Tasting Cocktail History with Dave Wondrich
Cocktail wizard Dave Wondrich used a Boston shaker as a time machine when he taught a room full of people how to make old-school drinks. Real old school--some of the libations that the author of Imbibe whipped up haven’t been made for more than 100 years.
The occasion was yesterday's “Resurrecting Historic Cocktails,” an afternoon workshop at the Astor Center. Wondrich chose “four odd, eccentric recipes.” Odd is an understatement. Take the Blind Tom, a hot whiskey punch that calls for grated chocolate and “sour beer.”
Wondrich selected one of the sourest beers known to man, Belgian Gueuze lambic, to use in his version of this drink originating in Colorado in the early 1870s. Why sour beer? Simple: Back then lemons were almost impossible to get in Colorado. Upon tasting the finished product, Wondrich immediately apologized, “I can see why people wouldn’t like this.”
The drink pictured here, the West India Twilight, dates to 1867, and was the oldest of the lot. It's two ounces of sherry, an egg and a tablespoon of raspberry syrup, shaken with ice and then poured into a highball glass. Cocktail guru Gary Regan aptly pointed out the best way to get the egg to froth up was to dry shake (shake the ingredients once without ice and then once with). Garnished with grated nutmeg, the end result was quite refreshing.
Comments
Leave a Reply