Cocktail of the Week: Stinger

Cocktail of the Week: Stinger

What, brandy and creme de menthe? Really?

Yup, these unlikely companions are the ingredients in a Stinger, a classic cocktail that dates to the early twentieth century but was particularly popular during the 1940s and 1950s.

This cocktail is rated Funky: Requires a few tools beyond a bottle of booze and some soda or juice

To make a Stinger, you’ll need brandy and white creme de menthe (substitute green creme de menthe, and you’ve got a Green Hornet, which tastes identical). I also recommend a cocktail shaker, bar spoon, and jigger.

Tools and ingredients to make a Stinger
Tools and ingredients to make a Stinger

Use your favorite brandy, or use cognac if you’re feeling fancy. I’m not a brandy connoisseur, so if anyone has any recommendations for me, please leave me a comment! You can get nicer creme de menthe than I’m using here (this one is my favorite, which I don’t have in the house right now), but a cheap one is fine.

The proportions for this cocktail are 2 parts brandy to 1 part creme de menthe. Use your jigger to measure 2 oz of brandy and 1 oz creme de menthe into your cocktail shaker. Don’t have a cocktail shaker? You can use a pint glass.

Add ice and stir for about 30 seconds.

Add ice and stir.
Add ice and stir.

Strain into a glass. I like to use a small Old Fashioned glass and add a few ice cubes. Some recipes recommend serving a Stinger straight up (meaning with no ice) in a cocktail (martini) glass. Do whatever you feel.

Mmmmmm. Two great tastes that taste better than you'd expect together.
Mmmmmm. Two great tastes that taste better than you’d expect together.

On the topic of combining ingredients, fibre space™ carries some yarns that, when used together, are more than the sum of their parts. Neighborhood Fiber Co. and Habu have some excellent examples. Combine Habu Silk Stainless with Habu bamboo to make a Spyke Shawlette. Combine Neighborhood Fiber Co. Chromium with Neighborhood Fiber Co. Loft to make an Iodine.

Iodine, modeled by Ms. Neighborhood Fiber Co. herself
Iodine, modeled by Ms. Neighborhood Fiber Co. herself

For more information on the Stinger and cocktails like it, check out one of my favorite cocktail books, Old Man Drinks, which states that “people last drank [Stingers] during the Truman administration.”

The antidote to fancy shmancy cocktails. Not that I'm opposed to those.
The antidote to fancy shmancy cocktails and an endless string of “takes on the Manhattan.” Not that I’m opposed to those.
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