Nightcap Crime and Jazz

If you ask for an Americano nowadays, you'll likely get watered-down, bitter espresso in a thermos-sized cup, but in the 60s, you'd get James Bond's favorite café drink¸ refreshing with just enough kick to know you're drinking something interesting.

Make one — Campari, sweet vermouth (Cinzano/vermouth di Torino), soda, and an orange — sit back and enjoy the vibe. Cheers 🍸🎷

18 hours ago | [YT] | 7

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

I've mentioned before that my grandfather would read Emilio Salgari — the guy who pretty much invented the pirates-in-the-Caribbean genre — to me behind my mother's back.

In one of his novels, a character laments not having Rosolio to offer. It's the bottle Italian houses have tucked away in the back for when a friend comes around with an interesting story.

Basically, rose petals, sugar, and patience will give you a sweet drink that, when served ice-cold, can make the stiffest of tongues wag. You don't need to ask them the story; you just pour and wait.

So next time you want the gossip to flow, get a little Rosolio and wait. That's what they do at La Tulipe Rose. Cheers 🎷

2 days ago | [YT] | 6

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

My grandpa used to tell me I would be an astronaut someday because I was born in the year of the Rockets! In '62, Egypt got missiles built by German scientists, and my family got some nuclear warheads installed in our backyard, so to speak.

Both created crises that I'm sure led to more than one hangover.

The definitive cure for which was invented in Cairo about 20 years earlier by a guy at the Shepheard's Hotel and was aptly named "The Suffering Bastard."

Build it yourself: 1 oz gin, 1 oz brandy, 1/2 oz lime cordial, a dash of Angostura, top with cold ginger ale in a chilled highball over ice, and finish with bruised mint. Best taken on a terrace, at dusk, facing the water — watching for whoever followed you there.

Enjoy the vibe, hopefully without needing the cure. Cheers 🍸

3 days ago | [YT] | 6

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

Hey everyone, meet Ansel Lazlo, a guy I made up as an homage to the movies that shaped my character and teenage fantasies of how I wanted to grow up.

Ansel's a trumpet guy. He owns La Tulipe Rose — an exclusive little casino in Monte Carlo where he blows and helps you out of a jam, if you're lucky enough to have one of his cards.

Expect soft, mellow sounds for an intimate romantic night.

Don't miss the premier episode: https://youtu.be/tkv-mJcDVok

Here's to the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Cheers 🍸

4 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 6

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

A well-stocked bar is a habit I inherited, which means keeping Cava, Prosecco, and Champagne each for its occasion.

Now, if you ask a Frenchman, that Italian counterfeit champagne isn't worth the cork on the bottle. If you ask an Italian, making a Bellini with anything other than Prosecco Valdobbiadene is a travesty.

Refreshing as a summer's breeze, the Bellini was born at Harry's Bar in Venice and was a favorite of Bogart and Bacall. I like to think they were the ones who introduced Vivian to the drink during their stay at her villa near Milan.

Wouldn't that be something? The socialite who accidentally sleuths and the guy who played one.

The stories they could tell…

Two parts Prosecco Valdobbiadene to one part fresh white-peach purée, chilled tumbler. Hope you pour one. 🎷

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 7

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

I was introduced to India when I was very young by a mischievous grandfather who read Emilio Salgari's The Mysteries of the Black Jungle to me behind my mother's back.

Needless to say, it became one of my many youthful fantasy obsessions.

A century after the jungle mysteries, a bold high-speed train crossed it in luxury, and on it, as in every bar of consequence, the artless gimlet was the epitome of English sophistication.

It's a simple cocktail —if mixing gin and lime can be called that— that refreshes the palate from the oppressive heat.

1 week ago | [YT] | 5

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

Death and taxes, they say you can't avoid them, but people find a way — at least with taxes. When Turkey taxed French Cognac to the stratosphere in the 60s, the answer became Kanyak. A local brandy and a staple at the Orient Bar with a wink.

Thus the Kanyak Stinger was born. Shaken cold with white crème de menthe and strained into a coupe, it comes up pale, cool green, like something you maybe shouldn't drink too fast.

Pour one:
· 2 oz Kanyak (any brandy/cognac works)
· ¾ oz white crème de menthe
· Shake hard over ice, strain into a chilled coupe
· Mint on the rim — and a glass of water alongside. You'll want the chaser.

Perfect for an evening with a little jazz and a touch of crime — this one pours alongside The Last Encore. As my grandpa would say, "Let the sleuthing begin…" 🎷

1 week ago | [YT] | 3

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

Cafés in winter are pretty much the same the world over — a refuge from the cold.

There's nothing like a hot tea to heal your aching bones. In Warsaw, they put a little something extra in your tea. You know... to get the cold out.

Krupnik is Poland's old answer to a hard winter: a honey-and-spice vodka — cinnamon, clove, a little vanilla — that's been made since the 1500s, sometimes in monasteries, sometimes warmed in a pan at the back of the stove until the whole kitchen smells of it.

It's medicine they'll tell you, as if that helped the burn.

If you want it milder, pour a measure into a tall glass of strong black tea, add a curl of lemon, and you've got Simone's favorite after-heist relax.

Krupnik and black tea. Best medicine you'll ever taste. 🥃🫖

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

Courvoisier VSOP, Marie Brizard Triple Sec, and freshly squeezed juice from Italian lemons. Shaken over cracked ice and strained. Ahhh… I was definitely born in the wrong decade.

I can imagine that perfect nightcap while the miles go by on a train, listening to a tuxedoed guy caress the ivories— perfectly timed to the wheels' incessant drum.

What a time to be alive.

This set is all about train travel in the age of glamour and Sidecars. Enjoy!

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 7

Nightcap Crime and Jazz

If you're ever at the Orient Bar, wondering if Poirot's ghost might pass by, have the bartender make you an off-menu Türk Negroni like they used to do back in the day—it's a delight.

They’ll grab a hot copper cezve of fresh Turkish coffee right off the burner, flash-chill it directly into the Campari, and double-strain it into a retro coupette. It’s a deceptively dark elixir—the roasted, oily bitterness of the coffee grounds masking the sweet, medicinal burn of the vermouth just long enough to make you forget who is watching you from across the mahogany.

The flavors blend harmoniously, and then they'll garnish it with a thick orange wedge and some coffee beans. The perfect company for a relaxing afternoon with some Jazz... and a murder.

That’s the glass I had in mind for this set: the perfect company for a heavy, late-autumn afternoon when the sun is dying over the Golden Horn, the jazz is slow, and the murder is already cold.

https://youtu.be/kW3njsfAgZU

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 4