So, the title of this post is a little over the top, but it leads into the first presentation I attended at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic: Do Not Resuscitate. It was more of a symposium listing a dozen cocktails that should not live on.
The presentation was surprisingly unpretentious–the panel listed the cocktails and discussed their histories; they went into detail about the drinks’ flaws and even made suggestions for alternatives and improvements. I hadn’t even heard of the drinks on their list, although they did mention a couple from the Ernest Hemingway book of mixology.
Not long after the discussion, I headed upstairs to check out the events held by other distilleries. All but one of the rooms for the events had a balcony with great views of Manhattan. The corner room, which hosted rotating events, had the best views facing downtown and overlooking the library.
At one particular event, I was served a cocktail that was rather light and slightly sour. I was told it was an aviator cocktail; I immediately began laughing. I told one of the organizers that the Savoy recipe of the aviator cocktail was on the Do Not Resuscitate list. She was rather surprised, but pointed out that this particular aviator had lavender.
Two days later, I happened to drop by the same event as I had met some people who wanted to check it out. I was given a cocktail that looked light and refreshing, and also contained dry ice. I was once again told that it was an aviator cocktail, just not the same recipe as I had sampled on the first day.
