Cocktail Note: The Hanky Panky

My wife and I were at Red Rabbit a couple of nights ago. It's one of the very few Sacramento establishments that can hold its own with the cocktail bars of San Francisco, Portland, etc. Their barreled cocktail of the month was the Hanky Panky, a mix of gin, sweet vermouth, and Fernet Branca. Unfortunately, they had sold out of the barreled version but the bartender recommended that we try a fresh one and so we did. They used the rye gin from St. George Spirits and Carpano Antica for the vermouth. The drink was wonderful, with the rye character of the gin taking center stage, some backbone and depth from the vermouth, and enough lurking bitterness to let you know the Fernet was there.

I made one at home tonight with Aria gin from Bull Run Distilling in Portland along with Vya sweet vermouth using 1-1/2 oz. each of gin and vermouth and 1/4 oz of Fernet. The Aria is a bit more subtle than the St. George rye, so it did not show up quite as strongly. It was more of a harmonizing player than a dominant one, which worked out just fine. The gin and vermouth played off of each other nicely, with the Fernet again adding just enough bitter herbality to make it interesting.

By the way, this drink is one that you'll find in the Savoy Cocktail Book, so it's been around for quite a while.

I've had me some Hanky Pankys and they can be tasty. Never a barrel-aged one though.

Curious to see how much traction this barrel-aged will hold. I don't know how much further it will spread in the bartender firmament, although it has done pretty well so far.

I think there is a finite number of drinks that should be considered for barrel-aged cocktail status, actually. I think it's a self-limiting medium. I suspect it will be around for a while, but that it may have already peaked.

One of the problems, for me, with the attraction of a barrel-aged cocktail is this: with such, a bartender basically does nothing but "tap" a cocktail, maybe dress it up a little. It's basically an updated (and granted, way tastier) version of a pre-batched, pre-made cocktail, made some months ago and just poured into a serving glass at time of delivery.

So given that.....why can't we just have an automated service line, a Cocktail Automat, instead of a highly paid bartender mixing the ingredients right in front of you?

Oddly enough, that doesn't sound terribly attractive to me.

Yeah, I agree regarding the barreled cocktails. There are only a relative few that will really benefit from it. For instance, I had a barreled Sazerac at a place in San Diego a while back. It didn't really make sense to take a drink that's completely dominated by a spirit that's already spent a lot of time in wood and then put it in wood. All you do is take the extra interest that the absinthe adds out of contention. I ordered it anyway out of curiosity and it had nothing on the regular version. That said, I think there are a few that do nicely with some time in a barrel. Morgenthaler's barreled Negronis are very nice. I think the Hanky Panky probably was a good candidate, and Brandy Manhattans also do well out of this (as a friend of mine demonstrated with his).

If the drink is good, then I don't really mind the fact that it takes the effort out of making the drink on the spot. OTOH, that barreled Sazerac seemed like it very well could have been developed out of laziness.

Yep, agree about MorgMan's Negronis. Also he has a Boulevardier that is pretty nice.

A Sazerac in barrel? No way for me. A Sazerac is that special drink that has to be bespoke! Chris Hannah style: mix it up fresh, with excruciating care. And as you said, more barrel on rye? Why? It's the barrel, the light absinthe, the light softening of sugar, the bitter, tannic tang, and the fresh oil of lemon to throw a bright fresh light on top of that---that's what makes a Saz!

Another thing we're seeing something of a trend surge on: barrel aged reserve gins. Not sold on those yet either, as I think the barrel aging tones down the botanical brightness. I want my gins to be bright and aggressive, not old and smooth and fat. Some people seem to like that though (although you don't know until it stays around long enough to let you know).

More love for the Hanky Panky!

I'm not totally sold on this barrel-aged craze either. I have had some very good ones (Boulevardier does make for a decent example) but have had some flat ones too (Aviation, for example). Saz? No thanks. I'm alson not a huge fan of barrel aged gins.

Seems like the latest craze is to carbonate the heck out of everything with a Perlini. Keep your bubbles out of my Manhattan, thankyouverymuch.

More love for the Hanky Panky!

I'm not totally sold on this barrel-aged craze either. I have had some very good ones (Boulevardier does make for a decent example) but have had some flat ones too (Aviation, for example). Saz? No thanks. I'm alson not a huge fan of barrel aged gins.

Seems like the latest craze is to carbonate the heck out of everything with a Perlini. Keep your bubbles out of my Manhattan, thankyouverymuch.

A barrel-aged Aviation? How to fuck up a perfectly good cocktail.

I've had some good Perlini drinks, but no, I'm not an overly big fan of carbonation. And in a Manhattan? Bubbles in a Manhattan. There's creativity, and then there's slapping people sternly across the face for doing stuff like that. Bubbles don't belong in Manhattans.

A carbonated Manhattan? Ugh!

I thought you liked your Manhattan nice and shaken, Hoke.

I thought you liked your Manhattan nice and shaken, Hoke.

That's me! Specially when you don't use a good strainer after the shaking and you get all those floatybits of ice and scummy looking stuff on the top of your drink. Adds extra flavor, it does.

[Jenise]

Barreled"

Rye gin?

New terminology to me, both. Explain?

Barrelled: cocktail batched in small barrel then put into storage for a certain amount of time. Cocktail ingredients mellow as they age.

Rye gin: to make gin you take neutral spirits (i.e., vodka) and add botanicals, then re-distill. That's London Dry GIn. Or you take netural spirits and simply add flavor essence. That's Compound Gin.

Rye Gin means that the spirit is made from rye grains. Using rye grain gives you a harder, crisper and slightly herbal spirit base than, say wheat.