ABrandy Alexander is a brandy-based dessert cocktail[1][2] consisting of cognac, crème de cacao, and cream, that became popular during the early 20th century.[3] It is a variation of an earlier, gin-based cocktail called simply an Alexander. The cocktail known as Alexander today may contain ginorbrandy.[4] Ice cream can be added for a "frozen Brandy Alexander".[5]
The drink was possibly named after Troy Alexander, a bartender at Rector's, a New York City restaurant, who created the drink in order to serve a white drink at a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow, a character in a popular advertising campaign in the early 20th century.[8]
John Lennon was introduced to it on March 12, 1974, by Harry Nilsson, on Lennon's so-called "lost weekend". The pair began heckling the Smothers Brothers, and whilst being ejected Lennon allegedly assaulted a waitress.[9] Lennon later said the drinks "tasted like milkshakes".[10]
In the movie Days of Wine and Roses, alcoholic Joe Clay, played by Jack Lemmon, takes Kirsten Arnesen, played by Lee Remick, out on a date. When she explains that she dislikes liquor but likes chocolate, he orders her a Brandy Alexander. This begins Kirsten's descent into alcoholism.[11]
In the 1981 film Tattoo, Bruce Dern takes Maud Adams out for dinner and orders a Brandy Alexander. When she comments that he does not look the Brandy Alexander type, he replies, "I like the foam...it reminds me of the ocean."[12]
In the James Gray movie Two Lovers, Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) tells Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) she drinks Brandy Alexanders with her boyfriend Ronald, a rich lawyer. Leonard orders one at a restaurant to impress her, but ruins the effect by mistaking the stirrer for a straw.[11][13]
In the 1970 pilot of the television series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the namesake character adds to a running gag by asking for a Brandy Alexander during a job interview.[14]
In Kurt Vonnegut's book, Mother Night, the protagonist suspects that an overly flattering article in the Herald Tribune about his neighbor was "written by a pansy full of Brandy Alexanders."[18]
