wonderful Tonight. (Harrison's own Something is less well remembered.)
No slouch in the consumption department before he turned to gurus, Harrison discreetly epitomised the spirit of the '60s, partying hard with alcohol and a range of substitutes, and was famously attacked by a mentally ill stalker with a knife.
Yet it was smoking that killed him, as it usually does, aged 58. We are toasting this unsung hero with a Sunshine Cocktail #1, and hoping it brings the sun around.
Sunshine Cocktail #1
Glass: Martini
Garnish: Pineapple wedge
Method: SHAKE all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass
1½ shot Bacardi Superior rum
1½ shot Martini Extra dry vermouth
1½ shot Fresh pressed pineapple juice
⅛ shot Pomegranate (grenadine) syrup
Comment: Light, fruity and a tad on the sweet side, but could well brighten up your day.
Origin: Adapted from a recipe in my 1949 copy of 'Esquire's Handbook for Hosts'.
...so today we are drinking an Oddball Manhattan Dry.
Today marks twenty years since Islamist terrorists attempted to destroy New York's World Trade Center, the famous Twin Towers, and an icon of the Manhattan skyline.
No, we haven't got our maths wrong. Today is the anniversary of the World Trade Center bombing that most have forgotten, masterminded not by Bin Laden but by Ramzi Yousef.
At trial, three years before 9/11, it was shown that Yousef had not only planted bombs in the Twin Towers, killing more than 20 people, but had been planning to detonate American passenger aeroplanes in the sky to cause chaos.
To mark today we are drinking an Oddball Manhattan.
Oddball Manhattan Dry
Glass: Martini
Garnish: Maraschino cherry
Method: STIR all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.
2½ shot Maker's Mark bourbon
½ shot Chartreuse Yellow liqueur
1 shot Martini Extra dry vermouth
3 dash Angostura aromatic bitters
Comment: Not as oddball as it sounds, the Chartreuse combines harmoniously.
...so today we are drinking an Alamagoozlum Cocktail.
What with bowing boughs, rough coughs, furloughs, hiccoughs and yachts, British spelling is tough through and through. And, though the thought makes us cringe, it's time to slough off the difficulties and plough forward...
OK. We'll stop now....
English spelling is famously and insanely difficult, and sixty years ago today the madness almost stopped, when a bill designed to simplify the dictionary made it through its second reading in parliament.
A pet project of the intellectual George Bernard Shaw, the simple spelling would have been introduced for younger children, with the aim of making reading easier. They would then, in theory, have had to move onto harder spellings later.
But... it never happened. The government, convinced that the bill would pass, agreed to back a research project, which never came through. And so, we are stuck with words like the Alamagoozlum, a cocktail much easier to drink than it is to spell.
Alamagoozlum
Glass: Martini
Garnish: Pineapple wedge
Method: SHAKE all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass.
1 shot Bols Genever
¾ shot Chartreuse Yellow liqueur
¾ shot Wray & Nephew overproof rum
¼ shot Grand Marnier liqueur
¾ shot Monin Pure Cane sugar syrup (65°brix, 2:1 sugar/water)
1 shot Chilled mineral water
¼ shot Angostura aromatic bitters
¼ fresh Egg white
Comment: Even Mr Embury would approve of this version. Overproof Jamaican rum and copious amounts of bitters make this drink.
Origin: Adapted from David A. Embury's 1948 'Fine Art of Mixing Drinks', where he writes, "This cocktail is supposed to have been a speciality of the elder Morgan of the House of Morgan, which goes to prove as a bartender he was an excellent banker."
...so today we are drinking a DNA#1.
With DNA now routinely used to identify absent fathers, solve cold cases and predict the occurrence of various diseases, and gene-based healing now considered a realistic technology, it's salutary to remember that the iconic double helix was only discovered sixty years ago today.
Jim Watson and Francis Crick had been trying to work out how genetic information was stored since 1951, and, with some help from Rosamund Franklin, they finally cracked it on 28 February 1953 - and promptly burst into the local pub announcing that they had discovered "the secret of life".
Today, companies like 23andMe, run by the wife of Google's Sergey Brin, offer to decode an individual's genome for a fraction of the hundreds of millions spent decoding the first genes. And it can only be a matter of time before insurance companies begin to probe our genes to assess our risk.
We're not entirely sure that the consequences of this discovery will be all for the good. But we do know it's an amazing discovery to have made. So we are toasting Watson and Crick with a cocktail named for the secret of life, the DNA #1.
