Here’s a toast to the tradition of egg turning that pays homage to the tippe top too. A “flip”, when referring to an alcoholic drink, refers to a concoction which includes a whole egg in the mix. It wasn’t always the case, and the original flip was a simple mixture of rum or brandy, beer and sugar that was heated to bubbling by a red hot poker (which was crucial in that it caramelized the sugars and toasted the grain). A strange but perhaps satisfying sailor’s potion back in the late seventeenth century, I suppose. In the mid nineteenth century, however, an egg would be found in a flip, which ultimately became a cold drink resembling eggnog without the cream.

The spirits industry and puzzle community, as I’ve said before, share a number of common characteristics, not least of which is hospitality. Stephen Chin is well known to include little extras with his puzzles, such as a trapped ring stand or bookmark, made from the offcuts of the process. Waste not want not! In similar fashion a bartender is likely to extend a “handshake” to others in the industry, or even a polite guest. These gracious extras often take the form of a bracingly bitter amaro or intensely herbal aperitif, spirits which are well appreciated by those in the know but not for the faint of heart. Sometimes two of these powerful spirits are even combined into a “bartender’s handshake”, as with St. Louis bartender Ted Kilgore’s famous “Industry Sour” which uses green Chartruese and Fernet Branca in a daiquiri template. Another such handshake by Nick Bennett combines Chartreuse with Campari.

Boston bartender and industry darling Frederic Yarm ups the ante on these drinks by combining all three intense ingredients and then “flipping” them with an egg, adding another rich and decadent layer to the game. Yarm explains, “I work at Drink in Boston, a bar without a menu and we have a good number of guests who want weird drinks. So I’m always thinking and scheming for new tricks. With inspiration from what I was making that night or week.” Here’s to the egg makers, a hard boiled carton of creatives who will make you flip. Cheers!

Industry Flip by Fred Yarm

¾ oz Fernet Branca

¾ oz Green Chartreuse

¾ oz Campari

¾ oz simple syrup

1 egg

Dry shake without ice to froth then with ice to chill. Strain into a favorite glass and dust with freshly ground nutmeg.