This Rat Pack Era Playlist Is Perfect for Cocktail Hour

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After a long hard day's work in this busy city of ours, nothing beats a cold hard cocktail and a spot o' Frank Sinatra. Or Sammy Davis Jr. Or Dean Martin. It's the closest we'll get to time travelling to early 1960s New York, where the bands were big and the drinks were stiff.

The original Rat Pack leader, Humphrey Bogart, had left this world in 1957, and a new crew of sharp young whippersnappers were settling into the throne: Sinatra, Martin and Davis, Jr. along with less-known folks Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. But this ragtag gang weren't alone in their late night jams, with the likes of Peggy Lee, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald fuelling the fire.

But what were these legendary gallivanters drinking, having late night chats in a dimly lit NYC saloon long after the audience had gone home? According to various accounts, classic Drambuie cocktail The Rusty Nail was a favourite for the Rat Pack boys in the '60s. It's a combo of Scotch whisky and spicy, syrupy Drambuie (which is made with herbs, honey and scotch) served with a twist of lemon (check out our more in-depth history of the cocktail).

Now, bartenders all over Sydney are getting creative and giving the whisky-based liqueur screen time in their contemporary cocktails, shaking and stirring it into popularity once again. Sydney jazz club The Swinging Cat is celebrating the notorious liqueur with A Night With The Nail, a series celebrating the Rat Pack era every Thursday night throughout October and November. So we thought we'd put together a little audio time warp before you get there, with a playlist perfect for your next cocktail hour.

Loosen your tie, kick up your heels, make yourself a Rusty Nail and dig into a specially-made playlist of our favourite Rat Pack-era tunes.

Image: Wiki.