The Delilah, a bewitching White Lady for summer eves

{  Dazzling Delilahs  }

One of the best things about growing up in Virginia were the snap-crackle-y-pop of a summer's night. Once the sun went down, the night air turned sultry, heat lightening happened often and driving along winding back roads in my red Mustang with the windows down and radio on were some of the best memories I have of Old Virginny.

There was a radio station, 101.3FM (I can't believe I remember that!), that played "Delilah After Dark". Did/do y'all have that on your local stations? Now that I think about the name, it has a slightly racy connotation, no? But with the same syrupy voice and muzak-like theme song as Jonas's radio psychologist on Sleepless in Seattle, she was far from anything remotely resembling salacious.

The show had people call in to regale listeners with sob stories, which would inspire Delilah to play songs that perfectly fit their situations. It was like magic. Somewhat annoying magic, if you listened to her voice for too long, though. So I would skip around on my presets until story time was over, and then listen in to the song itself, as those were generally good, and a nice mix of oldies, jazzy tunes, Top 40, pop, etc. Perfect for late night drives.

Whenever I hear "Delilah" I think of her voice (not so pleasant) or of the bewitching Delilah of Samson + Delilah (much more interesting). So when I was looking for a new cocktail to mix up featuring gin this weekend and I saw the Delilah, also known as the White Lady, I realized the drink could go either way.

Luckily for all involved, this was a smashing success.

I adapted the traditional recipe to make it pack less of a wallop (two ounces of gin for one!) and to better balance the tartness of fresh lemon juice and aromatic sweetness of triple sec. Some recipes call for shaking this up with an egg white, which I would have been happy to do had I had enough eggs to make Saturday evening cocktails and a proper Sunday morning breakfast. I also opted to serve these in champagne flutes and to top off the glasses with sparkling water to prolong cocktail hour.

For 1 Delilah
1 ounce gin (Bluecoat American Dry Gin)
half an ounce triple sec (Luxardo Triplum)
half an ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice

These sultry little numbers are best enjoyed while listening to Louis Armstrong—especially if in the hours preceding you were forced to listen to the worst-of-NYC soundtrack featuring jackhammerers.