10 Tall Drinks

"There Is No New Thing under the sun," said the son of David, but he didn't know about the 10 new things under the hot summer sun of July, 1957 – a bracing batch of tinkly, tasty, frosty coolers, cunningly concocted for the exclusive dogday delight of playboy readers and their fetching friends.

A tall drink, as everyone knows, can do things no short drink could ever hope to do. At the end of a long summer's day, a wilted worthy need only look at a lofty drink clinking with ice, and miraculous changes take place within him. He rests his foot on a familiar bar rail. His collar seems to cling less tenaciously. He begins to talk in more relaxed, civilized tones. And then as the first sip of a tall drink passes over his tongue and throat, like spring water gurgling into a hot arroyo, he feels the unparalleled pleasure of a long-delayed thrill.

One of the elementary lessons a summer bartender learns is that it isn't enough to merely fill a long glass with liquid and ice. If such has been your practice heretofore, shame on you. And kindly dig the following:

Don't use inferior liquor just because you're fixing a long drink with a nonalcoholic mix. The average tall drink is not such a complicated affair that the harsh taste of poor liquor is obliterated in it. As a matter of fact, the lousiness of bad liquor, particularly bad whiskey.seems to be intensified in a tall drink. You have time to scrutinize it more carefully than when you throw it down in one gulp. This doesn't necessarily mean that you should buy 16-year-old bonded whiskey the next time you get a thirst for a whiskey collins. But you should seek a standard brand of liquor that is mellow, smooth and pleasing whether taken straight or mixed.

Be equally meticulous about all the other makin's that go into your summer potations. Certainly one of the most important is lemon juice. In the Middle Ages, the emperors of China appointed special court officials whose responsibility it was to keep a steady supply of precious lemon juice in the imperial pantry. This would present labor problems today but we can, and should, be sufficiently old fashioned to insist on using fresh lemon juice squeezed at the last possible moment. A man who's really cranky about his collinses will not only patiently squeeze the fresh lemons but will take the pulp of the lemons (minus seeds) left in the fruit juice reamer and will dump it, too, into his drinks. More power to him. Of course, if out of a clear summer sky a phalanx of friends suddenly mobilizes on your terrace, clamoring for guzzlement, you'll undoubtedly want to take advantage of the convenience of frozen concentrated lemon juice. Just bear in mind that what is acceptable in an emergency can be pretty shoddy in a less frantic situation.

Now it is true that there are many excellent juices which are not available in fresh form, such as pineapple juice. cranberry juice, grape juice, etc., and these must be purchased either frozen, bottled or canned. Even prepared juices will receive added zip and tone, however, by sparking them with a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Use the best brands of carbonated waters. Whenever possible, serve splits. In the largerbottles, the unused portion just stands around going quietly flat unless you and your guests are unusually speedy drinkers. Add the bubble water just before the drinks are delivered. For optimum sparkle, pour it against the inside of the tilted glass. Be sure the effervescent water is ice-cold so that it retains its fizz as long as possible. Need we point out that the merest trace of soap or detergent in a glass will make carbonated water go flat much faster? Plain tap water, if you must use it, must be clear and clean, without a speck of rust, lime, chlorination, fluoridation, smog or other urban evils. Use distilled water if you possibly can when your guests decline bubbles.

All sugar for bar purposes should be the superfine granulated sugar – not the regular granulated sugar nor the confectioners' sugar. To give your glasses a kind of glacial appearance, dip the rim of the glass to a depth of one half-inch in heavy white syrup (such as white Karo), then in superfine powdered sugar to the same depth. The white rim of sugar will remain on the glass even during the drinking.

After several rounds of summer drinks, your pouring hand may lose some of its accuracy. Whether the eye is then faster than the hand or the hand faster than the eye becomes the mootest of points, and you may begin to slosh things about a bit. At this juncture it's particularly important to remember the elementary rule of all professionally trained mixers: measure your pleasure. If your formula calls for 11/2 ounces of liquor, and you use 1 ounce, you're off the target by a noticeable one-third. Tall drinks erring on the side of too much alcoholic potency, on the other hand, are equally bad company. So use a standard bar measuring jigger. If you're mixing liquids in large quantities, use a household glass cup measure or glass quart measure with ounce measurements indicated.

A word about ice – one of the most difficult problems in the logistics of long drinks. It should both chill and dilute the drinks. Most mixed drinks must be diluted or the blend of flavors is quite crude. Your best guide here is to remember the physics of cooling. to wit, the more ice you use, the less the drink will be diluted (because the mixture gets colder faster and the ice melts more slowly). A good plan for preventing over-dilution is to make sure that as many as possible of the ingredients that go into the drink are prechilled before the ice is added or the drink is mixed. See to it that the juices, the carbonated water, even the half lime or the slice of pineapple, are biting cold. The glasses should be chilled, too. Stack them in the refrigerator beforehand. Or, fill each glass with ice and twirl the ice with a bar spoon until the glass is frosty cold. With this kind of prechilling, the drink will require less ice, and will, therefore, be long, strong and cold.

One of the best ways of controlling dilution is through the use of an electric blending machine in which a measured amount of crushed ice is mixed with other liquids. The summer barman who uses crushed ice large quantities should also own an electric ice crushing machine, an extremely convenient and speedy gadget. If you're an earthy, basic, purist type, however, you may want to hand crush your ice cubes, like so: place the cubes between two clean kitchen towels or wrap them in one very large towel, then crush them with a rolling pin, mallet or other heavy object. Southern mint julep makers use a heavy canvas bag for this task, in case you're interested.

