Trojan Horse
A Horse’s Neck Cocktail
Trojan Horse cocktail
Let’s toast this Trojan Horse with another one, not quite as ancient but relatively old in the pantheon of cocktail history, at least. Perhaps I should use the term “Parthenon” since the Pantheon is Roman, and we are referencing a Greek tale, but parthenon doesn’t have the same meaning here. Anyway it’s all Greek to me. The tale we are telling now is a horse’s tail – no, sorry, a horse’s neck - a drink from the nineteenth century which featured a simple glass of ginger ale embellished with a very long strip of lemon peel to represent said neck. This was served cold as a refreshingly non-alcoholic pick me up. Somewhere toward the turn of the century whiskey, or more famously, brandy, was added to give it a “kick”. Soda water and brandy had been the go to libation of the era, a trend which started in London and made its way to New York. Ginger ale became a popular substitute and all sorts of new highballs were created – the Horse’s Neck was just one such highball. Patrons would order their Horse’s Neck with a kick, to leave no doubt about which version they were after.
Just having a highball
The drink became very popular with the British Royal Navy in World War II, and can be found in the period era movie The Yangtze Incident starring Donald Houston. It was also popular in literature, and a favorite of Ian Fleming. James Bond had a much more famous proclivity towards shaken martinis, but can be found swilling a brandy and ginger ale in the book On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. For my version of the Horse’s Neck, I selected a spicy rye whiskey, which would have been a popular American spirit in place of brandy during the drink’s heyday. I also wanted to add a surprise, what with this being an homage to the Trojan Horse and all that. So there is a little surprising kick of flavor here too. Just keep in mind that any proper highball is the pure combination of one to two parts spirit and four to six parts soda. Anything extra is pure embellishment. Cheers!
I’d invite this pair inside
Trojan Horse
2 oz rye
½ oz intense ginger liqueur
¼ oz Amaro di Angostura
4 oz ginger beer
4 dashes Angostura bitters
Build ingredients in a highball glass over ice and dash Ango bitters on top. Garnish with a long twisting lemon peel. Try to get yours to look more like a horse’s head and less like a sea serpent.
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