The Cocktail Napkin – The Fallon Flapper

By Jo Petteruti, Mixologist and Owner, Jo's Stillwater Tea Room   This year on March 13^th, the Tea Room will celebrate its five-year anniversary – and what a run it's been.  When we opened on that Friday the 13^th, we wondered what would be in store for our little place.  Would people like it, can we make it a fun yet safe place, can we even make a profit...?  After investing a good amount of our savings and two years of our time, effort and energy, would it all be worthwhile?  We were so proud of what we built, but would it work?  Five years later, the answer has been a resounding Yes. The very first cocktail that we crafted at the Tea Room back then became known as the Fallon Flapper.  Natalie Parrish, Teri Lister and I were experimenting one afternoon and we devised the recipe which is in today's column.  We decided that it should be a gin-based cocktail as a throwback to the speakeasy days.  We felt that even the name should be era-appropriate.  The cocktail also had to have style and class which got us thinking about martinis, roses and rose water.  With a bit (or maybe a little more than a bit!) of trying different portions and other ingredients, we arrived at the Fallon Flapper recipe. The original definition of a cocktail according to the Mr. Boston Bartender's Guide is a “spirit of any kind, sugar, water and bitters”.  So, we decided to try to follow this basic principle when choosing our ingredients. The spirit:  We chose Bombay Sapphire Gin as the spirit.  One of the reasons for this gin choice was because of its botanical composition.  The Bombay Spirits Company uses a vapor infusing process to capture the flavors of the botanical ingredients they use in their gins, as opposed to adding artificial flavors to the spirit. The sugar and the water:  We decided to add a splash of 7-Up and a little rose water for these two components.  The 7-Up added a sweet sparkle and the rose water complimented the other botanicals in the gin. The bitters:  A splash of Cinzano Dry Vermouth took care of this, and of course I got to put my Italian influence in there somewhere... We chose to garnish the cocktail with edible dried rose petals because once they re-hydrate or “blossom”, they look lovely in the glass and do enhance the flavor of the drink. Given that this March is our 5 year anniversary, it seemed appropriate to publish our very first cocktail recipe in this edition of The Fallon Post.  It also brings back the fun memories of being with Nat and Teri.  The Fallon Flapper has become quite popular at the Tea Room and I'm very proud of that.  Many thanks to those two ladies for helping me craft this one. So, here is the Tea Room's Fallon Flapper recipe.  The rose water and petals can be bought on Amazon.com. Fallon Flapper Ingredients:

• 2 ½ oz. Bombay Sapphire Gin
• ½ oz. Cinzano Dry Vermouth
• 1 oz. 7-Up
• 3 -4 drops Rose Water
• Edible dried rose petals (also available at the Tea Room)

Preparation:

• Chill a coupe glass and have a sidecar carafe handy.
• Add a good scoop of ice to a cocktail shaker, then add the gin, vermouth and rose water.
• Cover and shake well until icy cold.
• Add the 7-Up to the shaker and swirl it in a little bit – do not shake.
• Add a few rose petals each to the glass and sidecar.
• Strain some of the shaker's ingredients into the coupe glass then add the remaining amount to the sidecar. The roses will start to “blossom” in the drink after a few minutes.

Sip and enjoy responsibly... Ciao!       We need your support now more than ever -- as our small business community is hit, so is our advertising support -- if you are able to support local, independent news, now is the time to click here to contribute to The Fallon Post, so we can continue to bring you up-to-the-minute information. We are your non-profit (501c3) online news source for all things Fallon and appreciate all your support. Never miss the local news -- read more on The Fallon Post home page.