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Sadie Hawkins Day – Leap Day Cocktail

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Tomorrow, February 29th, is Leap Year Day, a day added to the calendar every four years. These added days are needed to keep the Gregorian Calendar (introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII and still in use today) in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the Sun. It actually takes the Earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds to orbit the Sun. Without this intercalary day added in leap years, we would lose 6 hours a year. That may not seem like much, but over 100 years, it would add up to 24 lost days.

It makes sense now, but back in 1582, the idea of adding February 29th every four years was considered ridiculous. A satirical British play from that time suggested something that was considered equally as ridiculous: for women to trade their dresses for breeches and act as men on that day. Feminists were inspired by the idea and by the 1700s, women were proposing to their boyfriends on February 29th, the day that became known as Bachelor’s Day or Sadie Hawkins Day.

All that background brings us to today’s recipe. It is a cocktail invented by Harry Craddock, an American working as a bartender at the Savoy Hotel in London during Prohibition. The Leap Day Cocktail was born on February 29th, 1928 and published in Craddock’s mixing manual, Savoy Cocktail Book, in 1930. He credited the drink with being “responsible for more [marriage] proposals than any other cocktail that had ever been mixed.” Enjoy the flood of bittersweet flavors this Leap Year Day cocktail!

Leap Day Cocktail

Leap Day Cocktail (adapted from thekitchn.com)

Makes 2 drinks

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces London Dry gin
  • 1-1/2 ounces orange liqueur
  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker half filled with ice. Shake until condensation forms on the outside of the shaker. Pour the drink into two martini glasses and garnish the glasses with a lemon peel.

Pour the cocktail into the glasses and garnish with lemon peels.

The bittersweet flavors shine in this cocktail.

This one really shakes things up!  ~Linda

Leap Day Cocktail (adapted from thekitchn.com) Makes 2 drinks

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces London Dry gin
  • 1-1/2 ounces orange liqueur
  • 1 ounce sweet vermouth
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker half filled with ice. Shake until condensation forms on the outside of the shaker. Pour the drink into two martini glasses and garnish the glasses with a lemon peel.