Prohibition Ends: 79th Anniversary Recipe Day!

How will you celebrate the 79^th 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

adian whisky

1 oz. triple sec

1 oz. fresh lime juice

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

Dash powdered sugar

Club soda

Shake all but club soda with ice & strain into collins glass and top with club soda. 

In our opinions, Prohibition was one of the worst ideas ever hatched, though was instrumental in the women's movement. No matter how you choose to celebrate, Repeal Day deserves recognition.

Cheers and Bottoms Up!

Kim & Pam