3 Drinks That Go With Power Outages

Crises like this remind us, in case we need reminding, what's really important in life.

For me, I see it's my remote-control garage door opener. Now that I'm having to start every day by bending over in the dark to yank the darn door up by hand in order to get the car out of the garage, then get out of the car once it's in the driveway to pull the door back down again before I drive to the station, I miss my little friend on the visor like never before. If the power ever comes back on so that he can take care of all that heavy lifting again, I’m going to throw him a welcome-home party. Maybe all the husbands in the neighborhood can bring their door clickers, too, and we'll toast them as a group. 

And to think that in the olden days, commuters manually opened their garage doors every workday morning--and then again when they got home! It’s enough to sour me on all that 1960s nostalgia that seems to be about. But the power outage has put me in a retro-cocktail frame of mind, just the same. A slew of drinks popular in the 1960s, notably the Martini and the Manhattan, have made big comebacks since. Not all have, though--and perhaps for good reason. Here are three drinks from the era that maybe haven’t stood the test of time as well. But now that we all seem to be momentarily living in Don-Draper-land, they may be worth a try.

Tom Collins.

1 jigger gin (don’t go downmarket on the brand; you’ll thank me in the morning.)

1 oz. lemon juice

1 tsp bar sugar

Club soda

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in gin, sugar, and lemon juice, and top with club soda. For the full swingin’-sixties experience, garnish with a maraschino cherry and orange slice.

Harvey Wallbanger.

1 jigger vodka

½ oz. Galliano.

Orange juice.

Pour vodka into a highball glass filled with ice. Add orange juice and top with Galliano. Garnish with an orange slice. 

Grasshopper.

¾ oz green crème de menthe

¾ oz white crème de menthe

¾ oz light cream.

Shake ingredients on ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

One round of any of these will be plenty, believe me. After that, it’s back to our regularly scheduled gin and tonics.