April 8, 2009

"Go, and never darken my towels again!"

Tonight I promised you all a long-forgotten but recently unearthed drink named after one of the Marx Brothers. I present to you, "Groucho's Delight!"
groucho's delight

Made from equal parts of cigar water, greasepaint, and dry sarcasm, this drink is...completely made up, as though the photo didn't give that away.

I really am working on getting some decent photos started on here. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, the money's just not there to get a setup that will truly do the drinks justice quite yet. So I tried to shoot a couple tonight and crop and tweak them into something presentable. They're not quite there, but they'll do.

The photo, minus the mustache, is actually of tonight's drink, known as "Harpo's Special." It's a variation on the Daiquiri that was named after Harpo Marx at the Algonquin (which was home to the eponymous Round Table of Dorothy Parker fame). Harpo would also stop by the restaurant from time to time, as did Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, and the drink's creator, Murdock Pemberton. The real drink looks like this:
Harpo's Special

Harpo's Special is made from 2 oz of rum (the original used white rum, but I much prefer the more mellow notes of a golden rum), 1/2 tsp of curaçao, the juice of 1/2 a lime (or lemon if you prefer, though lime is definitely better), 1 teaspoon of bar sugar, and a drop of Angostura bitters. Shake them all together with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Appropriately enough, since the drink is a close relative of the Daiquiri, it's taste is similar to that of a Daiquiri, differing only with the addition of the curaçao and the bitters. Those additional flavors work very well, though, and the end result is a little sweeter, more orangey, and dare I say it, tempers the tartness a little more than the original. Still, on a hot summer's day, either one would make a good drink to sit down and enjoy your Animal Crackers with. Also goes great with Duck Soup.

Ok, I'll stop with the Monkey Business. I've got to get to bed early, anyway. I've got to be up early for A Day at the Races, and that's no Horse Feathers.

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