Thirsty Thursday: The Coco Chanel

Hello Vintage-istas!

We're officially in the "Dog Days" of Summer, but today marks the opening of our vintage clothing shop, 5th Street Vintage, in Beatrice, Nebraska! The shop is hosting a "Little Black Dress" party as part of its grand opening, so what better cocktail to choose for this evening than a drink named after the inventress of the great LBD: Coco Chanel!

It's no secret that Coco Chanel's favorite drink was champagne, but because there isn't much mixing involved in whipping up a flute of champagne we had to do a bit of online searching for Coco-tails! There are a number of cocktails named after Coco, but we chose a somewhat obscure version for our series this week. This particular recipe hasn't much of a history to it, but its simple yet decadent nature matches perfectly the character of such a simple woman who led an elegant but complicated life. Coco was not a lady to shy away from adding flair and decadence to everyday life, yet understood when an occasion called for something simple and understated.

With this in mind, let's take a look at our ingredients:

• 1.5 oz gin
• 1.5 oz coffee liqueur
• 1.5 oz half-and-half
• Costume jewelry for garnish (yes, you read that correctly!)

Preparation:

Begin by combining gin, a coffee liqueur (such as Kahlua), and half-and-half cream in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously until ice crystals begin to form around the exterior of the shaker. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a piece of costume jewelry! Coco Chanel was a champion of costume jewelry as an affordable substitute for the real thing, so we thought it would be a fitting tribute! If you're not feeling so adventurous, opt for a cherry or a couple of raspberries skewered on a toothpick instead.

Recommended accompaniment:

To accompany your Coco, we recommend "La Javanaise" by contemporary French Singer/Songwriter Madeleine Peyroux. We can't be sure, but something tells us Peyroux's distinctly French, dégager style would have appealed to Coco; it certainly makes us miss France! So enjoy this decadent cocktail and we'll see you again next week!

Until next drink,

Jerron J.

Thirsty Thursday: The Raspberry Rickey

Hello Vintage-istas!

This week we're bringing you a fruity version of a cocktail whose history dates back to the 1880s. "The Raspberry Rickey" is sure to help cool you down on these hot July evenings...or afternoons! Who are we here at The Vintage Chanteuse to judge?

The "Rickey" is a drink which originated in its traditional form in Washington D.C., likely named after Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey. Originally, this cocktail's base spirit was bourbon, but as Americans eventually began to overcome their fear of the red coats, gin became a widely popular American spirit and people began to substitute gin instead of bourbon! Nowadays (as is often the case with gin-based cocktails), vodka may also be substituted, as it is here. First up, our ingredients:

• 1.5 oz vodka
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• .5 oz Chambord raspberry liqueur
• Soda water
• A few raspberries
• A lime wedge, for granish

Preparation: Begin by muddling raspberries in bottom of highball glass. Next, add ice, along with remaining ingredients and stir gently until raspberry pulp mixes thoroughly. Finally, garnish with a couple of whole raspberries and a lime wedge, and enjoy!

Recommended Accompaniment:

 

  
The "Rickey" makes countless pop culture appearances, perhaps most notably in The Great Gatsby and in the opening lines of the timeless Glenn Miller tune "Jukebox Saturday Night!" Now sit back, relax, and allow yourself to be transported to another period in history on a hot summer's day!

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Thirsty Thursday: American Beauty

Hello Vintage-istas!

Welcome to another installment of Thirsty Thursday! Keeping with our week-long Independence Day theme, we are going to show you how to make The Vintage Chanteuse's unique take on a truly "red, white, & blue" cocktail titled "The American Beauty."

 

If you search on the web for "American Beauty cocktail," you will actually find quite an array of different cocktails, with base spirits ranging from gin, vodka, and even brandy. The version we're sharing is steeped with a bit of irony, using London dry gin (from whom we gained our independence, of course!). This gives us our "white," and the "red and blue" comes from the muddled raspberries and blueberries! Let's take a look at our ingredients:

• 1.5 oz gin
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1 oz simple syrup
• 3 raspberries
• 3 blueberries
• Mint leaves
• Splash of brut sparkling wine
• Berries for garnish

Preparation: Begin by muddling well the lemon juice, mint leaves and berries in bottom of shaker. Then, add ice and the remaining ingredients (save the sparkling wine) and shake well, until ice crystals form on exterior of shaker. Strain into a lowball filled with ice (ensuring the pulp from the berries makes it into the glass), top off with sparkling wine and garnish with a few extra berries skewed on a toothpick!

