Binny's Blog

In the pre-prohibition era, Brandy was a go to spirit for cocktails. In fact, many of the Whiskey-based cocktails you know and love were once made with Brandy, usually Cognac. While this mixologist readily confesses to the penchant modern barkeeps and imbibers have for fetishizing pre-prohibition recipes, excellent Brandy cocktails still languish in comparison to their Whiskey-based counterparts.

The Fanciulli and Black Manhattan are bitter, amaro centric rivals for the ultimate Manhattan cocktail recipe. In the former, Fernet Branca, in the later Averna stands in for sweet vermouth in these great Bourbon or Rye Whiskey based drinks.

We aren’t talking about “the” perfect Manhattan, some might argue that the incredibly popular sweet Manhattan already holds that title, but “a” Perfect Manhattan. A variation on the theme that has the maker replace half of the Sweet Vermouth with Dry Vermouth. This perfect 1:1 ratio of Vermouths is the origin of the name.

The balance here is truly remarkable; rich, spicy oak and vanilla scented Bourbon is at the fore but in perfect harmony with the acidic cut and peppery, bitter edge of grapefruit, all rounded out and made velvety with honey syrup.

This is what the G&T was meant to be from London to Gibraltar to Mumbai to sweltering late summer Chicago; simple to make, complexly layered, ultimately quenching and loaded with character. Mercifully, the colonial era is largely over but may the sun never set on the Gin and Tonic!

The original Americano cocktail is, of course, somewhat bitter being a blend of Campari (Red Amaro), Sweet Vermouth and soda. That is the bitter root of the matter but today we bring the Americanos together in a riff, a combo, an Americano, ‘mericano and as far as we know it was invented right here at Binny’s in the U.S. of A.

This mixologist must confess to enjoying a good Gin Sling every now and then. In fact, in the wake of Roger’s herbal tour de force of a Pimm’s Cup riff, featured on “Barrel to Bottle: The Binny’s Podcast” Savory Cocktails, we were enjoying our own riff on that classic Gin Sling. In addition to the usual suspects, we added diced peach and a bit of savory cherry shrub, among other things. Wow! What a drink that turned out to be. A great and serendipitous riff.

Light, refreshing and relatively low in alcohol is all the rage in certain circles these days, so this summer we have tried to bring you cocktail recipes that fit the bill. Today we have a lower alcohol riff on one of the all-time Tiki classics, the Mai Tai.

The Tuxedo cocktail is a highfalutin riff on the Martini with Fino Sherry in place of the Vermouth. It’s potent, crisp, and tangy from the Sherry and makes for a fun Martini alternative whether at a black-tie event or a backyard BBQ.

Calhoun County peaches are so good, in fact, it almost seems a pity to do anything but eat them out of hand, but we took a cue from a recent episode of our Barrel to Bottle podcast that featured a few riffs on the Smash and muddled our way through our own version. A sort of Bourbon Peach Smash mania ensued. We kept things Illinois centric by using the most excellent Whiskey Acres Bourbon and hyper-local mint (backyard terroir!) and the results were stunning.