With the exception of the thirteen years of Prohibition, New York arguably can lay claim to the center of the cocktail universe since cocktails became cocktails. And even during those ‘dry’ years, it wasn’t missing too much of a beat. London has a serious claim and helped usher cocktails back from the brink of extinction in the 1990, and many other cities have their drinks or eras (Paris was likely the center of innovation during Prohibition), but for my money no other single city has produced, consistently, some of the best bars, the best bartenders, and of course – cocktails in the last 200 years.
The Rainbow Room, Milk & Honey, Pegu Club, Angel’s Share, PDT, Death & Co. The list of influential modern cocktail bars is loaded with NYC bars. Talent attracts talent, and long before Harry Craddock left England to come to America to learn the craft of mixing cocktails (and leaving the US at the beginning of Prohibition where he joined the talented staff at the American Bar in the Savoy Hotel in London. He later become manager of the bar and wrote the iconic Savoy Cocktail Books), men and women, even freed slaves, headed to New York to learn their craft and make a name for themselves. The most famous bartender/mixologist of all time, ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas, came back to New York after spending time in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, first as a (failed) miner and later as a (successful) bartender. He went on to become mixology’s first international superstar in the 1860s.
But the drinks are what put the city at the center. Many of the classics, like the martini, originated in New York, as well as the ‘boroughs’ series one that began over a hundred years ago with the Manhattan, and then went on to include the Brooklyn, the Bronx, the Queens, and the Statin Island Ferry (OK – so this last one is a stretch). The Manhattan is thought to have been created at (and named for) the Manhattan Club sometime around 1880 – not in response to the borough – but the Bronx and Brooklyn were envious enough that these cocktails were created in response to the success of the Manhattan after the turn of the century.
Then in the first two decades of the 2000’s, variations of the Brooklyn began sprouting up all over the borough, and were named for the specific neighborhoods that the bars were in. It started innocently enough when the new and hot bartenders in the area began looking to recreate classic cocktails. To be accurate, the Brooklyn should be made with Amer Picon, a bittersweet French Aperitif. It was widely available before Prohibition, but is nearly impossible to obtain today. What began as an effort to find an acceptable substitute, evolved into a bit of a game with the playful bartenders creating secret drinks (at first) celebrating the different neighborhoods where the bartenders worked.
The Red Hook, created by Vincenzo Errico at the famed Milk & Honey bar in 2003, swapped out the Amer Picon for the Italian vermouth Punt e Mis (literally ‘point and a half’ – one point sweet, half point bitter). It became wildly successful in cocktail circles and was followed by the Carroll Gardens by Joaquín Simó at Death & Co., Little Italy by Audrey Saunders at the Pegu Club, Greenpoint by Michael McIlroy, at Milk & Honey, Cobble Hill by Sam Ross at Milk & Honey, Bushwich by Phil Ward at Death & Co., and the Bay Bridge, by Tom Macy at the Clover Club. But many of these are not simply variations on the Brooklyn – they are riffs on the riffs. In this vein we can’t forget the Perfect BQE by Ivy Mix at the Clover Club. She calls the drink “the marriage of the Red Hook and the Greenpoint”.
The Brooklyn Cocktail
1-1/2oz rye
1-1/2oz sweet vermouth
1/4oz Ramazzotti Amaro (Amer Picon substitute)
1/4oz Maraschino liqueur
1 dash orange bitters
Luxardo cherry garnish
Place a coupe or Nick and Nora glass in the freezer. Add everything to a mixing glass and add ice. The Brooklyn should be served very cold, so stir for 45 to 60 seconds. Remove the glass from the freezer and strain the contents into it. Add the garnish and serve.
The Bronx Cocktail
2oz gin
1/4oz dry vermouth
1/4oz sweet vermouth
1oz orange juice (to taste)
1 dash orange bitters (optional)
Orange peel garnish
Add everything to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and add garnish. Serve.
The Red Hook
2oz rye
1-1/2oz sweet vermouth
1/2oz Punt e Mes
1/2oz Maraschino liqueur
Luxardo cherry garnish
Add everything to a mixing glass with ice and stir for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and add the cherry garnish. Serve.
The Greenpoint Cocktail
2oz rye
1/2oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/2oz sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 (or 2) dash orange bitters
Lemon twist garnish.
Add everything to a mixing glass with ice and stir for 30 seconds and strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Express the lemon over the surface, wipe the rim and add to the drink. Serve.
Grab a mixing glass, a spoon, and some spirits, and whip up one of these cocktails – and dream of travel to New York City once again.
Cheers!
Bill
AotCB-040
Instagram@architecture_of_the_cocktail
Previously in Architecture of the Cocktail:
Architecture of the Cocktail: Ten Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Bourbon, by Bill Stott
Architecture of the Cocktail: The True Story of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, by Bill Stott
Architecture of the Cocktail: World Whisky Day. A Brief History of Whisk(e)y?, by Bill Stott
Architecture of the Cocktail: The Japanese Whisky and the Highball, by Bill Stott
Architecture of the Cocktail: The Delicious Dozen, by Bill Stott
Architecture of the Cocktail: What makes a cocktail, a cocktail? by Bill Stott
