Vino is taking to the high seas this Thursday to bring you something Dark ‘n’ Stormy! This classic highball cocktail is made from dark rum, ginger beer and lime is popular in countries of the British Commonwealth, such as Australia and in particular Bermuda, where it is considered the national drink. The sailing community in the United States introduced it to the East Coast, where it is now a fixture on bar lists from Maine to Rhode Island to Maryland.

Cocktail Hour:
DARK ‘N’ STORMY
Thursday, August 26
5:30-7:30pm

Tasting is free, no reservation required. For more information please contact 212-725-6516 or info@vinosite.com.

WARNING: Storm-related YouTube overload!!

We’ve looked to Louisiana for cocktail inspiration on several occasions this year: following the success of our Mint Julep and Sazerac events, this Thursday we complete a New Orleans cocktail trilogy as we bring you the Ramos Gin Fizz!

This classic was invented in 1888 by Henry C. Ramos, a barman at Meyer’s Restaurant in New Orleans. Ramos’ drink differs from a regular Gin Fizz because of the inclusion of orange flower water and egg white. The Ramos Gin Fizz is a tad laborious to prepare, since each cocktail must be shaken individually: such was it’s popularity at Meyer’s that the bar employed several “shaker boys” to assist in meeting demand.

The Roosevelt Hotel (above) also popularized the drink, as did former Louisiana governor and U.S. senator Huey Long, who introduced it to New York. Indeed, the hotel’s website has the full anecdote:

During one of his many political trips to New York, Long stayed at the New Yorker, a hotel that boldly claimed to be the home of the Ramos Gin Fizz. After taking one sip of the New Yorker’s Fizz, the Kingfish picked up the phone and called The Roosevelt New Orleans with orders “to send his best gin fizzer on to New York by plane so he could teach these New York sophisticates how and what to drink.”

The next day Sam Guarino, head bartender at The Sazerac Bar, arrived and spent the next three hours schooling his northern counterparts on the proper way to make Long’s beloved libation. From then on out, Huey could enjoy 8 oz. of New Orleans even when he was thousands of miles away.

Now, some 70-plus years later, the Ramos Gin Fizz has arrived at Vino.

Cocktail Hour
RAMOS GIN FIZZ
Thursday, August 19
5:30-7:30pm

Tasting is free, no reservation required. For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

From Brasilia to Belo Horizonte, Salvador to São Paulo, Brazilians are united by one thing*: a love for cachaça. Unlike rum (which is made from guarapo) cachaça is made from fermented sugarcane. Collectively, Brazil consumes a whopping 1.5 billion liters of its national liquor annually — that’s 97 times more than the rest of the world put together! Much of this is due to cachaça’s role as the main ingredient in Caipirinha, Brazil’s quintessential cocktail.

Cachaça, lime, sugar and ice are all that go into a simple Cairpirinha, making it one of the easiest drinks to make at home, and the perfect drink to enjoy at the beach, bar or Maracana. Such is Caipirinha’s global popularity that creative variations — from the vodka-based Caipiroska to versions enhanced with crushed fresh fruit — are commonplace. This week you don’t have to hop a flight to Rio to sample some samba: we’ll be sliding into our havaianas and cangas to whip up what our resident paulista Andreia considers the classic interpretation of this delicious and refreshing cocktail. We’ll be using Fazenda Mãe de Ouro cachaça, which comes from São José da Barra in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais. So if you’re tall and tan and young and lovely (or even if you’re not all those things) join us from 5:30pm this Thursday as we bring the Ipanema to 27th Street. Just don’t ask us to perform the capoeira.

Cocktail Hour
CAIPIRINHA
Thursday, August 5
5:30-7:30pm

Tasting is free, no reservation required. For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

*OK, maybe two things:

I’ll never tire of watching this!

Vino’s classic cocktail hour is heading back down to N’awlins this Thursday! You may recall our dalliance with Mint Juleps last month; this week we’re bringing you the Crescent City’s quintessential cocktail: the Sazerac!

The Sazerac is one of the oldest known cocktails; indeed the origins of this drink date back to before Civil War. It is believed to have been created by Antoine Amédée Peychaud in the 1830s, making it (according to some reports) the first cocktail to be invented in America. It was named by John Schiller in 1859 to coincide with the opening of his Sazerac Coffee House in New Orleans (both names probably derived from Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils, a popular brand of Cognac).

Women clamoring for Sazerac’s at the Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans, 1949.

Peychaud’s Sazerac was essentially a combination of Cognac and bitters, although the recipe has continued to evolve over the years. Various versions still abound today, but the modern Sazerac is invariably made using rye whiskey, Peychaud’s bitters, and absinthe or pastis. In 2008 it was declared by the Louisiana State Senate as the official cocktail of New Orleans.

Cocktail Hour
SAZERAC TASTING
Thursday, July 22
5:30-7:30pm

Tasting is free, no reservation required. For more information please contact 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Vino is muddling mint leaves and rum next Thursday to bring you the original Havanese highball: the Mojito! Made from white rum, sugar, lime, sparkling water and mint, this Cuban cocktail’s sweet refreshing blend makes it one of the world’s favorite summer drinks.

The origins of Mojito may be traced back to “El Draque”, a drink made from similar ingredients which was created in the 16th century to honor Sir Francis Drake. More recently, Guarapo, the sugar cane juice commonly drunk in Latin America and often used to make Mojitos is said to have been devised by African slaves working in Cuban sugar cane fields. It was the proliferation of rum and sugar in Cuba that led to the development of sweet, rum-based drinks: some suggest that the Mojito simply evolved from the Daiquiri (Havana’s other favorite cocktail) due to the similar choice of available ingredients.

Just as the Daiquiri is closely associated with Havana’s El Floridita bar, the Mojito gained popularity at La Bodeguita del Medio. Opened by Angel Martinez as Casa Martinez in 1942, this general store was quickly converted into a bar thanks to popular demand for the Mojito. After it was renamed La Bodeguita in 1950 the bar became frequented by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Neruda and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose patronage ensured its landmark status as a focal point of Cuba’s cultural revolution. Today it is a common destination for tourists seeking an authentic Cuban Mojito.

We’ll do our best to provide just that on Thursday evening, when guest mixologist Dave Catania from St. Lucia Distillery will be using Chairman’s Reserve Finest St. Lucia Rum to create this Cuban classic.

Free Cocktail Hour
MOJITO
Thursday, July 15
5:30-7:30pm

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.