After putting the makings of a Tom Collins in the cocktail shaker and shaking them, don't dump ice and all into the tall glass. Strain the mixture into the glass, add the coldest possible soda water and then top it off with one or two ice cubes.

When putting cucumber rind into a Pimm's Cup, don't add too much peel or the aroma will be overpowering. Use about 1 inch of peel, 1/2 inch wide.

Both the rum flavor and the cola flavor will be off key if you add too much lime juice to a Cuba Libre. Limes vary considerably in size. Add 1/4 ounce of lime juice rather than the juice of a halflime.

If you serve a gin-and-tonic as an aperitif, use an 8-ounce glass. For the long afternoon or evening haul, use a 12-ounce glass.

No mint julep is worth drinking that isn't made from the best 100 proof bourbon available. To avoid the fuss of muddling and pounding the mint leaves in the glass, simply steep the leaves in whiskey and water (equal proportions) two or three hours before the julep party.

And now, off with the old and on with the new. Each of the cooling mixtures coming up has been created and test-guzzled in the playboy bar (and a fine time we had doing it, too). All 10, which are being sprung upon the public for the very first time, are designed for king-size 12-ounce glasses, unless otherwise indicated. It's not indicated very often.

[recipe_title]Sloe Cranberry[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Into a glass, pour 5 ounces of ice-cold cranberry juice, 2 ounces of sloe gin and 1 ounce of lemon juice. Add ice cubes to fill the glass. Stir well. Place a thin slice of lemon on top.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]Apple Knocker[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Into an electric blender, put 21/2 ounces of apple jack, 1/2 ounce of sweet vermouth, 1/2 ounce of lemon juice, 3 ounces of orange juice, 11/2 teaspoons sugar and 1/2 cup crushed ice. Mix in the blending machine for 20 seconds. Pour into glass. Add enough ice cubes to fill glass.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]Cold Irish[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]This cold drink, a summer version of Irish coffee, requires a whipped cream topping which should be prepared before the drink is poured. To make the topping for four drinks, put 1/2 cup heavy sweet cream in a narrow mixing bowl. Beat with a rotary egg beater until cream is nearly stiff. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until cream is firm. Avoid overbeating or cream may curdle. Fold in carefully, without beating, 4 teaspoons creme de cacao. For each individual drink, pour into the glass 11/2 ounces of Irish whiskey and 2 teaspoons Irish Mist liqueur. Add 1 large ice cube. Fill glass to within one inch of the top with ice-cold coffee soda. Stir. Place the whipped cream topping on the drink. Serve with a long spoon.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]Pink Lemonade a La Playboy[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Into a glass, pour 2 ounces of lemon juice, 2 ounces of orange juice, 5 ounces of chilled rose wine, 1 tablespoon kirsch-wasser and 2 teaspoons sugar. Stir well until sugar dissolves. Add 2 large ice cubes and enough ice-cold water (not carbonated water) to fill glass. Place a thin slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry on top.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]Calypso Collins[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Into a cocktail shaker with ice, pour 2 ounces of rum, 2 tablespoons concentrated frozen pineapple juice which has been thawed but not diluted, 1/2 ounce of lime juice and 1 teaspoon sugar. Shake well. Strain into glass. Add 2 ice cubes and enough carbonated water to nearly fill the glass. Decorate the drink with a thin slice of fresh pineapple and a thin slice of lime.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]French Foam[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Into a tall Pilsener glass (a 10-ounce size will do for this drink), put 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 dash Angostura bitters, 1 teaspoon brandy and 1 teaspoon kirsch-wasser. Stir with a tall 'stirring rod until sugar dissolves. Fill glass three-quarters full with ice-cold champagne. Float a small scoop of lemon sherbet or lemon ice on top. The scoop should contain no more than 2 liquid ounces. If such a scoop is not available, use a tablespoon to add the small mound of sherbet.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]Strawberry Cream[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Although fresh strawberries are now in season, this smooth cooler will be best if prepared with thawed sliced frozen strawberries. In an electric blender, put 1/4 cup thawed sliced frozen strawberries (fruit and syrup), 1 ounce of lemon juice, 11/2 ounces of gin, 2 tablespoons heavy sweet cream and 1 teaspoon sugar. Mix in the blending machine for 20 seconds. Pour into glass. Add 3 ice cubes. Add enough carbonated water to fill glass. Stir.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]Tequila Fizz[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Into a cocktail shaker well filled with ice, pour 11/2 ounces lemon juice, 2 ounces tequila, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, 2 teaspoons sugar and 1 small size egg. Shake very well. Strain into glass. Add 2 ice cubes. Fill glass to top with carbonated water. Stir. Sprinkle very lightly with salt.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]White Wine Cup[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Any dry white wine such as Chablis or Rhine wine may be used for this light drink. Pour into the glass 1/2 ounce of brandy, 6 ounces dry white wine, 2 dashes orange bitters, 1 teaspoon kiimmel liqueur, 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/2 ounce lemon juice. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add 2 ice cubes. Add ice-cold carbonated water to fill glass. Add a small piece of cucumber peel.[/drinkRecipe]

[recipe_title]Cool Colonel[/recipe_title]

[drinkRecipe]Pour 11/2 ounces of bourbon, 1 ounce of Southern Comfort, 1/2 cup cold strong black tea, 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 2 teaspoons sugar into glass. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add 2 ice cubes. Fill glass with ice-cold carbonated water. Breathe deep. Tilt head. Bend elbow.[/drinkRecipe]