Binny's Blog

Celebrate Sherry Week with the Flor de Jerez, a modern cocktail that showcases the nutty, tangy flavors of Amontillado.

Who shot Tom Collins? is a cocktail in the form of a question, and a Halloween murder mystery that is quenchingly delicious. Most importantly it’s a modern Australian riff on the classic Tom Collins; A recipe that dates back in written form to the 1880s but is likely much older, with roots in British punch traditions featuring Gin, sugar, and lemon. So, mix up a drink or two and settle in for a purely apocryphal yarn of murder, mayhem, and meat pies. Umm... sorry, sorry, we just got word; there will be no meat pies.

A sweet, nutty, spicy, and potent concoction that not only tastes like but goes down as easily as a big slice of nutty kringle. It also has the comforting, warming, Bourbon forward profile of a perfect fall or winter sipper.

El Diablo cocktail, an unconventional blend of Tequila, Crème de Cassis, lime and ginger beer. It’s a surprisingly delicious cocktail recipe invented by Vic Bergeron aka Trader Vic. We use Añejo Tequila, Jules Theuriet Cassis and Fever Tree ginger beer.

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.