Friday Happy Hour: Happy Birthday to You!

Do you have a regular drink that you order? If not, or if you're open to suggestion or looking for a change, here's a suggestion from a 1953 DuBouchett recipe booklet for your birthday drink. Is this really what they were drinking in 1953? What a shame, too, that we didn't post this in time to promote February's "Skyride Fizz" -- sounds exhilarating! Unfortunately, and ironically, the recipe isn't even in the booklet.

Cheers -- and happy birthday, all year long!

Friday Happy Hour: The Bronx

Each of the five boroughs of New York City has a cocktail named after it, except for Staten Island. Poor Staten Island. Of course, the most celebrated cocktail named for a borough of New York is the Manhattan. A close second, however, is the Bronx. Even though everyone has heard of a Manhattan, you'd be excused if you haven't heard of a Bronx. It has fallen out of fashion, but it is a truly vintage cocktail with a genuine pedigree.

In an old recipe booklet from the Mohawk Liquor Company, circa 1930s, their receipe goes like this:


















Of course, it's nice that they offer a 'dry' version, as well. We should add that so-called "French" vermouth is what we call dry vermouth now, and "Italian" vermouth is sweet vermouth. Also, we should add that this booklet specifies that a jigger is 1 ounce. So, yes, with this recipe you end up with a 1 ounce drink. Hope you're not thirsty. Or, just order a triple. I guess people back then didn't have the iron constitutions we have now.

Here's a recipe from a Fleischmann's Liquor booklet from 1947:














This recipe is interesting because it calls for muddling the orange. The ingredient of the orange brings up a topic that often vexes us: recipies that call for "juice of half a lemon" or "juice of one lime" or, as we saw in the Mohawk recipe above, "1 piece orange." This recipe calls for "several small pieces of sliced orange." I guess this is supposed to test the savvy of the bartender to figure out how much of the ingredient to add. Odd, since the measurements of the spirits are precise. Just sayin'.

Anyway, here is a recipe with some of its own comentary, from a book called "Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix 'em" in its 1964 printing:











Some interesting local color thrown in there .... but, note that they, too, call for measurements adding up to 1 ounce (minus whatever orange juice "1 thick slice" adds).


Here's a recipe from a 1957 edition of Mr. Boston's ("Old Mr. Boston's DeLuxe Official Bartender's Guide"):



















They also throw in some interesting variations:


























Egg yolk ... yum!

Friday Happy Hour: tips for the aspiring home bartender!

Today in Rogers Park History for February 15

The original township for Rogers Park, "Ridgeville", is split into two townships, "Evanston" and "Lake View" in 1857

Circus World, A Wisconsin Historic Site

We're in the Wisconsin Dells for our 11th anniversary! Today's highlight, and something you should know about, is Circus World (a registered Wisconsin Historic Site).

The Wisconsin Dells bills itself as the water park capital of the world. Basically, a family destination. Families have kids. Kids like the circus. So, Circus World is a good place for kids, right? Maybe -- you be the judge:


Are you ready to enter? It's okay to say no -- we can meet you back at the gift shop . . .


What we know now as Circus World has its origins as the wintering grounds of the legendary Ringling Brothers circus. As this poster illustrates, there were 5 brothers, and they started with little, and wound up creating the greatest show on earth! Here's some of their story:



We learn that it might have been the "Rungeling Brothers" -- with an umlaut. Doesn't say "three ring circus" does it?

Although the Ringling Brothers circus is Baraboo's claim to fame, Circus World opens its archives to all circuses, greatest show on earth or not. They have a nice collection of vintage posters, full of, shall we say, a lack of a certain measure of cultural sensitivity. Of course, the circus would never promote itself these days with such images -- now they leave that kind of thing to the people carrying signs at tea bagger protests.

Have a look:




Of course, back then we didn't know that pointing at people who were different and other cultures and saying "that's freaky!" wasn't nice. Now we know to keep that in close company.

They were really just trying to trade on all things "exotic" to draw a crowd. Here are some other attempts:


I should be careful. Years from now, we'll look back and wonder how we could gawk at people confined to a life of walking on their heads. Let's get back to some old fashioned freaks at the "sideshow" section of Circus World:


The circus also apparently had its own chaplain:

Looks likes they're trying to heal that lion -- and it's nice that the circus is being sent off by choir boys. Vaya con Dios!

You may not want to run away to join the circus, but, from the convenience of your own home, you can join the circus fans! It probably keeps the circus in your life all year around. In fact, I liked this sentiment from the management:

Indeed -- no carry-ins allowed -- I couldn't have said it better. Oh, and may all your days be circus days!!!

