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#1 2010-03-29 08:07:11

Taylor McIntyre
Son of Ivy...
Posts: 342

Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

Spoke to Ian Strachan the other day and he was in the mood to remember drinking Whisky Sours at the Algonquin with John Simons back in the day.

Sounded good to me.

I remember Martinis at The Savoy (The American Bar) with my Pa after work at one stage in my life. He would walk West from Watling Street & I'd walk East from Wardour Street for us to meet up & share a cab back to Chelsea...

What are your favourite hotel/drinks combinations?

It's all good!

 

#2 2010-03-29 09:05:11

Staceyboy
Ivy Archivist
Posts: 936

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

I recall some very nice Vodka Martinis in the downstairs piano bar of Scott's in Mayfair many moons ago. Could have spent all evening there but for the somewhat prohibitive prices! Paid JS a visit that particular day too I remember.

Staceyboy

Last edited by Staceyboy (2010-03-29 09:05:36)


http://thetownoutside.tumblr.com

 

#3 2010-03-29 09:42:32

adam!
The Future
Posts: 608

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

On a kind of related note, anybody know anything about 57 Greek St.??

 

#4 2010-03-29 10:20:34

Taylor McIntyre
Son of Ivy...
Posts: 342

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

Never been. Used to use The Dive Bar in Chinatown.

Is Jimmy's still going on Frith Street?

 

#5 2010-03-29 10:30:07

Avgvstvs
Member
Posts: 100

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

 

#6 2010-03-29 10:56:34

adam!
The Future
Posts: 608

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

 

#7 2010-03-29 11:34:35

Avgvstvs
Member
Posts: 100

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

Last edited by Avgvstvs (2010-03-29 11:34:55)

 

#8 2010-03-30 02:59:13

Horace
Member
Posts: 6433

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

Singapore Slings in Boston's Chinatown.  Horrible concoctions...


""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.

 

#9 2010-04-01 08:36:24

Sowtondevil
Member
From: Hurst, Berks
Posts: 152

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

 

#10 2010-04-01 08:50:06

Sowtondevil
Member
From: Hurst, Berks
Posts: 152

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

My tipple is a Rudi's cocktail - named after the Italian barman at the wine bar on the Kew Road in Richmond.  A Rudi comprises two parts Punt e Mes; one part brandy; ice, slice of orange, add some soda water to taste.  'Fingers' Stanley would serve generous measures of this from the cocktail bar of the Berkeley Hotel in the early 80's - a very pleasant but upmarket watering hole. I have not returned since 'Fingers' moved on - after allegedly having his fingers in the till.

D

 

#11 2010-05-20 03:31:54

zuckermandl
Member
Posts: 217

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

 

#12 2010-05-20 05:33:16

Taylor McIntyre
Son of Ivy...
Posts: 342

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

Easy, Z. -

You'll find that Mr. Devil was there back in the day!

wink

 

#13 2010-05-20 09:04:37

Quay
Member
From: the Gracious Days
Posts: 545

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

I love this topic. One of the last refuges for the old-school drinker, the hotel bar. I say it for amusement and as a statement of fact: I don't drink any cocktails invented after 1939. For reasons of health. Who knows the long-term effects of all these new things? Best to let others do the research. Give me a Sour of some kind (brandy sours are good, too), a Martini or an Old Fashioned. If it's warm, a Gimlet is one of my favorites. In my own Pantheon, expat Harry Craddock of the old Savoy is up there with Mozart.

"Whiskey" Sours are lovely, too. Classic drink and very refreshing. I'm fond of them at Bemelmans Bar in The Carlyle in New York. Used to start there and then go into the Cafe and hear Dixie Carter do her cabaret act, or Bobby Short. Woof, that was a while ago, though. Don't get to New York as much as I used to.

In San Francisco right now, there is much fuss over a classic Tiki bar in the Fairmont Hotel, the Tonga Room. Some want it preserved as a landmark, the hotel wants to rip it out and do something new. Great place for a Sling. Across the street is the Huntington Hotel, whose restaurant has a very nice clubby-feeling bar whose bartenders know the good stuff. And there's also the Mark Hopkins but most days and especially weekends there are too many people from everywhere meeting each other "at the Top of the Mark" for the place to have a relaxed vibe.

One of my favorite memories is the bar at the Plaza Athenee in Paris, in the earliest 70's. My first complete experience with divine company, truly excellent champagne, foie gras and a plate of savoury petit fours that I can still picture today. Hard to describe that evening, but being deliciously drunk, perfectly content and happy with the entire world is how it felt. One of those perfect evenings. And being able to toddle up to one's room and take the evening into dreams is what made that evening excellent and makes hotel bars some of the great places on earth.


"It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive."
- Mark Twain

 

#14 2010-05-20 16:01:58

Trad to the Bone
Member
Posts: 175

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

When a wee undergraduate, I used to drink (gin) martinis at the Jefferson Hotel, Washington, pre-renovation.  The bar manager there "owned a couple of acres in Honduras" and had a cigar company, Havache.  Not sure if they're still around.  We were like pigs in shit.

That was when if you had a jacket and tie on, it didn't matter how old you actually were.

TB

 

#15 2010-05-30 18:34:36

Coolidge
Member
Posts: 1192

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

Quay, I love Bemelman's, too.

My favorite hotel bar drink is the Gibson (or as Cheever's character would have it, IIRC "Geefeater Bibsons").  With the extra miniature decanter in the ice glass at Bemelman's. Potent, to say the least.  Plus you have the piano player, the old bartender, the soothing dimness. Hope it stays that way. I always feel better when I leave, and it's not just the gin. Wish I had been alive to hear Bobby Short play next door.   

Have also had some great Gibsons at the two Oak Bars, at the Plaza in NYC and the "other Oak Bar" at the Fairmont in Boston.  But while both served great drinks, they didn't combine it with quite the "way" of Bemelman's, which is truly an escape.


Sadly a lot of hotel bars are going to the dogs via neglect or trends or something. The Algonquin was a real disappointment when I stopped in 2 years ago for the first time.  Though it has not fallen as far as the Parker House, which despite still looking great, on a recent visit sported 3 giant TVs and expensive and bad drinks and food. A crappy sports bar would probably have made a better Gibson.


On the subject of sours, I like gin sours as well.  Great on a hot day.

Last edited by Coolidge (2010-05-30 18:36:35)

 

#16 2010-05-30 18:36:56

Coolidge
Member
Posts: 1192

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

 

#17 2010-05-30 21:07:00

Quay
Member
From: the Gracious Days
Posts: 545

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...


"It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive."
- Mark Twain

 

#18 2010-05-31 19:07:23

Coolidge
Member
Posts: 1192

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

I may have overstated. The Algonquin is still nice.  But it just feels less unique than Bemelman's, and my hunch is it doesn't have to be that way.

 

#19 2010-06-01 16:58:06

Trad to the Bone
Member
Posts: 175

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

 

#20 2010-06-01 20:53:00

Beefeater
New member
Posts: 6

Re: Whisky Sours And Other Related Matters...

Driskill Hotel Bar in Austin. Mojitos and bourbon (not at the same time of course).

 
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