I can’t believe it took me two years to stumble across the cocktail recipe published by Café de Abejas, a band from Helsinki, but I am glad I did!
The band created their own recipe for a drink they named “Pauline’s Cherry Lips,” inspired by the “Kirschwasser martini” improvised by Hindenburg passenger Pauline Charteris when the airship’s bar ran out of gin on its maiden voyage to America in 1936.
In honor of the band’s efforts I followed their recipe, and I enjoyed their creation with the appropriate glassware and accessories, of course. 🙂
When I crafted my original version of the Pauline Charteris Hindenburg Cocktail, I limited myself to ingredients that would have been available to Pauline based on photographs of the airship’s bar and the Hindenburg drinks menu.
The creative types from Café de Abejas did not similarly constrain themselves and used items that were not on board the airship, allowing them to create a much more interesting and layered, if less traditional, alternative. Personally I thought the absinthe was a little too muscular compared to the other ingredients, but perhaps it was the brand I used, and even so it was a very well-balanced cocktail.
Give it a try; play with the ingredients; and feel free to post your own thoughts in the comments.
The Recipes:
Pauline Charteris Hindenburg Cocktail
My version of what Pauline might have crafted to imitate a martini in the absence of gin:
- 3 oz kirschwasser
- A tad less than 1/2 oz dry vermouth
- A splash of Grenadine
- Lemon peel*
*A peel — just the oily skin — not a “twist” with the bitter white pith.
Shake with ice; enough to make cold but not enough to dilute too badly.
Pauline’s Cherry Lips
The creative alternative by the interesting people at Café de Abejas:
A jigger (50 ml) of Kirschwasser
A barspoon of dry Vermouth
2 barspoons each of Absinthe and Maraschino liqueur
A dash of orange bitters
Two dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
Maraschino cherry or lemon peel for garnish
Stir and strain in to a cocktail glass.
And for those who would like a musical accompaniment to their cocktail hour, here is Café de Abejas:
Dissolve a small lump of sugar in a little water in a whiskey glass. Add 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters. Add an ice cube, a piece of lemon peel and one jigger whiskey.
I have experimented with both recipes and here are my results:
Pauline Charteris Hindenburg Cocktail:
I started off using DeKuyper’s Kirschwasser and Stock Extra Dry Vermouth. It is very hard in my area to find a liquor store that stocks a real kirschwasser, that is one that has been double distilled from sour cherries. I was able to locate a Black Forest Kirschwasser from Distillerie Kammer-Kirsch. The DeKuyper’s and the Black Forest kirschwassers are different, both in bouquet and taste. Because the German import has been made from cherries along with their pits, there is a bit of a bitter almond taste. If you can get a good kirschwasser from Germany by all means do so. If not, the DeKuyper’s Kirschwasser is a reasonable substitute for practical purposes. Do not get cherry flavored vodka, they are not the same even if the guy behind the counter insists that they are and that he is just trying to save you some money. That is the equivalent of adding alcohol to grape juice and calling it “wineâ€. I found little difference in this cocktail when I mixed it with Dekuyper’s Kirschwass and Stock Extra Dry Vermouth and the Black Forest Kirschwasser mixed with Martini Extra Dry Vermouth. The important variable here was the amount of Grenadine and how much to use for a splash. If a splash of Grenadine is between 1 teaspoon and ¼ ounce, this cocktail goes very well with cheesecake or dark chocolate. If lesser amounts are used such as ¼ teaspoon to ¾ teaspoon this cocktail will go very well with a fine torte such as a tiramisu torte. By the way, kirschwasser is an ingredient in the black forest cherry torte. Either way you mix it, it is a great desert cocktail.
Pauline’s Cherry Lips – the creative alternative by the interesting people at Café de Abejas:
I initially started off with DeKuyper’s Kirschwasser, Stock Extra Dry Vermouth, Grande Absinthe, Peychaud’s and orange bitters, and because in my area Maraschino liqueur is hard to come by, someone with bar tending experience suggested I use DeKuyper’s Michigan Cherry. The result was quite good. This concoction went well with cheesecake.
Later, I was able to locate some Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur. I remixed this recipe with Black Forest Kirschwasser from Distillerie Kammer Kirsch, Martini Extra Dry Vermouth, the Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur and Grande Absinthe while increasing the bitters by a few drops. Very different drink. It was like comparing a colorized black and white photo from the 1930’s and a high definition digital photo. The major difference maker was the Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur in place of the DeKuyper’s Michigan Cherry. The two do not quite taste the same and they render different results in this case. In this case, with the Maraschino Liqueur, the drink pretty much stood on its own, and didn’t quite work as well with cheesecake or tiramisu torte.
