The Old Fashioned: This Week’s Retro Cocktail Recipe

With Season Six of MAD MEN in full swing, I thought I’d (finally) feature the favorite cocktail of Creative Director Don Draper,

The Old Fashioned

Truly old fashioned, this drink has roots that go back to the early 1800s when, according to some historians, the “cock tail” was a drink made with liquor, water, sugar and a few drops of bitters. It’s been said that the addition of citrus came during prohibition, to hide the taste of cheap booze.

The version that Don drinks was the cocktail that dominated swanky lounges and corner bars alike, a cool combination of rye whiskey, bitters and soda with citrus. This is the Old Fashioned that we’ve come to expect, and love. If you want an older version of the Old Fashioned, leave out the citrus and the soda.

Ingredients

1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
2 teaspoons water
1 strip lemon zest
1 small wedge orange
2 maraschino cherries
Ice, as needed
2 ounces rye (or Bourbon. Bourbon is a little sweeter. Canadian Club has a lot of rye, and works very well)
Club soda
Cherry for garnish

Don Draper pondering his favorite booze

Add the sugar cube to the bottom of an old fashioned glass, then add the water and bitters to it. Place the lemon zest, orange wedge and one cherry in the glass. Use a bar spoon to gently muddle the cube into the liquids so the sugar will begin to dissolve. (Note: Some people prefer to leave out the cherry). Use the back of the spoon to coat the bottom sides of the glass with the mixture. Throw a couple of cubes in the glass and top with bourbon and club soda and stir well. Top with a cherry and an orange slide on the rim.

There are tons of variations on the Old Fashioned. In fact, you can use any booze you want, with varying degrees of success. Of course, there even more modern Old Fashioneds…Recently on a trip to Sonoma, I had one made with “local Bourbon” (which isn’t really Bourbon if it’s made in California), and no cherry. It was very good, and the bartender took pride in making it.

So if you want to impress your vintage-diggin’ pals, or show a skirt that you know how to order a cocktail with plenty of pizzaz, memorize this recipe and make yourself an expert at throwing one together. You’ll have the chicks (or kats, whatever’s your thing) eating out of your hand.

-Tiki Chris P, Reporting from the Tiki Bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, the interwebs’ favorite B-lounge for retro fun stuff and Tiki Talk.

“Murder Under The Boards: The Atlantic City Paranormal Mystery” by Christopher Pinto now available!

Murder Under The Boards by Christopher Pinto now available

ATTENTION MID-CENTURY NOIR MYSTERY LOVERS!

It’s here: The third novel in the Detective Bill Riggins series, “Murder Under The Boards: The Atlantic City Paranormal Mystery” by author Christopher Pinto (that’s me) is now available in print and for Kindle download at Amazon.com!

For those of you who follow my books, you’ll be thrilled by this new supernatural noir adventure featuring our intrepid NYC cop, Lieutenant Detective Bill Riggins. In this book, which takes place in 1957 with flashbacks to the 20s and flash-forwards to 1982, Riggins finds himself staying at the world famous Marlborough-Blenheim hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. It’s only a matter of hours before he encounters a ghostly apparition in his room…and finds out one of his best friends from childhood has been murdered in cold blood under the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Fast cars, cool jazz, hot dames, steamy summer nights,  a serial killer, a secret network and more ghosts than Hackney’s has lobsters, “Murder Under The Boards” is the perfect book for people who dig the mid-century scene. From the world famous Steel Pier to Lucy the Margate Elephant, this book is packed with cool and fun stuff from Atlantic City’s colorful past.

Available through Amazon.com for Kindle for only $3.99, this 300-page book will keep you guessing till the last sentence! Print version also available to Tiki Lounge Talk readers at a 10% discount. Visit www.StarDustMysteries.com for more details and buying options.

Huge Tiki Party in Fort Lauderdale - Benefit for Preston Weber - Jr. World FireKnife Champion

Preston Weber performing his FireKnife routine.

If you’re in the Fort Lauderdale area on Sunday, April 28, swing by the 5-Points Lounge for a very special Tiki fundraiser.

Dubbed the “Sunday Aloha Fun-Raiser”, proceeds from this show put on by Polynesian Proud Productions will benefit Preston Weber, 14 year-old Jr. World FireKnife Champion and Fort Lauderdale local. Preston will be flying out to Hawaii in May to defend his title, and this fundraiser is to help him get there.

The event will feature Polynesian music, live Tahitian drumming of Uhi Api, PolyProud performance, beautiful Hula, RONIN TAIKO (Featuring Marina The Fire Eating Mermaid drumming), special guest performers, $5 Hawaiian Plate Lunch sponsored by the NEW Florida Hawaiian Civic Association, island treats by way of Kauai, from DelaCruz Delights and Onolicious Cakes by Kathleen.

