Paul Clarke has a column in the San Francisco Chronicle about the rise of bars changing up the traditional combination of a light beer and a shot of cheap bourbon to reflect the ever-growing possibilities found in craft beers and spirits. While I haven’t been at any of the bars Paul mentions to try their advanced combinations, I’m really intrigued by the idea.
Probably my favorite dive bar of all time is Cherry Tavern in the East Village of New York City. One of the things I love about Cherry Tavern is that they have the best deal I know of in the City. On any night you can get a can of Tecate and a shot of rail tequila for $5. Also (I think the days are right) from Sunday through Tuesday you can get the Old Glory special, which is a can of PBR and a shot of rail whiskey for $4. For those who don’t frequent New York bars, a cheaper beer like a PBR or Tecate will normally never be sold for less than $5-6 and rail shots usually cost about the same. Unfortunately, aside from being a great deal, the Cherry Tavern deals don’t have a lot going for them. The beers and spirits are as cheap as they get and all you have a good chance of doing is tying one on on the cheap.
I have to say, if a DC bar started doing special beer and shot pairings with really high quality beers and spirits, I would be very likely to become a regular. Having a bartender explain why they pulled the pairing together, what they think works about the two spiritous drinks, and how they complement each other would be an educational opportunity. It’d also be a way for bars to educate customers and take them beyond their comfortable orders of a PBR and a Jameson or a High Life and a Beam.
Camper English has what I already think will stand out as the best line about cocktails of 2011:
The Martini is as amorphous a concept as morality.
English has a great history of the Martini, what it used to mean and how it has been corrupted in the LA Times Magazine. It’s a great piece, including recipes from the evolution of the Martini (accompanied with pretty drawings!).
Regular readers know that my preferred Martini is a Fifty-Fifty – equal parts gin and dry vermouth. Depending on what sorts of gin and dry vermouth I use, I will also include orange bitters or spray the cocktail with orange zest or both. This is not a common way of making a Martini outside of aficionados. You’d think it’d be easy to get bartenders at non-cocktail bars to make it. After all, it’s just equal amounts of gin and dry vermouth. But here’s how my order often goes:
ME: I’d like a Martini with equal parts gin and dry vermouth and a twist.
BARTENDER: Wow. are you sure? You know, that’s a lot of vermouth.
ME: Yes, I know. I like it that way. That’s why I ordered it that way.
BARTENDER: Starts making cocktail, pours it at a 5:1 ratio
ME: Hey, can you put more vermouth in there?
BARTENDER: Huh? I already put a lot in. Most people don’t like any vermouth.
ME: Yeah I know most people like a cold glass of vodka. But mine has gin in it and I like vermouth. Trust me, I know what it will taste like and I like it.
BARTENDER: OK, whatever you say. Adds a bit more vermouth, shakes it really hard, strains it into a glass, and adds several olives.
BARTENDER: You said you wanted it with olives, right?
ME: I give up.
Bartending is a service industry and it’s the job of a bartender to serve a customer a drink how they want it to be served. If someone orders a cocktail with no specifications of how they want it, the bartender should make it their preferred way. But if someone takes the time to give specific instructions for how they want a drink, they damned well better get it that way. I don’t mind skepticism about a Fifty-Fifty Martini having too much vermouth in it. I like educating people on a radically different Martini from what they’re used to serving. It’s the part where bartenders ignore the ratio request and let their idea of a heavy pour of vermouth stop their hands from making what I asked for that gets me angry.
As Camper says, the problem stems in large part from how amorphous the Martini has become. The solution is to hearken back to the Dry Martini and to reeducate the American drinking public on the virtues of both gin and dry vermouth. Most people who I know think they like neither gin or vermouth in their Martinis but have greatly enjoyed a low ratio, gin Martini when I’ve offered it to them. The problem can be solved, though it must be done one cocktail and one imbiber at a time.
I missed this until today, but earlier this month The Columbia Room’s Derek Brown was given a big profile in the Wall Street Journal. It’s a great piece that looks at what makes Derek’s style unique, including his attention to detail and pursuit of perfection over a worship of creativity for creativity’s sake. It’s great to see Derek continue to get this sort of positive coverage in big press outlets (see also GQ, USA Today & Washingtonian).
