There were two motivating factors for today's happy hour starter. One is the drink's name - Hotel Georgia Cocktail. I just booked a trip back to my old stomping ground for September. I'll be visiting SC & Georgia and I am so excited!

The other thing that caught my eye was the use of an important mixology technique - the dry shake, as described here by Gary Regan, SF Chronicle.

"The dry shake - shaking a cocktail containing egg white without ice in order to properly emulsify the ingredients before adding ice and re-shaking - makes complete scientific sense, and any cook or chef worth his or her salt understands this."

OK, you got it? We want to be "worth our salt" when serving up great cocktails and implementing techniques is just as important, and fun, as choosing quality ingredients. This is a good technique for releasing just the right amount of flavor from fresh herbs. And this is a good one for infusing your simple syrups.

I am especially excited to try the dry shake for one of my all-time favorite egg white laden cocktails - the Pisco Sour and this place makes an excellent one.

Hotel Georgia Cocktail

Makes 1 drink

Adapted from a recipe in Ted Saucier's "Bottoms Up," published in 1951.

2 ounces gin
1 ounce orgeat syrup
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
10 drops of orange flower water
1 egg white
1 orange twist, as garnish

Instructions: Place all the ingredients, except the garnish, into a cocktail shaker. Shake well for 10 to 15 seconds, add ice, and shake again for another 10 to 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and add the garnish.

Shake it y'all! Cheers!