This event is open to the public, and any donations at the door are greatly appreciated. There will also be raffles and prizes, so throw on your best Aloha shirt and swing down to the 5-Points Lounge, 2608 South Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, Fl. There is Free parking in back of building.

5-Points is located at the KREEPY TIKI PLAZA, “Home of South Florida’s only 20ft. Hula Girl landmark”. Kreepy Tiki Tattoo is a very kool place for vintage & Tiki lovers. They are not only kool kats and kittens who ink some very impressive tattoos, they also carry some vintage clothing and goodies, and have Tiki-esque art by local artists including one of my favorites, De Tiki.

PRESTON WEBER has been performing since he was 10 years old at the Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale. He won his first Jr. World FireKnife Championship at 11 (2010), then skipped a year to audition for America’s Got Talent where he placed 49th out of 100,000 auditioned acts. Preston won his 2nd Jr World Championship title at 13 (2012). He is now 14 and looking for his third win! Congratulations and best of luck to Preston…break a leg!

-Tiki Chris P, Tiki Lounge Talk

MAD MEN Season 6 Premiers Tonight, April 6

Are you ready for MAD MEN?

Wow…we’ve been waiting and waiting, and finally it’s here: MAD MEN Season six, where we (may or may not) find out whether Don has been faithful to Megan, where Peggy ends up, and how the agency goes on in the wake of Lane’s departure.

But what we’re really looking at is this poster.

Man, does this thing WREAK of late 60s-into=the=70s style or what? I feel this is an omen…actually a blatant sign that the MAD MEN that we’ve loved for the last several years is done. We’re in a new era, moving away from thin ties and bachelor pad music and easy chicks who waited on men as pretty servants, to the era of social unrest, acid rock, outrageous fashion and liberated women.

Assuming this season kicks off in 1967 (or possible 68), we’ll probably see longer hair on the men, shorter hair on the women and the widening of ties and lapels that will eventually look like men are wearing paisley bibs. This is a different part of American pop history and culture…innocence gone, tailfins on cars gone, jazz and big bands gone. It’s the era where “good” music is defined as music that sounds good when you’re high, when putting curse words in movies makes them “hip”, and when teenagers lived like there was no tomorrow because, it was factual, with the draft and the Vietnam war, there very well might not have been.

Hollywood Sign, late 1960s. Yes, this really happened.

Boo hoo. It’s a drag, but the show has to progress. It’s how it’s always been, jumping a year or two each season. Hell, it started in 1959…the figurative “beginning of the end” of the mid-century pop era. But we’ll watch, and we’ll love it, even if Don sports a mustache, sideburns and a green velour sport jacket. Remember, this is the era where “Midnight Cowboy” one best picture, even with an X rating. The era when Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy where gunned down. The era when Nixon became president, and Jimmy Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner on his electric guitar. Frank Sinatra and Elvis both made “comebacks”. Crime in New York was at an all time high, poverty was crushing our cities, Fort Lauderdale was known for Spring Break arrests and Miami was mainly a retirement community. The “Hollywood” sign was in grave decay, and no one cared. And we were only a few years away from Disco.

Ah, what a time.

Oh, and about that poster: Doesn’t it remind you of some of the old TV Guide covers from 40+ years ago? It should, it’s been created by 75-year-old illustrator Brian Sanders, who created a lot of advertising artwork from the era.

MAD MEN season six premiers tonight, April 7, 9pm/8 c. on AMC.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the Television viewing room at Tiki Lounge Talk

Rum Swizzle - Your Weekend Tiki Bar Cocktail Recipe

Rum Swizzle

As the saying goes, Thank God It’s Friday. Been a long week here in paradise, getting up early for some annoying thing called “work”, dealing with insane clients, formatting by newest book and feeling sorry for Wahini Colleen, who got attacked by a deranged pussycat (she actually got some pretty deep scratches on her face and head, but she’ll be ok).

If anyone needs a belt this weekend, it’s me. So I looked around for a cool recipe, and didn’t have to search far to find

The Rum Swizzle

Bermuda’s official national cocktail.

This drink is not only tasty, it’s easy to make and has enough ingredients in it to fully appreciate the fun of making a real cocktail. It’s also the kind of drink you can spruce up with lots of garnish, including the old standbys pineapple, lemon, orange, and cherry. Or go crazy and add candied fruit and a hunk of sugar cane. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have a nice cabana chair facing the ocean when you’re ready to drink this one down.

4 oz. Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
 (has to be Gosling’s to be official)

4 oz. amber rum

2 oz. triple sec

5 oz. pineapple juice

5 oz. 
Orange juice

Juice of two fresh lemons

2 oz. Falernum

4 dashes bitters

Throw everything into a shaker and shake it up until it’s nice a frothy. Strain into a hurricane glass and garnish. This drink should not be served over the rocks and definitely not with crushed ice. You don’t want to water this down.

Aloha!

-Tiki Chris reporting from the Tiki Bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, everybody’s favorite Blounge for conversing over exotic cocktails.