The Daily Tippler

Fortified wines are wines that have had a neutral spirit with higher alcohol content, i.e. Brandy, added to them before fermentation. The result is a sweeter wine with higher alcohol content; Vermouth usually weighs in around 18%. When we say sweeter we don’t necessarily mean that it tastes sweet it is just sweeter then it would have been. The reason this occurs is because the alcohol kills the yeast leaving behind residual sugar. It is generally accepted that fortification was introduced to help preserve and stabilize wines and this seems accurate because alcohol does that. It is also, however, accepted that most of the places known for fortified wines, i.e Jerez, Porto, produce sub-par table wines. So, with new technologies for preservation and stabilization one would think that fortification may have died out. But, Sherry, Port, Vermouth and others have become part of our culture and taste and some of them are pretty darn good.

The East India Co:

-1 1/2 oz. Dry Pale Sherry
-1 1/2 oz. Dry Vermouth
-2 Dashes Reagan’s Orange Bitters

Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a lemon peel over it to extract the oil and garnish with the peel.

How would the Italians do it?

If you wanted to make an Italian version of the Bamboo Cocktail simply replace the Dry Vermouth with Sweet and call it an Adonis. Adonis, of Greek mythology, is an annually-renewed, ever-youthful vegetation god, a life-death-rebirth deity whose nature is tied to the calendar.

Right, well whatever it is it makes a good Aperitif.

Adonis:

-1 1/2 oz. Dry Pale Sherry
-1 1/2 oz. Sweet Vermouth
-2 Dashes Orange Bitters
-2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a lemon peel over it to extract the oil and garnish with the peel.

Here is another classic cocktail that adheres to the necessary dryness of an Aperitif but is hardly heard from anymore; The Bamboo Cocktail. Sometime between 1890 and 1900 Louis Eppinger created the Japanese Martini to be the signature drink of the Grand Hotel Yokohama. Eppinger, who made his fame stateside at many a saloon and hotel, was procured by US Naval Officers, who had taken a vested interest in the hotel, to Westernize the place. And here is how he did it:

The Bamboo Cocktail:

-1 1/2 oz. Dry Pale Sherry
-1 1/2 oz. Dry Vermouth
-2 Dashes Orange Bitters
-2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a lemon peel over it to extract the oil and garnish with the peel.

The association between writers and drinking is long and dubious, so this week I present literary reference cocktails. Friday’s cocktail comes from the most unabashed of all alcoholic writers: Kingsley Amis. In addition to fiction Amis wrote prolifically on drinks and drinking. The cocktail below he designed and named for himself, enjoy.

The Kingers:

-2 oz. Montilla
-1 oz. Orange Juice
-1 dash Angostura Bitters

Combime ingredients over ice and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.