Well what a dramatic title for what it is, but I had some explaining to do when I was using someone else’s words to describe the taste on the palate for certain drinks then flowing into a wee brief history of the Savoy Cocktail Book, created by the legendary Harry Craddock back in 1920 based on the recipes of the American Bar in the Savoy in London.

Anyway the reason why I even bring this topic up in conversation is I continually defending the terminology of certain tastes of drinks. Two things, I often hear “its a masculine Gin”, “its a mans cocktail”. Which I use too, but every time i use said terminology I need caveat it with an explanation of why and how terrible using male or masculine are used.

basically back in the olden days of cocktails and before the 80-90s club scene boom, cocktails were comprised of layers of alcohol to create the flavors, with only a few (well in my mind) having fruity mixers or syrups. And I believe this strong taste was mainly for men like Frank Sinatra and hence they were called Masculine. On the other hand the original lady-esque cocktails like the classic Gin Fizz had lemon juice, sugar syrup etc in it, making it taste better and this was classed as a ladys drink.

Whenever I explain this to people I need to caveat this with “I don’t like this gentrification of classifications of drinks.

Then when describing spirits often people say “its a masculine Gin” which means it has a strong distinct flavor, yet there is no yin to this yang, no one ever says “that’s a feminine Gin”.

Again I disagree with this.

Anyway, this all came about when I was explaining these descriptions while working for Sam Minus 33 at a Gin event in Dundee, where I was creating Raspberry Gin Fizzes (I think that’s the plural of fizz).

And if anyone wants to know the Raspberry Gin Fizz is very feminine and contains:

In a cocktail Shaker
50ml shot of a good cocktail Gin, like Minus 33 or No.3 London (Stay away from Juniper focused Gins)
50ml shot of lemon juice or syrup
25ml of Agave syrup
hand full of ice
Hand full of Raspberries (must be Blairgowrie or Alyth Rasps) in the shaker
Top cap (pint glass) on.
Shake (but don’t shake like a twat), keep shaking until the outside gets a good lair on condensation.
Strain twice to remove the bits of berry.
Into a flute, pour half with mixture then top up with Soda, Tonic or Prosecco. Garnish with a frozen raspberry.

Ta

Graeme