Our cocktail this weekend is yet another wonderful classic. A gin sour that is sort of gin’s answer to the Daiquiri and the Margarita. It was created in Burma in the 1920s during Britain’s colonial heyday. The British overlords stationed throughout the empire found comfort, safety, and camaraderie at the Club which was located at each of their outposts. The Club of interest to us this week is the Pegu Club which was located in Rangoon and named after the Pegu River. It, like all the other clubs, had a bar and, like all the others, it had its house cocktail: The Pegu Club Cocktail.
The first publication of the cocktail appeared in 1927 in Harry MacElhone’s Barflies and Cocktails. Three years later, it was published in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book. The drink traveled the world and was quite popular until sometime around WW II. With the recent interest in classic cocktails, the drink’s fame is being restored, and deservedly so. This is a great cocktail.
In 2005, Audrey Saunders opened a new craft cocktail bar in NYC that she named after the Pegu Club. At the time of its opening, the first cocktail renaissance was in its infancy, and Pegu Club was one of the few places in the city to find a complex cocktail. It went on to become one of the most influential bars in the world, and a pioneer of the craft cocktail movement.
Saunders went on to have a very successful career and created at least three modern classic cocktails: Old Cuban, Gin Gin Mule, and Little Italy.
Pegu Club
2 dashes Angostura or dash Angostura and dash Orange bitters
.75 ounce fresh lime juice
.75 ounce curaçao (you can choose your favorite - Pierre Ferrand, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, curaçao, or triple sec or experiment to see which you like best)
2 ounces gin (London dry)
Shake briefly in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
No garnish is necessary, but some use a lime slice or peel.
Our Song to Accompany This Weekend’s Cocktail
This week’s artist has won two Grammy awards, two Ivor Novello awards, four Edison awards, an MTV Video Music Award, a BAFTA award, an ASCAP Founders award, and a Gemini award. In 2003, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And, in 2016, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Elvis Costello came along when punk rock was beginning its ascension in England. Costello took the energy and cynicism of punk and combined it with the more sophisticated lyrics and structure of new wave music to create a sound unlike anything before. But his musical savvy and stylistic range has included R&B, country, jazz, baroque pop, Tin Pan Alley, and classical music. He has released album-length collaborations with the classical ensemble the Brodsky Quartet, the New Orleans R&B songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint, and the hip-hop group the Roots. Costello has written more than a dozen songs with Paul McCartney and had a long-running songwriting partnership with Burt Bacharach.
Our song for this weekend’s cocktail comes from Costello’s first album, My Aim Is True. Released in 1977, the album was met with critical acclaim, including for Costello's musicianship and songwriting. In subsequent decades, commentators have highlighted the album as one of Costello's finest works and one of the best debut albums in music history.
Costello’s socially conscious, politically charged, and deeply emotional songwriting distinguished him among his punk peers and was clearly on display in the album. The accessible mix of sounds included on the album got his message to audiences around the world and made My Aim Is True one of the groundbreaking releases of the new wave period.
Alison was Costello’s second single from the album. It is one of my favorite Costello songs. It’s new wave pop at its best, relaxed and beautiful with wonderful, jazzy chords and constant, precise guitar work. Costello’s vocals sung with deep passion are locked in with a tight band. Great song. Great production. Great performance. Give it a listen.
The album’s title came from the lyrics of this song.
Alison
Written by Elvis Costello, Produced by Nick Lowe,
Performed by Elvis Costello
Friday Finally Playlist on
You’ll need Drambuie for next week’s cocktail. You probably have everything else you’ll need on hand.
Here’s to music that ages well and the artists that create it.
Until next week…
Ff 134
I’m having one right now. Listening to 99 luft ballons tho