September 1: this date in Chicago history

The Chicago street numbering grid, flinging numbered blocks east, west, north, and south from the intersection of State and Madison, went into effect 100 years ago today, on September 1, 1909. What was your address before the numbering went into effect? Check it out here: www.chsmedia.org/househistory/1909snc/start.pdf

Friday Happy Hour: Suffering Bastard

This is a drink where the name says it all. Supposedly, this drink was created at the Shepherd’s Hotel in Cairo, Egypt during World War II. I’d like to imagine that this is a drink that one’s grandfather would have enjoyed had he been serving in the north African theater at that time. Another anecdotal story about this drink is that the name supposedly comes from a drunken slurring of the original name, "suffering bar steward."

Here’s the recipe:

1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. bourbon
1oz. gin
dash of bitters
4 oz. ginger ale

Build this drink up in the glass – no need to shake it, although you may if you like (but shake before adding the ginger ale). Pour in the ginger ale, add a straw, and give it a quick stir.

Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Add a sprig of mint.

This is a perfect drink for summer. Take a sip, feel refreshed, and imagine a cool nightfall breeze after a long sandy and sunny day in Cairo. Suffer no more, bastard.

Friday Happy Hour: Bloody Mary

The Bloody Mary is an old dowager of a drink that has remained as relevant as ever, maybe kind of like Hillary Clinton or, well, even Bill Clinton.

Like a lot of truly vintage cocktails, the Bloody Mary traces its roots back to the 1920s -- and this one even has a Paris pedigree.

Now that we're in August, maybe you have some tomatoes ripening, or have already plucked some tomatoes from your garden (or your neighbor's). Fresh tomatoes are one of the great rewards of the dog days of summer. We mention the Bloody Mary at this time because this drink is an imaginative way to put some of those tomatoes to good use.

For our drink, we used 2 fresh tomatoes. We muddled them rigorously, and then strained the juice, but you can also use a blender or any other device you can think of to pulverize the tomatoes. For us, this yielded about 4.5 ounces. For you, it may differ.

The fresh tomato juice breathes some new life into this old drink. Here's the recipe we used (but there are a lot of extras that are optional):

3 to 1 tomato juice to vodka (so, 4.5 oz tomato juice and 1.5 oz vodka)
.5 oz lemon juice
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce
sprinkling of pepper

Optional items include celery salt (some might argue this is hardly optional), horseradish, olive brine, or Tabasco Sauce.

We garnished ours with a classic celery stalk, but you can add a slice of lemon, olives, or any other kind of savory item. This is truly a savory drink.

Friday Happy Hour: Daiquiri

You've heard of a daiquiri, of course -- as in "strawberry daiquiri" and "banana daiquiri" etc., right? Well, the "plain daiquiri" (if you will) is the grandfather to those more colorful members of the daiquiri family tree.

A daiquiri doesn't require a blender, the ingredients are simple, and it doesn't need a lot of fuss. It's a great drink for summer because it has a light combination of sweet and tart. Here's how we did ours:

2 oz light rum (a/k/a white rum or silver rum)

juice of one lime (approx. 1 oz)

1 teaspoon of powdered sugar

Shake and serve.

Powdered sugar is the traditional ingredient, but you can substitute simple syrup. This recipe makes a conservatively sized drink -- unlike the heaps of blenderized icy froth adorned with fruits and cocktail umbrellas you might think of when you imagine a daiquiri. Not that there's anything wrong with froth, fruits, or cocktail umbrellas, of course.

We read that John F. Kennedy was sipping daiquiris while waiting for election returns in 1960. Ernest Hemingway famously drank daiquiris in Cuba before the revolution. This daiquiri is that kind of drink.

Cheers!

Special 4th of July Happy Hour: The Sparkler

Happy Independence Day!

On the 233rd anniversary of the independence of these United States, we offer you a perfect drink for your 4th of July picnics, cookouts, family gatherings, and fireworks viewing. And it's a Rogers Park Retro original!

We call it the "Sparkler" -- it's just as scintillating as the sparklers that are so perennially associated with 4th of July celebrations.

Here's how we make it:

1.5 oz of light (or silver) rum
juice of one lime (approx. 1 oz)
3/4 oz of pineapple juice
1/2 oz of triple sec

Shake well and serve. Cap it off with American sparkling wine. Ideally, garnish it with an American flag.

To us, this is an ideal Independence Day drink because it has a light summer composition, and the ingredients even bear some symbolic significance. Rum is closely associated with the American revolution. Paul Revere is said to have fortified himself with a drink of rum before his midnight ride. General George Washington is said to have ordered a double ration of rum for his soldiers to mark the 4th of July in 1778. We won't go so far as to propose that the pineapple represents our 50th state, or that the cherry garnish calls to mind the old story of George Washington and the cherry tree. The point is that you can enjoy the drink as a patriot, too.

Here's to the Spirit of '76!