Sundowners Podcast

So, here’s a question for you: why would a posh LA restaurant name a popular cocktail after a competitor? At some point in the mid-1930s, the Vendome Club did just that. The Vendome started serving a version of the whiskey sour named after one of its Hollywood neighbors: the Brown Derby restaurant. Their name for the drink—“Brown Derby”—replaced “De Rigueur” in cocktail manuals over time, and is the name we generally encounter today. Brown Derby Recipe: 1 1/2 OUNCES BOURBON 3/4 OUNCE GRAPEFRUIT JUICE 3/4 OUNCE HONEY SYRUP GARNISH: GRAPEFRUIT WHEEL Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a grapefruit peel. Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who are after that Old Hollywood glam1 Music: Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat Major, Op. 61 by Jonathan Biss

The rickey is a highball drink made from gin or bourbon, half of a lime squeezed and dropped in the glass, and carbonated water. Little or no sugar is added to the rickey. Originally created with bourbon in Washington, D.C. at Shoomaker’s bar by bartender George A. Williamson in the 1880s, supposedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey, it became a worldwide sensation when mixed with gin a decade later. Gin Ricky Recipe: 2 OUNCES GIN 1/2 – 3/4 OUNCE LIME JUICE SODA WATER TO TOP GARNISH: LIME WHEEL Add gin and lime juice to a Collins glass. Add ice and top with soda water. Garnish with a lime wheel. Leave us some feedback, and share with your racetrack friends! Music: Over There by Thomas A. Edison, Inc; The Great Gatsby, Waiting (Harbison) by MIT Symphony Orchestra

A Jack Rose is a cocktail containing applejack, grenadine, and lemon or lime juice, popular in the 1920s and 1930s. It notably appeared in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 classic, The Sun Also Rises, and was a favorite cocktail of American Author John Steinbeck. The drink was also associated with “Baldy Jack Rose,” a key player in the Rosenthal murder case 1912. Jack Rose Recipe: 1 1/2 OUNCES APPLEJACK BRANDY 3/4 OUNCE LIME OR LEMON JUICE 1/2 OUNCE GRENADINE GARNISH: LIME OR LEMON TWIST Add all of the ingredients to a shaker with ice, and shake until chilled. Fine-strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with a lime or lemon twist. Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who like Robitussin®, below! Music: NotDrunk-stem-Brass by The Joy Drops

While the exact origin of the Sidecar cocktail is unclear; it is widely accepted to have been invented around the end of World War I, but, could have come from either London, or Paris. Regardless of location, we choose to believe that it was named after a bum in a bar who was picked up by his badass mother, who drove a motorcycle and dumped her drunk son in her sidecar. Sidecar Recipe: 2 PARTS COGNAC (VS OR VSOP) 1 PART COINTREAU 1 PART LEMON JUICE GARNISH: ORANGE PEEL Coat the rim of a cocktail glass with sugar and set aside (Do this a few minutes ahead of time so the sugar can dry and adhere well to the glass). Add the remaining ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake, and strain into the prepared glass. Garnish with a piece of orange peel. Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who ride a motorcycle, below!

Hemingway Daiquiri Recipe: 2 OUNCES WHITE RUM (Hemingway’s favorite was Bacardi!) 1/2 OUNCE MARASCHINO LIQUEUR, PREFERABLY LUXARDO 3/4 OUNCE LIME JUICE 1/2 OUNCE GRAPEFRUIT JUICE GARNISH: LIME WHEEL Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain through a Hawthorne strainer from the shaker tin, and then through a julep strainer, into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel. Recipe by Megan Krigbaum, The Essential Cocktail Book Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. – Ernest Hemingway

This episode is brought to you by our Irish alter-egos, Clover McTavern and Stumpy McTurnips. We used this week’s podcast to explore the history of Ireland’s patron St. Patrick, and recover from our own St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, with a few sips of a drink called Pot Of Gold. There are a number of different drink recipes under the same name, but we went with an Irish spinoff of a champagne cocktail. Give it a try and let us know what you think! Pot Of Gold Recipe: Serves 2 2 TABLESPOON OF FRESH PEAR JUICE 2 TABLESPOON OF IRISH WHISKEY SPARKLING WINE OR CHAMPAGNE GARNISH: LEMON TWIST Mix the pear juice and the whiskey together in a liquid measuring cup or some other cup that has a spout, which will make it easier to pour. Divide the mixture equally between two Champagne flutes. Slowly top with bubbly, then garnish with a lemon twist. Recipe by Victoria McGinley, found on theglitterguide.com I drink to your health when I’m with you I drink to you health when I’m alone I drink to you health so often I’m starting to worry about my own

An Old Fashioned is the textbook description of a cocktail – a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar. And we love it! Tune in to learn more about the history of the Old Fashioned, which is essentially the history of cocktails all together! Old Fashioned Recipe: 1 TEASPOON OF GRANULATED SUGAR SPLASH OF WARM WATER 2-3 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS 2 OUNCES OF BOURBON OR RYE GARNISH: ORANGE PEEL Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who appreciate a good ol’ fashioned cocktail, below!

Unfortunately, we weren’t actually in Manhattan while we explored the Manhattan cocktail, but we were in the same room – maybe one of the last chances we’ll get for a while! As we discuss on this episode, the Manhattan is subject to considerable variation and innovation, and is often a way for the best bartenders to show off their creativity.  Traditional views insist that a Manhattan be made with American rye whiskey. However, more often than not, it is made with bourbon or Canadian whisky – we used bourbon in our drinks, along with dry vermouth and a cherry garnish, to create what is called a “half-dry Manhattan.” Listen to learn more! Classic Manhattan Recipe: 2 OUNCES WHISKEY 1 OUNCE SWEET VERMOUTH 2 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS GARNISH: BRANDIED CHERRIES Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who love whiskey in all forms, below.

Welcome to the Sundowners Podcast. We’re so excited to launch our very first episode, and to get us started, we tackle the classiest of all beverages: the Martini. Although the origin of the martini isn’t known for sure, there are a few speculations, which we cover after a brief introduction to the podcast. For those who don’t know, a “sundowner” is an African safari tradition, in the most romantic sense, in which, at sundown, a picnic blanket is laid, drinks are poured, and company is shared. As we prepare to send Hailey off to Africa, we decided to launch this podcast as a project to keep us connected while she’s overseas – and what better way than to share a happy hour drink over a video chat? We’d likely already be doing this anyway, so we’ve decided to hit record and see where this podcast takes us. Classic Martini Recipe: 2 OUNCES GIN 1 OUNCE DRY VERMOUTH 2 DASHES ORANGE BITTERS GARNISH: LEMON PEEL Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who love gin and vodka martinis, below.