Brainstorm

Aug 29

When the Mecanigma puzzle box was featured here many years ago, I made a complex cocktail in homage called the French Storm. The name and ingredients were a nod to Christophe Laronde’s home and to his creation’s theme and impact. It seemed appropriate to reference back to that original cocktail name with a toast to the sequel, while also incorporating the name for his new production venture, “Brain Pinch Puzzles”. The Brainstorm cocktail is a lesser known classic dating back more than 100 years, when it first appeared in Hugo Ensslin’s famous Recipes for Mixed Drinks, 1917 as the “Brain Storm”. The original recipe calls for one “Cube of Ice, 2 dashes Benedictine, 1 piece Orange Peel, 2 dashes French Vermouth, 1 drink of Irish Whiskey”. Interestingly, the recipe also instructs the maker to “serve with a small barspoon in glass”. Perhaps so the storm in your brain occurs more slowly, one small spoonful at a time?

Modern day bartender Al Sotack has been a champion of this old classic since his days at Philadelphia’s Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co (a well know cocktail bar there), and brought it with him to Jupiter Disco in Brooklyn, his current bar. Irish Whiskey tends to be a lighter and smoother than bolder Scotch or rye, so it can get lost in classics like the Manhattan. The Brainstorm allows the whiskey to come through, with small amounts of the sweet Benedictine and dry vermouth to balance the drink. Here’s to classic comebacks – cheers!