A Cocktail With A Crust

Joseph Santini was a pioneer in mixology. He was born in 1804 in Corsica but moved to New Orleans in the 1830s. He started his bartending career at the then famous City Exchange where he soon showed his skills and innovations behind the bar.

Mr Santini’s is most well known creation was made during the 1850s. He called it the Brandy Crusta. This classic cocktail was either created at the City Exchange or at another bar called Jewel of the South, a bar he started in 1852. It first appeared in print in Jerry Thomas’ Bartender’s Guide from 1862. The cocktail was a departure from the much simpler cocktails of the day and so it was very well received.

A Crusta isn’t actually just one cocktail, it is a type of cocktails. Crustas always contains a spirit, lemon juice and sugar, sometimes in the form of a liqueur. In fact the name Crusta comes from the sugar rim that is supposed to be applied hours in advance to make it into a dry crust. Apart from that they are always supposed to be served in stemmed glasses with a long lemon zest spiraling around the inside of the glass.

Despite being one of the many classic cocktails created in New Orleans the Brandy Crusta was as good as forgotten until David Wondrich published the recipe in his 2007 book Imbibe! Finally the Brandy Crusta and Joseph Santini made a comeback and today the drink is almost as easy to come by as the Ramos Fizz and the Sazerac. At least in New Orleans.

Brandy Crusta

2 parts Brandy
1/4 part Orange Curaçao
1/4 part Maraschino
1/2 part Lemon juice
1/2 part Sugar syrup
1 Dash Angustura bitters
1 Lemon spiral

Wet the glass with lemon juice. Rim it with sugar and set aside. Shake the ingredients until well chilled. Place the lemon spiral inside the glas. Strain the cocktail into the prepared glass.

Italy at Random

In a world of Italian design mobilità studio has illustrated a series of products all being part of making Italy into the world leader in design that it is. All products are genuine design icons form the gondola bow iron first mentioned in the 11th century to Cini Boeri’s Ghost Chair made from a single sheet of glass in 1987.

On Friday April 28 you are more than welcome to join me at the Sempre Coffee Bar on Jakobsbergsgatan 7 in Stockholm when the new exhibition Italy at Random opens at 5 pm.

If you have any other designs or random products from Italy (or other parts of the world) that you think should be part of the collection please tell me and they just might find their way onto your wall, a pretty great place to enjoy world class design.

The Perfect Brunch Cocktail – Mimosa

Whether you go straight for the eggs benedict, the huevos rancheros, the chicken waffles or a short stack it is hard to imagine a brunch without a Mimosa or two.

The Mimosa, essentially a fruitier Buck’s Fizz, was created in 1925 by a bartender called Frank Meier at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. (Buck’s Fizz was first made in 1921 at the Buck’s Club in London). The Mimosa calls for equal measures of Champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice served over ice whilst the Buck’s Fizz uses 1 part orange juice to 2 parts Champagne without the ice.

Some suggest the Mimosa was first made in San Francisco in the 1940’s by none other than Sir Alfred Hitchcock. A story that isn’t very likely since it first appeared in Frank Meier’s own cocktail book ”Artistry of Mixing Drinks” in 1936. That said Hitchcock did make the Mimosa popular in the US making it the brunch cocktail we know and love.

The Smoke Champagne glass was designed by Joe Colombo in 1964.

Mimosa

2 parts Champagne

2 parts orange juice

Pour half the Champagne into ice-filled glass. Then pour the orange juice and finally the rest of the Champagne. Stir gently. Garnish with a half orange wheel.

December 16 – Spritz Veneziano

The Spritz Veneziano, also known as Aperol Spritz, originated around the 19th century in Venice. The Hapsburg soldiers that occupied the area thought the Venetian wines were too strong in alcohol so they started adding a spritz of water to the wine. At the turn of the nineteenth century, soda water was added instead of water and during the 1920s and 1930s a bitter was included, making it a real cocktail. Not until the 1990s Prosecco was finally added to the Spritz Veneziano.

The glass, called Smoke, was designed by Joe Colombo in 1964 and was made to make it easier to hold your cigarette and your glass in the same hand.

December 12 – Avivation

The Aviation was invented by Hugo Ensslin and made its first appearance in his self-published book ”Recipes for Mixed Drinks” in 1916. Originally the cocktail included crème de violette alongside Maraschino liqueur but being hard to come by (and the fact that many found it tasting like hand soap) the violet liqueur was omitted in the classic Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930.
The cocktail glass Sferico was designed in 1968 by the Italian designer Joe Colombo who also made the Smoke glass.