A Jigger of Blog

The first bar I enjoyed real, crafted cocktails at was Death & Company. The first cocktail that expressed the perfection and possibility of that style of bartending, for me, was called The Conference. Pretty much every time I’ve gone back to Death & Company since then, I’ve had The Conference at least once. It is IT for me – the best cocktail I’ve ever had, the one that I’ve most enjoyed every time I’ve had it.

Here’s the recipe for The Conference by Brian Miller of Death & Company, courtesy of Bittermens Bitters:

The Conference
A play on the Old Fashioned by Brian Miller at Death and Company, 2007. It’s one of those drinks that evolves as the ice slowly melts into the cocktail.
1/4 oz Demerara Sugar Syrup
1/2 oz Rittenhouse Bonded Rye (100 Proof)
1/2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
1/2 oz Cognac
1/2 oz Calvados
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Dash Xocolatl Mole Bitters

Garnish
Orange Twist (wide)
Lemon Twist (wide)

Stir all the ingredients aside from the twists in an ice filled shaker glass. Strain into a double old fashioned glass over ice. Add orange and lemon twists.

Since I just moved to DC, I thought a good way for me to get back into practice of making my own cocktails would be to try to make my favorite drink for myself. Hey, while I doubt I can make as good as Brian Miller, there’s no reason I should deprive myself of my favorite drink just because I’m usually not in NYC at Death & Co.

Today I made a trip to Ace Beverage (more on that later) and got the supplies to make The Conference. The biggest hurdle I have to deal with is that Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters is not available for public sale. I’ve gotten some times from Marshall and SeanMike of Scofflaw’s Den and down the road I’ll be working to find a close substitute for the chocolate bitters. In the mean time I’m going to try an alternative: since the cocktail is based off of an Old Fashioned and it has orange and lemon peel in it anyway, I’m trying Fee’s Brothers Orange Bitters as a substitute for the Bittermens. I also was limited by not being able to get 100 proof Rittenhouse (I’ll be using 80 instead). Lastly, on the advice of Marshall I got Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy. I don’t regularly drink anything else with calvados in it and Marshall thinks the bonded Laird’s has a lot of other great uses.

Here’s the recipe I made*:

The Bonded Conference

1/4 oz Demerara Sugar Syrup
1/2 oz Rittenhouse Bonded Rye (80 Proof)
1/2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
1/2 oz Courvoisier VSOP
1/2 oz Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Dash Fee’s Brothers Orange Bitters

Garnish
Orange Twist (wide)
Lemon Twist (wide)

Stir all the ingredients aside from the twists in an ice filled shaker glass. Strain into a double old fashioned glass over ice. Add orange and lemon twists.

The Bonded Conference, v1.0

Without the chocolate bitters and 100 proof rye, the cocktail is a bit sweeter and with stronger citrus tones (obviously the Fee’s Brothers helps in that department). The missing strength in the rye takes off some of the bite and spice. It’s not the same drink, but it’s still danged good.

Considering I’m putting my little modified version up against my favorite cocktail in the world, I’m pretty happy with the results. It’s still a delicious drink, reminiscent of the original. It’s strong, yet light…just the sort of drink I’m happy to have on a rainy fall night with a good book.

In the future I’ll track down 100 proof Rittenhouse and try this again to see how different it is. I’ll also try to get some cocktail wonks’ input on how to make a stand-in for the chocolate bitters. Marshall seemed to have some interesting, if complex, ideas for what to do. We’ll see…

*I gave this drink a new name, thinking that three changes to the original ingredients was enough of a modification that I couldn’t call it The Conference in good faith. That said, I didn’t make huge changes, so your mileage may vary.

Last night I was at Bar Pilar, hanging out with one of DC’s best bartenders, Adam Bernbach. It immediately became clear that when chilling with bartenders who make the sort of cocktails that have brought me to this blog, I need to take notes. Sadly I failed to do that, so I’m going to have to crib a bit from memory. And by crib a bit from memory, I mean only relay one drink. Poorly.

Adam made what he described as a cocktail that has no business tasting good, a Blood & Sand. It’s a classic cocktail that succeeds in doing something that isn’t too easy: mixing scotch with things other than ice or water. Adam’s version was based around Compass Box Peat Monster, which is exactly like it sounds – a smokey monster of a scotch whisky. The recipe also includes cherry brandy, orange juice, and sweet vermouth, though this is where my lack of notes fail me, because I vaguely recall Adam including another ingredient in the cocktail.

I didn’t ask Adam for his exact recipe, but found one at The Cocktail Chronicles:

Blood and Sand

• 1 ounce blended scotch
• 1 ounce fresh-squeezed orange juice
• ¾ ounce cherry brandy
• ¾ ounce sweet vermouth

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass; garnish with a cherry.

Adam’s version of the Blood and Sand replaced the cherry with a lemon peel, rubbed along the rim of the glass.

The result is beautifully colored, complex, balanced cocktail that my friend who was drinking it aptly described as “bright.”

Last week I went to a fascinating seminar sponsored by the Museum of the American Cocktail at the Tabard Inn. Led by Phil Greene and Derek Brown, it was on classic hotel cocktails. While I’d had or heard of everything covered in the seminar, it was really interesting to hear the history of the cocktails, the hotels where they came from, and the bartenders who made them.

SeanMike of Scofflaw’s Den has posted the recipes from the seminar. Go give it a read if you are need of some classic cocktail recipes.