Sunday, September 16, 2007

Drink of the Week: Hanky Panky

I drank my first Hanky Panky at the Eastern Standard last week. I drank my second on Friday at home. ES has it on their impressive cocktail list in honor of LUPEC Boston's efforts to raise awareness (and funds for) Jane Doe Inc, the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.

I do recommend you do yourself a favor and get yourself to Eastern Standard where Jackson, Tom, Nicole or Beth can explain the provenance of this drink for you. And you'll be doing a good deed too (a portion of the sale price goes to Jane Doe). If you can't make it into Boston, you'll have to make your own.

Hanky Panky Cocktail

Chill a martini glass. Pour into a shaker:
  • 1 1/2 oz. Beefeater gin
  • 1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
  • spoonful of Fernet Branca*
Stir together and strain into your glass. Garnish with a strip of lemon zest.

(ETA: to recommend stirring vs. shaking to combine)

* Fernet is the special ingredient in this drink - without it, this is just a really sweet martini. If you don't own a bottle of Fernet you'll be shocked by how pricey it is when you buy it. Don't worry, if you use it only for drinks like these, the bottle will last you for years. However, if you become enamored of Fernet's digestive properties, you'll blow through a bottle every month or so. Either way, it'll be worth it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey there, thanks for spreading the gospel of the Hanky Panky! Hope to see you at the LUPEC BOSTON TEA PARTY, our upcoming fundraiser on 10-7-07--stay tuned for details on http://lupecboston.blogspot.com

Sunday Cook said...

And thank you for the good work you do. :-)

Hoping to meet you on the 7th.

Thanks for stopping by!

Unknown said...

Hanky Panky is an amazing cocktail. One of my personal favourites. My recipe of choice looks something like this.

2 PARTS Beefeater London Dry Gin

2 PARTS Italian vermouth

2 DASH Fernet Branca

SHAKE All ingredients over ice

STRAIN Into a chilled cocktail glass

SQUEEZE A freshly cut orange peel on top

Awesome Video Tutorial on the cocktail: http://www.beefeatergin.com/mixology/video.php?video=Hanky%20Panky

Sunday Cook said...

Thanks for swinging by Beefeater. The only part of your recipe I will strenuously disagree with you on is the shaking of ingredients.

I have been trained by my cocktail mentors to always stir a drink that is 100% spirits, and shake one that contains egg or juice. The benefit of stirring over shaking is that the drink remains crystal clear and is free of shards of ice from the shaking.

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