Invented by Harry Craddock on February 29, 1928, the Leap Year Cocktail is a drink said “to have been responsible for more proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been mixed.”
Tag: Classic Cocktail
This treat is Cocktail 172 in Jerry Thomas’ The Bartender’s Guide etc. But, if you read the fine print, you’ll notice it’s attributed to Alexis Soyer – a 19th century French gastronomic and celebrity chef…
Before you get too excited about the racy name, keep in mind that in Edwardian England the term ‘hanky panky’ didn’t have the same libidinous connotations as it has today, but was rather used to describe black magic or an evil trick. The term comes from the Romani (Gypsy) term ‘hakk’ni panki’ meaning “the great trick” and is similarly linked to another familiar term ‘hocus pocus’.
Of all cocktails, none has been assaulted quite like the Margarita. At some bars it’s now like a Slurpee from 7/11; a frozen concoction swirling around in a myriad of colours and flavours. But it wasn’t always so tacky. The world’s most popular cocktail is a sublime drink when made properly.
Designed as a ‘pick me up’ or hangover cure as, as the name suggests, the Corpse Reviver No. 2 is a once forgotten ‘classic’ that has returned from the land of the long dead cocktail with a vengeance. This well balanced beverage has a delicate harmony of flavours that is proving to be popular once again amongst the cocktailian set.
According to the most popular origin tale, the Negroni wasn’t invented until around the 1920s. But there would be no Negroni without the invention of its key ingredient Campari and the subsequent Americano cocktail which all happened way back in the 1860s.
The Knickerbocker’s life starts in Boston appearing in drinks lists and newspapers around the 1850s. During the 1850s and 60s the Knickerbocker was quite the popular summer drink and this little beauty was included in several drinks manuals of note including Jerry Thomas’s How to Mix Drinks in 1862…
Photography: Rob Palmer “When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in…