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LENNON’S FAVOURITE

ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST RENOWNED MUSICIANS, JOHN LENNON IS KNOWN TO HAVE LOVED THE BRANDY ALEXANDER. IMAGINE.

“When you did something beautiful and nobody noticed, don’t be sad. For the sun, every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.” – John Lennon

Just imagine what contribution John Lennon could have continued to make to the world of music had he not been shot in the back four times by Mark David Chapman in December 1980. The long-haired lad from Liverpool would have turned 79 this year.

Chances are that many readers of this piece have the gentle strains of the iconic tune ‘Imagine’ running through their heads right now! (“Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do... Imagine all the people, living life in peace...”)

It was the best-selling track of his solo career and remains one of the most performed songs of all time because of its melodic ease and anthemic sentiment. It reached number one on the charts both at the time of release in 1971 – and then again nine years later after his assassination. It’s played in New York’s Times Square just before midnight and the annual ball drop marking the start of a New Year.

So what does Lennon have to do with a cocktail? Well, the Brandy Alexander was known to be his favourite. It’s also believed to have played a not insignifi cant role in his infamous “Lost Weekend” in 1974 when he was unceremoniously ejected from the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles West Hollywood for heckling the Smothers Brothers. (In an utterly useless aside, the Troubadour Club is also where comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested on obscenity charges in favourite. It’s also believed to have played a not insignifi cant role in his infamous “Lost Weekend” in 1974 when he was unceremoniously ejected from the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles West Hollywood for heckling the Smothers Brothers. (In an utterly useless aside, the Troubadour Club is also where comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested on obscenity charges in 1962 for using the term “schmuck” onstage! How times – and standup comedians – have changed...) The story goes that he was introduced to the Brandy Alexander while with his friend Harry Nilssen and, while at the Troubadour and heckling the band, Lennon was involved in an altercation with the waitress. He later said the drink “tasted like milkshakes”.

He was right – but milkshakes for grown ups.

The Brandy Alexander is actually a refi nement of the original gin-based cocktail which was simply known as the Alexander. It was one part gin, one part crème de cacao and one part cream, dusted with a sprinkle of nutmeg. Believed to have originated in the 1920’s the name of it is variously attributed to either the Russian tsar Alexander II or to the prominent drama critic of the day (and member of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of New York wits, critics and writers) Alexander Woollcott. (Woollcott, “known to have a savage tongue” Wikipedia states, wrote for the New Yorker and at one stage was banned from covering Broadway plays because his reviews were so hard-hitting and ascerbic!)

And it was important that the crème de cacao used in the making of the cocktail was the clear version of the chocolate liqueur rather than the darker hued

one. Interestingly, Wikipedia informs that “The French word ‘crème’ refers to the creamy texture of this very sweet liqueur, achieved by having a sugar content of at least 250 g/l as required by European law, and there is no dairy cream in it.” It’s a liqueur that has been around since the 1600s and historic records refl ect that before the American Revolution in the 1700s, New Englanders were quite partial to “chocolate wine” made from sherry, port, chocolate and sugar!

Crème de cacao can be either clear or dark-hued – depending on the addition of colour, but essentially it is a clear spirit infused with cacao beans or chocolate fl avour as well as very sweet syrup.

So the Brandy Alexander simply substitutes brandy for the gin component of the cocktail. It’s truly tasty and is easy to see why Lennon said it was like milkshakes. There are a host of great quotes attributed to the Beatles singer and songwriter. Like this one: “When you did something beautiful and nobody noticed, don’t be sad. For the sun, every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.”

Just imagine if he’d made more music...

BRANDY ALEXANDER 1 part Brandy 1 part Crème de cacao 1 part fresh cream Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass of your choice. Sprinkle with fresh ground or grated nutmeg.