B likes grapefruit juice, so I am always on the lookout for a good grapefruit juice based cocktail (see our last post on The Blinker). So when I got a Twitter feed to a Facebook link for a cocktail called the Sapphire Savoy, I decided I would give it a whirl. Now at this point two things are probably coming to mind. 1) Twitter? Facebook? Are you sure you have a wife and don’t live in your mother’s basement? and 2) Where did they come up with that name? In answer to 1) Yes. I’m sure. In answer to 2) I have no idea. The cocktail resembles either a Communique, which is equal parts gin, orange curacao and grapefruit juice or a White Lady Variation. The White Lady is normally 2 parts gin and 1 part each Cointreau and Lemon Juice; the variation substitutes grapefruit juice. What this cocktail is not is a Savoy cocktail, which is a gin based cocktail with vermouth and Dubonnet. I thought a better name since the variation substitutes grapefruit juice for the lemon juice in a White Lady, might be a Pink Lady, but then I remembered there already was one that had nothing to do with this and that we already talked about it. So all this discussion brings up a question. At what point does a change in proportions constitute a new drink with a different name? I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t be a case where you would give it a different name, and I am definitely sure it isn’t a case where you would give it the name of an entirely different cocktail that already exists. It isn’t a bad cocktail, though both B and I thought that it needed something. I remembered that I had picked up some grapefruit bitters a while back without much idea of what to do with them, so we gave those a whirl. It really perked up the drink considerably. So, what would I call it?
Bombay’s take on a Communique
- 1 1/2 oz gin
- 2 oz. grapefruit juice
- 1/2 oz. orange liqueur (I used Patron’s Citronge)
- 2 dashes Fee Brothers Grapefruit Bitters
Shake one ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon or grapefruit twist.
Hope the holidays were good for you and that 2010 good to you.
Cin Cin
Ooh I love the picture- very festive!