Pink Lady

  Posted on March 21, 2014  by Leslie Blythe  4 comments

Today, this post is brought to you by my marvelous husband Eric and yes, I got to drink it!  These are the perks people!

I met a gin-soaked barroom queen in Memphis….

Whenever I hear this classic Rolling Stones song, I wonder who Mick and Keith had in mind when they wrote about the gin-soaked barroom queen. My vote goes to Tina Turner in her prime–not for nothing did the Who choose her as their very own Acid Queen, which is a very honky tonk woman, indeed (Tina does a great cover of Honky Tonk Women, by the way!). Gin and honky tonk make me think of Pink Ladies, that gin-based “girlie” drink that packs a wallop–make no mistake, this pretty drink WILL try and take you upstairs for a ride-especially the way I make them.

Pink Lady

The Pink Lady is made with gin (and this girl isn’t shy, so keep pouring), lemon juice and Grenadine–the only thing that Shirley Temple has in common with this barroom queen. That is how the world makes them; I go a step farther and add a splash of Absinthe–yes, the green fairy that was–until recently, illegal to sell in the USA. I figure that if a splash of Absinthe can elevate a bourbon on the rocks to the lofty heights of a Sazerac, imagine what it would do to a Pink Lady?

The Pink Lady is a classic cocktail, popular in the 1930s with the society set, quickly gaining the reputation of a “lady’s drink” because of the color. It was Jayne Mansfield’s signature tipple. Some recipes call for egg white to make it frothy. Some call for cream instead of lemon juice. Raw eggs and cream have no place in a cocktail, in my opinion. Either way, if this is a “lady’s drink,” the lady is drinking hard–this is basically a pink Martini (another great musical phenomenon).

So, if you want to drink like a divorcee in New York City–and gents, check your testosterone at the door–then mix up a Pink Lady, spin a little Stones and enjoy. I bet that Tina would approve…..

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:89]