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The Rolls-Royce of cocktails is a coddling ride for your tastebuds

In our last installment of the irregular and irreverent series on drinks loosely connected to – or named after – automobiles, we sipped a Speedway Cocktail, a drink that was as exciting (and dangerous) as the early Indy 500. This time, we're stirring a Rolls-Royce Cocktail with a silver spoon. And, as always, enjoy cocktails (and reading about them) while you're not behind the wheel. If the rumors we hear are correct, Rolls-Royce will be unveiling an all-new Phantom this summer. The arrival of a flagship Roller isn't quite as rare as the coronation of a new member of the British Royal Family, but is tres recherche nonetheless. Since the nameplate's founding nearly 100 years ago, this will be only the eighth generation of Phantom to be delivered into the greedy hands of the world's vilest oligarchs. If you're one of the .01 percent, this is cause for a drink, and what better cocktail to raise in toast than one named for the brand itself? (For us 99.99 percenters, the answer is easy: Molotov.) As you might expect, the Rolls-Royce cocktail is kind of a classied-up version of an upscale iteration of an already elegant drink, conjugated from the classic (gin) martini and it well-married brother, the Martinez. "It's basically a very wet martini," says Paul Hletko, founder of FEW Spirits, an Evanston, Illinois gin and whiskey distillery acronymically (and winkingly) named for local maven Frances Elizabeth Willard, who helped found the Women's Christian Temperance Union – one of the forces behind Prohibition. "Two-to-one is a fantastic ratio of gin to vermouth that really lets the vermouth shine, and then having that split between dry and sweet vermouths gives you fantastic and rich complexity, with that little bit of Benedictine being that really nice herbal add," Hletko told us. It all sounds intriguingly botanical, and the drink itself has a reputation as being a favorite among bartenders, a coupe brimming with insider insight. "In the history of drinking there are many cocktails made with vermouth and gin," says legendary mixologist Charles Schumann from Schumann's Gastronomie in Munich.

Custom Rolls-Royce Rose Phantom is a private garden party for two

What a Rolls-Royce customer wants, a Rolls-Royce customer gets. An entrepreneur from Stockholm, Sweden, named Ayad Al Saffar recently commissioned this bespoke Phantom with the dream of being enveloped in an elegant floral arrangement. Using a rose garden at the House of Rolls-Royce as inspiration, designers shaped more than one million embroidered stitches into an entanglement of greenery, flowers, and butterflies. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Muller Otvos calls it the Rose Phantom.  Apparently, the person who ordered this Phantom likes flowers so much that he named two of four children after plants. Now, a personal garden goes anywhere the car goes. The custom order was a natural fit in the Phantom, as the Rolls-Royce Rose Garden in Goodwood, West Sussex, is the only place in the world that grows the Phantom Rose, a flower created exclusively for Rolls-Royce by British rose breeder Philip Harkness. The customer's daughter Magnolia chose the Peacock Blue exterior on the Phantom. Embellished with a touch of flair, it has a Charles Blue double pinstripe along the beltline, as do the wheels, which are meant to mimic a floral design. The simple and stately exterior makes the interior stand out all the more. Inside, satin stitch Phantom Roses adorn the doors and the starlight headliner. The design shows the flowers in multiple stages of growth and is intended to portray a floral net spreading throughout the vehicle. Even the driver gets to enjoy the foliage, as the glass-encased dashboard has its own bouquet. A final touch uses Peacock and Adonis Blue butterflies to add a bit of motion to the scene. The cabin scheme inverts the exterior colorway and uses Charles Blue leather Serenity Seating with Peacock Blue piping.  Al Saffar says it took him 35 years to achieve his dream of buying a Rolls-Royce.

U.S. issues new tariff threat, this time against British-built cars

WASHINGTON — Britain is the United States' closest ally but their long friendship may be sorely tested as the two countries try to forge a new trade agreement after Britain's exit from the European Union. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday in London that he was optimistic that a bilateral deal with Britain could be reached as soon as this year. But Mnuchin gave up no ground after a second meeting with his UK counterpart, Sajid Javid. Javid has insisted that Britain will proceed with a unilateral digital services tax, despite a U.S. threat to levy retaliatory tariffs on British-made autos. Mnuchin told reporters after Saturday's meeting that such taxes would discriminate against big U.S. tech companies like Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The UK Treasury declined to comment on the private meeting. The divide highlights the challenges ahead as the Trump administration seeks a new bilateral agreement with Britain, part of a broader push to rebalance relations with nearly all its major trading partners. The stakes are high — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pegged the trade deal with United States as a way to ease the pain of breaking with Europe, Britain's largest trade partner. U.S. President Donald Trump, has promised a "massive" trade deal to support Brexit, the product of a populist movement similar to his "America First" agenda. The goodwill and special relationship the two countries have enjoyed for decades may not count for much, experts say. "Trump is not going to be doing Johnson any favors," said Amanda Sloat, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington. "He's not going to give him a trade deal without major concessions." Even before the digital tax issue arose, the Trump administration threatened to tax foreign car imports, which could hit British-made Jaguar, Land Rover, Mini, and Honda Civic hatchback cars. Stiff U.S. trade demands include increased access for U.S. farm goods, concessions that will be difficult for Britain's entrenched natural food culture to swallow. The United States also wants Britain to change the way its National Health Service prices drugs and allow in more U.S. pharmaceuticals, which could prove politically unpopular for Johnson's government. Washington's demand that London block Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for national security reasons could also cloud talks.