When I have parties at my apartment, I always make sure to invite my friends who are or were bartenders. I can't make a drink that is palatable. So, I rely on them to make drinks for me. It comes in handy. I asked one of my dear friends to share a little treat with you - a vintage cocktail recipe. Being an extra long weekend, I thought it best to start it off right. So, without further ado, the Hoffman House Cocktail.
Here in San Francisco, where to get the best cocktails in
the City is hotly debated, but most will agree that Bourbon and Branch is among
the highest caliber, if not the new standard, for quality mixed libations in
the area. The Beverage Academy, promoted
and hosted by Bourbon and Branch’s Detective Bar, also offers classes which
provide a hands-on learning experience, focusing on various spirits. It was at one of these cocktail courses I attended
that I came across the Hoffman House Cocktail.
In this particular basic class, we learned to create a simple, classic
martini. However, this was not the
well-known, modern, vodka, no vermouth, shaken, not stirred, James Bond
version. This was the original, stirred,
gin-based cocktail, with about a half ounce of dry vermouth, along with a dash
of orange bitters. At the time, I
thought it the strangest thing, to have added orange bitters to a so-called
traditional martini. But when I tasted
this ever so slightly sweet and delicately smooth concoction, it was unlike any
other martini I had imbibed. In the cocktail world, the tiniest change in
ingredient or measurement of ingredients can result in something completely
different, meriting a unique name to differentiate between the libations. As it is, ordering a martini will result in
something varying wildly between bars, bartenders, and the customer ordering
the drink.
For example, a 21-year-old
woman ordering a martini in a standard dive bar will likely receive a
vodka-based cocktail, no vermouth, shaken and served up, with an olive, no
questions asked. If a 70-year-old woman
enters that same bar and orders a martini, the chances are the bartender, if
experienced, will ask what type of gin she would prefer (forget vodka), and it
would come with the standard measurement of dry vermouth, garnished with a
twist. I digress… but the point is, the
“martini” we obediently mixed according to the Beverage Academy’s instruction
was not a martini as we know it today, but what was known in the late 1800’s as
the Hoffman House cocktail. It is the
dash of orange bitters that made all the difference. For simplicity, it has been labeled a
martini, or a version of a martini.
It
was after some research that I stumbled upon this particular martini, discovering
that it had its own name, originating in New York, at the Hoffman House Hotel,
where officials, the wealthy and well known would consort. This hotel was eventually closed down before
prohibition, but the recipe lived on in cocktail records, including the Savoy
Cocktail Book.
Bartenders may wish to experiment with the measurements and
brands of ingredients and adjust to taste.
The recipe below is a good base from which to start:
2 OUNCES GIN (I suggest Hendricks)
1 OUNCE WHITE VERMOUTH (Noilly Prat)
2 DASHES ORANGE BITTERS (Some recipes call for 3 or even 4
dashes. Try Angostura orange bitters to
taste. Also, Stirrings makes a blood
orange bitters. One might even add a
dash or two of each)
TO FINISH: ORANGE PEEL
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Twist the
orange peel over the top, to lightly mist the oils onto the surface of the
drink.
I used Bombay Sapphire for mine, and Regan’s orange bitters,
which was lovely, as well. Cheers!
