on the grapevine CLOVER CLUB

SAM WYLIE-HARRIS ON... ELEGANT DOWNTON-INSPIRED COCKTAILS

AS FANS of Downton will know, the Crawleys’ love of cocktails is well documented.

Now, The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book means we can recreate their tipples at our own soirées.

Here’s how to raise spirits and mirror glam post-Edwardian high society...

THIS frothy and delicate drink is named for a local men’s club that met regularly at Philadelphia’s Bellvue Stratford Hotel from the late-1800s to the early-1900s.

Ingredients: 30ml gin, 30ml dry vermouth, 15ml fresh lemon juice, 15ml egg white, 15ml raspberry syrup, 1.5 barspoons simple syrup

Method: Combine all the ingredients in a shaker and shake hard for 10-15 seconds so the egg white froths up and emulsifies. Half fill the shaker with ice, re-cover, and shake hard for about 10 seconds longer. Strain into a chilled coupe glass.

FRENCH 75

CREATED around the time of World War I, this elegant drink was said to pack the wallop of a 75mm French artillery shell, thus its name.

Ingredients: 45ml gin, 15ml fresh lemon juice, 15ml simple syrup, 3 dashes orange bitters, 2 lemon zest strips, approx 60ml brut sparkling wine, chilled.

Method: Half fill a shaker with ice. Combine the gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, bitters and 1 zest strip. Shake hard for 8-10 seconds, and strain into a chilled champagne flute or coupe. Top with sparkling wine. Express (twist) the remaining zest strip over the drink and drop it into the glass.

HANKY PANKY

ADA “Coley”

Coleman, bartender at The Savoy hotel’s American Bar in London, invented the Hanky Panky for Sir Charles Hawtrey, who asked for something with “a bit of a punch in it”. On tasting, Hawtrey is reported to have exclaimed: “By Jove! That’s the real hanky-panky!”

Ingredients: 45ml gin, 45ml sweet vermouth, 2 dashes Fernet-Branca, orange twist about the size of a thumb, for garnish.

Method: Combine the gin, vermouth, and Fernet in a mixing glass filled with ice and stir until well chilled, 20-30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Express the orange zest over the drink and drop it into the glass.