The Spirits #65: Bottoms Up!
~ Saucy! ~ The Subtle Pleasures of the Flip ~ Why Britain Is Drinking More Cocktails Than Ever ~ Russian Hip Hop ~
~ BOTTOMS UP! ~
40ml brandy
20ml orange liqueur
5-10ml grenadine
One egg yolk
Dash single cream
Shake everything up with plenty of ice and strain into a dainty glass. Grate nutmeg over the top, if you like, a garnish with a chocolate egg.
Some Bottoms Up! notes:
1) I actually used the pleasingly peppery French bitter orange apéritif Suze in place of basic orange liqueur here and was immensely pleased with the results. Suze isn’t that sweet… so I upped the grenadine a little bit for balance.
2) This is very much a nightcap, a dessert type of cocktail. Which didn’t stop it slipping down very nicely just now.
🖊️I am Richard Godwin.
🧋My instructions for sugar syrup, ice, grenadine etc are here.
🧑🏫 My 10 RULES FOR MAKING COCKTAILS are here.
⚗️ My bottle recommendations are here.
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BREF: the Bottoms Up! is the eponymous cocktail from the book Bottoms Up! (1951) by the American man-about-town Ted Saucier. Bottoms Up! (the book) is famous for two things. One, it’s the source of the Last Word cocktail - equal parts gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino and lime - a key recipe of the modern cocktail revival. And two, it contains pictures by “Twelve of America’s Most Distinguished Artists”, including the rather saucy little scribble by the commercial illustrator Al Dorne above. Indeed, the Bottoms Up! cocktail is actually credited to Dorne, so clearly the man had multiple talents.
It’s a good example of a FLIP, which is a cocktail containing egg yolk (and sometimes, the whole egg). And so I thought it would be a pleasant thing to offer unto you this Easter Time. Flips were once hugely popular as after-dinner drinks. And while the idea of drinking yolk might at first seem a little eggcentric (AHAHAHAHAH), well this one went down like naughty custard.
PLAYLIST
This is about as far from cocktail music as you can get, but I thought one or two readers might appreciate this little Russian hip hop playlist I put together while researching an article that you can read in tomorrow’s Sunday Times.
REMEMBER! All the past playlists are archived as one long list right HERE.
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING
I class up a joint, from 1978. (New York Times)
WHAT I’VE BEEN WRITING
Why Britain is hitting the cocktails (Guardian)
In praise of London’s filth (ES Magazine)
SHOPPING LIST
Bourbon (or ideally, rye), French vermouth, sugar syrup, pineapple juice.
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