bringing drinks to life

Our very modern bar scene in 2009 seems to be spending a lot of time looking back. The classics are well and truly in fashion and there is a real movement towards reviving long lost ingredients, methods, recipes and styles. Well that suits me just fine as there are few things in this world that I like more than a well made Manhattan, Bronx, Ward 8 or Pegu Club. I say long let this trend continue... but let me just caveat that by saying let's not get stuck in the past.

The very best bartenders I know are all pretty well versed in classic cocktails; they have read Thomas, Craddock, Johnson and Duffy from cover to cover and can recite facts so obscure I wonder if they are made up half the time! But let's face it anyone can pick up a copy of an old cocktail book and with a bit of effort reproduce some damn fine drinks. One of the things that makes a good bartender great is their ability to draw inspiration from the past but to give drinks a distinctly modern twist.

Over the weekend I was flicking through Ted Haigh's excellent book 'Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails' and drooling over some drinks that I feel certain will become new favourites of mine. If you haven't done so yet, then I suggest that you go out and grab a copy as soon as you can, if ever there was a more timely release of a book to reflect a trend in the drinks industry I can't remember it! Mr Haigh has assembled a list of drinks that should never have fallen out of fashion and along with a lot of valuable info about their origins and some of the more obscure ingredients has bundled them into a neat package that is a real pleasure to peruse.

But as I looked through Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, something occurred to me that I had never really thought of before. Obviously Whiskey of various origins is well represented in the classics, Gin has more than its share of drinks assigned, vodka and Tequila even sneak in on the scene and naturally Rum is well covered too... but not Cachaca. Now in the era when these classics were being born Cachaca was all but unheard of outside of Brasil and even if a bottle had made its way into the hands of a bartender it would more than likely have been a bottle of cheap rot-gut that would not have impressed; today however we have a handful of premium Cachacas that are well made and are crying out to be treated with a more sophisticated touch than simply being thrown together with some citrus and sugar.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the Caipirinha and can see how Cachaca lends itself to citrus and tropical fruits, but with brands like Sagatiba, Cabana and Leblon making well crafted Cachacas surely there is more that can be done with Cachaca than simple tropical summertime drinks? While we were in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail earlier in the year, we attended the USBG Caipirinha comp that was being sponsored by Leblon and saw some of the innovative drinks that were on offer there; so with that thought in mind I grabbed a bottle of Leblon from the drinks cabinet, roped in a couple of willing assistants and opened up my copy of Ted's book and set about taking perfectly good classic cocktails but changing their base spirit to Cachaca. I thought it might be a good idea to taste it straight first as it has been a while since I did a Cachaca tasting so we cracked the bottle and got busy.

After a quick tasting we all agreed that Leblon http://www.lebloncachaca.com/ would be an interesting substitute for Gin as it shares some of the same sweet, floral, citrus and creamy characters as Gin but with that unique vegital quality that Cachaca and Rhum Agricole share. So that narrowed down the choice of classics to draw from and with a desire to try a couple of drinks that seemed an obvious fit and a couple that were a little more 'out there' we narrowed the list down to four; the Hanky Panky, Palm Beach Special, Park Avenue Cocktail and Seventh Heaven. To see the original recipes we suggest you go out and buy Ted's book, but below are our Cachaca based takes on those old forgotten classics.

HONEY GLOW - based on the Hanky Panky

We started with this one because it sounded the least likely to work! The Hanky Panky was created in the Savoy probably in the 1920's by Ava Coleman and was a simple combination of Gin, sweet Vermouth and Fernet Branca... doesn't sound too great, well trust us on this the cocktail is greater than the sum of its parts. This cocktail got its name because the person it was created for exclaimed 'wow, that's the real hanky panky' when they tasted it. In honour of that we followed the same method as the first words uttered where 'that cocktail gives you a real honey glow'... thank god they didn't say that cocktail tastes like sh... you get the idea!

Pour 45 ml of Leblon and 45 ml of sweet Vermouth (we suggest a nice soft one like Martini Rosato) and a couple of dashes of Fernet Branca into a mixing glass with plenty of cracked or cubed ice and stir until well chilled and dilluted. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and with an orange twist. Prepare to be amazed at how the cocktail lives up to its name as it tastes like honey and gives you a nice warm glow.

ELECTRIC AVENUE - based on the Park Avenue Cocktail

We liked the idea of pairing up fresh pineapple juice with Leblon as this is definitely one of the main fruity flavours that came across when we tasted it neat. The original drink called for orange Curacao but for a bit of fun and with a nod to Gregor we reached for the Blue Curacao instead. The name seemed obvious as we were holding a bottle of electric blue liquid in our hands! Unlike the original drink we prefer it on the rocks to straight up and since it is blue it should be garnished with pineapple leaves, cherries if you have them and an orange twist in true 80's retro style.

50 ml Leblon Cachaca

25 ml pineapple juice

15 ml Sweet Vermouth

10 ml Blue Curacao

Shake with plenty of ice and strain into a rocks glass with cubed or cracked ice. Have fun with the garnish!

BOA VISTA - based on the Palm Beach Special

This little gem needed some tweaking to accommodate the Cachaca base but with a little playing around we ended up with a really refreshing elegant cocktail in a truly classic style that bridges the gap between tropical drinks and the classics. We thought we had better name it after a beach in Brazil rather than one in Florida. The original Palm Beach was quite happy ungarnished but we found a small twist of grapefruit finished our version of nicely.

50 ml Leblon Cachaca

32 ml pink grapefruit juice

15 ml sweet Vernmouth

1 dash Angostura Orange bitters

Shake hard with plenty of ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Finish it all off with a twist of grapefruit peel and imagine you are on a white sand beach!

CLOUD NINE - based on the Seventh Heaven

This was another that we were unsure of, but since the combination of grapefruit and Maraschino works so well with rum in a Hemingway we figured it was work a try. We weren't even slightly disappointed. If you prefer your drinks sharp and dry then go for a white grapefruit, if you prefer it a touch sweeter then go for pink, either way works just fine! Don't be tempted to miss out the mint garnish, the aroma sets your taste buds up perfectly for this refreshing summertime classic.

50 ml Leblon Cachaca

20 ml Maraschino liqueur

75 ml grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed only!)

Shake hard and strain into a chilled cocktail glass or a Champagne saucer. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Having played with Leblon and some classic recipes we definitely feel that those talented bartenders of old could have had a blast if they had access to the range of ingredients we have today, but since they aren't here to do then we suggest you have a go yourself!

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten cocktails is available through amazon but make sure you get the new revised version! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vintage-Spirits-Forgotten-Cocktails-Revised/dp/1592535615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251815539&sr=8-1