The Omar Bradley
Eric Felton has an interesting column in The Wall Street Journal about the conflict between traditional “canonical” cocktails and the “rococo follies” of the new-school, “culinary cocktail” crowd. These two groups faced off recently in
The convention’s official cocktail smackdown featured six contestants who had 40 minutes to come up with original drinks. Each recipe had to contain either Grand Marnier or Navan vanilla liqueur (the contest’s corporate sponsors). And in a conceit lifted from the Food Network’s “Iron Chef” franchise, every one of the drinks had to make use of a “secret ingredient” announced just before the starter’s gun — in this case, ginger marmalade.
Arts & Ammo tends to take notice when people start bandying words about like canonical and rococo. I, of course, would line up with the canonical crowd. The martini is not a work in progress. However, it is worth keeping an eye open for new creations – just in case. Felton’s favorite also deserves special recognition on this site:
My marmalade drink of choice was created out of a rough and ready necessity. The G.I.’s favorite general, Omar Bradley, liked Old-Fashioneds, but who has fresh orange slices for muddling in the field? He improvised, adapted and overcame by mixing a spoonful of orange marmalade with his whiskey. I think it should be treated as a minor classic, and should bear the general’s name. It’s simple, pretty darn tasty, and 100% grasshopper-free.
The Omar Bradley:
2 oz bourbon or rye whiskey
1 tsp (heaping or not, to taste) orange marmalade
1 squeeze fresh lemon juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
Shake well with ice and strain into an Old-Fashioned glass with fresh ice. Garnish with a cherry.