The WSJ piece includes one recipe of Derek’s creation which I’m pretty certain I’ve had before and is flat-out phenomenal. It’s a Daiquiri variation that uses Blackstrap rum and Cynar.
The Getaway
1 oz blackstrap rum
½ oz Cynar
1 oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
Shake with ice until extremely cold and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Effing brilliant!
As I said above, it’s great to see Derek, as with other DC craft cocktail bartenders, continue to grow their national presence and be recognized for their outstanding work. Kudos Derek!
For anyone whose only experience with Egg Nog has been the syrup that comes in a milk carton and is available in your super markets dairy section, it’s not surprising that you don’t like Egg Nog. After all, how many good cocktails are available at any supermarket in a cardboard container? I’ve never been a huge fan of Egg Nog, but at the Repeal Day Ball, Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon made one that I couldn’t get enough of. It was light and sweet, not cloying or heavy. I really couldn’t get enough of it.
Since it’s now holiday times – prime Egg Nog season – I tracked down Jeffrey’s recipe on his blog. I’m not certain that this was the one he used (though since Sailor Jerry was a sponsor of the Ball, I think it’s likely).
Egg Nog (Morgenthaler Recipe)
2 large eggs
3 oz (by volume) granulated sugar
½ tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
2 oz brandy
2 oz spiced rum (I use Sailor Jerry’s)
6 oz whole milk
4 oz heavy cream
Yields 2 servings
Beat eggs in blender for one minute on medium speed. Slowly add sugar and blend for one additional minute. With blender still running, add nutmeg, brandy, rum, milk and cream until combined. Chill thoroughly to allow flavors to combine and serve in chilled wine glasses or champagne coupes, grating additional nutmeg on top immediately before serving.
If you’re not a fan of the eggs in Egg Nog, a great holiday alternative is Atholl Brose. This centuries-old Scottish cocktail is made with scotch, oats, cream and honey. It’s a fantastic alternative for Egg Nog, though ideally should be aged for a few days before serving. I made a big batch last year and it was a hit with folks I’ve served it to. The end result is a cocktail that tastes like a thick, creamy, scotch and honey liqueur. Trust me, it’s not bad at all.
It’s been pretty slow around these parts – a combination of me traveling a lot for work lately, getting a nasty flu, and generally just falling behind on posts I want to do here.
To break the streak, here’s a video of Dale DeGroff making the Morning Glory Fizz. Below is the recipe for the Morning Glory Fizz Recipe from Modern Bartenders Guide, O.H. Byron, 1884:
Morning Glory Fizz
3 to 4 dashes absinthe mixed in a little water
3 dashes lime juice
1 tbsp. sugar
1 eggs white
1 wine glass of Scotch (2 oz)
Build in a mixing glass 3/4 full with fine ice. Shake well in a shaker and strain. Balance off glass with seltzer. Drink immediately, or the effect will be lost. It’s a morning beverage, a tonic and a nerve quieter.
DeGroff makes his with lemon and lime juice mixed with simple syrup – basically, fresh sour mix. I also don’t see him using absinthe or pastis, though I’m on a choppy aircard connection in a loud space now! It’s a nice, old cocktail with a some simple pop to it. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
The painting above is by a friend of my family, Laurie Olinder.
Happy Repeal Day! On December 5th, 1933, Utah became the final state needed to ratify the 21st Amendment, which repealed the odious 18th Amendment. The Amendment reads:
The 21st Amendment
Ratified December 5, 1933
Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use there in of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Last night I went to the 3rd annual Repeal Day Ball by the DC Craft Bartenders Guild. As in years past, it maintained its status as The Best Party of the Year. In addition to local luminaries Adam Bernbach, Gina Chersevani, Chantal Tsang, Derek Brown, Dan Searing, Rachel Sergi, and Owen Thomson (to name a few), bartenders from around the country came to serve drinks. Dale DeGroff, Jeff Beachbum Berry, Dave Wondrich, and Jeffrey Morgenthaler all were behind the stick, while Ed Hamilton, Misty Kalkofen and Simon Ford enjoyed their peers fine work. Rick from KaiserPenguin.com was back again and I also got to meet Gabe from CocktailNerd.com for the first time.
