It’s Marlon Brando’s Birthday! Celebrate With A “Godfather” Cocktail!

It’s Friday, April 3rd in the year of COVID-19 two-thousand-and-twenty and it also happens to be Marlon Brando’s birthday today.

I almost wrote “the actor Marlon Brando,” but, really, what other Marlon Brando is there in the history of the world!? And if you’re only nominally familiar with the man, it’s probably from his portrayal of Vito Corleone, the “Don” and paterfamilias of the Corleone family in the 1972 film and cultural milestone “The Godfather.”

Of course, by now, it’s probably evident by the headline, the fact that it’s Marlon Brando’s birthday and that lead-in about the Francis Ford Coppola flick that the point of this post is to write about The Godfather cocktail.

About This Drink

A simple, understated scotch cocktail that adds slight sweetness and almond flavor to your favorite scotch.

And to think, I’ve already been drinking scotch this week!

In terms of the scotch going into your Godfather cocktail, grab whatever your go to scotch is — or call in a curbside pickup for a nice workhorse scotch whisky like Monkey Shoulder.

Ingredients

Search Google for Godfather recipes and you’ll come up with everything from scotch-heavy recipes with just a drizzle of amaretto to overly sweet recipes calling for equal parts spirit and liqueur.

I like to split the difference with this drink, skewing closer to the 2:1 proportions of a drink like the Manhattan, but without the bitters — though the addition of bitters, like Fee Brothers old fashioned bitters, would suit this drink just fine for me.

So for my Godfather cocktail I’ll be sipping tonight:

• 2 oz scotch
• .75 oz amaretto
• Orange peel garnish

Preparation

• Add all the ingredients into a rocks glass with ice cubes. Stir and garnish with a swath of orange peel.

Further Drinking:

•The Spruce Eats calls for 1.5oz whisky to .5oz amaretto: Link

•Esquire calls for 2oz whisky to .5oz amaretto: Link

•Many sites source the drink as having appeared in the 70s and cite that there’s no confirmed origin or creator: Link

•The Godmother cocktail: Link

•The French Connection cocktail: Link

The Peach Tease

This cocktail doesn’t even need a name. It has its own playlist:

Prince. The Eels. The Presidents of the United States of America.

Peaches for you. Peaches for me.

And until now it’s only been available in my brain and at my kitchen table, but I’m nothing if not generous — so here’s the recipe.

The Peach Tease

As mentioned previously, Bag and String Wine Merchants gifted me a bottle of their new exclusive barrel release from Tommyrotter Distillery in Buffalo.

This is my first go at making a fun cocktail with it.

About This Drink

A perfect late summer sipper, as fresh peaches are still readily available and the depth and spice of the barrel aged gin hint at the approaching change of seasons.

It’s The Peach Tease (or Teasy P. if you’re hip and into the whole brevity thing).

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz B&S Tommyrotter Barrel-Aged
• .75 oz Peach Tea Simple Syrup
• .75 oz Contratto Apertif orange liqueur
• Peach garnish

Preparation

• Add all the ingredients except the garnish into a mixing glass and stir until well chilled and diluted (as the gin is 122 proof). Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a fresh slice of peach.

Champagne With Henry VIII

Henry VIII has his very own champagne cocktail named after him!

He ascended the throne of England on April 21, 1509.

The Henry VIII was created by a bartender named Henry Besant in 2004 in London, England.

About This Drink

The drink is a curio comprise of two different vodkas, sugar, citrus, absinthe & champagne.

Ingredients

• Citron Vodka
• Pepper Vodka
• Champagne
• Absinthe
• Orange garnish

Preparation

Build this drink in a chilled champagne flute.

Start with the absinthe-soaked sugar cube and pour in a 1/2 oz of each the two flavored vodkas — then top with champagne and garnish with the orange wedge or swath of peel.

Further Reading:

• Check out Difford’s Guide’s recipe here.
• TheDrinkShop also has a write-up.

Customer Appreciation Post — The Scarlet Witch

Another pic from New Year’s Day:

  
Pictured above is my Scarlet Witch cocktail.

This drink has been going over really well.

I’ve sold it to a few different people who were debating between wine or a Cosmo or Vodka/Cran.

It’s a nice little twist on those flavors — with Ramazzotti, Chambord & Cabernet lending extra dimensions to the taste:

  

The Scarlet Witch Cocktail

This is a follow-up to the photo I posted last Wednesday, which showed two drinks, a candle and a Scarlet Witch comic.

The next day I was inspired to create a Scarlet Witch cocktail, and this is what I came up with:

The Scarlet Witch Cocktail:  
The instructions for preparation are included below, copied from the post I made on my BarNotes page!  