Accompaniment:

Mixing both our retro and Americana themes for this week's installment, we've chosen Ray Charles' timeless version of "America the Beautiful" as our recommended accompaniment. If you're like me, you grew up first hearing this song on the movie The Sandlot. Because of this, this version will forever be cemented in our minds as the quintessential 4th of July anthem. Until next week, stay safe and happy Independence Day!

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Thirsty Thursday: The Gin and Sin

Hi Vintage-istas! This week's cocktail is the Gin and Sin, a fabulously sweet and sinful cocktail from the roaring twenties! This Prohibition Era Cocktail was our drink of choice for our murder mystery party this past weekend and we think you will enjoy it just as much as we did.

Admittedly, the number of components to this delicious cocktail numbers greater than you will find in your average Vintage Chanteuse cocktail, but the effort will be worth it!

Let's take a look at the ingredients:

• 1.5 oz gin
• 1 oz lemon juice
• .5 oz orange juice
• .5 oz simple syrup
• Splash of grenadine
• Mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Before we look at this drink's instructions, its important to make sure you prepare your simple syrup first if you haven't any pre-made. In a small sauce pan, combine 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 cup boiling water, stirring until all sugar is dissolved. Then, remove pan from heat and allow to reduce into a syrup and cool.

Then you can proceed with the preparation:

In a cocktail shaker, combine all ingredients over ice and shake until ice crystals form around exterior of shaker. (You can see here, we chose to mix up a slightly larger batch to accommodate our party guests). Next, strain mix into cocktail glass, over ice if you wish, and garnish with a sprig of mint leaves.

Accompaniment:
Keeping with the murder mystery film noir theme, we recommend "Le jazz du Chambrioleur" from the French film Une vie de chat. Composed by living French composer Serge Besset. While not from the actual period, you will find this song has the perfect film noir feel to get you in the mood!

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Deadly Ever After

Hello Vintage-istas!

A day after our 3 day road trip from Connecticut to Nebraska, Yesterday's Lady hosted a murder mystery engagement party for my fiancé and me.  It was AMAZING! Here's a little sneak peak of our "Deadly Ever After" party.  The party was located in the Historic Schmuck Building in downtown Beatrice, NE.  We had a fairytale themed murder mystery game from host-party.com, which we gave a vintage feel by creating film noir costumes, retro cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, playing crime jazz softly in the background, and of course a dark and stormy evening to top off the ambiance. 

The dinner party was in three courses: Noshes (hors d'oeuvres), Dinner, and Dessert.  After each course, another clue was revealed to the guests.  We named each dish to appropriately fit our guests' characters. 

We decorated each table with vintage Nancy Drew Mystery books, vintage-inspired lamps, and black and white table cloths to tie the Film Noir theme together. 

When hosting guests, we ALWAYS use china plates, crystal glassware, and cloth napkins. It's an attention to the details that makes the guests feel special and pampered. We try to always use vintage tableware (even if they don't match!).

Our hors d'oeuvres were nestled amongst a vintage suitcase, candelabra, and a phone with a reference to Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder. 

We carefully planned each round of clues, with an announcement by our host Sherlock Holmes (my fiancé) and each clue was created to look like an old typewriter with Film Noir font. We supplied our guests with detective notebooks and pencils that we created using name tag labels and our pencils were engraved with Sherlock Holmes quotes such as "Sniff out the facts."

At the end of the evening, our guests were sent home with gift bags filled with dark roast coffee, dark chocolate biscotti, bookmarks, and literary love quote coffee mugs (which we made ourselves). Oh, and did I mention the evening was capped off with a ghost tour of the haunted Schmuck Building?!

The evening was a huge success. So much so we will be planning a Murder Mystery Party, open to the public in October. If you have ever considered attending a Murder Mystery Party, the historic Schmuck Building is a PERFECT place for a little murder...

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Thirsty Thursday: Scarlett O'Hara

Hello Vintage-istas,

We're taking a trip to Hollywood for this week's Thirsty Thursday by visiting a cocktail named after a character played by one of the 20th-century's most beloved silver screen starlets: The Scarlett O'Hara!

This drink's namesake comes from the lead character of one of the most successful films ever: Gone With the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara, played by Vivien Leigh.

