Beirut - ‘The Flying Club Cup’ + Champs Elysees
Ingredients: 1 ounce cognac, 1/2 ounce yellow chartreuse, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 dash aromatic bitters (optional).
Mixing Instructions: Shake all ingredients together in shaker filled with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Notes: When I was in high school I remember seeing a 1970’s French film and thinking that everything the French did seemed epic. Even little things like making a meal appeared to be done with a sense of sacredness and artistry…nothing was “just” something. Beirut’s second album, inspired by a turn of the century (19th) Parisian balloon festival, captures the same sprit of bon vivant that so intrigued me as a teenager. Each track of the album is linked to a different French city, the result being an album that feels like riding a carousel horse through the early nineteenth century French countryside. Paired with a Champs Elysee cocktail this isn’t an album, it’s an ethereal experience that will take you somewhere unexpected, somewhere good.