House Wine Bar & Taproom Letterkenny, will be a hosting a 1920’s themed, Prohibition Cocktail Night on Thursday the 23rd of Feb at 7.30pm. Tickets are €20 and will include a number of cocktails and some nibbles.
The legal prevention of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol, in the United States, from 1920 to 1933 saw a lot of American’s turn to distilled spirits, from illegal and home brewed sources, hence the birth of the the Prohibition Cocktail era.
Barkeeps had limited access to good booze, so they used sweeteners and juices, to cover up the taste of badly brewed/ distilled drinks. This give rise to the biggest cocktail revolution in history.
A few cocktails from the era survived, having been lovingly restored in the best mixology joints around the country, a number of which we will be demonstrating and of course, tasting on the 23rd February in House Wine Bar & Taproom.
Some of the most popular cocktails of the era are listed below and 1 or 2, will be included in our cocktail night.
French 75: How can you go wrong with Champagne? The original recipe, from The Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930, calls for gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and some bubbles. A later recipe replaces the gin with Cognac.
Southside: Is known as a Prohibition gem. The drink is typically made with gin, lime, mint and simple syrup.
Sidecar: This one’s a stiff one, made of Cognac, Cointreau and lemon juice, in a 3-2-1 ratio that’s shaken and served up. It’s said to be named for an army captain who liked to be driven to the bar in a motorcycle sidecar. So old-timey.
Dubonnet Cocktail: Dubonnet, which is essentially fortified red wine made spicy with herbs. It is famous in the UK for being the favourite drink of Queen Elizabeth II.
Mary Pickford: This cocktail is made up of, white rum, fresh pineapple juice, maraschino liqueur and grenadine, created by Eddie Woelke, who like many a bartender during Prohibition fled to Havana, where he was free to shake and stir to his heart’s content.
Tuxedo #2: Created in the late 1800s, this drink resurfaced during the 1920s. Do the main ingredients, gin and vermouth. This drink is a cousin of the Martini. Add a dash of maraschino liqueur, bitters and dose of absinthe, and you have yourself a Tuxedo #2.
Ward 8: Also created before Prohibition, it’s easy to see why this one was popular during the Noble Experiment. Rye whiskey, which would have been harsh stuff at the time, is masked with lemon juice, orange juice and grenadine. Nowadays, better quality rye, has much improved this drink.
Bee’s Knees: A spoonful of honey, plus lemon and orange juice, would have taken the edge off bathtub gin in this 1920s cocktail. Today’s craft gins lend a much more welcome complexity to this sweet-tart recipe.
Bacardi Cocktail: Bacardi Cocktail was the Cosmo of the post-Prohibition era. It was created earlier, though, and wildly popular in Havana, where Americans who could afford to would escape the booze ban.
Highball: A simple brown spirit and ginger ale, highball was a common order, during the era. Make this drink by mixing your favourite bourbon, with one of the craft ginger beers on the market now, like Fever Tree, and add a twist of lime for a pleasantly spiced refreshment.
Also on Valentine’s Day in House Wine Bar & Tap Room is the hilarious Gary Gamble will be doing a love match bingo – this is an event not to be missed!
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