My friend Joe's personal cocktail

“The Joey” a Remembrance

A Cocktail Remembrance

Makings for “The Joey”

I recently lost a friend.  Joe Attanasio was 89 and led an exceptional life until the end.  The hundreds who attended his funeral mass were the richer for having known him.  Joe was a a lifeforce, a mensch, a legendary kibitzer. That’s yiddish for someone who loves to chat and be social.  His joy was to draw people out, get to know them, make them laugh and give advice.

Our relationship took place in the boundaries of his son Paul’s kitchen where I made many meals for the family for more than a decade.  Joe would arrive at the house and after making a cocktail would ease onto one of the stools surrounding the island.  He’d cadge bites and the conversation would begin, his expressive gestures punctuated by the glass in his hand, each move causing the ice cubes to tinkle.  I remember the first time he initiated me into the mysteries of The Joey, his personal cocktail.  A giant flirt, Joe put his arm around me, led me to the bar and had me dig around for Scotch and Grand Marnier. Hmmm, I remember thinking are we about to make a Rusty Nail?  An emphatic no.  That would be Scotch with Drambuie.

In all these years I realized that I never asked Joe how he invented the drink (bad bad me, Joe would have had my story in the first five minutes), so I asked Paul to fill me in.

As I remember, it began with a plane stuck on a runway. Characteristically, my Dad decided to make the best of it. He had with him one of those doorstop novels by Tom Clancy or Richard North Patterson that men read on planes (he was not an adventurous reader). This may be a funny way to put it, but he was an exceptionally gregarious man, and, while he read, the drink would keep him company. He wanted something sweet but he didn’t feel like eating, and never was much for desserts anyway. He asked for two miniatures of Scotch and one of Grand Marnier, and a glass with some ice — flight attendants always fawned over him — ending his request with the flourish, “And I call it, the Joey.”

The Joey
Ice
2 parts Blended Scotch or Single Malt 12-15 yr.
1 part Grand Marnier

Put ice in highball or rocks glass (depending on quantity of pour).  Pour shots of liquor over ice.  Stir well.  Drink while sharing stories.