Those of you who’ve been paying attention may remember that back in February of this year, we ran a little competition – the purpose of which was to get you lot to guess the ingredients in a yummy new cocktail we’d invented. The winner of this competition then went on to name the cocktail (I won’t reveal it, as it’s going to be launched in full 70cl glory at some time in the next month or so).
In order to facilitate this competition, we made samples of the cocktail available in cute little 20cl versions of the standard bottle used for The Handmade Cocktail Company’s wares.
The more observant amongst you may remember that the little 20cl bottle was labelled as part of the ‘experimental series’? Well – today we’re revealing the purpose behind that ‘experimental’ moniker.
Over the next few months, there will be quite a few of these new 20cl cocktails launched – and they’re basically a way for you, the consumer, to have a say in the progress of the 70cl range of Handmade Vintage Cocktails we sell. Those that do well in 20cl format will be ‘promoted’ to 70cl, full product status, and those that don’t will be thrown unceremoniously over a low wall.
The first two in the series are these: The Boulevardier Cocktail and The Hanky Panky Cocktail.
The Boulevardier is, to put it briefly – a Negroni made with bourbon (or a sweet Manhattan with Campari in). It’s also delicious.
The Hanky Panky is basically a super-sweet Martinez with a dash of Fernet Branca (a bitter Italian digestif)*. It’s possibly one of the best cocktails there is. Fact.
Both of these have been firm favourites of mine for some time, and following some exhaustive testing, I can confirm that they both work very well indeed in bottled format. Yessir. Very well indeed.
Once you’ve tried the cocktails, you can leave feedback for us in a few different ways – either by leaving comments on the product page, plugging a comment in below on the blog, or by buying them again and again until the poor production team’s fingers are worked to the bone. Any of these works for me.
Oh – and keep your eye on the main Handmade Cocktail Company page and make sure to follow us on twitter for more exciting instalments from the Experimental Series.
Ben.
*Nerdy Cocktail fact – The Hanky panky was created by Ada Coleman – Bartender at the American Bar at the Savoy in the early 1900s. She knocked this recipe up for a regular customer – one Mr. Charles Hawtrey, who when presented with the drink exclaimed “By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!” – hence the name. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
