delight to behold. The thing is, I cannot find out where it came from. So, since every cocktail should have an origin story, here goes mine.
Fine and Dandy was a show written in 1930 by Kay Swift, the first woman to score a full Broadway musical, and a long-time paramour of the legendary George Gershwin. It was a massive hit, and its title number was covered by everyone from Charlie Parker to Barbra Streisand. So I’m going to stick my neck out and say the drink was named for it. On a side note, Kay Swift eloped with a rodeo cowboy in 1939. She sounds like my kind of girl.
20 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
20 ml (¾ fl oz) Cointreau
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) gin
a dash of Angostura bitters
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all the ingredients. Shake until icy cold and strain into a cocktail glass.
KAY’S TIP: Some people garnish this with a maraschino cherry. I feel it’s better without. Either way, sup with Peggy Lee’s recording playing in the background.
The French 75
Is this a gin cocktail or a Champagne cocktail? I say gin, but either way it’s said to have the kick of a French 75mm field gun. This was created by Harry MacElhone of Harry’s Bar, New York, in 1915. It definitely packs a punch – you have been warned!
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) gin
20 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
10–20 ml (2–4 tsp) sugar syrup
chilled Champagne, to top up
a twist of lemon, to garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup to taste. Shake well, then strain into a Champagne flute. Top up with Champagne and garnish with a twist of lemon.
Tom’s April Sour
Our friend Tom Williams’ fragrant cocktail evokes memories of English spring and early summer with its bright citrus tang and hints of elderflower and cucumber. He designed it specifically to pair with similar notes in the Hendrick’s gin, while the egg white gives it a dreamy lemon meringue finish. Sip while sprawled on a cool grass lawn.
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) Hendrick’s gin
25 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
25 ml (¾ fl oz) elderflower cordial
a dash of egg white
a thin slice of cucumber, to garnish
Pour the gin, lemon juice, elderflower cordial and egg white into a cocktail shaker and shake until emulsified. Fill the shaker with ice and shake again until it’s very cold. Strain into a glass and top with the cucumber float.
The Negroni
This is alleged to have been invented in Florence by Count Negroni, who asked the bartender at the Hotel Baglioni to strengthen his Americano with a spot of gin, but no one knows if this is actually true. Orson Welles was one of the first Americans to write about it, saying ‘the bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other out’. James Bond orders one in the short story Risico. So consider it a drink endorsed by proper drinkers.
20 ml (¾ fl oz) gin
20 ml (¾ fl oz) Campari
20 ml (¾ fl oz) red vermouth
a slice or a twist of orange, to garnish
Pour the gin, Campari and red vermouth over 3–4 ice cubes in a tumbler. Stir the alcohols together until they are very cold. Garnish with a slice or twist of orange, ideally a blood orange.
KAY’S TIP: if you replace the gin with prosecco, you get a Negroni Sbagliato, or a Wrong Negroni.
The Gimlet
I’m sure there’s someone out there who calls this a Lime Martini. But we won’t go there. It’s one of the classics. The Savoy in London used to make two versions of this, a Gimlet with equal parts gin and lime, and a Gimblet with two parts gin to one part lime. In the former, the lime was Rose’s lime cordial; in the latter, it was fresh juice. My Gimlet blends the two.
60 ml (2¼ fl oz) gin
5 ml (1 tsp) Rose’s lime cordial
a twist of lime, to garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the gin and lime cordial. Stir vigorously. Strain into a Martini glass and garnish with a twist of lime.
The Fizz & The Collins
The Fizz, the Collins and the Sour are closely related. Each involves a similar blend of lemon juice, sugar and spirit, then the recipes deviate. In essence, a Fizz is a shaken Sour that is topped up with soda. And a Collins is a stirred Sour that is…topped up with soda. Does it make a difference? Generations of bartenders say so. I suggest that, on a hot summer’s night, they are both equally refreshing.
The Gin Fizz
25 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) gin
10 ml (2 tsp)
chilled soda water, to top up
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in the lemon juice, gin and sugar syrup. Shake hard until ice-cold. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass and top up with soda water.
Variations: You can substitute the gin for rye or bourbon, or for Nick Cuthbert’s sloe gin. You can also replace the lemon juice with Meyer lemon juice, which is slightly sweeter, to make a Meyer Lemon Fizz.
The Tom Collins
I am particularly attached to the Tom Collins, for it was down to this very drink, sipped under a starry Mumbai sky on board the good ship Oriana, that yours truly became more than a twinkle in her mother’s eye…
25 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) gin
10 ml (2 tsp) sugar syrup
chilled soda water, to top up
To garnish:
a slice of lemon
a maraschino cherry
Fill a Collins glass with ice and pour in the lemon juice, gin and sugar syrup. Stir well to combine, then top up with soda water. Garnish with a slice of
