Barrel Aged Count Negroni £8.50 Gin, Campari, Cynar artichoke, Lillet Rouge, Punt e Mes, Fernet Branca - Also available pre-bottled and wax sealed to take away. Yesterday in 1919 Count Camillo Negroni, living and drinking in Florence, asked his bartender, Fosco Scarcelli, to give his usual Americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and soda water) a little extra kick. Scarcelli obligingly substituted the soda for gin, and an eternal classic was born. Today the Four Sisters updated version of Scarcelli’s drink retains the mantra of equal parts of bitter, sweet and gin but the bitter and sweet is divided into four components instead of Scarcelli’s two, giving more depth than yesterdays version. The Four Sisters Count Negroni is then barrel aged in mature oak sherry barrels to add vanilla, caramel and smoke textures. Pisco Punch #7 £8.20 Pisco, Four Sisters pineapple syrup, pineapple juice, fresh lime, sage, mint. As in ancient times, the inhabitants of this place have a superstition about the Evil Bird.They say it announces the death of an individual, singing on the roof of the house of the one who is going to die. And that is why they call it, the Evil Bird. The terrifying animal rarely comes to the village, living in the countryside and staying in only the most beautiful trees, almost hidden among the leaves. Six restorative punches we’re brewed to frustrate the Evil Bird, but none of them worked, until they tried Pisco Punch #7 Dracula’s Libation £9.00 King’s Ginger Liqueur, Becherovka, fresh lemon, egg white, crystallised Aperol. Jonathan Harker, a recently qualified solicitor from England traveled to Transylvania on business with Count Dracula. At first enticed by Dracula’s gracious manner, Harker soon discovered that he was a prisoner in the castle and began to see disquieting facets of Dracula’s nocturnal life. One night while searching for a way out of the castle, and against Dracula’s strict admonition not to venture outside his room at night, Harker fell under the spell of three wanton female vampires, “the Sisters”. Saved at the last second by the Count, Harker escaped on a Russian cargo ship, returning to England with the secret of the brew with which the sisters so enchanted him; Dracula’s Libation. Night in Havana £8.50 Rum, Cherry Heering, Orange Curacao, Four Sisters almond syrup, fresh lime. One night in Havana, an evil priest who did not fear God or man, his heart filled with greed, took advantage of the good people of his parish, stealing money from the offerings to keep for himself. When he had filled a chest with gold, he killed a man and buried him with the chest, ordering the spirit of the murdered man to guard it so that anyone who tried to dig for the treasure would be devoured by the ghost. But the spirit turned on the priest, dragging him into the ground along with the chest, for all three to remain, one night in Havana. n umber 25 Canonbury Lane has been home to a Public House of one sort or another since the 1930s. Throughout the 30s and 40s what is now the main bar was divided in two, with the first room acting as a small public house. This was however, just a front for the main business which was in fact a brothel which operated in the back room and basement. The original name ‘The Four Sisters’ bore no relation to the Public House, but was a coded reference to the actual goings on at 25 Canonbury Lane. As the gentrification of Canonbury continued throughout the 1950s and local tenants were replaced by the middle classes, The Four Sisters also changed. The two ground floor rooms were combined into a single space and the ‘four sisters’ so too moved out, leaving 25 Canonbury Lane to the drinkers, the lushes and the tipplers. Throughout the next 60 years the bar underwent changes in both name and clientele but alcohol remained a constant, and so has the vintage feel of the interior, harking back to the bar’s more wanton beginnings. The Four Sisters 1
Transcript
Barrel Aged Count Negroni£8.50Gin, Campari, Cynar artichoke, Lillet Rouge, Punt e Mes, Fernet Branca - Also available pre-bottled and wax sealed to take away.
Yesterday in 1919 Count Camillo Negroni, living and drinking in Florence, asked his bartender, Fosco Scarcelli, to give his usual Americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and soda water) a little extra kick. Scarcelli obligingly substituted the soda for gin, and an eternal classic was born. Today the Four Sisters updated version of Scarcelli’s drink retains the mantra of equal parts of bitter, sweet and gin but the bitter and sweet is divided into four components instead of Scarcelli’s two, giving more depth than yesterdays version. The Four Sisters Count Negroni is then barrel aged in mature oak sherry barrels to add vanilla, caramel and smoke textures.
