Turkey Mojitos?  NO!  We’re not making those.  We mention those, but we’re not making those.  This episode is based on a direct request for a Tom Collins.  You can request a drink too.  All you have to do is click on the comment button at the bottom of this blog post.  Please do it.  We want to know you’re out there!

The Tom Collins is an old old drink.  We find that the old old drinks that are still around are usually pretty good.  They don’t stay around and return after Prohibition for nothing.
The Tom Collins is a fabulous drink.  Grown up lemonade.  Make it now!  The only real choice you have in it is the type of gin you use.  We decided to use “Old Tom” gin because we thought it would be most authentic but I know all the other gins would work just fine.

Where do you go after the Tom Collins?  So many different options present themselves but we decided to go with a similar drink from Ernest Hemingway.  Actually from the wonderful book, “To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion” by Philip Greene.  Hemingway was a diabetic and could not have the sugar syrup.  His version of the Tom Collins used coconut water.  It makes for a very different sort of drink.  Give it a shot and serve it to your friends.

Tom Collins a la  Hemingway
from  “To Have and Have Another - A Hemingway Cocktail Companion” by Philip Greene.  Perigee 2015

2 ounces London dry gin
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
2-4 ounces coconut water
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters

Vigorously shake all ingredients then strain over 2-3 ice cubes in a collins glass.  Garnish with a lime wedge or peel.

It’s Negroni Week!  What?  You’ve never heard of Negroni Week?  Well, my friend, check it out right here, negroniweek.com.  Negroni Week runs from June 5th to June 11th, 2017.

This has probably happended to you.  I say this because you seem like a nice person.  Have you ever been sitting at your favourite bar, sipping a perfect cocktail and wondered, “Sure, this helps me but how can I help others?”  Well wonder no more!   Negroni Week takes care of that for you.  Now all you have to do is order a delicious Negroni cocktail at any participating bar  and you’ll be helping out all sorts of charities that desperately need your money.

In honour of this wonderful week, the Gentlemen of Elegant Leisure want to give you a couple of recipes that you are to use AFTER Negroni Week.  This week all your Negroni drinking must be done at one of the hundreds of participating bars around the world, but once you’re hooked, you’re going to want to be able to make these in your own home.  Let’s get you started.

The Negroni

1 ounce gin
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet Vermouth

1 orange wedge

Combine first three ingredients in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir to chill, then strain over some fresh ice in a cocktail glass.  Garnish with the orange wedge.

Isn’t that easy?  You’ll have to listen to Fred’s explanation of why we have ice in the cocktail glass.  Better yet, brush up on your Negroni knowledge by visiting this site.  Great history here.

One of the many beauties of this cocktail is it’s interchangeability.  Substitute bourbon for the gin and you’ve got a Boulevardier.  Substitute sparkling wine for the gin and you’ve got a Negroni Sbagliato.  The possibilities  are endless.  Case in point, our next drink.  The White Negroni.

The White Negroni
Wayne Collins, London.  From imbibemagazine.com May 28, 2013

2 ounces gin
1 ounce Lillet Blanc
3/4 ounce Suze

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and stir to chill.  Strain into a chilled glass and garnish with a lemon peel.

Totally different and totally wonderful.  Mr. Wayne Collins know what he’s doing doesn’t he?  Read all about him right here by clicking on his name!  Wayne Collins.

Speaking of Collins’s, or Collinses, (or whatever the plural of Collins is), in our next episode, we’re going to be exploring the Tom Collins.  This is a listener request and you can request drinks as well.  

Please hit the comments button below and leave us a message or request a drink or whatever you want to do.  We post a new show every other Saturday and we want to know you're out there and listening in!

Also check out Boozehound by Jason Wilson.  His chapter on Italian apertifs will have you reaching for the Vermouth with one hand  and Travelocity with the other

Happy Negroni Week!