Yesterday, I mixed up the Pauline Charteris Hindenburg cocktail. I was trying to figure out how much was a splash of Grenadine. I used a spoon marked “dash” to measure out the Grenadine. Is this about the right amount? I think the flavor was a bit on the harsher side compared to the Lady Grace.
They ran out of gin?! How on earth did that happen? No wonder Hendrick’s Gin advertises using an airship…
The bar was stocked to German tastes!
Let’s see about tastes. Was the bar stocked with Schwartzer Kater? (Note this is not the same as the better known Zeller Schwartz Katze. Although both are named for black cats) Was Warsteiner also among the libations available?
Info on Schwartzer Kater (which is less known in the US):
https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_908840/schwarzer-kater-blackcurrant-500ml.jsp;jsessionid=65CD8670C54B543C8157FAF3CAB74F80.ncdlmorasp1304?bmUID=l0C9KEq
The story of Zeller Schwartz Katze:
http://lawineaux.blogspot.com/2014/08/zeller-schwarze-katz-black-cat-wine.html
Budweiser may be the king of beers, but Warsteiner is the queen of beers.
If it didn’t have Schwartzer Kater, Schwartz Katze or Warsteiner, then what did they have?
Dan:
Thanks for the recipe and thanks for the music.
A while back I made a post to your article on the Lady Grace Drummond-Hay. In that post I pasted a link to a website for a drink named after her. Have you had a chance to try that recipe?
I just noticed it! (I don’t know how I missed it, I always enjoy and value Dagmara’s comments.)
I would love to try it — I am a big fan of both Hendrick’s gin and Lady Grace — but I am not sure what to do about the citric acid part. 🙂
1 ½ parts Hendrick’s Gin
1 part chardonnay
¼ part citric acid
¼ part simple syrup
1 dash orange bitters
Dan:
I’ve got the Lady Grace figured out. Here’s how things went. To get the citric acid powder I called around a number of places asking if they had any citric acid for canning tomatoes. Ace Hardware carries the stuff and I got some.
Now citric acid is a crystalline powder at room temperature. Where the recipe calls for 1/4 part citric acid, do not use the powder. The citric acid will over power everything. When the drink warms up to room temperature, it will be pretty much undrinkable, but perfect for passivating steel nuts and bolts.
I discussed this with my friends over breakfast. I came to the conclusion that some solution of citric acid is used, I just wasn’t sure of the concentration. Then I came across this website:
http://www.abarabove.com/citric-acid/
Here is the dilution of the crystalline citric acid:
1/4 teaspoon citric acid powder dissolved into 1.5 ounces of water.
Just now, I remixed the Lady Grace using the above solution. Where the 1/4 part citric acid is 1/4 tsp powder dissolved into 1.5 oz water. All I can say is this time the concoction came out perfectly delightful!!! 🙂 🙂
How cool! Thank you, Dagmara!
I just bought some on Amazon.com for $4.99: Citric Acid Powder. I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for checking it out, Dagmara!
Now there is one variation I would like to try, and that is to use a Chardonnay aged in oak. I can always tell if a wine is aged in oak. I’m wondering how the oak flavor will come out.
I’ve done some experimentation with the Lady Grace. I used three different Chardonnays and worked with different amounts of orange bitters. The Chardonnays I used were Calling All Angels 2012 vintage, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Lightly Oaked Chardonnay 2013 and Sutter Home. Both the Calling All Angels and the Woodbridge Lightly Oaked gave the best results 24 hours after being opened.
This cocktail is best stirred with ice, not shaken.
When mixing the ingredients, I based everything on 1 part equals 1 ounce, with the dash of orange bitters based on a measuring spoon labeled as 1 dash (measuring spoons labeled smidgeon, pinch, dash and tad available from Bed Bath and Beyond). My recommendations for the amount of orange bitters – for the minimum amount, just fill the spoon marked 1 dash; for the maximum amount, fill the spoon marked one dash until there is a bulge of liquid such that if you add another drop it will overflow, add this into the cocktail and then add 2 to 3 extra drops.
The Lady Grace goes perfectly with Magnum Chocolate Infinity ice cream bars and Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate – Twilight Delight 72% cacao.