Cocktails for Dessert: Brandy Alexander

Mix up this rich and creamy after-dinner classic and toast Brandy Alexander Day
Brandy Alexander Cocktails

Photo: Adobe/Brent Hofaker

Like the hit TV show “Sex and the City” popularized the refreshing pink Cosmopolitan cocktail sipped by its fashionable characters in hip New York City clubs decades ago, the Brandy Alexander has some silver screen and TV screen hits to thank for shining a spotlight on this creamy cocktail. The 1962 film, “Days of Wine and Roses” featured this drink and caused a spike in popularity for the Brandy Alexander in the 1970s, according to the folks at National Today, which highlights “holidays” such as Brandy Alexander Day, celebrated on Jan. 31. In the 1980s, a television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel, “Brideshead Revisited” named Alexandra cocktails and helped popularize the drink again. Then in 2007, Elizabeth Moss’ character Peggy Olson asked for this drink when on a bad blind date in season one of the TV drama “Mad Men.” Since that was already some time ago, in the spirit of celebrating a fun little occasion such as a cocktail day, here’s a bit more about the cocktail and a recipe so you can mix it up yourself.

Originally known as Alexander #2, according to Simon Difford in his book “Cocktails: The Bartender’s Bible” the Brandy Alexander is thought to have been created sometime during the 1930s, and certainly prior to 1941 when it first appeared in print. Its classic blend of brandy and chocolate smoothed with cream is based on the original Alexander, which called for gin as its base, and was thought to have been developed before 1915 since a recipe for it appeared in the 1916 book “Recipes for Mixed Drinks” by Hugo Ensslin.

Historian Barry Popik has noted that the original gin-based and white crème de cacao cocktail is said to have been created at Hotel Rector in New York City. The bartender there, Troy Alexander, created his eponymous cocktail to serve a white drink at a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow. The fictitious Snow character was used in an advertising campaign for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to promote its clean-burning variety of coal. Later, notes Difford, the Alexander was a popular Prohibition cocktail since the cream and nutmeg garnish helped disguise the rough taste of “bathtub” gin. As to whoever substituted brandy in place of gin seems to be lost to history.

And what exactly is brandy? In a nutshell, it begins as a wine usually made from fruit. Grapes are the most common, but it can also be made from other fruit such as apples, pears, and more—any fruit that can be made into wine can be taken to the next step and be made into brandy. The word “brandy” comes from the Dutch word “brandewijn,” which means “burnt wine,” since the wine is heated to boiling, recondensed, further distilled, and results in brandy. Quality wine-based brandies are produced in France (Cognac is a brandy made specifically in the Cognac region of France), Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and the United States.

Here is a recipe you can play with to mix up a taste of history this weekend. Test your preferred ratio of ingredients—such as equal parts of both dark and white crème de cacao or 1 ounce of either dark or white, as well as your brandy of choice. Cheers!

Brandy Alexander

Makes 1

This after-dinner classic is rich and creamy.

1½ to 2 ounces brandy, such as cognac
½ ounce dark crème de cacao
½ ounce white crème de cacao
½ ounce heavy cream
Grated nutmeg, for garnish

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass. Garnish with nutmeg, if desired.

In her role as Senior Editor on Greenspring’s Custom Publications team, Mary leads Real Food magazine, the nationally syndicated publication distributed through our retail partner grocery stores. She also leads editorial on the nationally syndicated Drinks magazine and writes a weekly blog post focusing on food and drinks for MinnesotaMonthly.com. She rarely meets a chicken she doesn’t like, and hopes that her son, who used to eat beets and Indian food as a preschooler, will one day again think of real food as more than something you need to eat before dessert and be inspired by his younger brother, who is now into trying new foods.