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Mid-century Stella factory workers. Image courtesy of Stella.
What comes to mind when someone talks about authentic Italian manufacturing and a nearly century-old tradition associated with it?
One possible answer to this question is Stella, an Italian company born from an intuition of Gino Sgarbi and Girolamo Chiozzi. In 1924, sandwiched between the economic crises caused by two world wars, these two entrepreneurs decided to create a brand which became a guarantee of quality.
Stifel fabrics logo.
J.L.Stifel and Sons, a textile manufacturing brand, was the foremost cotton production company in West Virginia from 1835 to 1956 and was known for quality, indigo-dyed cotton calicoes. Calico, one of the oldest cotton products around, was a popular plain weave textile in no more than two or three colors. Softer and thinner than canvas or denim but durable and affordable, it was once widely used in workwear clothing. Common motifs included polka dots, flowers and dotted lines as found in bandanas and ticking.
Glass from when glass was precious. Recovered from a shipwreck from c. 1025 near Serçe Limanı, Turkey. Image via the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.
As anyone from Alfred the Great to Dr. Moreau will tell you, an island is a great place for defending secrets. Italy’s Venetian Lagoon — and in particular the island of Murano — has been trading off its closely-guarded glassmaking methods for over a millennium (the earliest works dating back to the reign of King Alfred). It’s a true cottage industry, one that has enjoyed no less then two periods of global domination of the decorative glass market.
In that time, the island of Murano and its skilled workforce have been venerated, ostracized, plundered, restored, canonized, brought under the control of numerous empires and much imitated, but never bettered for sheer craftsmanship.
Lydia grating nutmeg into a bowl for an extra large spiced brandy bowl.
Before central heating and electricity, heating a cup of spirit with a hot poker was one of the more effective ways to warm up in the winter. The warmth soothed the senses and the alcohol mellowed the mind. But hot drinks are also delicious, which is why they survive well into our era of radiators. Jerry Thomas — the father of bartending as a skilled profession — allegedly even moved back to to the cold Northeast, after years bartending around the South, so he could once again live the pleasure of a hot drink on a cold day. So powerful was his call to warm a chill that he invented drinks like his famous Blue Blazer, a cocktail so hot it strikes fear into the hearts of men.
Below are variations on the classic hot toddy, and some tips on how to make your own with what you’ve got in the spice cabinet.
Just a drop will do. Measuring out bitters. Image taken at Calyer Restaurant, Brooklyn.
Now that cocktails have weaseled their way back into the current drinking repertoire, it’s time to take a look at one the elements of many a good cocktail: bitters. These days, there are many different kinds of bitters with wildly diverging flavor profiles — from blueberry to celery — but their aim is the same. All bitters are concentrated elixirs of botanicals that add nuance and balance to a drink. The flavor doesn’t punch you in the mouth like a a glug of piña colada mix does — but a few drops of bitters can separate a great cocktail from a serviceable one.
A heap of classic and new recipes follow, so you can start flexing your bitters-dripping muscles right away.
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