DNA #1
Glass: Martini
Garnish: Orange zest twist
Method: SHAKE all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass.
1½ shot Bombay Original London dry gin
¾ shot De Kuyper apricot brandy liqueur
1 shot Freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ shot Monin Pure Cane sugar syrup (65°brix, 2:1 sugar/water)
2 dash Orange bitters
Comment:
Slightly sharp and very fruity, but pleasantly so.
Origin:
Created by Emmanuel Audermatte at The Atlantic Bar and Grill, London, England, 1999.
...so today we are drinking a Swedish Ale Punch.
Today is Beer Day, if you are Icelandic, and it's certainly worth celebrating.
On 1 March 1989, Icelanders were finally allowed to drink beer, after almost 75 years of Prohibition, probably the longest-standing ban on alcoholic drinks outside the Muslim world.
Amazingly for anyone who has ever visited Reykjavik on a Saturday night, this tiny island nation voted for a ban on all alcoholic drinks way back in 1908, which took effect in 1915. After Spain refused to buy Icelandic fish unless Icelanders bought their wines, Prohibition was partially repealed in 1933 - but beer remained banned for more than 60 years after that.
We are huge fans of beer, but don't normally take it in our cocktails. Though we do make an exception for the Swedish Ale Punch, an extremely palatable libation based on ale and Swedish Punch. Cheers! Or, as Icelanders might say, Skál!
Swedish Ale Punch
Glass: Collins
Garnish: Grapefruit slice
Method: SHAKE first three ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass. TOP with beer.
2 shots Maker's Mark bourbon
1 shot Swedish Punch liqueur
1 shot Freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
Top up with British cask conditioned ale
Comment: The grapefruit hop notes in the beer are amplified by fresh grapefruit juice while the beers cereal notes are fortified with bourbon. Meanwhile Sweedish Punch both sweetens and works its magic.
Origin: Created in 2011 by Simon Difford at the Cabinet Room, London.
...so today we are drinking an Iced Sake Martini.
The fortieth edition of one of the world's hardest races, the Iditarod, begins today, with the finest mushers from Alaska and elsewhere facing temperatures as low, with windchill as low as -73°C, as they embark on a race of over 1,150 miles, armed only with huskies and a sled.
Amazingly, the record for covering this distance currently stands at less than nine days. Competitors are allowed to use as many as 16 dogs, of which at least six must cross the finish line with them, and all dogs are microchipped to prevent cheating.
The trail follows an old gold rush and mail route from the town of Seward to Nome, and the race began when the "iron dog", AKA the snowmobile, was beginning to make Alaskan huskies redundant. Today mushers from around the world come to compete over a route that's only passable during winter.
While we're partial to a bit of ice, we prefer it in our drinks to under our feet, so we are toasting the men and women of the Iditarod with an Iced Sake Martini, a subtly flavoured little number with - yes - icewine.
Iced Sake Martini
Glass: Martini
Garnish: Cucumber slices
Method: STIR all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.
2 shots Ketel One Vodka
2 shots Sake
¼ shot Icewine
Comment: The icewine adds interest and wonderfully honeyed notes to this Sake Martini.
Origin: Created in 2004 by Simon Difford.
...so today we are drinking a Ragtime.
The world's largest circulation news magazine, Time, turns 90 today, and, unlike competitor Newsweek, there are no plans to move it to an online-only version.
It was created in 1923, narrowly escaped being called Facts, and made its mark thanks to an innovative multimedia campaign that covered both radio and movie theatres and cutting edge topics such as: "Aeronautics: A Successful Helicopter" and "Aeronautics: A Dreadnaught".
Time continues to sell today because it covers world news in a light, accessible way. Its picks for Person of the Year (2012's choice? Barack Obama) and its Top 100 List of the most influential people in the world remain news events in their own right.
We like our news light when we like it at all, so we are wishing the good ship Timeand all who sail in her many happy returns, with a Ragtime, one of our favourite rye cocktails.
Ragtime
Glass: Coupette
Garnish: Orange zest twist
Method: Rinse mixing glass with absinthe (sazerac style). STIR rest of ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.
½ shot La Fée Parisienne (68%) absinthe
1½ shot Straight rye whiskey
1 shot Averna Amaro
1 shot Aperol
1 dash Peychaud's aromatic bitters
Comment: This bitter-sweet drink benefits from the strength of bonded rye whiskey and was originally made with Rittenhouse.
Origin: Adapted from a drink created in 2009 by Jeremy James Thompson at Raines Law Rooms, New York City, USA.
