How will you celebrate the 79th Anniversary of
the repeal of Prohibition today?
Just when you thought it was just another Wednesday in
December, Happy Hour in the High Peaks comes to your rescue, offering something
auspicious to celebrate. Pammy’s
Pub has been dead for days as we work diligently to complete our writings for
our upcoming book publication.
Suddenly revived, the cupboards on the bar have been flung open, and
we’re looking for the ultimate way to celebrate the anniversary of the end of
Prohibition. We’re putting on our
drinking caps, rolling up our sleeves and polishing our barware in preparation
of the celebration.
Northern Adirondack backroads (weren’t they all then?)
served as the perfect highway for running Canadian whisky. Tales of Adirondack
bootleggers and runners tell of organized crime, speakeasies and bathtub gin. A
little research on the Prohibition Era in the Adirondacks yielded the story of Pete
Tanzini, a.k.a. Will O' the Wisp, Saranac Lake mason and accomplished race car driver. Our first cocktail today is named in his honor.
Will O' the Wisp
1 ½ oz. gin
1 oz. black raspberry liqueur
½ oz. simple syrup
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
Club soda
Shake with ice, pour into collins glass and top with club soda.
Named for Pete Tanzini's wife, Gussy Menzel Tanzini, this cocktail is based on the Mary Pickford, a popular Prohibition Era drink, but "Gussied up" a bit.
Gussied Up
2 oz. light rum
1 oz. Grand Marnier
2 oz. pineapple juice
1 tsp. grenadine
1 tsp. maraschino cherry juice
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange section and a cherry.
Lemon and lime juice were regularly added to distilled spirits during Prohibition, particularly to those of the bathtub variety in order to make the often nasty stuff a little more palatable, especially for the ladies. The Hackensack Lemonade uses generous quantities of both.
Hackensack Lemonade
2 oz. Can
