Hanky Panky Cocktail

HANKY PANKY Cocktail Story

Credited to Ada Coleman, bartender at the Savoy Hotel in London around the turn of the century, the Hanky Panky came about as a casual bartender’s choice cocktail when actor and regular customer Charles Hawtrey requested an off-the-cuff drink. Hawtrey bestowed his go-to order its slang-of-the-time moniker. Coleman was not only one of the few female bartenders to pen a lasting classic during this period, she garnered and maintained a position coveted by many of her peers: that of head bartender at the Savoy. Though this was Coleman’s sole contribution to the Savoy Cocktail Book, her role in shaping the hotel’s reputation for hospitality is legendary. The Hanky Panky saw a resurgence in popularity as Fernet Branca made its way into the hands of West Coast bartenders in the early 2000s. If cocktails made with fernet were thought to be unpalatable, one simply needed to track down this obscure classic.