Last night I was faced with a dilemma. I was in the mood for a cocktail but we were completely out of gin. It also didn't help that we had no lemons or limes in the house either. It was my own fault. I'd been in more of a beer (homebrewed English style mild ale) and Irish whiskey (Powers-regular label) mood of late, so I'd let my bar supplies lapse. So I put away my Vintage Cocktail guide and opened my trusty Bartenders Bible and looked for something I could make with the ingredients I had at hand.
To my surprise I found a simple recipe I hadn't tried before, so I gave it a whirl. All it called for was 1 and 1/2 oz. light rum and 1 oz. sweet vermouth. Stir it with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. It had a nice golden brown color and it was absolutely delicious. The herbal qualities of the vermouth were pronounced without being too much, and the bite of the alcohol was just right. In fact, this was exactly the sort of cocktail I have been looking for. Something interesting enough that I could turn to it again and again, AND simple enough that I would never forget how to make it if I came upon a less than knowledgeable bartender. It was perfect.
Except for one thing. The name of the drink is a bit of a problem. It is called A Little Princess, and no matter how hard I try I just cannot imagine myself walking up to the bar and proudly calling out, "Give me a Little Princess my good man!" I do not think of myself as someone drowning in his sense of machismo...but there it is all the same.
So it looks like I will have to drink my Little Princesses in the privacy of my own home.
5 comments:
Go into a bar and order an Iconic Midwest. When the bartender gives you a puzzled look laugh at his ignorance and say "1 and 1/2 oz. light rum and 1 oz. sweet vermouth. Stir it with ice and strain into a cocktail glass."
If he wants a tip, he'll make the drink and he won't point out that a similar one exists called A Little Princess.
Problem solved.
That's brilliant!
I wonder if there is a Nobel Prize for a "drink enabler."
There ought to be.
What Constance said. It's that, or re-naming it something obscene. And I am NOT going there....in public.
Of course, when I go into a bar and order a Tully, I get Tullamore Dew. Not that I'm complaining!
But what could more obscene than "Little Princess" really?
"I'm gonna wet my whistle with some Little Princesses tonight."
They'd put me away.
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