The Cocktail Concierge

Move over shopping and nightlife concierges, Norps is newest kid on the block . . .

The Cocktail Concierge of Manilow.

Follow me on twitter @ManilowLight tweeting the impromptu cocktail hour gatherings and sharing the recipes of my Classy Concoctions for the evening.

Before meeting Toes, I was a self-proclaimed ‘Just a Martini Guy’.  I love the craft of creating the perfect cocktail for friends.  Toes’ idea of turning the Cocktail Light on is wine – uncork, pour and hand them a napkin.

But, my role as the Cocktail Concierge is larger than life.  As a Cocktail Concierge, I became a history aficionado of classic cocktails.  While shaking your custom drink, I turned into a narrative artist and conversationalist of the party.  Friends always gather in the kitchen, but your guests never leave the side of a charismatic Cocktail Concierge.

The modern day cocktail hour at Manilow is picking up where the 1940’s, ’50s & ’60s left off.  By updating classic cocktails with unexpected modern flavors, I have reinvented today’s cocktail hour with a decidedly modern-day twist transporting my guests back to the forgotten simpler time of home entertaining.  Discard your Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn glassware for cocktail hour.  Serve your libations in the smaller scale vintage tumblers, old fashioned or highballs. 

Norpie’s Convertible (Sidecar) – The Cocktail Concierge

The Myth of The Sidecar: It was invented in a bar in Paris, France during World War I and was named after the motorcycle sidecar in which the good captain customarily was driven to and from the little bistro where the drink was born and christened. The Sidecar is a classic sour drink. Sours were quite popular during the golden age of cocktails in the early 1900’s and were a simple mix of base spirit, sour (primarily lemon), and a touch of sweetness.  The first recipes for the Sidecar appear in 1922 with equal parts Cointreau, Cognac and fresh lemon juice shaken and strained into a sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

Like all my Classy Concoctions, you need to try the original to figure out why is not as popular today.  Toes became my taste tester to reinvent these classic cocktails.

“Toes, try this one.”

“Ugh!” Toes gasped while his eyes started to water.

“Too strong!  No wonder its forgotten Norps.”

Round two. . . I substituted Triple Sec for the Cointreau; Vsop Brandy for the Cognac and fresh lemon juice.  I rimmed a vintage tumbler with granulated sugar and strained the shaken cocktail into the prepared glass.  I slide the newly crafted Sidecar over to Toes.

Lemon Flip – The Cocktail Concierge

A flip is a class of mixed drinks dating back to 1695 as described to be a mixture of beer, rum and sugar, heated with a red-hot iron.  The iron caused the drink to froth and this frothing (or “flipping”) coined the name.  The ‘modern’ flip has evolved into a cocktail featuring a spirit, egg, sugar and spice.

The first bar guide to feature a flip with eggs was Jerry Thomas’s 1862 How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon-Vivant’s Companion. In this work, Thomas declares that,

“. . . essential in flips of all sorts is to produce the smoothness by repeated pouring back and forward between two vessels and beating up the eggs well . . . “

When Toes and I were at Deleece between movies for the Architectural Film Fest at the Music Box Theater in Chicago, he order the Deleece Lemonade Cocktail.

“Oh this is refreshing Norps,” Toes said after his first sip.  “Try this one.”

Aqua Net – The Cocktail Concierge

Hair spray was first developed and manufactured in the 1940’s by the Chase Products Company by a Lebanese immigrant, Tanios Chakchay.  Historic beauty titan, Helene Curtis, coined the name “hair spray” in 1950 with the release of her product Spray Net, which, along with a slew of quickly accumulated competitors such as Aqua Net, became wildly successful in conjunction with the Jackie Kennedy bouffant, beehives, pin-up dos, and pillbox hat hairstyles that personified the 1950’s and ‘60s.

Norpie’s Classy Concoction called the Aqua Net features North Shore Distillery’s Aquavit, a vibrant and stimulating liquor that has aromas of pink peppercorns; cardamom; lemongrass; medicinal root; herbs with a touch of a spicy fade.

Follow The Cocktail Concierge this week on Norps Forks & Corks for the recipe to be posted on Wednesday, May 9, 2012.

Pimms Cup – The Cocktail Concierge

A Pimm’s No. 1 Cup is a fizzy, refreshing cocktail that is underappreciated.  Pimm’s was first produced in 1823 by James Pimm inEngland.  Pimm developed this gin-based tonic containing quinine and a secret mixture of herbs.  By 1851, production increased by 1859 Pimm’s No. 1 was selling commercially.

Pimm’s is usually the dusty bottle lurking in the back of the bar.  Many are unfamiliar with the liquor, but once you try a Pimm’s Cup, you have found the perfect antidote for a summer cocktail party.

Fresh cucumber, strawberry and orange are muddled with Pimm’s No. 1 and topped off with Ginger Ale.  Follow The Cocktail Concierge this week on Norps Forks & Corks for the full recipe posted on Wednesday, May 10, 2012.

RedWineDiva’s Sangria Recipes 2 Ways

Sangria is on everyone’s mind it seems. Why not? It involves wine.

