019 – Hanky Panky

A Sydney ‘lock-down’ version of Ada ‘Coley’ Coleman’s famous ‘Hanky Panky’ cocktail.

Sydney’s Covid Lockdown has inspired me to explore this famous cocktail, a Fernet Branca twist on a early 1900’s classic sweet Martini. Let’s take a close look at the pre-Prohibition era ‘Hanky Panky’.

Make your own Locktail, a classic ‘Hanky Panky’. Here is my ‘Sydney Lockdown’ inspired recipe:

METHOD — Add 45ml Gin (Hammer & Son, Old English Gin or an Old Tom variety), 45ml sweet red Italian vermouth (I suggest Oscar 697 Rosso), and 5-to-10ml of Fernet Branca (to personal taste) into a cocktail shaker. There is no substituting the Fernet Branca, it isn’t a ‘Hanky Panky’ without it. Shake with a handful of ice until cold (10-15 seconds) and strain into a chilled Martini glass. Garnish with an Orange Twist and float some orange zest oil on the surface of the cocktail.

HISTORICAL NOTES – The ‘Hanky Panky’ is the creation of Bartending legend Ada ‘Coley’ Coleman (1875–1966), the Head Bartender of London’s Savoy Hotel at the turn of the 20th Century, from 1903 until her retirement in 1926. The only female Head Bartender at the Savoy, until the recent appointment of Shannon Tebay in August this year (2021), almost a century later.

Ada Coleman was to serve many famous patrons at the Savoy, including Mark Twain, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, The Prince of Wales, and English actor, writer, director, producer and manager Sir Charles Henry Hawtrey (1858–1923), for whom she created the cocktail. Regarded as Britain’s leading comedy actor of his generation, Hawtrey was a successful theater producer, but also an addicted gambler, going bankrupt on several occasions.

Ada said of Hawtrey in The People newspaper of 1925, that he “was one of the best judges of cocktails that I knew.” She worked on a new cocktail, a variation on the sweet Martini of the day, and gave it to Hawtrey on his next visit. To which he said, “By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!”, effectively giving the cocktail its name. A slang term for ‘black magic’ in that era, without the sexual innuendo that came later.

It has also been thought that Ada Coleman may have been a mentor to Harry Craddock (1876–1963), as they overlapped at the London Savoy Hotel for around 5-years. Harry working the service bar while Ada worked the front bar. Harry succeed Ada as Head Bartender in 1926. Although as contemporaries, there is another story that Harry may have had a hand in Ada’s retirement in 1926, there is no surviving account of their working relationship. In 1930 Harry Craddock became famous for publishing ‘The Savoy Cocktail Book’, featuring over 700 of the Hotel’s most popular recipes that were fashionable in London during the early 1900’s, including of course the ‘Hanky Panky’.

Harry Craddock’s 1930 recipe is the earliest we have, calling for “2 dashes Fernet Branca, 1/2 Italian vermouth, 1/2 Dry gin. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.”

Fernet Branca deserves its own history. Formulated in Milan, Italy in 1845 it was initially proposed as a herbal cure for Cholera and menstrual cramps. In 1886 it was promoted through calendars with art from famous artists, and from 1919 it became very popular in the USA during prohibition (1920-1933) as it was sold in pharmacies as a medicinal product (with 39% alcohol – wink, wink).

It is essentially a high-alcohol bitters, with 27-herbs and other ingredients that include chocolate, quinine, saffron (70 percent of the global supply), myrrh, cardamon, cinchona, Chinese rhubarb, Italian chamomile, galangal, South African aloe, French gentian, linden, iris, zedoary, cinnamon, and other secret and non-secret ingredients, aged in oak barrels for a year. In some circles, called the ‘Bartenders Handshake’, it is sometimes shared as a ‘shot’ taken at the change-of-shifts between bartenders, and in 2013 a series of Fernet Branca coins were minted as a sort of bartender ‘calling-card’.

Fernet Branca has a very distinctive flavour that is hard to substitute for something else, and the Hanky Panky is after all a ‘Fernet Branca’ cocktail. In 2007, ad agency Ogilvy promoted the drink with a ‘Life is Bitter’ campaign. Argentina consumes almost 75 percent of the total production, where it is an unofficial ‘national drink’ mixed with cola (sugar based not corn syrup). In 1978, the Drug Regulation Reform Act forced one of the only recipe changes, a reduction in the level of ‘opiates’ in the drink to ‘legal levels’.

In around 2010, it became common to add up to 10ml or Orange juice to the Hanky Panky, I guess in some way to appeal to the sweeter contemporary palette and ‘dial down’ the Fernet Branca. I don’t think this is a quality addition, as it really moves the cocktail away from it’s purpose. As Sir Charles Hawtrey said to Ada Coleman when requesting something new, “Coley, I am tired. Give me something with a bit of punch in it!”. The ‘Hanky Panky’ is about the Fernet Branca, and the ‘punch’ given to an otherwise sweet Martini.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Hanky Panky’ is one of the 33 cocktails on the International Bartender Association (IBA)’s ‘The Unforgettables’ list. The IBA recipe is here, and calls for 45ml London Dry Gin, 45ml Sweet Red Vermouth, 7.5ml Fernet Branca, mixed in a mixing glass with ice cubes, stir well and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with Orange zest.

TASTING NOTES – Get the mix right and to suit your palate, and you should have a perfect balance, bitter, sweet, dry, herbal, sour and with amazing depth and hints at all the elements detailed above as ingredients in Fernet Branca. For me, there is that little bit of freshness, almost mint, that detractors sometimes describe as mouth wash. However that is just a bit of zingy punch, which is exactly what Charles Hawtrey called for from Ada.

Then there is the orange notes from the zest and spiral, the juniper of the Old Tom’s Gin, sweetness, also a reason for using Old Toms and a sweet red Vermouth. Plus although my palate may not be able to pick out all the herbal notes of the Fernet, there is complexity there and for me hints of chocolate, saffron and even chamomile. Keep it cold, and the freshness balances out the alcohol and more bitter elements. If you really want to get inventive, put a pinch of Maldon Salt (just a pinch) in the shaker and the bitterness will fall away a little making the range of flavours even broader.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – I have avoided adding orange juice as some recent recipes suggest, going back to Harry Craddock’s 1930’s recipe with some orange zest oil squeezed onto the surface, as close to the original recipe as we can find. I am also keeping this a ‘shaken cocktail’ as Ada and Harry also suggest, despite it not really needing shaking, this is again an original inclusion and perhaps adds a little more dilution from the shaken ice.

In order to keep this close to what Charles Hawtrey would have first tasted, I am choosing Hammer & Son, Old English Gin, as an Old Tom Style or similar slightly-sweet and juniper-forward flavour, that is probably similar to what Ada Coleman would have used in the early 1900’s. The Oscar 697 Rosso, although a new Italian sweet red Vermouth, has been made in an authentic older style and is a brilliant vermouth. There is no substitute for the Fernet Branca, and I am going with the IBA measure here, at around 7.5ml (one-quarter shot), to make sure the flavour has a hit. As Hawtrey said … “with a bit of punch in it!”. Choose the level to taste, but if what you are really after is a sweeter orange Martini style, choose ‘The Bronx’ cocktail instead. This is once again an effort to get at the heart of the original drink.

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is the 9th of the 1900-1910 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. See the full list in the index.