As in ancient times, the inhabitants of this place have a superstition about the Evil Bird.They say it announces the death of an individual, singing on the roof of the house of the one who is going to die. And that is why they call it, the Evil Bird. The terrifying animal rarely comes to the village, living in the countryside and staying in only the most beautiful trees, almost hidden among the leaves. Six restorative punches we’re brewed to frustrate the Evil Bird, but none of them worked, until they tried Pisco Punch #7
Jonathan Harker, a recently qualified solicitor from England traveled to Transylvania on business with Count Dracula. At first enticed by Dracula’s gracious manner, Harker soon discovered
that he was a prisoner in the castle and began to see disquieting facets of Dracula’s nocturnal life. One night while searching for a way out of the castle, and against Dracula’s strict admonition not to venture outside his room at night, Harker fell under the spell of three wanton female vampires, “the Sisters”. Saved at the last second by the Count, Harker escaped on a Russian cargo ship, returning to England with the secret of the brew with which the sisters so enchanted him; Dracula’s Libation.
Night in Havana £8.50Rum, Cherry Heering, Orange Curacao, Four Sisters almond syrup, fresh lime.
One night in Havana, an evil priest who did not fear God or man, his heart filled with greed, took advantage of the good people of his parish, stealing money from the offerings to keep for himself. When he had filled a chest with gold, he killed a man and buried him with the chest, ordering the spirit of the murdered man to guard it so that anyone who tried to dig for the treasure would be devoured by the ghost. But the spirit turned on the priest, dragging him into the ground along with the chest, for all three to remain, one night in Havana.
number 25 Canonbury Lane has been home to a Public House of one sort or another since the 1930s. Throughout the 30s and 40s what is now the main bar was divided in two, with the first room acting as a small public house. This was however, just a front for the main business which was in fact a brothel which operated in the back room and basement. The original name ‘The Four Sisters’ bore no relation to the Public House, but was a coded reference to the actual goings on at 25 Canonbury Lane.
As the gentrification of Canonbury continued throughout the 1950s and local tenants were replaced by the middle classes, The Four Sisters also changed. The two ground floor rooms were combined into a single space and the ‘four sisters’ so too moved out, leaving 25 Canonbury Lane to the drinkers, the lushes and the tipplers.
Throughout the next 60 years the bar underwent changes in both name and clientele but alcohol remained a constant, and so has the vintage feel of the interior, harking back to the bar’s more wanton beginnings.
The Four Sisters
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A La Madame £9.50Champagne, Gin, Violet liqueur, fresh lemon.
This is the story of a widowed prince whose daughter, Zezolla, was the light of his life. She was tended by a beloved governess who used Zezolla to persuade the prince to marry her. The governess had a dark side and quickly brought forward six daughters of her own who were cruel to Zezolla and sent her to the kitchen to work as a servant. The prince travelled to the island of Sardinia, meeting a fairy who bestowed gifts upon his abused daughter. The prince returned with a golden spade and a date seedling for Zezolla. She cultivated the tree, and when the king of the realm held a ball, Zezolla appeared dressed richly by a fairy living in the date tree. The king fell in love upon sight and dedicated to Zezolla the most sublime drink in all the kingdom; A La Madame.
Storyville is a legally protected prostitution district in New Orleans, home of the Brandy Crusta. As sex is the business of Storyville then Voodoo is its religion. Many Voodoo Queens ply their gris-gris in the district and one may find everything from powders to attract more lovers, to sealing potions to close a prostitute up so that she couldn’t do business. In New Orleans Voodoo, one must always be on guard. A real gris-gris is always hidden from its target in order to disarm their taking any defensive measures. Knowing this, the astute New Orleanian always takes defensive measures. One such example is the classic uncrossing method, to scrub one’s door step with red brick dust every morning before exiting the house.
Blood & Sand £8.00Four Sisters orange infused scotch whiskey, Cherry Heering, Punt e Mes, fresh orange.
