Give me your history of the cornichon martini.

June 17, 2019 8:47 PM

And by extension the pickleback, etc. etc. I am fond of a Gibson cocktail, provided with the proper onions (a number of places do their own fridge pickly-type onion, to which I say yech. A trio of properly pickled cocktail onions for me thanks. Thanks again.) But a longstanding fave of mine is similar tipple garnished with a gherkin of the kuehne or the Turkish variety. And it occurs to me that clear alcohols, vinegars, and various forms of pickle go together quite logically.

Thus I entreat thee, MeFites: Whence the pickle cocktail? The pickleback? I have googled the googs (we can skip the Today Show cornichon martini post), and I can do my own research given some starting points. Give me those points, and your briny booze delights.

posted by aspersioncast to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

Best answer: So I know we probably all have this friend, but I trust my friend who was a bartender in New York around the time the pickleback is said to have originated there (a decade or so ago). He's not given to lying or exaggerating and he did work at and know people who worked at some strange cocktail bars that experimented with this sort of thing.

So according to him (I just texted to make sure) it was a bartender named Karin at the Bushwick Country Club. Not created for any particular purpose. Supposedly she also created the "Snaquiri," which is just two daiquiris, one of which you drink immediately and the other you drink at a slower pace.

However! I also understand that having a pickle with vodka is simply a traditional thing in Russia, perhaps, like other astringent or strong follow-up drinks, to cut the taste of strong or sub-par alcohol. I've read of it in novels but have not asked an actual Russian.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:04 PM on June 17, 2019

I think it was a McClure's thing.
posted by praemunire at 10:09 PM on June 17, 2019

I bet you’d like the Pickled Monk: Chartreuse with quality pickle juice, served either as a highball on the rocks or martini style, possibly garnish with cocktail onion.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:23 AM on June 18, 2019

The history of the term pickleback is pretty well documented on Wikipedia:

The term "pickleback" was coined by Reggie Cunningham at Bushwick Country Club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2006.[2][3] He was introduced to the pairing by a Southern patron... The original pairing was Old Crow bourbon and brine from McClure's spicy pickle spears, which remains the house speciality at the Bushwick Country Club:

This aligns nicely with the anecdotes above, I’ll assume Karin did it first but Reggie talked about it more :D
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:32 AM on June 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

When we were living in Kalamazoo, MI from 2000 to 2003, our usual watering hole (called Waldo's upstairs, where the student crowd gathered, and the more sedate Pilsen Klub downstairs, where we hung out) had a house-made pepper-infused vodka shot topped with a pickle. Pilsen Klub had a "Passport Club" that involved trying all of the beers they carried - some hundred or so - and a handful of shots, of which the pepper-pickle was the most memorable.
posted by jocelmeow at 7:45 AM on June 18, 2019

introduced to the pairing by a Southern patron..

Now we just have to track down this Southern patron...
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:43 PM on June 19, 2019