Hanky Panky

Before we tell you all about the surprisingly PG history of the Hanky-Panky cocktail recipe, here are some other awesome gin cocktail recipes we think you’ll love: the Negroni, the Adios Pink Lemonade, the Tom Collins, the Singapore Sling, and The Aviation. As far as the actual history of the Hanky Panky cocktail recipe is concerned, it, unfortunately, involves exactly zero hanky-panky. According to the Hanky-Panky cocktail recipe Wiki, “The Hanky-Panky was the brainchild of Ada Coleman (known as "Coley") who began as a bartender at the Savoy Hotel in 1903.” The Hanky-Panky cocktail Wiki goes on to note that “Coley” created the cocktail for one of the Savoy bar’s regulars, Sir Charles Hawtrey. Apparently Hawtrey was a bit of a workaholic, and one day he came into the Savoy bar asking Coleman to give him “something with a bit of a punch in it.” Coleman noted herself that “It was for him that I spent hours experimenting until I had invented a new cocktail. The next time he came in, I told him I had a new drink for him. He sipped it, and, draining the glass, he said, ‘By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky! And Hanky-Panky it has been called ever since.” (By the by, Coleman was the first and only — to date! — female head bartender at the Savoy.) How about the drink itself? What is to be expected, taste wise, from the Hanky-Panky cocktail recipe? According to Gin Foundry, the Hanky-Panky cocktail recipe “is an elegant drink made for sophisticated drinkers whose classy behavior will falter by the time they hit the dregs….” Perhaps the most important ingredient in the Hanky-Panky cocktail is the Fernet Branca, which, as Serious Eats points out, is a bitter-tasting liqueur from Italy that “has a blend of botanicals, including cardamom, chamomile, saffron and rhubarb, that together work some sort of gastronomic magic to dispel the discomfort of overindulging at mealtime.” Serious Eats adds that the Fernet Branca is a real intense ingredient, with “a flavor so bracingly bitter and complex that a first encounter is usually seared into a drinker's memory.” And finally, a little side note. If you’re looking to check out some other sweet vermouth cocktails: The Raspotini, the Pollyanna, the English Rose, the Income Tax cocktail, and the Green Parrot. HANKY PANKY 1 1 /2 oz. (45ml) Gin 1 1 /2 oz. (45ml) Sweet Vermouth 2 Dashes Fernet Branca Garnish: Orange Twist PREPARATION 1. Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass. 2. Garnish with an orange twist. 3. DRINK RESPONSIBLY!