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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
