Friday, February 5, 2010

You Fibber McGee, You

A few years ago, we found a recipe on CocktailDB for a drink called a Fibber McGee, and we tried it. We liked it, so we've been making it every now and then for awhile now. It's a variation on a sweet Martini, with a bit of grapefruit juice. Few people know it, so it seems to be a fairly obscure drink. I'm not sure when it was developed or how it came about - it may have something to do with a certain radio show, but I haven't been able to determine it's origins.

It appears in print in only one book I've found so far, and it was a recent one - 2005. It was also mentioned in a NY Times article back in 1990, and one other blogger friend wrote about it a few years back.

Well, we made it again recently, so I wanted to suggest it to others - it's a nice drink. Herbal, complex and a tad sweet. Especially so if you use a red grapefruit instead of a white grapefruit. Cheers!

Fibber McGee
1½ oz Gin (I use Distiller's Gin No. 11 of course, but any traditional London dry should work well)
½ oz Sweet Vermouth (Carpana Antica)
½ oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake ingredients with ice, strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

3 comments:

maris said...

I'm not really a fan of gin or bitters but for some reason this combination sounds really refreshing!

~Sonja~ said...

Hi Maris,
You should definitely try it out, it's very refreshing and a nice change of pace. Cheers!

Unknown said...

I'm a fan of old time radio and I'm very familiar with that show. Can't wait to try this cocktail, in honor of Fibber!