  
Ramazzotti:  

Comics & Cocktails #5 • Dr. Strange Orders A Mai Tai

COMICS & COCKTAILS

It’s been a while since I’ve written a “Comics & Cocktails” post, but I was reading Marvel’s new Doctor Strange book the other night and came across this:

 

Don’t get between Stephen Strange and his drink!

In this first issue of Marvel’s new solo series, Dr. Strange meets a group of fellow Mystics at a secret New York bar for magicians.

In the panel preceding this one, Strange gets hassled about his bill, but not the “bill” as in his bar tab. He gets hassled about the bill due for all the magic he uses — or, put another way, the cost of his sorcery and what it means to the world.

But Strange is all like: “Chill, dude… My drink ain’t even ready yet.”

I’d have to go back and re-read the issue, but I thought Chondu was at the table with Strange — but maybe he’s the bartender? Either way, Strange just wants his Mai Tai.

THE MAI TAI
The Mai Tai is one of those drinks that people know about, but don’t really know what’s in it. 

People know it’s name and order it because they’ve heard it said in movies and on television. Nothing’s wrong with any of this, of course, I just usually feel bad when someone orders the drink at the bar where I work — because it’s not a drink we offer (or even have the ingredients to make). And thankfully, everyone who has ever tried ordering the drink from me has never seemed to mind the fact that I couldn’t make it for them… Because they didn’t know what was in it themselves and only wanted to order if because the name stuck with them.

All that said, if you see a Mai Tai on a cocktail list somewhere — give it a shot!

ABOUT THIS DRINK
The Mai Tai was created by either Trader Vic or Don the Beachcomber, and the recipe from each of those tiki heavyweights differs slightly.

The following recipe comes from Imbibe Magazine:

• 1 oz. amber Martinique rum
• 1 oz. aged Jamaican rum
• 1 oz. fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz. orange curaçao
• 1/4 oz. orgeat
• 1/4 oz. simple syrup (1:1)
• Garnish: mint sprig

PREPARATION
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add crushed ice. Shake for 10 seconds and pour, unstrained into a glass. Garnish.

Adapted from Jeff Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log, 1998

•PAST COMIC BOOK POSTS•
•#1 — Darkseid Drinking Brandy (Link)
•#2 — Constantine Chugging From The Bottle (Link)
#3 — Iron Man Shares A Drink (Link)
#4 — Hellboy Beer (Link)

A Tribute To Maureen O’Hara

STARS AND SPIRITS

Cocktail: The Maureen O’Hara
Inspiration: Actress Maureen O’Hara
Base Ingredient: Irish Whiskey
Why today? O’Hara died yesterday, Oct. 24, 2015.
Origin: March 2013, from the blog The Straight Up
Cocktail Groupings: Old Hollywood, Actresses & Calendar Cocktails

Actress Maureen O’Hara died yesterday, Oct. 24, 2015.

You can read her obituary in The New York Times here, and The Guardian here.

Despite being known as the “Queen of Technicolor,” I grabbed a black-and-white photo from Google images because I liked the contrast and general look of O’hara in this photo.

In March of 2013, the blog The Straight Up posted the following original cocktail and named it the Maureen O’Hara:

INGREDIENTS 

• 1.5 Irish Whiskey
• .75 Dry Vermouth
• .75 Domaine de Canton
• 12 Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub
• 8 Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit Bitters
• Lemon Twist

PREPARATION

Add the Irish whiskey, dry vermouth, Domaine de Canton and habanero shrub and hopped grapefruit bitters to a chilled mixing glass. Add ice and stir until well chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

All The Stars & Spirits:
There are dozens of cocktails named after actors and actresses, and I’ve written about a few of them here:
•Charlie Chaplain — (Link)
•Clara Bow — Link)
•Fay Wray — (Link)
•Ginger Rogers — (Link)
•Lauren Bacall — (Link)
•Lillian Gish — (Link)
•Mary Astor — (Link)
•Mary Lee — (Link)
•Mary Pickford — (Link)

Mary Lee And The Nancy Drew

STARS AND SPIRITS

Cocktail: The Nancy Drew
Inspiration: Actress Mary Lee Wooters
Base Ingredients: Rum
Why today? Mary Lee was born Oct. 24, 1924.
Origin: Did this drink exist before the 30 Rock episode?
Cocktail Groupings: Old Hollywood, Actresses & Stars And Spirits

Actress Mary Lee Wooters was born Oct. 24, 1924.

She was a big band singer and B movie actress from the late 1930s into the 1940s, starring mostly in Westerns.

I usually know something about the actresses I post about here, but I had to do a little reading about Mary Lee — and also about the Nancy Drew cocktail.

Mary Lee’s first screen appearance was in the Warner Brothers Nancy Drew… Reporter (released Feb. 18, 1939). In the film she played the character Mary Nickerson, the younger sister of Nancy Drew’s boyfriend, Ted Nickerson.