Juan Gallardo, the most famous bullfighter in Spain, was killed yesterday in the bullring. A village boy born into poverty, he married childhood friend, the beautiful and virtuous Carmen. After achieving fame and fortune Gallardo found himself drawn to Doña Sol, a wealthy, seductive widow.After a torrid affair with sadomasochistic overtones, Gallardo, feeling guilty over his betrayal of Carmen, tried to free himself of Doña Sol. Furious at being rejected, Sol exposed their affair to Carmen and Gallardo’s mother, seemingly destroying his marriage. Growing more and more miserable and dissipated, Gallardo became increasingly reckless in the arena, eventually being killed in yesterdays bullfight. His life was the story of Blood & Sand.
According to recent texts by West African tenets of Vodou, a dead person can be revived by a bokor, or sorcerer, using an elixir known as the ‘corpse reviver’. The revived person or Zombie, will remain under the control of the bokor since they have no will of their own. Following the resurrection a part of the human soul, or zombi astral, is captured and used to enhance the bokor’s power. The zombi astral is typically kept inside a bottle which the bokor can sell to clients for luck, healing or business success.
Boulevardier £8.20Bourbon whiskey, Campari, Punt e Mes, Cynar artichoke liqueur, Amaro Averna
Europe has seen an influx of US citizens this month following the recent Volstead Act, or prohibition, as American bartenders have seen their profession summarily yanked from beneath them. New Yorker Harry McElhone was among the first to go, robust, jolly, cigar-chomping Harry once helmed the bar at the Plaza Hotel in New York but is now in Paris with his own place, Harry’s New York Bar. There and in other American bars, he and other Yanks are serving up the expected pre-prohibition cocktails as well as new drinks, created with European ingredients never imagined back home. One amply palatable drink of that milieu, The Boulevardier, is the signature drink of Erskine Gwynne, expatriate writer, socialite and nephew of railroad tycoon Alfred Vanderbilt.
In 1850, Sewell T. Taylor sold his bar in New Orleans, The Merchants Exchange Coffee House, and went into the imported liquor business. He began to import a brand of cognac named Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils. At the same time, Aaron Bird took over the Merchants Exchange, changed its name to the Sazerac House and began serving the “Sazerac Cocktail”, made with Taylor’s Sazerac cognac, and bitters being made down the street by a local druggist, Antoine Amedie Peychaud. Around 1870 the primary ingredient changed from cognac to rye whiskey due to the phylloxera epidemic which devastated France’s wine grape crops. The drink made its first printed appearance in William T. “Cocktail Bill” Boothby’s 1908 book; The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them.
The manor of Canonbury was constructed by William Bolton of St Bartholomew’s Priory between 1509 and 1532. At the dissolution it was granted to Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex and chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540. Cromwell was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation. He helped to engineer an annulment of the king’s marriage to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon and is widely attributed with creating the classic cocktail, the Canonbury Sour.
Hanky Spank Me! £7.80Gin, Kamm & Sons Ginseng liqueur, Punt e Mes, orange bitters.
Something you probably didn’t know; Ginseng increases blood flow, improves memory, wards off infection and restores general vitalityThe active ingredients in ginseng (called ginsengosides) accelerate the degradation of alcohol in the blood stream. At the 4th International Ginseng Symposium in 1984, Dr. J. Y. Lee of the Korea Ginseng & Tobacco Research Institute found that the alcohol level in the blood of those who took Korean red ginseng with alcohol was significantly lower than those who were given alcohol alone.
The red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, is a fish found in the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States and, much less commonly, northward as far as Massachusetts. The red snapper commonly inhabits waters 30 to 200 feet deep, but some are reported to be caught at 300 feet deep. All feature a sloped profile, medium-to-large scales, a spiny dorsal fin and a laterally compressed body. The maximum published age of a caught red snapper was reported to be 57 years. Coloration of the red snapper is light red, with more intense pigment on the back. A red snapper attains sexual maturity at two to five years old.
fictional character and adulterer Madame Bovary talks cocktails; What better occupation, really, than to spend the evening at the fireside with a cocktail, with the wind beating on the windows and the lamp burning bright...Haven’t you ever happened to come across in a cocktail some vague notion that you’ve had, some obscure idea that returns from afar and that seems to express completely your most subtle feelings? Upon finding herself in some other cocktail bar, Madame Bovary’s thoughts
turned back to The Four Sisters; everything, even herself, was now unbearable to her. She wished that, taking wing like a bird, she could fly somewhere, far away to regions of purity, and there have someone fix her a decent drink again.
