- Hi guys, welcome back to the Cocktail Vlog.
I'm Steve the Bartender, and today I'm showing you
how to make a Vespa.
This one is a request by Oystein, he's one of our Patreons,
subscribers, supporters, and the Vespa has been on my list
for, pretty much since day dot, for about three years,
and today is finally the day.
So the Vespa is from Ian Fleming's book, Casino Royale.
Agent 007 asks for a Vespa and calls for
three parts of Gordon's gin, one part vodka
and half part of Kina Lillet.
So I don't actually have Kina Lillet.
They stopped production in about 1960 and the company,
Lillet, swear that they have not changed the recipe
since 1872 when they first started making it.
And then, I think 20 or so years later,
they released Lillet Blanc, but everyone swears
that it's not the same recipe.
It doesn't have the cinchona bark.
It doesn't have that particular bit of flavor
that the Kina Lillet did.
It's actually softer, a little bit sweeter.
So today, I'm going to show you an alternative
on what you can do to recreate the original Vespa.
Today, the best substitution you can use for Kina Lillet
is Cocchi Americano, it does have that, cinchona does.
It's a quinquina, I believe that's how it's pronounced.
It's made from gentian, cinchona, it does have that
particular profile that's gonna work better in a Vespa.
Otherwise, if you do have Lillet Blanc
then you can always add a couple of dashes
of Angostura Bitters.
It's not gonna be the same profile,
but it is gonna make for a better Vespa
than if you use Lillet alone.
But before I get started on the cocktail,
we're also running a give-away.
I've got three cocktail sets
thanks to the team from Standard Spoon.
I'll leave a link to their website in the description below
so you can check out their range.
They do: muddlers, spoons, Napier Jiggers.
Napier Jiggers are something that we stock in Australia,
so I'll leave a link to our website as well,
so if you're located in Australia, you can purchase one.
They do all their range in stainless steel and copper,
and their Jiggers are graduated
so you can do finer measurements for your cocktails.
It's super handy, they've also got some with handles
for people at home, and then these ones are more like
an industry Jigger, and they're also stackable
which is awesome, save on space in the bar.
So I do have three sets to give away;
one I'll reserve solely for Patreon supporters.
There's about 80 or 90 Patreon supporters,
so if you do subscribe to our page on Patreon you do have
a much higher chance of winning one of these sets.
Otherwise, there's two other sets for everyone on YouTube.
I'll leave a link to the give-away in the description below.
So today, I'm gonna restrict the measurements a little bit
because if you directly translated three parts into
three parts being 90 mil, or three ounces,
that's gonna make for a really, really large drink,
so I'm gonna cut it down a little bit
and start off with my Gordon's gin.
Gordon's is actually the Gin that they do call for
in the book, so I'm going to measure out 67.5,
two and a quarter ounces.
So 60, and then I can use the little graduation line
to measure a quarter ounce.
And then three quarter ounce of vodka,
preferably a Russian vodka.
22.5 mil, three quarter ounce.
And then, follow that with 15 mil, half ounce,
of Cocchi Americano.
Then you want to fill your mixing glass with ice.
Stir it for 30, 45 seconds, whatever you prefer.
A mixing glass has a nice, weighted base.
Makes it easier for stirring.
And this spoon is actually quite weighted, pretty solid.
So make sure you check out the give-away.
Click on the link in the description below.
This particular Hawthorne strainer
isn't by the Standard Spoon team,
this is something that I retail on my website, so
I'll leave a link to that in the description below as well.
Strain straight into that glass, into your chilled
Coupe, Martini, Nick and Nora glass,
and it should have this kind of very, very fine
opaque color to it from the Cocchi Americano.
Your gonna finish that with a big twist of lemon.
And there you have a Vespa, cheers.
Very, very potent citrus-y notes from that big citrus twist.
I can see this layer of oils on the top.
Those citrus notes really come through,
work really well with the Cocchi Americano.
And there, you get the dryness,
you still get the botanicals from the gin coming through.
This is a really good way to showcase
whatever your favorite gin is
and the botanicals contained within that.
Thanks for watching, make sure you like and subscribe,
enter the give-away below, and I'll see you soon
for another cocktail video.
Cheers.
(trip-hop music)