cointreau

Happy Halloween!

Growing careers and opportunities are built on education, and for Collectif 1806's Emily Arseneau, her journey through the hospitality industry has led to amazing twists and turns. A Louisiana native, Emily can create, craft conversations, and inspire. Her blend of radio DJ antics and studio art sensibilities, make her a prototypical, hard working hospitality veteran. With a wide array of bartending gigs under her belt, she leaves a massive impact on the Dallas cocktail scene while soon venturing to New York for her largest opportunity yet, National Brand manager for Collectif 1806- a group dedicated to best practices and education in the hospitality industry. We talk "Dig", Cointreau, and crazy facts this day in history. 

Putting the word “corpse” in anything you are going to consume is probably a mistake, but Corpse Revivers seem to have weathered any associations with dead stuff. When you look at the name closely you pick up right away that this cocktail is intended to clear out the cobwebs and get you right up out of your grave, er, bed I mean. This one is an old one showing up in newspapers in the mid-19th century as a pick-me-up with a notably unusual name. As we learned with the Old-Fashioned episode, people seemed to think cocktails were a good morning activity to get you going. Ah, the 19th century, where booze was the equivalent of coffee.

Known more as a class of drink, rather than a cocktail itself, there are still two very different recipes that survived. We end up with a Corpse Reviver #1 and a Corpse Reviver #2, showing that it didn’t really matter all that much what was in it as long as it was liquor and you could drink it in the morning.

Join us as we discuss why something with brandy in it might make you alert, rather than warm and sleepy. We also delve into the faux pas of burying the living who were thought to be dead, an invention to make sure the living could let you know they weren’t dead, and the man behind the innovation.

Corpse Reviver #1 is an American version that is
2 parts cognac
1 part apple brandy or Calvados
1 part sweet vermouth

Corpse Reviver #2
3/4 ounce gin
3/4 ounce lemon juice
3/4 ounce Cointreau (triple sec)
3/4 ounce Lillet
1 dash absinthe

Anyway, we tried both and they have no similarity except that they are alcoholic beverages.

The first thing I learned about this cocktail is that when you tell the story of the Margarita you have to tell the story of tequila.  Because tequila was virtually unheard of prior to the 1930s, there are no mixed drinks using it in the time period when most cocktails would earn their classification as classics. The first form of tequila is the beverage pulque, derived from the mashed and fermented maguey plant that grows only in Mexico. The tradition of making pulque is pre-Columbian and nearer its origin the drink was used in spiritual rites by priests and medicinally for the elderly. Pulque is not an easily approachable drink having a relatively high viscosity and being characterized as tasting like vomit. Distilled it becomes what we know as tequila. Though it made an appearance in 1893 at the World's Fair in Chicago, tequila didn't become really known until it was popularized in Mexico by post-Mexican Revolution cinema, where it was recognized as the drink of choice for Mexican revolutionaries, so chosen because it was a distilled beverage that wouldn't spoil while traveling long distances, unlike pulque. And, of course, prohibition introduced tequila to more Americans in the southwest than ever before. So tequila doesn't make it into print in any cocktail recipe books until 1937 when the Cafe Royal Cocktail Book, curated by the UK Bartenders Guild, finally featured it in several drinks. The Margarita cocktail itself has so many unverifiable origin stories one has to change what origin means. Every single origin story we found has no proof to support it and one is literally as likely as any other given the timing and location. Who made the Margarita and where is completely lost to time.  However, what we can say with some confidence is that even though he definitely did not invent the Margarita, Victor Bergeron popularized the drink in the 60s and 70s and made it a cocktail that every Mexican food joint and cocktail bar had to know how to make. In that sense, I give Trade Vic the credit for turning the Margarita into a household name. What’s in it:

• 1.5 oz tequila


• 1.5 oz Cointreau


• 1.5 oz lime juice


• Salt around the rim

Today, I'd say that the Margarita is the classic cocktail that everybody has had before, in fact, as we sat down and discussed the cocktail, Rachel told me they all had Margaritas the previous weekend. It's the kind of cocktail people just whip up at home and enjoy. At the Brixton, Michael made us a couple of versions, one that you might see today and one that is a little more traditional. It was interesting to hear everybody's take on each version, one being just a delicious drink and the other seemingly taking on the mantle of a more complex, flavorful cocktail. We pretty much decided they were the best Margaritas we'd ever had, though since we're all familiar with them, not particularly surprising.  All in all, good drinks and happy to change it up with something south of the border for once. Because the show is "not just history of cocktails, but history through cocktails" we did spend some time giving a brief description of the who, what and why of the Mexican Revolution, something I personally knew nothing about until I looked into it because of its connection to tequila and how it grew to prominence as the national drink of Mexico. Since none of us are actual historians, I'd like to say that if anyone has better information they would like to provide in regard to the cocktails we research or the histories we talk about, please contact us. We'd be happy to share your insights and perspectives as well.

This episode was really great to create.  There is a ton of post WWI information that we learned and some surprising technological developments we learned of from that time.  But not only that, we had a lot of fun and tried a really great, truly classic cocktail. Jason nailed the origins of this drink pretty succinctly.  This drink is often attributed to Paris barman Harry McElhone, as he was essentially the "bartender of the Lost Generation."  This is an American GI post-WWI cocktail, and it is well known that many Lost Generation cocktails came out of Harry's New York Bar in Paris, but in this case, Harry himself, further attested to by Robert Vermeire of the Embassy Club, admits that the Sidecar was first created by Patrick McGarry of the Buck's Club.  Seems pretty certain to me who made the drink.  It is attributed to Mr. McElhone because it became a standard at his bar which also featured the French 75 and the Boulevardier, also American favorites. We were stumped when we tried to ascertain, however, why the drink was named as such.  Kevin knows motorcycles and he jumped in with an explanation of how a motorcycle with a sidecar is an entirely different experience than driving a motorcycle without one.  The addition of the sidecar changes the need for balance, which is actually pretty challenging to manage alone, but then if the sidecar ever lifts from the ground in a turn, the vehicle becomes two wheeled again and the balance shifts suddenly.  In other words, a sidecar can fuck you up (which is essentially the same reason as the name for the French 75). What’s in it:

• 1 oz brandy


• 1 oz Cointreau


• 1 oz lemon juice

This was a simple, solid, delicious cocktail.  We all liked it.  Nicole pointed out that the version we had Michael make us from the book was the French version.  Michael made us another version we all loved equally well if not more that had an ounce more brandy, and half as much Cointreau and lemon juice each and he put powdered sugar on the rim.  It was a lovely cocktail and added more of a boozy kick.  Some of us even considered that this drink might be something we will order with some regularity.  It has the qualities which have made the true classic cocktails: It's easy to make and it tastes good. Near the end of the show, Bethany became distracted by dogs riding in sidecars.  For those of you who want to see dogs riding in sidecars...wearing goggles no less...here is the documentary to which she was referring:  Sit, Stay, Ride