Cocktails & Rituals

I love rituals and seasonal traditions. As we prepare to head to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail 2009 I got to thinking about my own rich experience with cocktails and why the passionate study of their historic and cultural significance are merited. I can not think about cocktails without associating them with the great women "dames" in my family. They had their own cocktail personalities. My Nana Kitty drank stingers with gusto. She worked back-of-the-house in the hotel business for nearly 50 years. My Nana Sawyer was a lady who when ordering her second drink would joyfully announce the aerodynamic drinkers reality which was "because you can't fly on one wing!" My favorite toast also comes from Nana Sawyer which is borrowed in spirit from Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine. The first offer of the toast goes "Up Yours" and the responding toaster says " and double it." A racy ritual indeed.

My Madrina is my paternal grandmother ( I have two) and she was lace curtain Irish from Boston. She was far too much of a lady to order a second drink. She would merely say " you may compliment the bartender." This was her delicate way of in fact saying " another one, just like the first." But by the time for the third drink, she would proclaim, "I'm their drinking grandmother." Although no such confirmation was required. Another grandmother was a Radcliffe graduate who was elegant and refined and drank Presbyterians. Light please.Last but not least was my Granny, my paternal grandmother. She lived on Riverside Drive in New York in the 1930's and lived across from an apartment where Babe Ruth would attend parties. She introduced me to my favorite cocktail, the Calvados Sidecar. I can just imagine her picking out a perfect lemon at Gristedes and looking up to see the Babe & Mrs. Ruth grocery shopping. Recognizing the familiar faces from the neighbors frequent parties they exchanged hellos. It really happened.

But when it comes to holiday drinks my own Mother was the one who set me straight about season and rightness. My favorite holiday drink is a Crown Royal Manhattan. When I was 25 my mother took me to the legendary Lenox Hotel piano bar. It was the first week of December, Thanksgiving had just past. The Lenox had sing along back then. The waitress came and my Mother ordered 2 Crown Royal Manhattan cocktails. Up. I asked why? She informed me that now that I was 25 I could fully appreciate this complex and sophisticated sip. ( she was right) But I reminded her( though I didn't need to) that I had turned 25 months ago in June. She informed me that not until after Thanksgiving could one fully appreciate and enjoy a Manhattan. She was right again. Now every holiday season, I have a ritual of going to the best hotel in town and having the barman make me a Crown Royal Manhattan. I toast to my mother and thank her for this wonderful gift. Then I proceed to enjoy that long missed flavor in that first sip.