One my Tweeps, @RedWineDiva, was luckily enough to receive a bottle of homemade wine, Seville Orange Sangria. The RedWineDiva asked,

“What suggestions do you have for what I might want to add to this to make true Sangria?”

RedWineDiva, this post is for you!

First off, what is a Seville orange? Although “tangy” or “bitter” is not a quality typically preferred in a juice or snacking orange, the Seville oranges are described this way. They are the best for making marmalades because they are extremely juicy with a strong orange taste. Using the Seville orange as a base for the homemade wine will most likely impart those same strong notes and aromas of orange marmalade.

I would try two different versions of Sangria with your wine.

• RedWineDiva’s Sangria
  Traditional Sangria that highlights fresh citrus notes to pair with the Seville Orange Sangria. Pair this lighter, fruity Sangria with soft cheese or pungent cheeses. Example of cheese pairing with fruity cheese may be Pere Joseph, Dill Havarti, Blue Castello, Gorgonzola, or Tallegio.
• Sassy ‘n Spicy RedWineDiva Sangria
  Notes of brown spice from clove and cinnamon become infused in Blood Orange Sangria. The addition of the Blood oranges will enhance the ruby red color; add an orange-raspberry sweetness to the cocktail, while helping to balance the bitter bite of the Seville orange. Pair this spicy Sangria with Chimichurri Grilled Steak or Beef Empanadas for a Tapas flare for dinner one night.
  

A Tapas Party – Strawberry Peach Sangria

Sangria, traditionally a red wine based punch, is the perfect drink to serve at a Tapas party or sipping at your summer backyard BBQ.  The classic sangria normally consists of a wine, chopped fruit, a sweetener and brandy. The red wine should be light, dry, young, high acid, unoaked, and most importantly, inexpensive.

Yes, inexpensive.

Don’t pull that $50.00 bottle of wine out for this punch. Look for a bottle that is $10.00 or under.

Norpie’s Sangria Corks:

• Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2009 – $9
  This is a wine of surprising depth and fruit for the price. Juicy dark berry fruit, mainly cherry, blackberry and plum are spotlighted in this Zin.  It makes for a great mixer in dark berry fruit-based sangria.
• Maipe Malbec 2008 – $9
  The Maipe Malbec from Argentina is perfect for virtually any red wine sangria recipe. The fruit, structure, and versatility of this red wine will support a combination of berry and citrus fruit. Add a cinnamon stick to the fruit mixture for spicy sangria.
• Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 – $9
  This Smoking Loon Cab has a juicy, fruit-filled jammy texture. It is well-suited for red wine sangria recipes that include lots of berry – whether raspberry, blackberry, blueberry or strawberry, there will be plenty of fruit in the wine to support the berry mix.

I like changing up my sangria by using different wines other than reds, the freshest seasonal fruit and herbal infused simple syrups.  For a swimming party, I made watermelon Ercavio sangria.  That sangria was the biggest hit at that party because I used a yellow watermelon and a crisp, light white wine with tropical fruit and citrus flavors.

Clinking to the Good Life

My latest obsession is vintage barware and bar accoutrements — highball to lowball; shot glasses to shakers.  Creating the perfect cocktail is an art form, but the presentation of your well crafted drink is often forgotten.   I like serving my concoctions in retro, whimsical, funky hip to classically elegant vintage glassware.

The cocktail hour has been an integral part of our society’s entertainment for decades.

Elegance embodied the roaring 1920’s.

Hollywood glamour marked the 1930’s.

1940 – War, but you know they still drank.

The cocktail hour reached its height in the 1950’s with a new kind of relaxed, rhythmic, percussion music – Lounge Music.  Like the 1950’s, cocktail hour at Manilow isn’t so much of the time of day, but more of a mood – the time of the day when neighbors kick back and relax together.

Watermelon Ercavio Sangria

It’s hot in Chicagoland today, so we’re glad to be heading to a pool party for the afternoon. Norps thought he’d throw together a simple, refreshing white Sangria to help cut through the heat. He ran around Friday gathering the ingredients:

FEW Spirits Str8 Talk Wiskey

I love hanging with my straight boys.  Holding my straight boy’s cocktail while directing him on how to hang pictures for his lady could occupy every Saturday afternoon, if you asked me.  So when we showed up at FEW Spirits in Evanston for a tasting, only to see a crowd of straight men standing around talking about whiskey and gin, I was thankful I’d just got a pedicure.

FEW Spirits is the first licensed – emphasis on licensed – distillery in Evanston.  Located at 918 Chicago Avenue, it’s actually in a warehouse in an alley off Chicago Avenue.  And the boys of FEW Spirits have done a fine job of recreating a modern, yet reminiscently nostalgic experience that harkens back to the days of prohibition, when Evanston was a long stronghold in the temperance movement battle.  They’ve created a free-spirited Wild West Saloon feel through their packaging that is comfortable and fun.  Even the space of their tasting room, with its corrugated metal walls, and wood slat shelving, has a rough and renegade feel, yet is completely contemporary in its simplicity.