The alexander is another grandfather cocktail because it's been around since the 1910s
and was actually originally made using gin.
This cocktail first appeared in print in 1916 and the origins are apparently pretty steamy.
No not that kind of steamy. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad
were very proud of the fact that they used clean coal and advertised this fact with a lady
called Phoebe Snow, whose white dress remained pristine when she journeyed on their railroads.
When they booked an event at a trendy New York restaurant the bartender there wanted
to create a pure white cocktail in homage and so shook up some gin, creme to cacao and cream.
There are a few other claims to the drink but this seems to be the most well documented one.
What I do find quite funny though is that the creative bartender was called Troy Alexander, it
sort of seems like he didn't put too much effort into coming up with a name for his new drink.
It really took hold during prohibition as the creaminess conveniently
masked the harsh bathtub gin. Where exactly the brandy came in
is a mystery but it has stuck and arguably become more popular than its gin counterpart.
While the classic Alexander is certainly worth a try,
this raisiny and rich spirit works so well for an after-dinner indulgence.
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The classic recipe is equal parts brandy, creme de cacao and cream, but a lot of
modern recipes increase the brandy component. I actually like to stick with the equal parts
but I do split the cacao half and half with coffee liqueur, which brings in a bit more of a bitter
edge which cuts through the cream really nicely. Obviously the cream itself is going to overshadow
any very delicate nuances in the brandy so I wouldn't stress about using something particularly
fancy, but you also want something that's bold flavored enough to sort of shine through.
So I like something pretty young and fresh and fruity like the St Remy VSOP,
but you know, anything from Hennessy, Martell, any of the bigger houses will definitely work as well.
According to the story the original Alexander would have been made with white creme de cacao
to preserve the snow whiteness of the cocktail, but dark's often substituted in these days.
Most bars wouldn't have more than one anyway. There are some good and really not overly
sweet ones on the market like this Tempus Fugit. It's incredible with lots of really
toasty cacao and buttery notes, but most major liqueur brands will have their own.
I am using Mr Black coffee liqueur again. I know, I'm a bit of a broken record but
I do really want like an intense coffee flavor in this because there's only going
to be a little bit but you want to feel it. You can of course leave this out and just
stick to the full 30ml of creme de cacao if you're not as much of a coffee fiend as I am.
One thing that I've never really understood is why every country seems
to assert its sovereignty by having different classifications of cream.
I've got a bit tangled up with it now a couple of times so I'm not even going to try and wade in
on whether or not this is heavy or whipping or heavy whipping cream or whatever,
but suffice to say use any cream which is as thick as it can be while still being pourable.
One of the earlier written recipes for the Alexander is in Stanley Clisby's 1937 book
Famous New Orleans drinks and how to drink 'em- a tome which is also at the center of the Sazerac
cocktail history controversy, which I will be attempting to unravel at some point in the near
future, so make sure that you subscribe and hit the notification bell for that-
and he advocates the use of egg white for a sort of superior froth and smoothness
which certainly makes sense and he does express it very eloquently.
You should look it up.
You need much less than you would for a sour though, only around 10 mils or so to sort of
help aerate, so I honestly wouldn't waste a whole egg if you're just gonna make one
but do give it a little try if you're making a few at a time or if you work in a bar and so
you have like a little squeezy bottle of egg white anyway because it does lighten the texture nicely.
Either way, just shake really hard. A microplane is really handy for these
kinds of grated garnishes and you could do dark chocolate or even a coffee bean instead
but if you don't have one then just use some powdered cinnamon or nutmeg.
May as well start with the coffee since that's how I like to start everything.
You got 15 mls of coffee liqueur, as I said, definitely not necessary it's just
a little twist of my own that I like to do. And then we've got 15 mils of creme de cacao.
It's really good this one. Then we're going to go 30 mils of cream.
It is quite a good little hack to do the cream before something else so then
you'll get the cream almost rinsed out of your jigger and it should be a little bit less messy.
And then 30 ml of brandy, something pretty young and fresh and fruity to shine through the cream.
It really doesn't have to be anything too fancy.
Then we're going to fill your shaker tin with ice.
Pop your tins together, make sure you've got a nice straight line,
you obviously particularly don't want anything creamy exploding all over you.
Then just use your hawthorne strainer to hold your ice back in the tin
and pour through the fine strainer. As with all creamy cocktails you do want
to fine strain this one to try and preserve that smooth texture for as long as possible.
Then just going to take a little piece of nutmeg and give it a grate over the top.
And there you have it, the Brandy Alexander. So now you know.
I am looking forward to getting stuck into this.
Just that, obviously that nutmeg nose just kind of
always instantly transports me to to holiday season.
It's actually really surprisingly quite light because you obviously I mean,
I'm sure you're shaking it up so you've got heaps of air in there too
and I think just because using sort of good quality products for the liqueurs, it's not
sort of sticky and sickly and they do both have a very slight bitterness to it and then
obviously you've just got that really lovely sort of juicy brandy coming through as well.
I don't know if I like this one more than the eggnog.
I'd have to do a side-by-side comparison but they're definitely both delicious and indulgent.