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!