While you can find cocktail names today that are long, clever, wacky, and even hysterical, early mixology prided itself in creating drinks and monikers that were simple and to the point. Thus, having a popular cocktail named after you was surely a highly flattering compliment and speaks to Vivien Leigh's forever-immortalized position within America's popular culture. The drink, like Scarlett, has a sweet and refreshing beauty to it. This cocktail even sports a luscious red hue a la Miss O'Hara's most famous dress in Gone With the Wind!

 

So, now that we have a bit of the history, let's get right into the nitty gritty of this sweet and refreshing drink:

• 2 oz Southern Comfort
• Cranberry Juice
• Splash of lime juice
• Splash of club soda (optional)
• Lime twist for garnish

Preparation:
In a highball filled with ice, pour two ounces of Southern Comfort. Next, top of glass with cranberry juice and a splash of lime. If desired, this cocktail has often traditionally included a splash of club soda for a little added spritz. Finally, stir gently and garnish with a twist of lime and enjoy!

Recommended accompaniment:

For some musical accompaniment, we recommend Glenn Miller's arrangement of a silver screen serenade released the exact same year as Gone With the Wind that quickly became one of the most famous songs in America, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Thirsty Thursday: Brandy Old Fashioned

Hello Vintage-istas,

For this week's Thirsty Thursday recipe, we are going to visit a drink that is considered to be one of the original "classic" cocktails. This drink is so classic, one of the most standard styles of bar glassware is named after it: The Old Fashioned.

By this definition, the Old Fashioned is rightfully regarded as the grandfather of all cocktails! While this drink's exact origin is a bit "muddled" (pun most certainly intended), it is an American cocktail in both history and character. In the bartender's bible, Mr. Boston, Anthony Giglio suggests that, "we can trace [the Old Fashioned] back to as far as 1806...in a popular New York publication called The Balance and Columbian Repository." In this publication, the term "cocktail" is officially defined for the first time ever in print, as "a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits...sugar, water, and bitters."

This drink has inspired its share of spinoff cocktails over its two-century life. Despite this, if you go into a bar and order an "Old Fashioned" any respectable bartender will whip you up something that largely conforms to the above definition. However, as the temperatures continue to rise outside, we here at The Vintage Chanteuse are always looking for ways to lighten our cocktails up a bit to keep with our summertime mood. So we've taken the whiskey out of the equation and instead have opted for brandy, which takes a little bit of the edge off of the drink while still delivering much of the drinks original character!

Keeping that in mind, let's take a look at what ingredients you'll need:

• 1.5 oz brandy
• 2 to 3 dashes of bitters
• Splash of club soda
• 1 Sugar cube
• Lemon twist for garnish
• Maraschino cherry (optional)

Preparation:
In the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass, muddle one sugar cube with a couple dashes of bitters and a splash of club soda. Next, add one shot of brandy and a couple of ice cubes, stir gently. Finally, top off with a cherry, garnish with a lemon, and enjoy!

Recommended accompaniment:

Enjoy your Old Fashioned alongside a truly American old fashioned, Glen Miller!

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Thirsty Thursday: The Dubonnet Cocktail

Hello Vintage-istas,

For this week's Thirsty Thursday installment, we're going to show you our slightly updated version of a classic and simple drink: the Dubonnet Cocktail! However, don't let yourself be fooled by this cocktail's surprising crispness. Although it is deliciously cool and refreshing, it is not for the faint of fortitude!

Part French, part English, this cocktail has a bit of a confused national identity. Its French half, Dubonnet, is the aperitif for which this cocktail is named. A wine-based drink that comes in either rouge, blanc, or gold (red, white, or gold, respectively) Dubonnet was created in 1846 by Joseph Dubonnet and can be enjoyed by itself, chilled, or as a feature ingredient in a number of cocktails. The English side of this cocktail is London dry gin. In particular, the Dubonnet cocktail is most famous for whom it is enjoyed by: England's Queen Elizabeth the Mother and now her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. While there are many ways this cocktail has been altered throughout its century and a half history--perhaps most notably the ratio of its two prime ingredients--its sheer simplicity is what makes this cocktail a favorite of ours whenever the occasion calls for an easy and cold cocktail!

 Here are the Ingredients:

1 part Dubonnet, chilled
1 part dry gin
Dash of bitters
Squeeze of fresh orange juice
Orange twist for garnish

Preparation:
Now, it is first important to briefly be introduced to the general evolution of this cocktail. In the early twentieth century, this drink was commonly served with a gin-to-Dubonnet ratio of 2-to-1. Throughout the middle of the century the ratio became 1-to-1 (as you may be able to see on our vintage mixing glass pictured above and below). Today, it is not uncommon to find the above ratio to be completely reversed to 1-to-2, as Queen Elizabeth II purportedly enjoys it. For us, we like to meet in the middle with a 1-to-1 ratio.

