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Good day, dear readers. I fulfill the promise I made in the previous article – two more cocktails on the New Year’s table in the year of the horse. This is a classic cocktail, recognized by the International Bartending Association (I remind you that I take all the recipes for classic cocktails on the IBA website, and do not invent in my head). In addition, logically, it should become a bestseller in the coming 2014, the year of the horse. The cocktail is called Horse’s Neck. It is easy to prepare, but to get all the ingredients you will have to try and spend a little money.
Cocktail recipe Horse neck (long drink, build)
Innings:
- хайбол;
Ingredients:
- 40 ml brandy (any brandy not from France);
- 120 ml ginger ale;
- A couple of drops of Angostura bitters.
Preparation:
- fill a highball with ice and pour in brandy and ale;
- mix gently with a bar spoon;
- cut a long strip of zest from a lemon and twist it into a spiral, decorate the drink with it;
- add dash (1-3 drops) of Angostura (optional).
The trick is in the decoration. Aesthetes recognized the curve of a horse’s neck in a swirling strip of lemon peel, which gave the name not only to the cocktail itself, but also to the decoration that can be seen on other cocktails. The history of the drink is not very interesting, or rather, very few facts have come down to us – there are no books, as in the case of the White Lady cocktail, or living witnesses, as in the case of the Daiquiri. Just pure speculation and nothing more.
It is reliably known that it appeared at the end of the century before last, or rather, its non-alcoholic version appeared: ginger ale with ice and lemon zest. The second life was given to the cocktail by the servants of the US Navy, who began to add brandy (corn whiskey) to it. It was already at the beginning of the last century, such a drink was called Horse’s Neck with a Kick. In the 60s, the cocktail was chosen by the guards of the British Navy, where Horse’s Neck and traditional Gin and tonic are still served at parties.
It is also known for certain that if you mix Maker’s Mark brandy and Ale-8-One ale, you get a Kentucky Gentleman cocktail, and if you replace the brandy with good Canadian whiskey, you get a Rye & Ginger cocktail (Rye is a rye whiskey, which they prefer to cook in Canada, like bourbon in America).
Cocktail ingredients Horse neck
Here I decided to dwell a little more, as to many, ginger ale and Angostura may seem exotic. Ginger ale is nothing more than a highly carbonated drink with ginger, corn fructose and caramel, that is, it is non-alcoholic. You can get it in “elite” supermarkets – we have it “SPAR”. In Moscow, such supermarkets should be enough in full. But the easiest way to cook it yourself is not difficult and practically for nothing, if you do not take into account the ever-increasing cost of ginger. You can find the recipe for ginger ale in this article.
Bitter Angostura (Angostura aromatic bitters) I, most likely, will devote a separate article. The bitter is expensive, but it is enough for a lot of cocktails, as it is added in 1-3 drops. In a nutshell: this is a bitter tincture, that is, a bitter drink. Its slight bitterness (if you use a few drops) improves the taste of the drink. The recipe, of course, is kept in the strictest confidence.
Well, the second cocktail that I want to end this year with is called Horse’s Neck in Siphon.
Cocktail recipe Horse neck in a siphon
Innings:
- siphon and highball;
Ingredients:
- 200 ml brandy;
- 50 ml sugar syrup;
- 650 ml ginger ale;
- 120 g lemon;
- 50 g of ginger root.
Preparation:
- finely chop the ginger root and extract the juice from it with a juicer;
- add ginger juice, sugar syrup, ginger ale and cognac to the siphon;
- squeeze lemon juice there, close the siphon and whisk the drink 3-4 times;
- Fill a highball with ice, pour a cocktail from the siphon into it and garnish with a spiral of lemon zest.
Ginger root is sold in any market, it is not expensive. The siphon is harder to get. This is a metal or glass vessel in which small doses of a carbonated drink are made. From above, it is screwed with a sealed stopper with a lever for draining and a clip for cans of liquid carbon dioxide. This is a mandatory attribute of any self-respecting bar, so you can get it through a familiar bartender. There are also household siphons with a stationary device for supplying carbon dioxide, but such things are not cheap (before the crisis, about 3 thousand rubles). Ordinary ones also cost from 2000 rubles, but this thing is for centuries.
Well, the promise was kept and 14 cocktails by 2014 were published on the Rum Diary. In an article with a recipe for viburnum vodka tincture, I wrote that I would cook mead – it didn’t work out. As it turned out, finding a good raisin suitable for these purposes is quite difficult, wine yeast is even more difficult. But I do not give up, I will definitely prepare this famous drink at home, even if it will be in the summer. But there was a way to good alcohol, which means that in the new year there will be interesting articles on the preparation of tinctures, I am already choosing recipes.
Once again, Happy New Year and all the best for the new year. Do not give up, strive, make your life brighter and more interesting. Read Rum in the new year 2014. Till!