Roof Garden Cooler

It’s been a crazy week weather-wise here in Madrid. The end of the summer has brought a great unpredictability in the weather, and conditions are changing drastically from one day to the next. I’m tempted to say it’s all because of global warming, which would allow me to indulge in the popular hobby of blaming politicians, but Madrid has always been like this at the beginning of autumn (or fall, for those of the American persuasion), so I’ll just enjoy the good days in preparation for the winter.

On one of the warmer days we’ve had this week I found myself looking for something refreshing and new, and while browsing books I found just the thing in David Wondrich’s Killer Cocktails. While conjuring up images of people in comedy moustaches wearing suits and ties at the height of a New York summer, Wondrich introduces us to the Roof Garden Cooler, a drink invented at the Waldorf Hotel in the early twentieth century and designed to keep you cool despite the feeling of being wrapped in a carpet and thrown into an oven.

It’s a very nice tipple on its own merits, and is even more admirable when you consider it’s nothing more than a glorified wine cooler. It’s not too strong, using only vermouth as the alcoholic component, so you can engage in the activity of cooling yourself down without worrying too much about nasty side-effects. Hell, even my wife liked it, so I really can’t fault it.

Recipe:

2 oz. dry Vermouth
1 oz. Lime juice
1/4 -1/2 oz. Simple Syrup (original recipe states 1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar)
1 dash Angostura Bitters
Ginger Ale

Combine all ingredients in a glass, stirring until the sugar is dissolved if you haven’t used simple syrup. Add a few ice cubes and top with ginger ale.

Notes:

There really isn’t much to say, this drink is not too complex, apart from what the vermouth brings to the table.

I was surprised at how refreshing it was without any shaking or crushed ice in sight. Usually a built drink warms up relatively quickly, since it was never as cold to begin with. This one didn’t last long enough for that, though…

Rating:

- Don’t bother being traditional, you can have one while enjoying the air-conditioning.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 13th, 2007 at 3:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.