Two to Tanqueray £7.80Gin, cranberry juice, fresh lemon, fresh lime, grapefruit soda.
In a recent interview, 20th century song writing sensations Al Hoffman and Dick Manning became so excited whilst commenting upon the most uncommon combinations of gin, cranberry and grapefruit soda that they broke clear into a song;“You can haunt any house by yourself, be a man or a mouse by yourself. You can act like a king on a throne, there are lots of things that you can do alone, but it takes two to Tanqueray”“You can sail on a ship by yourself, take a nap or nip by yourself. Catch a fish or a cold by yourself, dig a ditch or strike it rich all by yourself, there are lots of things that you can do alone, but it takes two yes it takes two to Tanqueray”
Head bartender at The Ritz London, Harry Craddock caused a stir this week in 1930 whilst contributing to his personal column in The Times newspaper. When a government commission remarked with displeasure on the emerging cocktail trend, Craddock went into print offering a prize of £50 to any committee member who could try one of his drinks and find it did not enhance his lunch or dinner.He went on to say that before returning to New York (during Prohibition) next month that he had cabled luminaries including the Mayor to request a committee be formed to show him around the city’s finest drinking spots. The stories have of course piqued the press and gained plenty of attention for his new book, The Savoy Cocktail Book; 1930.
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The Cat in the Hat £7.80Blanco tequila, basil, fresh lemon, soda.
Upon a chance encounter with the mischievous cat in the hat recently, he had this to say; “Why do you sit there like that?” “I know it is wet And the sun is not sunny. But we can have lots of good fun that is funny!” “I know a good place we could go” Said the cat. “I know some new drinks,” Said the Cat in the Hat. “A lot of good drinks. I will show them to you. Your mother will not mind at all if I do.” But the cantankerous fish said, “No! No! Make that cat go away! Tell that Cat in the Hat you do NOT want to play. He should not be here. He should not be about. He should not be here while your mother is out!”. But the cat in the hat didn’t listen to the fish; “lets go to The Four Sisters, it’s a place not to miss”.
1963 Minister for Health, Enoch Powell, released the following statement today promoting the health benefits of Silver Fizz;Silver Fizz products are providers of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and protein which are all essential for healthy bone growth and development. Adequate consumption of Silver Fizz from early childhood and throughout life can help to make the bones strong and protect them against diseases like osteoporosis in later life. An increasing number of studies suggest that consuming 3 portions of Silver Fizz each day, along with 5 portions of fruit and vegetables as part of a low salt diet can reduce high blood pressure in both adults and children. Although the exact mechanisms involved are not clear, it is thought that the calcium, potassium, magnesium and proteins within Silver Fizz are all likely to be involved. (The above statement may be in part, or wholly false. At the very least, do not feed Silver Fizz to children).
The Peanut Punch £8.20Rum, crème de cacao, Four Sisters peanut butter syrup, cream.
Dr. George Washington Carver researched and developed more than 300 uses for peanuts in the early 1900s. Dr. Carver is considered “The Father of the Peanut Industry” because of his extensive research and selfless dedication to promoting peanut production and products.As early as 1500 B.C., the Incans of Peru used peanuts as sacrificial offerings and entombed them with their mummies to aid in the spirit life. The world’s largest reported peanut was 10cm long. It was grown in North Carolina by Mr. Earl Adkins.
Miscreant Fruit Punch £8.50Spiced rum, Xante pear liqueur, cloudy apple juice, fresh lime.
Returning from his 1256 expedition to the seas of Norway and Greenland, 13th century Icelandic hero, Örvar-Odds saga tells of two massive sea-monsters called Hafgufa and Lyngbakr. The hafgufa is believed to be legendary beast, the kraken:“Now I will tell you that there are two sea-monsters. One is called the hafgufa, another lyngbakr, but the hafgufa is the greatest monster occurring in the water. It is its nature that it swallows both men and ships and whales and everything that it can reach. We sailed between its jaws today, its nose and lower jaw were those rocks that appeared to you in the ocean. Ǫgmundur Floki sent these creatures to you to cause the death of you and all your men and he expected that the hafgufa would have swallowed us all”.
