Classic Tough Guys and Their Cocktails
“The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.” – Humphrey Bogart
By Erin Henderson
When I was about five or six, and my sister about two or three, we loved when my dad would come home from work. Playing in the living room, we would hear my father walk through the downstairs door off the garage. My mum, making dinner, would whisper from the kitchen, “who’s that!?” and my sister and I would fly down the stairs into my dad’s waiting arms.
Thrillingly, he would lift us both up – at the same time. I remember believing he was the strongest man in the world to have the muscle to lift my sister and I, one in each arm, and walk up the stairs carrying each of us.
As time went on, he stopped hoisting us into the air (though I might suggest a re-enactment this Father’s Day just for kicks) but his strength came through in other ways. Quietly guiding us to the right decisions when debating whether to drop French class, driving us home from late-night parties (in his pyjamas because we had roused him from bed), and teaching us how investing meant your dollars became soldiers that helped grow your financial army.
I can't say for sure if the teachings in financial responsibility really stuck, but one of the more practical lessons my Dad taught me is how to make a great Manhattan cocktail. (He also taught us about distillation by plucking a greyish-blue berry off a juniper tree in our backyard. "See this, girls? One day it will be gin,” he sagely instructed. I was eight.)
But my dad is no one-trick cocktail pony. Gin and tonics in the summer, scotch in the winter, beer after a round of golf and red wine with dinner, my father is fairly democratic in his drink repetoire. He's in good company: Churchill favoured Champagne, Faulkner preferred whisky, Bogie liked scotch, Fitzgerald was a gin man, and Hemmingway, well, he seemed to like everything.
Below I’ve listed some cocktails favoured by history’s most admired, enamoured, copied, and revered tough guys. I’m sure you’ll find something for your dad in there somewhere.
Hemingway’s Mojito
Ernest Hemmingway’s drinking is as legendary as his machismo. Big-game hunting in Africa, deep-water fishing off the coast of Florida, bare-knuckle boxing just about anywhere. “Papa” Hemingway lived life large and fully saturated.
During his years in Cuba, he quickly found a liking for the Cuba Libre (rum and Coke), and the Daiquiri (rum and lime). It’s a tough call to know what his preferred poison was, but many experts suggest it was the Mojito that stole his heart – and liver.
This is the recipe from the Mojito’s birthplace at the La Bodeguita del Medio hotel in Havana, Cuba.
Ingredients:
- 6 fresh mint sprigs
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- 2 oz white rum
- ¾ oz simply syrup
- Soda for topping (optional in the OG recipe)
How You Make It:
- Muddle five mint sprigs with simply syrup in the bottom of a highball glass.
- Pour in the lime juice and rum and stir to combine.
- Fill the glass with ice, top with soda, and garnish with the last mint sprig.
Faulkner’s Toddy
William Faulkner had a bootlegging side hustle during prohibition, running (literally) boatloads of whisky into New Orleans. Likely this was not for extra cash, but his own consumption. Numerous stories report him showing up to a business meeting or social gathering, smuggling in “corn liquor” under his coat.
He writes quite a bit about that subject in his famous novels, and even more so about whisky and the julep. Indeed, a mint julep was likely Faulkner’s favourite drink, but what caught my eye during the research for this piece was the unusual recipe for a toddy, which he enjoyed in equal measure, both hot and cold.
Today, hot toddies are what most of us know to ward off the winter's chill or fight a fever. I was surprised to learn, however, that Faulkner often drank his cold as was custom in his day. His recipe calls for a teaspoon of sugar to be first dissolved in water, but I’ve made it easier with simple syrup.
Ingredients:
2 oz bourbon or white whiskey
4 oz water (cold or boiling)
If cold, 1 lemon slice; if hot, ½ lemon, both juice + rind
1 tsp simple syrup
How You Make It:
Dilute the sugar in the water, add in the lemon and top with bourbon or whisky.
Bogie’s Black Velvet
“Scotch is a very valuable part of my life,” Humphrey Bogart is quoted as saying.
The hard-drinking Hollywood icon was never very far from a wee (or massive) dram, reportedly whiling away the night at a favourite bar, downing cupfuls into the early morning hours.
But he also reportedly enjoyed a Black Velvet, a combination of stout beer and champagne. I find the combination repulsive. But then again, I’m not a leading man known as much for my masculine intrigue as my astonishing ability to work while thoroughly soused.
Ingredients:
- Equal parts Guinness and brut Champagne
How You Make It:
- Fill a champagne flute halfway with Guinness. Top with chilled Champagne.
Sinatra’s Martini
When it comes to heavy drinking, Frank Sinatra was a class act. He loved Jack Daniel’s so much, he was buried with a bottle. His 50-year dedication to the brand inspired Jack Daniel’s create a special “Sinatra Select” a decade ago.
But perhaps what barkeeps remember making for him, is a classic gin martini with a twist on the rocks. Old Blue Eyes was specific in his requests and needs, often sending orders to The American Bar at London’s Savoy Hotel ahead of time so the drink would be waiting upon his arrival.
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ oz gin
- ½ oz dry vermouth
- Lemon twist
How You Make It:
- Into a mixing glass filled with ice, pour in the gin and vermouth, stirring to chill.
- Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass and garnish with a strip of lemon peel.