Episode 61: Golden Cadillac

  • 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.

Episode 48: the Pink Squirrel

  • 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."

Episode 23: Ramos Gin Fizz

  • 1 egg white

  • 2 oz. Old Tom gin

  • 2 to 3 tsp powdered sugar (to taste)

  • ½ oz. lemon juice

  • ½ oz. lime juice

  • 3-4 drops orange blossom water (plus more for garnish)

  • 1 oz. heavy cream

  • 3 drops real vanilla extract (optional garnish)

  • Orange twist garnish (optional) 

1.    Place egg white in the bottom of a cocktail shaker tin. Add gin, sugar, lemon & lime juices, & orange blossom water. Shake vigorously for at least two minutes. (This is a DRY shake, do not add ice yet or it will melt and water down the drink.)

2.    Add heavy cream and plenty of ice. Shake for about 15 seconds more, or until the drink feels icy cold in your hands.

3.    Add about 1 ½ oz soda water to the bottom of an 8-10 oz collins glass. Slowly strain the cocktail into the glass. You want the glass to be full, but you don’t want the foam to come over the top of the glass.

4.    Allow the cocktail to sit for at least one minute, then stick a straw through the center of your cocktail and gently push it all the way to the bottom of the glass a few times to make a hole for more soda. Remove the straw and slowly add a thin stream of soda water until the meringue foam rises about an inch or two above the glass.

5.    Garnish with another drop or two of orange blossom water, 3 drops of vanilla extract, and an orange twist.

6.    Add a fresh straw to the center of the drink just before serving.

ramosfizz

The Ramos Gin Fizz was created in 1888 by Henry Charles Ramos at the Imperial Cabinet Saloon in New Orleans. It was an instant hit, and before long the bar was often filled with 20 bartenders and "shaker boys" dedicated to making Ramos Gin Fizzes.

In his Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em, Stanley Clisby Arthur writes, "the corps of busy shaker boys behind the bar was one of the sights of the town during Carnival, and in the 1915 Mardi Gras, 35 shaker boys nearly shook their arms off, but were still unable to keep up with the demand."

It’s no wonder it was so hard to keep up with demand, as the original instructions say that you’re supposed to shake the cocktail for 12 entire minutes to the get the foam right. Thankfully modern bartenders have found a much more efficient way to froth the egg whites in only 2 minutes. The instructions are still a bit complicated and time consuming, but this cocktail is so delicious you’ll be glad you made the effort. The end result is rich and creamy but oddly light at the same time. The flavor is almost like an orange creamsicle all grown up.

Most modern recipes call for simple syrup, but the original used powdered sugar so that’s what we went with. The addition of vanilla extract is a bit controversial. Some say it was Ramos’ secret ingredient, while others insist that he never used it. I think it adds something though, but you’re free to leave it out.

This cocktail also sometimes known as the New Orleans Fizz, and fun fact, Huey P. Long was said to have been a big fan. Some people think of it as a morning drink because the cream and egg white fill and line your stomach while the gin is a bit of the hair of the dog.