Phoebe Snow by Ashanti Williams of Boxcar Bar // Dorcol Distilling & Brewing Co.
Boxcar Bar is a relative newcomer to the scene having only opened about a year ago. In that short time, the bar has earned a reputation as a relaxed, laid-back lounge with good music and even better drinks.
If cocktail history is your strength, you’ll recognize that Ashanti Williams, the creative mind behind the Phoebe Snow cocktail, built his 2020 Brandy Alexander Tour submission around no subtle nods to history, and the origins of the Brandy Alexander cocktail, a.k.a. Alexander No. 2, dating back to early 1900s.
For the rest of us, here’s a quick trip down memory lane to Hotel Rector, New York City’s premier pre-Prohibition lobster place, at, or around, 1900.
The bartender there, a Troy Alexander, was tasked with creating a white cocktail to be served at a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow, a fictional spokeswoman used in an advertising campaign for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad’s passenger service from New York to Buffalo. The company was getting the message across that it powered its locomotives with anthracite, a new clean-burning variety of coal, with their ads showing Ms. Snow traveling while wearing a snow-white dress.
To create something special that reflected the goals of the campaign, barkeep Troy Alexander combined all the white things: gin, cream and white creme de cacao, giving rise to the cocktail that became known as the Alexander. Luckily for everyone, some time after the campaign, gin was replaced by brandy, and the Alexander No. 2, or the modern day Brandy Alexander, was born.
Fast forward a dozen decades to 2020, to a San Antonio native Ashanti Williams, a barkeep who geeks-out on flavor profile books, wants to retire in Rome, and would rather sip on a cocktail than drink a beer or a glass of wine, and his elegant Phoebe Snow cocktail at Boxcar Bar, beautifully blending cocktail history with Kinsman Rakia.
As Ashanti put it, Phoebe Snow cocktail “has lightness to it. It has sweetness. It’s got creaminess. You get the coconut. The apricots notes sit in the middle, just kind of dancing with flavors of cinnamon.” He created a cocktail that’s “easy to replicate at home to impress the in-laws or simply treat yourself,” concludes Williams.
So make Boxcar Bar your next 2020 Brandy Alexander Tour stop, and dive right into history.
To make your own Phoebe Snow, check out the build below.
Phoebe Snow
1 oz. Kinsman Rakia
3/4 oz. Licor 43
1/2 oz. Cognac
1/2 oz. Soley Coco
1/4 oz. Orgeat
Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a tin with ice and shake vigorously. Double strain into a coupe. Garnish with a dusting of nutmeg and cinnamon, and an orange zest.
Boxcar Bar | 125 Lamar St | San Antonio | 78202