The tragic events in Nice, France during this past Bastille Day caused me to postpone my post on the French 75. But with the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of Paris from the Nazis occurring on August 25, it was time to bring back the French 75.
The mention of the French 75 reminds me of the scene in Casablanca where Yvonne (Madeleine Lebeau) arrives with a Nazi officer and orders a row of French 75's. She indirectly starts a fight between the German officer and a French policeman/officer, who while sitting at the bar takes exception to Yvonne and her companion.
This scene is followed by what I find to be one of the most emotional and powerful scenes in a movie. A group of Nazi German officers singing Die Wacht Am Rhein stirs the patrons of Rick's Cafe American, led by Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid), to stand and sing La Marseillaise. The scene gives me goosebumps every time. Fast forward to August 25, 1944 and the liberation of Paris. Can you imagine how La Marseillasie was echoing off the buildings in Paris on that day? Vive la France indeed. Back to the cocktail at hand.
While at first the Prosecco dominates the cocktail. The gin and lemon juice subtly come up to the surface. The cocktail is very light and enjoyable. I can see why someone told me they prefer to have these during brunch as opposed to standard Mimosas and Bellinis. This got me wondering what the cocktail would be like with a French Cognac substituting the Gin as is often done. That I will do in a future post. Here I go again letting the world what I think about the French 75 on my SiscoVanilla YouTube channel:
The next cocktail I made was in honor of National Whisky Sour Day, which incidentally was a Whisky Sour. Imagine that. LOL. For this cocktail, I decided to use Crown Royal Canadian Whisky. Here is the recipe:
This version of the Whisky Sour is interesting. Some people are very iffy when it comes to using egg whites in a cocktail. If you don't want to use the egg white, then don't. What you will have is a cocktail that has less head and isn't as silky as one with egg white. I can have it either way. But what you don't want is to have a Whisky Sour that has just whisky and sour mix off the speed gun that some bars insist is a Whisky Sour.
You should never settle on such a cocktail that is simple to make. It takes a little effort to extract the egg whites but once you do, you'll have a cocktail that is smooth and has a nice head (as the picture indicates). The citrus and sugar melds very nicely with the whisky. It melded so nicely that I had two more sans egg whites. Definitely play around with different whiskies. A nice spicy rye might add a different layer of flavor to your Whisky Sour. Hmmm, that's actuallly not a bad idea.
Here are my thoughts on the Whisky Sour from my SiscoVanilla YouTube channel:
Next on the classic cocktail highlight reel is the timeless classic: The Tom Collins.
You really can't wrong with Gin, Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup and Carbonated Water. And you would think that you really can't screw this cocktail up. But like I mention with the Whisky Sour, some bars will make you a "Tom Collins" by using Gin, Lemon Juice or Sour Mix and Sprite or 7-up. That's not a Tom Collins. That's just a Gin, Lemon/Sour Mix and Sprite/7-up.
The Tom Collins is arguably one of the most refreshing cocktails ever invented and you should never have a half ass, bootleg version of the Tom Collins. Period. Have it made with fresh ingredients or go somewhere else that will make it fresh rather than off the gun. Here is my video thoughts of the Tom Collins:
I'll get off of my soapbox now. Part III will be a single cocktail post. For that one, I will make the Love Boat inspired cocktail named the Isaac Cocktail. Look out for it.
Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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