Your favourite drink?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Interesting. I use the Dave Wondrich recipe that was posted here. There is mention of other spirits, including cognac. How about sharing your recipe? I might like to try that one.

I use the traditional 2oz of cognac, 1oz of lemon juice, 1tsp of fine sugar (my friend Keith uses 1tblsp of clear Karo syrup, instead) all dumped into a shaker full of ice. I then shake it until the entire shaker is not only frosty, but almost too cold to touch. (This makes enough for two decent cocktails.) I then pour it into a champagne flute and top it up with an extra brut champagne.

I have some small, 1930s cocktail glasses, about half the size of an ordinary martini glass. If I use these instead of flutes I can just squeeze four drinks out of the shaker, which is handy if I'm entertaining as it allows me to pour four drinks for the ladies and then make them slightly stronger for the men by adding an extra ounce of cognac to the mix. If I think of it beforehand I usually drop a cherry in the glass for the ladies, but never for the gentlemen. For the life of me I don't know why I do it that way, but I do.

Now the reason for using cognac instead of gin, I believe, is quite simple if you believe the story of the drink being invented during WWI by the American flying ace Raoul Lufbery (one of the heroes of the Escadrille Lafayette). First, cognac was more plentiful in France than was gin; second, and I believe this to be equally important, castor oil was used as a lubricant for the valve gear in WWI fighters. When flying, pilots were subjected to a very fine spray of castor oil, which led to a loose bowl. Since cognac and chocolate were consumed in large quantities by pilots to remedy the malady -- and washed down with copious amounts of champagne, it would seem reasonable to assume that mixing the cognac with champagne would be a logical progression. A bit of tinkering with sugar and lemon juice to improve the taste and... voila! The French 75.

[B R Gordon]

MoR, If you havn't already tried them, I would suggest a few local (North American) varieties of non-vintage sparkling wines:

By far my favorite sparkling wine is Schramberg from California. They make a Blanc de Noir and Blanc de Blanc that will compete with any.

[Tobus]

MoR, thanks! That was a fascinating tidbit of history that I hadn't heard before. It always makes cocktail recipes more interesting when they come with a good story like that.

[Paul]

I shouldn't have separated beer and ale... whisky is dominating!

[Rob Wright]

CHAMPAGNE

For those of you with little experience of this magical elixir, let me dispel a few myths:

1) For every day consumption your best values are those champagnes which are produced by the leading French companies in-- GASP! -- California. Generally they are available in -- GASP! again -- your local supermarket. Finally, the cost of these champagnes is -- yet another GASP! -- between $20 and $25 per bottle, depending on where you live.

2) Not all champagnes taste the same-- my personal favorite is the Roederer Hermitage (a California champagne), which I prefer to their (French) Crystal.

3) With a proper stopper an open bottle of champagne will retain its fizz for as long as a week, although I've never had an open bottle of champagne last longer than two or three days!

4) Traditionally champagne is poured into two types of glasses; flutes, which are tall and slender, and saucers, which are shallow and broad. Originally flutes were favored as champagne, at one time, contained a fair amount of sediment, which would settle to the bottom of the glass. After Madame Cliquot discovered a process that eliminated the sediment, the saucer became the instant favorite with champagne drinkers. Today the flute has all but supplanted the saucer as it takes up less room on a tray, or on the table if champagne is being served at dinner or luncheon (or breakfast).

MoR, my godmother and I always do a round of tasting when I go out and visit her in Napa. Some nice and refreshing tipples to be enjoyed.

Rob

[mull]

a nice pint of dry cider with 2/10 of blackcurrant cordial into the glass first,
"ye cannae beat a pint`a`purple cider "

This is first on my list to try this week end. I love cider but had never thought to "purple" it.
Joe