Smoky Maple Old Fashioned £8.50Bourbon whiskey, Tobacco liqueur, maple syrup, Angostura & orange bitters.
The first documented definition of the word “cocktail” (not to confuse the word ‘definition’ with the word ‘use’) was in response to a reader’s letter asking to define the word in the May 6, 1806, issue of The Balance and Columbia Repository in Hudson, New York. In the May 13, 1806, issue, the paper’s editor wrote that it was a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar. J.E. Alexander describes the cocktail similarly in 1833, as he encountered it in New York City, as being rum, gin, or brandy, significant water, bitters, and sugar, though he includes a nutmeg garnish as well.By the 1860s, it was common enough for orange curaçao, absinthe and other liqueurs to be added, as first mentioned in The Chicago Daily Tribune on July 25, 1880, the original concoction, albeit in different proportions, was being called “old-fashioned”.
Alebrijes £8.60Mezcal, Benedictine, Frangelico, Angostura bitters, chocolate bitters.On the origins of pulque, mezcal and tequila, refined from the agave plant; fleeing the demon, Tzitzimime, Quetzalcoatl and Mayahuel disguised themselves as the branches of a tree. Mayahuel was recognized however and Tzitzimime tore her to into small pieces. Quetzalcoatl buried the pieces of his lover in the earth, which in turn sprouted into the first maguey plants. Aztec peoples took this gift from the gods, the maguey, and created pulque, a fermented alcohol drink. Aztec people ritualised pulque, drinking in honour of the Centzontotochtin, an innumerable group of rabbit gods who feed on pulque. Each rabbit god is responsible for a different type of drunkenness. Spanish conquistadors took the pulque and experimented further with the maguey, the result was mezcal.
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Email £9.50Champagne, rum, Four Sisters cinnamon syrup, mint, fresh lime.
Close to Reims cathedral in the Hautvilliers Abbey, a near-blind Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Perignon was given the job of chief treasurer and cellar master. When he first took over in 1688, the wine being produced by the abbey was adequate but pale. Perignon feared that the deep red wine from the neighboring region of “Bourgogne” was gaining favour with the King . The lighter red of the wine produced in Champagne was unavoidable due to the cooler climate of the region.In this northern region of France the grapes had to be harvested early and the wine barrels became too cold during winter months. Unfortunately, even though it had not reached peak fermentation, the pinkish juice had to be bottled. While the winter temporarily halted the fermentation process, the spring climate “reawakened” the fermentation after the wine had been bottled. The result was bubbles.Perignon and his abbey brothers were frustrated by the presence of the bubbles so they began altering the wine’s chemistry by blending several types of grapes and removing the skins. What resulted was the art of blending, and the first white wine ever produced, although still with bubbles!If the elegant bubbly could just be bottled without exploding, the monks could introduce a truly exciting new wine. Dom Perignon began by changing the shape of the bottle and using heavier glass. The stronger bottle eliminated the explosion problem, but now the effervescence of the bubbly wine persisted in blowing out the hemp and oil stoppers. Perignon turned to Spain for stoppers made of cork, and champagne was born.
Esmeralda £9.00Champagne, Vodka, Crème de Peche, Four Sisters Chai Tea syrup, fresh lemon.
Esmeralda’s birth name was Agnes. The illegitimate daughter of Paquette Guybertaut, a prostitute seduced by a young nobleman living a miserable life in poverty and loneliness. Agnes’s birth made Paquette happy once more, and she lavished attention and care upon her adored child. Tragedy struck, however, when Gypsies kidnapped the young baby, leaving a hideously deformed child in her place. The townsfolk came to the conclusion that the Gypsies had cannibalised baby Agnes leaving Paquette to flee Reims in despair.Fifteen years later, Agnes, now named La Esmeralda, in reference to the emerald she wears around her neck is living happily amongst the Gypsies in Paris and serving as a public dancer. Her pet goat Djali also performs counting tricks with a tambourine, an act later used as courtroom evidence that Esmeralda is a witch.
