The Best Vintage Cocktails

Why oh why  am I doing a post on cocktails during the month when many people are abstaining? Hmmm...maybe it's because I'm included in that group and cocktails seem to be on my mind a bit more than usual!!! 

It's probably no surprise that here at Dirty Fabulous HQ we're fans of vintage cocktails. Mostly the hard liquor types; none of that fruity, slushy stuff for us. First up is our No 1. favourite:

The Old Fashioned

Oh how I do love you....

I make mine with about 2oz's of Bourbon, usually Makers Mark

A couple of dashes of Angostura Bitters (2 is usually plenty, it's strong so less is more!)

A dash of water or club soda and then a teaspoon of sugar or two brown sugar cubes (if your living a predominantly paleo life like myself then a dash of maple syrup works well and is just as yummy!)

Mix/bruise/crush it all up with the blunt/rounded end of a utensil. Add loads of ice and a shaving of orange peel or a whole slice if you like.

Go mad and add a maraschino cherry if it takes your fancy. Serve in a short tumbler and restrain from swallowing it's tastiness in one fell swoop!

I use these tumblers  from Ikea

But what I really want are these Waterford Crystal ones!

Next up is :

The Manhattan

You know when it's named after one of the best area's in the world then it's going to be great!

The first time I made this I added too much bitters so remember, like the Old Fashioned, less is more.

2 parts whiskey

1 part sweet vermouth

1 or 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters (really a drop or two)

ice

Orange peel and yes a maraschino cherry if you'd like!

Mix it all together... a voila...A Manhattan. (Mixologists everywhere are probably screaming at their screens right now, I know there is a correct way to mix each cocktail but when I'm at home time is of the essence...less mixing, more relaxing!)

Best served in a Martini glass.

My vintage glass dedicated to Manhattans!

Marks and Spencers have some elegant ones in stock.

Now although there are hundred's of vintage cocktails these are just our favourites so I'm going to end with one more (I don't want to seem like a total lush!)

The Mint Julep

This is real simple:

 2.5 oz's of bourbon whiskey

about 5 or 6 mint leaves

couple of sugar cubes (take out that maple syrup again if your avoiding sugar)

Muddle it all up, serve it in a silver or pewter cup filled up with crushed ice.

The ice makes the cup nice and frosty keeping your Julep refreshingly cool.

OMG this is amazing on a hot day. (or a freezing cold winter evening in front of the fire!)

So far I've yet to get my hands on a pewter cup just for a Mint Julep so I use these

Amazon has some but my hubby might freak out if I spent €25 on a single cup to have the occasional Mint Julep!!!

Obviously these are great if your having a night in or a little soiree with friends but if you are heading out on the town Dublin has some super cocktail joints.

If you are going to go anywhere for a good cocktail then it has to be Upstairs at Kinara Kitchen in Ranelagh. Paul is the master of liquors and will create whatever takes your fancy. WE LOVE IT HERE!!! Paul even created a Dirty Fabulous cocktail that you have to try. I'll be doing a post on it soon which will include all the deets.

I would love my house to look like 37 Dawson Street really I would. Not only is the decor unbelievably amazing but this is where I had one of the best Mint Juleps ever.

Then again maybe I'd like to live somewhere more elegant and understated like House. It oozes gorgeousness and serves up some fabulous cocktails.

I'm partial to a Margarita and one of the absolute best in the city hails from 777. People flock here in droves just for their deliciousness alone never mind the mouthwateringly good food. 

Two more fantastic options are Izakaya on Georges Street and the opulent Liquor Rooms on the Quays.

Choose the right place and enjoy a fine cocktail. It really can be a little work of art worth cherishing...you'll feel like your spoiling yourself. Take note: avoid cheap, watered down versions sold in venues where the aim of the game is to get as drunk as possible as quickly as possible!

Sip, savour and enjoy...

....how many weeks are there left in January???

New York, New York: What to see and do?

So, I'm nearly finished charting our NYC exploits. Who would have thought you could cram so much into four days! Every opportunity was taken to get snap happy starting in the lift of all places, at terminal 2 in Dublin!

We've a bit of a love for Aer Lingus and wherever we're going, if we can, we'll fly with them. We've consistently had a great experience with Aer Lingus. More so at the end of this trip when Caroline had food poisoning from some dodgy salmon at JFK. The stewardesses (and Breffni) took great care of her whilst I snoozed away oblivious to the drama (sorry sis!). She even had to be hooked up to an oxygen tank and the ambulance came to check her out on landing...the drama! So anyway, thanks a mill to all the lovely folks at Aer Lingus, it's much appreciated!

The view in our taxi approaching Manhattan. (Take note: NYC taxi's are insane, they are liable to bring on a heart condition so buckle up!) 

On our first morning we were up at 5am (yes you read that right, hello Irish body clock!). We ate brekie in our hotel, dressed ourselves for a Christmas extravaganza and legged it up Fifth Avenue to look at the major department store windows which I'll include in my final post.

This is the Rockerfeller ice rink and although the massive Xmas tree was in place it was covered in scaffold and definitely not ready for its close up!! Keep in mind it doesn't get lit until the first week in December. But its still always fab to be there!

