CHURCHILL

CHURCHILL

3 parts scotch whiskey

1 part vermouth

1 part triple sec

1 part lime juice

Bulldog Winston Churchill’s B-day is tomorrow. You may find it odd that I have an interest in the ex-Prime Minister from Britain whose most famous for taking a stand against Hitler and stopping him from controlling all of Europe in the 1930s. When I’m not drinking cocktails, I’m working on a book proposal for a book about difficult children who grew up to become wildly successful adults. Churchill fits that description, so I’ve been researching his life. I find him to be a very interesting character, so of course I had to try one of his favorite cocktails. I say one because Churchill loved his booze and had several favorite cocktails. The CHURCHILL cocktail is made primarily of scotch, one of his favorites. The recipe was created by American bartender Joe Gilmore at the Savoy Hotel in London.

To make a CHURCHILL, put the best scotch you have into a cocktail shaker, then add smaller amounts of vermouth, triple sec and lime juice. Add ice to the shaker, shake it well and strain it into a cocktail glass. Garnish as you please. The original recipe calls for a straight cocktail — no ice, but I decided anything with scotch would benefit from ice.

I found the CHURCHILL cocktail to be surprisingly delicious. It was scotch “sweetened,” which is the only way I really like scotch. I used a cheaper scotch and I would like to try this cocktail sometime with a better quality one. The vermouth and lime flavors weren’t very strong, and the triple sec ratio was spot on. Hubby said the CHURCHILL smelled like old women in church, but he loved it. On the side car meter — Hubby's rating of every cocktail in comparison to a sidecar — he gave the CHURCHILL a 9 out of 10. He thought it would better with Cointreau, but considering that Cointreau is from France, the selection of triple sec by Gilmore was probably the most appropriate at the time. And that Gilmore knew what he was doing. No matter what your tastes, definitely give this cocktail a try.

 

Drink Up^ (Winston Did!)

Cocktail Connie