In a mixing glass, combine gin and chilled Dubonnet over ice. Then, add one dash of bitters for each serving. I really like using citrus-flavored bitters throughout summer months, so I have elected to go with orange bitters. Next, stir the drink gently and thoroughly with a bar spoon and set aside for a brief moment. Squeeze a small amount of fresh orange juice into the bottom of a chilled cocktail glass. You will often find recipes calling for lemon but because it is summer, I find using oranges (along with the orange bitters) gives this cocktail a refreshing update. Our version of this drink is really a mix between a Dubonnet Cocktail and a Tabby Cat. However, we elected for gin as opposed to vodka, so we are sticking with the Dubonnet moniker. Then, strain gin and Dubonnet mixture into the cocktail glass, which will automatically mix nicely with the squeeze of orange juice. Finally, garnish with an orange twist or slice (or lemon if you opt to stick with the more traditional form of this cocktail) and enjoy!

Recommended accompaniment:

Accompany this Franco-Anglo drink with a French classic, "C'est si bon," and enjoy!

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Thirsty Thursday...The Americano

Hello thirsty readers, welcome back for our second installment of Thirsty Thursday. This week, we're bringing you a classic cocktail that is sure to cool your jets as the temps begin to finally soar outside: The Americano!

This cocktail is believed to have originated by the creator of one of its key ingredients, Gaspare Campari, in Milan towards the end of the nineteenth century. Multiple theories exist, but it is thought to have been named affectionately for the Americans traveling to Italy who became rather attached to this sweet and bitter cocktail towards the beginning of the twentieth century. However, it was not until during prohibition that this cocktail really began to become a popular libation in the United States. Its popularity has since cooled down, so we here at Vintage Chanteuse feel its about time this pretty cocktail makes a comeback!

First we begin with our ingredients:

• 1 part Campari
• 1 part sweet vermouth
• Chilled club soda to finish
• Splash of freshly squeezed orange
• Lemon wedge for garnish
• Orange wedge for garnish

Preparation:
Begin by filling a Old Fashioned glass with ice and then add in the equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth. Fill the remainder of the glass with the cold club soda. Now, here's where my recipe differs a bit from traditional Americano recipes: I like to add a dash of freshly squeezed orange juice to the top, which create an even balance of sweet and bitter. Finally, garnish with lemon and orange wedges and, most importantly, enjoy!

Recommended accompaniment:

Until next week's cocktail, enjoy this Italian classic cocktail with a side of Dean Martin!

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse

Thirsty Thursday...The Sidecar!

Hi, Vintage Chanteuse here, and we are VERY excited to bring you our first blog post! We will be posting daily articles inspired by our experiences in classical music and vintage clothing. Oh, and another passion of ours is COCKTAILS! For our first installment of our Thirsty Thursday service, we would like to introduce you to THE SIDECAR:

With every cocktail we make, we LOVE to know the story behind it. This drink originated in Paris in the early twentieth century, named after a military gentleman who insisted upon arriving at Harry's New York Bar every night chauffeured in a motorcycle sidecar! Who does that?! One thing is for sure, after trying this recipe the only safe way for you to get home is to be chauffeured in your own sidecar!

Now let's make it! First we begin with the basic ingredients:

• 2 parts brandy
• 1 part triple sec
• 1 part fresh lemon juice
• lemon twist for garnish
• sugar for rimming (optional) 

Preparation:
First, apply sugar to rim of glass by slightly dampening the edges of the rim and then dipping glasses into sugar. We used lemon infused sugar, but regular sugar will suffice well. Next, combine brandy, triple sec, and freshly squeezed lemon juice in a mixer with ice and shake well until exterior of mixer becomes crystallized. Then, strain into a cocktail glass of your choosing. Tradition warrants a martini glass but we love our vintage low-balls that we snagged from a flea market a couple of years back, so we opted for character! Finally, garnish with a lemon twist and enjoy in your favorite vintage dress, but don't spill!

Recommended Accompaniment: 

We hope you enjoy this cocktail as much as we did! It's a wonderfully crisp citrus cocktail beckoning for warm Summer weather!

Salut!

The Vintage Chanteuse