About This Drink:

The Nancy Drew is a simple drink, just rum and ginger ale with lime juice — which makes it a sort of buck/mule.

Ingredients:

• 1 part white rum
• 2 parts ginger ale
• Splash lime juice

Preparation:

Build in a rocks glass filled with ice, and garnish with a lime wedge.

A VARIATION:

The blog A Crimson Kiss gives a recipe for a slightly more “craft” version of this drink:

• 2 oz aged rum
• 1 oz ginger syrup
• 3/4 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 oz coconut cream
• Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice; shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with a few dashes of Angostura bitters.

Thirsty For More!? Click These Links:
—Nancy Drew and “The Hardy Boy”
—Another post about 30 Rock

All The Stars & Spirits:
There are dozens of cocktails named after actors and actresses, and I’ve written about a few of them here:
•Charlie Chaplain — (Link)
•Clara Bow — Link)
•Fay Wray — (Link)
•Ginger Rogers — (Link)
•Lauren Bacall — (Link)
•Lillian Gish — (Link)
•Mary Astor — (Link)
•Mary Pickford — (Link)

Happy Birthday, Lauren Bacall

Today is Lauren Bacall’s birthday and I wasn’t expecting to find a cocktail named after the actress, but then I stumbled across this gem posted by a WordPress site called Wine Cocktails.

  
We’ve got a nice rose at the bar where I work, so I’ll definitely be trying this out later tonight.

Maybe if I get time I’ll search online later to see if there’s a Dark Passage cocktail. 

  
From what I can tell from Wine Mixology’s post, this cocktail is an original drink that two of their contributors came up with earlier this year — and I hope they don’t mind if I re-post their recipe. But for anyone reading here On this blog bout this drink for the first time, please click over and check out the original post!

From Wine Mixology:

This cocktail is a play on three classics with its own distinctive twist. One classic is obviously Lauren Bacall herself – the sultry actress of the Golden Ages of motion pictures. This cocktail also puts a twist on the classical gin and tonic as well as the “Greyhound” with its splash of grapefruit. It is very refreshing without being too heavy in body. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 oz Pol Clement Rose Sec (French Sparkling Rose Wine)
• ½ oz Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin
• ½ oz Triple Sec
• 2 oz Organic Pink Grapefruit juice
• ½ oz Honey Syrup (1/2cup honey; ½ cup boiling water, stir)
• Top glass off with Tonic
• Grapefruit and basil for garnish

PREPARATION

Fill a Collins glass with ice and add in the rose, gin, triple sec, grapefruit juice and honey syrup, and then top the remaining room left in the glass with tonic water. Garnish with grapefruit and basil.

Still Thirsty For More?

—Got a minute-and-a-half!? Here’s a cute, quick video on how to make the Lauren Bacall.

Update:

I’ll be updating this post later tonight after I take a picture of my Lauren Bacal drink I’ll be making.

Happy Birthday, Fay Wray!

Fay Wray was one of cinema’s first “Scream Queens” and today is her birthday.

She was born Vina Fay Wray on Sept. 15 in 1907.

Not familiar with the actress? Well, read on… Because she’s got more than 100 acting credits to her name — including one gargantuan role for which she’ll always be known.

Fay Wray was born in Alberta Canada and in her life she amassed upward of 100 acting credits to her name.

She acted through 1980, and in the 50s she appeared on television shows such as Perry Mason and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but she’ll forever be know for a role she played in 1933 — as the female lead in King Kong:

  
Google search the name “Fay Wray and add the word “cocktail” and the first hit you’ll find will be this article on the website Punch.

It only makes sense that someone would have given this Old Hollywood actress her own cocktail, and that it would be related to her role in King Kong — or at least, I assume that’s why this drink has a banana flavor component.

The following recipe was created by Brooklyn-based bartender Matthew Bellanger.

About This Cocktail

The Fay Wray is a banana-flavored tiki drink made with rum and cognac.

Ingredients

• 3/4 ounce gold rum (preferably Barbancourt 4 Star Rum)
• 3/4 ounce cognac (preferably Dudugnon)
• 3/4 ounce banana liqueur, Giffard Banane du Bresil
• 3/4 ounce lime juice
• 1/4 ounce rhum agricole, Rhum Clément
• 1/4 ounce demerara syrup (2:1, sugar:water)
• 1 small lime wedge

Preparation
Shake all ingredients over a small amount of crushed ice — including a lime wedge. Squeeze the lime wedge in with the other ingredients and drop it in the shaker. Pour all the ingredients, without straining, into a rocks glass and add more crushed ice. Garnish with a dried banana slice and a mint bouquet.

Further Reading:

— Do bananas belong in cocktails? The Savory wrote this article about that question.