creme de cacao — The Cocktails

1.5 ounce Galliano
1.5 ounce crème de cacao
1.5 ounce heavy cream*

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake until frosty and stain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.

*NOTE: You can used coconut cream in place of heavy cream in the same proportion if desired.

The Golden Cadillac (or sometimes just Gold Cadillac) calls for Galliano which is a sweet Italian liqueur flavored with anise, herbs, and vanilla. This sweet and creamy cocktail was invented at a roadside bar in El Dorado, California called Poor Red’s BBQ. According to Poor Red’s website, they invented the cocktail in 1952 when a newly engaged couple came in to celebrate their engagement. They asked bartender Frank Klein to create a special cocktail just for them that would match their brand-new purchased gold-colored Cadillac parked outside. He tried a few things and eventually decided on this sweet creamy cocktail shaken until frothy. He decided to serve them their cocktail in two different glasses, a champagne coupe glass to signify its celebratory nature for her, and a more manly and masculine sidecar glass for him. To this day, when you order a Golden Cadillac at Poor Red’s, they serve it to you in two glasses.

Poor Red’s became famous for the drink throughout the 50s, and eventually Galliano noticed how high sales had climbed in Northern California, and decided to find out what was going on. They eventually ran an advertising campaign with a Golden Cadillac recipe from 1964 to 1967. From there, the drink became famous around the world.

Side note, if you’re not a dairy fan, you can still drink a Golden Cadillac. In the 1970s a bar in the East Village started selling them made with Coconut Cream instead of Heavy Cream, and their version became so popular that many recipes online today call for coconut cream.

1 oz White Crème de Cacao
1 oz Crème de Noyaux
2 oz Heavy cream
Freshly grated nutmeg for garnish

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake until frosty and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

In the 1970s, cream-based cocktails were taking the country by storm. There was the white Russian, the Brandy Alexander, the Grasshopper, the Golden Cadillac, and of course, the Pink Squirrel.

This sweet and creamy cocktail is made with heavy cream, white crème de cacao, and a deep red French almond flavored liqueur called Crème de Noyaux which gives the cocktail a delicate pale pink color when combined with the heavy cream. Invented in the 1940s by Bryant Sharp at Bryant's Cocktail Lounge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it may have originally called for ice cream rather than heavy cream. In the 50’s it was often served at Wisconsin supper clubs, old-school restaurants best known for their meat-and-potato prix fixe menus. These supper clubs were also known for serving boozy milkshake cocktails, so the Pink Squirrel fit right in.

In the 60s though, heavy cream was swapped for the ice cream, and that’s when the Pink Squirrel made it out of Wisconsin and into bars across the country. By the 70s, it was everywhere, and it stayed popular through the 90s. The cocktail was mentioned by name in the 1988 Tom Cruise movie Cocktail, and in several 1990s sitcoms, like Roseanne, Ellen, & The Nanny.

Eventually, the Pink Squirrel faded into obscurity but today it’s actually having a bit of a resurgence in young hip bars across the country. When asked about the Pink Squirrel, the bar manager at Xanadu, the rooftop bar at the McCarren Hotel in Williamsburg Brooklyn, said, "Being in New York at the time of this Prohibition revival was great, and it was great to enjoy these beautiful classic cocktails of that era, but now it's fun to enjoy these cool drinks that were popular in the 70s and 80s. The Pink Squirrel is sort of one of those cocktails that our mothers drank when they were in college. It's one of those late-70s, trendy cocktails that people were drinking in New York especially."