The Commando is a classic which was created at the Stork Club in New York City and while I don’t have a date for this drink I can say that it was created sometime between 1929 and 1957. But I would place it in the early to mid 1930’s when the club was at the height of it’s popularity. In it’s day The Stork Club was one of if not the most famous club in the world. It was the very image of Café Society and the wealthy elite and counted amongst it’s patrons movie stars, celebrities, showgirls and aristocrats who all mixed, dined and drank at the club’s VIP room called “The Cub Room.”
The club was founded by a former bootlegger from Oklahoma named Sherman Billingsley. It is said that he came into possession of the club after he was kidnapped and held for Ransom by Irish kidnapper and hit man Mad Dog Coll who was a rival gangster of the gangsters Billingsley was in business with. During the years it was in operation the club had seen many important guests including the Kennedy and Roosevelt families and the Duke And Duchess of Windsor. News Broke of Grace Kelly’s engagement to prince Rainier of Monaco while the couple were visiting the club, Socialite Evalyn Walsh lost the Hope Diamond under a table one time and Ernest Hemmingway was allowed to cash a 100,000 dollar paycheck to settle his bill. The club took a nose dive in the 1940’s when club workers wanted to be represented by a Union and Billingsley refused which led to union organizers picketing outside the establishment. After that, the celebrities and politicians dried up. The stork Club closed in 1965 and was demoed the following year.
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Here’s Links to the tools I use in this episode:
Barfly Copper Measuring Cup
Barfly Shaking Set (Gold)
Barfly Hawthorn Strainer
Barfly Fine Strainer
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Commando
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Bourbon
- .75 oz Cointreau
- .75 oz Lime Juice
- .25 oz Simple Syrup
- Rinse Absinthe Rinse
Glassware
Instructions
- Add ingredients to Tin
- Add shaking ice
- Shake 8-10 Seconds
- Fine Strain into chilled Coupe
