Rule 37. Try one new drink each week.
The Rule 37 series of posts chronicle my attempts to accomplish this feat every week.
For the recipes of R37s past, click the Htf do I make these drinks? tab.
Whoa. That seems kind of racist. But it’s totally the name of the drink.
Plus, you totally have to say it like this.
It’s actually the first recipe in the book Classic Cocktails from Around the World, which was given to me this past Xmas by Aunt Linda of the Lady Friend clan. Pretty sweet book, but with a lot of vodka recipes. It chronicles a variety of drinks from specific bars around the world, though the Boston offering, a bar called Tonic, is closed. The book dates from 2004, so I have to wonder how many of these bars are now defunct. In any case, the recipes are still in the book.
White Lady
From The American Bar at the Savoy London. This one was invented by the legend himself, Harry Craddock, author of the famed Savoy Cocktail Book, which is pretty much the Bible of cocktails.
– 1.5 oz gin (GLD Rehorst)
– 1.5 oz triple sec
– 1.5 oz lemon juice
Shake/ strain/ serve. Cocktail glass. Add a lemon twist. It doesn’t have to be as big as mine, though you wish you could be this cool. Or just have enough patience to peel an entire lemon.
Ok. In all fairness, this is basically a Sidecar, with gin instead of brandy. I’m totally French School on this one, with equal parts of each ingredient. English School goes anywhere from 2:1:1 up to a whopping 8 parts spirit. An alternative name for the White Lady is the Chelsea Sidecar. Knowledge!
Nose: Well, it’s certainly lemony. I’m getting a bit of a sour smell in there, though I suspect that’s the gin making strange stink babies with the fragrant lemon peel that’s in there. Certainly a hint of orange as well. The taste is actually QUITE nice. My first impression is of lemonade… very lemony but with a sweetness from the triple sec. The gin is in there too, like an ADULT lemonade. I don’t get that triple sec dryness, as I generally do with triple sec-heavy drinks, but there’s a distinct orange essence in there.
The Lady Friend had a taste and tossed in her two cents: “I can taste the gin, but it’s reasonably balanced. I think having that particular gin (Great Lakes Distillery’s Rehorst Gin) helps it out.”
I agree. The Rehorst is particularly tasty, and since I’m not a big fan of STRONG gins, this one mixes very well. For a juniper fan, you could certainly use something beefier, like a Beefeater (see what I did there?) but for me this was excellent. Very simple, very tasty. Might have benefited from a dash of orange bitters, but that’s about all. Tasty and fun. Have one.