This week’s installment of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess brought to you by the Small Screen Network brings you the Spencer Cocktail. According to Robert Hess, this is“Another drink from The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, and one that isn’t seen hardly at all as far as I can tell. Apricot Brandy can be a bit of a challenging ingredient to understand when used in a recipe like this, since it could either mean a true brandy distilled from Apricot juice, or it could also mean a sweet liqueur flavored with apricot flesh and seeds. We are going to assume that it is the liqueur “

The Spencer Cocktail

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 3/4 oz Bitter Truth Apricot Brandy
• dash Bitter Truth Old Time Aromatic Bitters
• 1 dash orange juice

Instructions

• stir with ice
• strain into a cocktail glass

Mutineer Magazine announces the addition of a new recurring column called “Inspired Beverage Voices,” created to celebrate regional innovators in the world of fine beverage culture. Each issue will now explore a different area, highlighting individuals working with local libations in inspired, new ways. With the support of No.3 Gin, the inaugural feature on Napa Valley will appear in the November 2011 edition and will introduce the nation to the new and innovative voices of TouteSuite Social Club, with Susan Quinn and Didier Loustau, Christophe Smith of Harvest Live, and Laura Levesque Page of The Healthy Junkie.

“It’s been said that a culture is defined by its articulate voices, so we couldn’t be more excited to highlight these new and inspired voices in beverage culture, beginning with Napa Valley,” says Mutineer Editor in Chief and Publisher Alan Kropf.

Today we celebrate the second of our Inspired Beverage Voices.

Christophe Smith is the founder of Harvest Live, an online portal that allows any person with a mobile device to experience a vineyard harvest and grape crush as it happens, without leaving the comfort of home. Inspired by all the “really cool stuff in Napa Valley that the consumer never gets a chance to see,” Smith’s creation uses an online streaming format that lets participants ask questions via moderated chat room or Twitter, and gives people all over the world a glimpse behind the scenes of a Napa Valley grape harvest. Archive footage is also available year-round on their website.
harvestlive.tv / @cork_dork

Want to win a free subscription to Mutineer Magazine? It’s never been easier thanks to No.3 Gin.

There are two ways to win:

On Twitter, follow them and tweet “I just entered to win a free subscription to @mutineermag thanks to @No3Gin – http://tinyurl.com/3cuux7d”

or

Visit No.3 Gin on Facebook and “Like” them.

After that, post in the comment section below that you entered to win and winners will be selected tomorrow.

Cheers!

About No.3 Gin: No.3 is the London Dry Gin distilled to a proprietary recipe of Berry Bros. & Rudd, London’s oldest wine and spirit merchant. The name No.3 refers to the address in St James’s Street, London: our home since 1698. No.3 was created to be the last word in gin for a Dry Martini.

This week’s installment of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess brought to you by the Small Screen Network brings you the Bridal Cocktail. Robert discovered the Bridal Cocktail in the pages of the Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book and if you are familiar with the original Martini, made with sweet rather than dry vermouth, this cocktail is quite similar. Robert adds that the addition of Maraschino liqueur adds a hint of cherry that rounds out a delicious cocktail.

The Bridal Cocktail

• 2oz gin
• 1oz sweet vermouth
• dash Bitter Truth Orange Bitters
• dash Maraschino Liqueur

Instructions

• stir with ice

• strain into a cocktail glass
• garnish with an orange twist

Ingredients:

• 1 and 2/3 oz Hendrick’s Gin
• 2 basil leaves
• 4 mint leaves and a mint sprig
• 2 strawberries
• 2/3 oz simple syrup
• 2 dashes fresh lemon juice
• 1 oz fresh orange juice

Preparation:

Muddle the mint, strawberries and basil leaves in the bottom of a mixing glass with the syrup. Add the remaining ingredients–except the mint sprig garnish–and shake well with ice. Strain into an ice filled rocks glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

This week’s installment of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess brought to you by the Small Screen Network brings you the Tom Collins cocktail. According to Robert Hess, “The recipe for the Tom Collins first appeared in the 1876 edition of Jerry Thomas’ “The Bartender’s Guide”. Apparently named after a little practical joke popular around 1874 in which one person would tell someone on the street that Tom Collins is in a local bar and is talking about them. The now agitated person would hurry off to confront this Tom Collins and soon enough a forward thinking bartender created the drink.”

Tom Collins

• 2 oz Beefeater 24 Gin
• 1 oz Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp simple syrup

Instructions

• shake with ice
• strain into an ice filled collins glass and top with soda
• garnish with cherry and orange wedge

This week’s installment of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess brought to you by the Small Screen Network brings you the Monkey Gland cocktail, which according to Robert Hess, “Back in the day, men used to attempt amazingly misguided, ill informed shenanigans with the goal of increasing their virility and longevity; like taking monkey testicles and implanting or grafting them in to their own bodies. Thus, the Monkey Gland cocktail was created by Frank Meier, of the Ritz Hotel Paris (April, 1923).”

MONKEY GLAND COCKTAIL

• 2 oz Beefeater 24 Gin
• 1 oz orange juice
• 1/4 oz grenadine
• dash Absinthe

Thanksgiving is a time to get together with family for good food and what goes better with family and food than fine beverages? For this most festive of Thanksgivings, we’ve compiled a few drinks that we think will compliment Thanksgiving dishes really well, as well as impress your friends.

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