On to Radio City for one of the main highlights of the trip, the Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. Team Dirty Fabulous are utterly bonkers about Christmas and this was the most Christmassy thing we could find in Manhattan. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

The enormous fairy light chandelier in the lobby.

Agghhhhhhh Christmas!!!!!!

We were so excited, even our drinks were festive!

If you have a hint of Christmas spirit then you'll love the show, if you're a bit bah humbug then this is not the ticket for you. It had reindeer, snowflakes, ice-skating, Santa, toy soldiers and even a blizzard. This was a "spectacular" Dirty Fabulous style! It's an all singing, all dancing  spectacle so we couldn't have asked for more, just take a look below:

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Radio City is an Art Deco building (an era we adore!) even the theatre toilets had Deco flourishes. 

Our third day was all work but that night we went to Grand Central Station to have some food and pretend we were in the movies!

Day four and we jumped into a taxi at 8am to get to Brooklyn and walk back over the bridge. We made sure all our sights were enjoyed super early or a little late so we could work in between times. It was FREEZING that morning!!! An absolute must though, if the weather is clear. I love Brooklyn and if you have the time, do take a full day to wander around and cross the bridge at some point. If it's winter don't forget to wrap up warm!

Street Art in the Lower East Side 

Wandering around, soaking up the sites on the way to work... 

The great thing about being based in Midtown Manhattan is that you can't go anywhere: north, south, east or west without seeing some major site. 

The public library: we'd been before so sitting on the steps for a break was enough for us.

On our last day we left our bags with the hotel had a delicious brunch, then popped into Bryant Park for some ice-skating. There are a few main rinks open at this time of year mainly Central Park, The Rockerfeller and our neighbour, Bryant Park. Put skating in New York as a priority on your "NYC MUST-DO" list. Despite being busy, the sun was shining, jazz was playing and it totally cleared any pre flight fog away. 

You don't really need my help in deciding what to do when visiting New York, the options are endless!!! If you are lucky to visit for a holiday, or wedding, as many of our customers are, you should be able to do so much more. We worked during the day and were in bed by 9.30pm most nights and look at everything we squeezed in. If sleep is not your thing then Manhattan is your fun time oyster!!! 

New York! New York! Where to Sleep...

Bamboozled by the hotel choices in New York? We normally stay in apartments when we're on working trips as they have a lot of space and are quite relaxed. This trip however we decided to try out NYC's hotels and there's a lot on offer! Confusion reigned until I came across the Ace Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan. It looked super cool online so we simply had to try it out. It didn't disappoint! 

There's scaffolding everywhere in New York so don't let that put you off! The location of the hotel was perfect, it's just on the corner of Fifth Avenue on 29th Street and is practically in the shadow of the Empire State Building. You couldn't veer far away from the hotel without tripping over a few major tourist attractions. The Flat Iron, Union Square, Bryant Park, New York Library and the shopping on fifth are all super close. Make no mistake though, despite being in the centre of these touristy attractions this is not a tourist hotel. We occasionally saw people checking in but without this you'd nearly forget that you weren't an actual New Yorker sharing a space with the uber hip folk of NYC. We visit the Big Apple so often we like to pretend we live there so this was just how we like it!!! 

The hotel lobby was gorgeous, totally up our street with a mix of industrial and vintage interiors. The staff at The Ace were really welcoming, charming and fun to boot, it was hard to imagine leaving!

The main area in the hotel was jam packed full of busy little New Yorker bee's working away on their Mac laptops, having meetings and drinking buckets of the delicious Stumptown Coffee available on site. 

There's a bar at the back and DJ's play every night so this place never gets quiet. 

We were so hectic over the few days that we never got to take full advantage of the space as it provided some awesome people watching!

A rare empty seat!!!

There were lots of quirky and beautiful pieces of artwork throughout the hotel. 

Our room was a double (in America that's two beds) on the forth floor and for New York hotels it was HUGE!!! Plenty big for 3 ladies, many, many suitcases and a whole lot of clothes! The beds were really comfy and great for the jet lag. All rooms have a record player and radio/player for some extra tuneage. The whole hotel was crammed full of slick interiors and quirky spaces that made it a dream for taking pictures in...it became selfie central!!! 

The sound proofing in the hotel was a wonder. Every time the doors opened from the lift into the lobby, we were amazed by the party happening below us which we couldn't hear at all in our bedroom. 

Yes that it a Smeg fridge which was fully stocked with tasty but expensive drinks and treats. (This is New York after all!) We just used it to keep our own snacks chilled. A nice touch though.

The Breslin restaurant in the hotel had a really cool fit out, tasty cocktails and food. But with our manic schedule we found the service a little slow. Not a problem if you have more time on a holiday but as this was a buying trip our days were planned with military precision!

So the Ace Hotel was as fabulous as it looks on their website, but does it have a photobooth I hear you ask...

Why yes it does! Who could resist jumping in here for a few snaps...

One more selfie for the road!

One of the art installations within the hotel: This is a gamelteron apparently! It omitted some automated soothing beats and hip New Yorkers could be seen congregating nearby drinking their coffee. 

Would we stay again? In a heartbeat!!! New York and the Ace Hotel we miss you desperately... Next visit I'd like more time to be one of those people; working intensively on their laptop in the lobby and drinking too much coffee!