Sips & Synopsis
This Weeks Makings.
Halloween is a week from Saturday. The pumpkins are out on the porches, and the bag of candy you bought early is already half gone.
That's the right week for a drink with a little mischief in the name.
El Diablo is tequila, lime, and ginger beer, with a slow pour of crème de cassis that sinks to the bottom and turns the glass a deep reddish purple. Trader Vic printed it in 1946. It takes two minutes and no shaker.
In this week's newsletter:
El Diablo, the tequila highball that turns purple in the glass
Crème de cassis, and how to pick a bottle that tastes like fruit
Two bonus cocktails from the Savoy, both named Corpse Reviver
A zero proof version built on blackcurrant and ginger
Trivia Question❓
The Kir, a glass of white wine with a splash of crème de cassis, is named after a French mayor.
True or False
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter
The El Diablo
Tequila and ginger beer with lime and a slow pour of blackcurrant liqueur. Spicy, tart, and a little jammy at the bottom of the glass.
Ingredients
1.5 oz blanco tequila (100 percent agave)
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz crème de cassis
4 oz ginger beer, cold
Lime wedge to garnish
Directions
Fill a highball glass with ice
Add the tequila and the lime juice
Top with the ginger beer, leaving about half an inch of room
Pour the crème de cassis slowly over the back of a bar spoon so it sinks
Garnish with the lime wedge. Stir once before drinking, or leave it layered and let it mix as you go
Why It Works
Trader Vic printed it in 1946 as the Mexican El Diablo in his Book of Food and Drink, and called it one of his originals. The recipe then was half a lime, an ounce of tequila, half an ounce of crème de cassis, and ginger ale. By 1968 his books had dropped the Mexican and called it El Diablo. Whether Vic made it up himself or picked it up somewhere is still an open question (the book trail is here).
Most modern recipes pour more tequila than Vic did and swap the ginger ale for ginger beer, which has more bite. The bite matters. Cassis is sweet and fruity, and it needs ginger and lime pushing back or the drink tastes like soda. Use a 100 percent agave blanco. Its pepper and green notes keep the blackcurrant from taking over the glass.
Behind the Bar - Crème de Cassis
Crème de cassis is a sweet, dark red liqueur made from blackcurrants. The modern version dates to 1841 in Burgundy, France now makes close to 16 million litres of it a year, and most bottles sit around 15 percent alcohol. That's closer to a glass of wine than a shot of tequila (the record is here).
The crème in the name means sugar, not dairy. There's no cream in the bottle.
How to pick one:
Look for Bourgogne or Dijon on the label. Since 2015, Crème de Cassis de Bourgogne has been a protected name that guarantees Burgundy fruit and a minimum amount of berries.
Taste it on its own. Good cassis tastes like fresh blackcurrants, tart and a little earthy. A cheap one tastes like grape candy.
Keep it in the fridge once it's open. It's low proof and fruit based, so it fades faster than a bottle of whiskey.
Start small. Half an ounce colors and flavors a whole highball.
The template underneath:
Spirit, citrus, ginger, and a fruit liqueur on top. That's a buck, the same family as the Moscow Mule from a few weeks ago, with cassis sinking through the glass. Swap the tequila for bourbon or gin and keep everything else. Or skip the spirit and pour a splash of cassis into a glass of dry white wine. That's a Kir, and it's the answer to this week's trivia.
Bonus Cocktails
Two more this week, both from Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book and both named for the morning after. One brandy, one gin, and no tequila in either.
The Corpse Reviver No. 1
Cognac, apple brandy, and sweet vermouth, stirred. Rich and warm, close to a Manhattan made with brandy.
Ingredients
1 oz cognac or brandy
0.5 oz apple brandy or Calvados
0.5 oz sweet vermouth
Directions
Add everything to a mixing glass with ice. Stir for about 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe.
Why it works
Corpse reviver was 19th century slang for a morning drink, the hair of the dog after a long night, and the name covered a lot of different recipes (the background is here). The Savoy printed this one as half brandy, a quarter apple brandy, and a quarter Italian vermouth, with a note to take it before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed. Frank Meier of the Ritz Bar in Paris usually gets the credit, though he never claimed it in his own 1936 book (the record is here). It's all spirit and wine, so stir it. Use a sweet vermouth you opened recently and kept in the fridge. The apple brandy is a small pour, and you'll miss it if you leave it out.
The Corpse Reviver No. 2
Gin, Cointreau, Lillet, and lemon in equal parts, with a drop of absinthe. Bright, sharp, and easy to drink too fast.
Ingredients
0.75 oz London dry gin
0.75 oz Cointreau
0.75 oz Lillet Blanc
0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
1 dash absinthe
Directions
Rinse a chilled coupe with the absinthe and pour out the extra. Add the gin, Cointreau, Lillet, and lemon juice to a shaker with ice. Shake hard for about 12 seconds. Strain into the coupe.
Why it works
Craddock printed it in the same book, equal parts with one dash of absinthe, and his note on this one is the line people remember: four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again (the Savoy recipe is here). He called for Kina Lillet. Most bars now use Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano. Equal parts makes it easy to remember and easy to balance. Keep the absinthe to one dash or a rinse, because any more and it's all you'll taste. And take Craddock at his word on the four.
“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
Mocktail or Zero Proof Option
The Zero Proof El Diablo
Blackcurrant for the cassis, a spicy ginger beer for the tequila's bite. Same purple glass.
Ingredients
4 oz spicy ginger beer, cold
0.75 oz fresh lime juice
0.75 oz blackcurrant cordial or syrup
A small pinch of salt
Lime wedge to garnish
Directions
Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the lime juice and the salt. Top with the ginger beer. Pour the blackcurrant cordial slowly over the back of a bar spoon so it sinks. Garnish with the lime wedge.
Tequila brings heat and a little pepper, and a spicy ginger beer covers most of that on its own. The salt does the rest, so the drink tastes sharp instead of sweet. Look for blackcurrant cordial near the juices or in the British foods section. A little goes a long way.
💡 Answer to Trivia Question:
True.
The Kir is named after Félix Kir, mayor of Dijon in Burgundy, who lived from 1876 to 1968. Before that the drink was called blanc-cassis, crème de cassis topped with white wine, traditionally Bourgogne Aligoté. After World War II, Kir was an early champion of twinning French towns with towns abroad, and he served blanc-cassis at receptions for the visiting delegations. That's how the drink picked up his name. He let one Dijon cassis maker use it, then gave the same right to their competitors (the history is here).
🏁 Closing Time
The pumpkins will stay on the porches through the end of the month, and the candy bowl will need filling at least once more.
Pick up one bottle of crème de cassis this weekend. Make the El Diablo. Then pour a splash of it into the last glass of white wine in the fridge and you've made a Kir. One bottle, two drinks, and it'll keep in the fridge for weeks.
Until next week,
Andrea
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This content is intended for readers of legal drinking age and is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Please drink responsibly.
