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For ➊ drinkRead more Bob Dylan suggestions: Bob Dylan's perfect meatballs.
For ➊ drinkMint juleps were developed in the 18th century in the Eastern American states like Virginia, but have now become a traditional Southern drink, due to the bourbon or sour mash used to make it. Mint juleps show up in popular culture, with several songs about it, including the great One Mint Julep by the Clovers, also a big hit for Ray Charles about the disastrous combination of just 1 mint julep & just 1 bad woman.
The julep uses a similar mixing method as the mojito. The word 'julep' is derived from Arabic 'julab' and Persian 'gulab', meaning 'rosewater'.
Read more on mint drinks: quick mint cider.
For ➊When Austria reigned the North of Italy, they developed a habit of diluting the wine with water, called 'Spritzer'. Italians rethought the formula by adding a bitter aperitivo to (sparkling) white wine, and tipping it with a splash of sparkling water, hence the Austrian name 'Spritz' or 'injection'. The typical Venetian spritz has 3 equal parts of each ingredient, other recipes tend to use 40% of wine, and 30% each of water and aperitivo. When using a sparkling wine and a low alcoholic aperitivo like Aperol, you can omit the sparkling water or limit it to a splash, 6 cl wine, 4 cl Aperol, splash of soda, the classic recipe of Aperol since 1950.
Normally, a red/orange aperitivo is used, but it can be replaced by others, like Cynar, or even the orange-based curaçao blue (resulting in a blue cocktail).
For ➋*A sophisticated 21st century twist on the popular 70's mix Campari orange mix. The herbal bitterness of the Campari, the tart sweet sourness of the blood orange and the sparkling bitter of the brut mix together well. Campari orange was mainly an American invention, quickly followed by Western European countries. In Italy, it is still drunk as an aperitivo, with soda water to release the bitter fragrances of quinine, rhubarb, ginseng, orange peels and aromatic herbs. The aperitivo was launched in the 1840's, to counter the bitter sweet cordials from Holland, spreading over Europe. It was mainly drunk as an opener, 'apertitiuvum' in Latin, to speed up the appetite for the coming dinner. Bitters have long been considered to stimulate digesting.
Campari is also used as a main ingredient for the Negroni (equal parts gin, white vermouth, Campari on ice) and James Bond favourite Americano (white vermouth, Campari and a splash of soda on ice) cocktails. It has become fashionable again, due to extensive marketing, including lush limited edition calendars.
Read more on twisted cocktails: fino martini, quick mint cider.
For ➊The famous Amer Picon cordial, (bitter Picon) was invented by Gaetan Picon in 1837 in French colony Algeria. He set up a proper Picon-factory in Marseille in 1872. Picon was born in Genua (annexed by France at the time) and knew Italian ameros, the bitter herbal liquors to get through winters. The original formula was close to these traditional Italian bitters with a mix of bitter orange extracts, quinine bark, gentian root and distilled alcohol.
Picon became especially popular in the North and East of France, the poorer areas of the Republic, as a cheap way to heighten the alcohol volume when a a generous shot was added to the beer.
For some unexplained reasons, the habit crossed the border to Belgium, where in the 1920's & '30's the shot was added to white wine, normally dry but it could be sweet as well.
For that reason, what is called Picon Bière in France is sold in Belgium (and the rest of the world) as Amer Picon. The so-called Picon Club became a hit, and Picon launched it's own 'Picon Club' variety to be added to white wine. Meanwhile, the alcohol volume was reduced to 21° (for the Amer) and 18° (for the Orange version). In the USA, where the original was popular in the 20's and '30's, some manufacturers have tried to re-establish the original formula with the classic strength.
As for the cocktail, some have come up with some sweetener like Cointreau, adding some lemon juice to adjust the citrus and lower the sweetness, some adding cognac to heighten the alcohol volume.
Picon can also be drunk on the rocks.
For ➊ drinkThe whiskey sour had its (revival) high day in the early and mid 60's. It belongs to one of the old families of original American cocktails, appearing in Jerry Thomas’ 1862 drinks book alongside other cocktail ancestors, the juleps, slings, sangarees, cobblers and smashes. The whiskey sour has survived the ages, due to its simple nature in making, not to mention its humble ingredients, and great effect in drinking.
It's part of the great international conspiracy of sour cocktails, spreading from whiskey (or Bourbon) sour to the daiquiri, the pisco sour, the margarita, the sidecar, the aviation, the amaretto sour and the cosmo, all based on the simple formula: two parts spirits, juice of half a lemon, and just enough sugar, or a sweet liquor to drink it smoothly.
A notable variant is the Ward 8, which often is based either on Bourbon or rye whiskey, with both lemon and orange juices, and grenadine syrup as the sweetener. The egg white sometimes employed in other whiskey sours is generally not included in this variation.
While it can be made with all good American rye whiskeys, or even European whiskies, it works smoothly with Bourbon. The name derives from Bourbon County, a frontier district at the Virginia/Kentucky border, where distilleries were established in the late 19th century.
The picture shows über virile Western movies' actor Hugh O'Brian in a 1964 ad for Heublein Whiskey Sour. Minus the lemon...
For ➍This classic Brazil summer breeze drink was invented in colonial Punjab in the 19th century. Let's call it Indian and English as well.
For a stronger version, see another clericot.