Ritz 75/ Happy Bastille Day!
Bastille Day is this saturday, July 14th.Hemingway once famously said, "When I dream of an afterlife in heaven, the action always takes placeat the Hôtel Ritz."After a long day of attending auctions in Paris in search of inventory for our gallery, my husband,Spalding Nix, and I love to celebrate our winning bids at the Hôtel Ritz’s Bar Hemingway. Named afterthe man who personally liberated it from the Nazis, the Bar Hemingway opened in 1936 as ‘Le Petit Bar.’Papa Hemingway quickly made it his headquarters spending many hours there planning his strategiesfor the horse races at Auteuil.Our favorite Bar Hemingway cocktail is The Ritz 75. Invented in Paris during the First World War, theRitz 75 is the perfect remedy for when the rue St.- Honoré leaves you flagging in energy. The recipe hasjust the right amount of pep calling for lots of fresh juice, sugar, a drop of alcohol and something fizzy.If you’re feeling fancy garnish with an exotic flower – that’s how the cocktails arrive in the bar! For theTeetotalers, another special Bar Hemingway touch is the water served with blueberries and cucumberslices – refreshing and elegant.The Hôtel Ritz, including the Bar Hemingway, is closing down on July 31 for an unprecedented makeoverso we’ll have to wait a couple of years to enjoy Colin Field’s impeccably crafted cocktails. In themeantime, we hope you enjoy his Ritz 75 at home.Joyeux Le Quatorze Juillet! Or en anglais Happy Bastille Day!Aimee and Spalding Nix live in Atlanta, Ga. Spalding is the gallery owner of Spalding Nix Fine Art. They regularly travel to France in search of pieces for their gallery, which features 18th & 19th century paintings & important 18th century French furniture.
From Colin Peter Field’s “The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris”Ritz 75(Based on the French 75, a cocktail invented circa 1914 named after the French 75 mm canon. Itbecame popular in 1917 in New York at the Stork Club.)