I swear that we’ve tried a recipe identical to this evenings Mr. Boston’s recipe. Unfortunately, I’m way too tired to hunt it down. I figure that’s OK though, the Bronx River Cocktail is a mix of some of my favorite ingredients and after a long day I was looking forward to a little Gin and Sweet Vermouth!
With Tales of the Cocktail swiftly approaching (only 3 days to go :-)) we have been trying to get everything ready for the trip. Between making up some inventory and setting things up for our helper, to packing and putting together gifts for special people at the event; it’s been quite the excursion. After seeking out a jewelry gift box for the better part of 4 hours in 110 degree weather, I’m beat. I apologize in advance if tonight’s post is less than awesome as a result.
Why this recipe from 1935 is called the “Bronx River” Cocktail is anyone’s guess. The color perhaps? Though none of the ingredients are blue, maybe the Bronx River is more of a brown? I’ve never been so I need one of you East Coast friend to chime in.
Leo Cotton’s version calls for the juice of an entire lemon to be mixed with only 1 ounce of spirits and a half teaspoon of sugar. I had a pretty good idea where this one was going and I didn’t like it. Why on earth would you ruin a perfectly good sweet Martini with way too much lemon juice?
Since I’ve made a promise to try out every recipe in this book, I mixed up a mini-version to be certain. After cutting all the ingredients by 1/3, I gave the mix a taste. Sure enough this was too bitter a drink for my taste-buds to handle.
Surgery was necessary to make this evenings Bronx enjoyable. It’s a shame since the first three Bronx recipes were really terrific. I suppose the lucky streak could not last forever.
Aside from having way too much citrus, I think that part of the problem is I neglected to dissolve the sugar in the juice before adding the spirit. I was just too damn excited about sipping on Gin and the new bottle of Antica Formula I grabbed this afternoon.
To rectify my goof, I dissolved 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in the juice of 1/3 of lemon. The sugar was having trouble dissipating in the juice alone so I added a teaspoon of water to help get the job done.
After stirring the granules around in went 3/4 of an ounce of our Gin No.6 and 1/3 ounce of Sweet Vermouth. Next I shook the mixture over ice for about 20 seconds and used the mesh strainer and Hawthorne to transfer the drink into our handy-dandy 3 ounce cocktail coupe.
The result was a vast improvement on the original recipe. No longer did the lemon take everything over. Now the botanicals from the Gin and Vermouth had a chance to shine. So much better 🙂
Well, I really need to take some down time before hitting the pillow. Tomorrow is another day, sleep well everyone!