Pull out that fedora and trenchcoat because it’s time for things to get a little dark.
Specifically, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
All three figure prominently in classic film noir.
Author and film historian Eddie Muller and his new book ‘Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir’.Presley Ann/Getty Images; Running Press Adult
Thank goodness cocktail culture is bigger than ever.
Nobody needs to pack heat or chain-smoke to savor the darkly seductive allure of noir.
I predict the slightly revised version offered here will become a new favorite.
A Hammett Martini from ‘Noir Bar’.Steve Legato
Joan would have given up her beloved vodka for a steady diet of these.
It had been converted into the Golden Gate Bartending School.
My teacher was a retired barkeep named Al “Mac” McLaughlin.
Humphrey Bogart in ‘The Maltese Falcon’.WarnerMedia Archive
Our textbook was a fat binder of cocktail recipes he’d amassed over the years.
Tuition didn’t cover real booze.
A few students griped about this fact, as we never actually tasted what we were making.
Champagne Cocktail from ‘Noir Bar’.Steve Legato
Remember, this was an era when pot-smoking was the illicit rage and cocktails were largely passe.
But Mac’s teaching strategy was based on more than just stinginess.
He believed 90 percent of being a bartender was about how you handled yourself behind the stick.
Sunset Blvd. as featured in Noir Bar.Everett Collection
Memorizing hundreds of recipes mattered less to Mac than our mastering ACE attitude, conviviality, and efficiency.
I’m trying to work."
Complete lack of ACE.
The Zeena from Noir Bar.Steve Legato
I’m surprised Mac didn’t throw him out on the sidewalk.
What’s a professional drinker?
Somebody who imbibes every day but never gets drunk.
Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell in ‘Nightmare Alley’.Film Noir Foundation
As my tolerance for alcohol increased, so did my intolerance for amateurs.
That’s not to say making cocktails isn’t an art and a science.
A nod toward the writer’s Marxist ideology?
Or just a sensible alternative given that he sometimes started the day’s intake at breakfast?
Late in life Hammett was advised by his doctor to stop drinking.
Displaying the kind of discipline that characterized his fictional detective, Hammett stoppedthatday, cold turkey.
He’d even enjoy making a Martini and watching a confidant drink it for him.
This cocktail is my tribute to Hammett, whom I will always deemtheessential artist in the development of noir.
In a “spirit”-ual sense, it blends the writer with his fictional alter ego.
And, oh yeah, it’s pronounced Dash-eel, notDash-ul.
HAMMETT MARTINI
COUPE GLASS, chilled
MIXING GLASS, stirred
214 ounces .
.Stolichnaya vodka
34 ounce.
.Bacardi rum
14 ounce .
Hail Hammett, the godfather of hard-boiled crime fiction, and by extension, film noir.
paired with a CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL
Don’t even take a stab at argue thatSunset Blvd.isnota film noir.
You need fateful coincidence?
Need desperation in your noir?
Is anyone in cinema more desperate than Norma?
Joe, it’s too late to give back the trinkets and the vicuna topcoat.
Hard-boiled, world-weary voice-over?
Holden offers the best ever.
Visual style saturated with dread?
David Lynch used it as the template forEraserhead.
I love this movie.
CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL
COUPE GLASS OR FLUTE, chilled
Build in glass
.
.Champagne (brut)
- .
Angostura bitters
(to suit your personal taste)
12 ounce .
.Cognac (optional)
CONSTRUCTION: Put the sugar cube in a barspoon held over a coupe or flute.
Put 24 dashes of Angostura bitters on the sugar cube and drop it in the glass.
Fill with ice-cold Champagne.
Express lemon peel over the surface and then place in the drink.
NIGHTMARE ALLEY paired with the ZEENA
In truth, I can’t take credit for creating this drink.
The recipe comes through several iterations, and I’ll give credit where it’s due.
THE ZEENA
MIXING GLASS, strained
2 ounces.
.rye whiskey (or Bourbon)
34 ounce.
.sweet vermouth (Cocchi di Torino, preferred)
34 ounce.
.Angostura bitters (to suit your personal taste)
.
Absinthe rinse (or Pernod or Pastis)
Garnish.
.orange peel twist
CONSTRUCTION: Do not underestimate the necessity of the absinthe rinse.
Strain the mixed drink into the coupe and garnish with an orange twist.
This is a personal favorite.
Excerpted fromEDDIE MULLER’S NOIR BAR: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noirby Eddie Muller.
Available from Running Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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