I’m not going to go into the many drinks served simply because there were too many to mention. Gina and Owen did some really mind blowing molecular gastronomy-type “cocktails” – some were big hits but others were just a bit too crazy for my tastes. I’d never ordered a Cosmopolitan in my life, but figured Dale DeGroff was the guy I wanted to make it for me. DeGroff didn’t disappoint and it was actually a pretty incredible drink (though I can’t believe I’m writing this). Morgenthaler made another drink which I normally do not like at all, but his Egg Nog was sublime. One of the simplest drinks was also one of my favorites – Rachel Sergi’s Dewars, bitters, and Fentiman’s Lemonade highball.
The point that I have to emphasize is this: you must go to the Repeal Day Ball. If you live in DC, you have no excuse. If you don’t live in DC, you should plan a weekend here to come to the ball. There is no excuse – it’s too much fun for you not to go. So I’ll see you next year, then, won’t I?
I’ve already written about my visit to Bar High Five in Tokyo. It was an incredible experience – truly one of the most enjoyable visits to a cocktail bar anywhere in the world. But the night before I went with Lori and my parents to Kazuo Uyeda’s Tender Bar. Uyeda is one of Japan’s legendary bartenders – the pioneer of the hard shake and representative of the pinnacle of the classic Japanese style of bartending. His book, Cocktail Techniques, was recently translated to English and is now for sale at Cocktail Kingdom. I read it and it’s a pretty interesting look at his style and philosophy behind the stick, though it’s a bit heavy on pseudo-science when explaining why his techniques work.
Tender Bar, like most other bars in Japan, is inside a low-rise building that houses other bars. There are almost no street-level bars in Japan. To go to a bar, you have to usually enter what looks like an apartment or small office building, ride the elevator to the appropriate bar, and enter an apartment-sized bar. Tender Bar had about 30 seats, Bar High Five had about 15. At Tender Bar, Uyeda-san and his staff dress in white jackets and black pants. Everything about the setting is formal, from the style of dress to the techniques used to make drinks. Every movement Uyeda makes is precise. While he has another person behind the bar with him, they only prep ingredients or do the most basic highballs. Everything else is his work.
While we had a few rounds at Tender Bar, one drink that stood out was their Boston Cooler.
Boston Cooler
45 mL Light Rum
15 mL lemon juice
1 tsp simple syrup
Ginger Ale
Combine rum, lemon juice and syrup in an ice-filled shaker and shake. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with ginger ale and garnish with a lemon peel.
If you wanted to convert this to English measurements, the equivalent is about 1.5 oz rum to 0.5 oz lemon juice.
What made this cocktail so great was actually the ginger ale. We found in Japan that ginger ale – whether a domestic brand or Canada Dry – was consistently more flavorful than American ginger ale. It approached ginger beer, though I would be wary about subbing in a ginger beer that had too much spice – what you’re looking for is a gingery, but not peppery ginger beer if you want to capture the Japanese style of ginger ale.
The cocktails at Tender Bar were precise and superb. Despite its more formal attitude more akin to a shrine, it was still a really fun experience. While I thoroughly enjoyed the quality of cocktails at both Tender Bar and Bar High Five, I did have a lot more fun at Bar High Five, hanging out with Hidetsugu Ueno and talking throughout the night. Ueno’s style of interaction with customers is just more akin to what we have in the US. I highly recommend visiting Tender Bar, too, but will be headed back to Bar High Five first the next time I’m in Tokyo.
This is the fifth installment of my No Baggage Challenge for Charity. Read about why I am traveling to Japan for ten days with no bags here and see exactly what I have with me here. My first post on arriving in Japan can be read here. and my exploration of Kyoto’s Nishiki Market can be read here.
As an avowed cocktail geek, one of the most exciting things about traveling in Japan is the opportunity to visit some of Tokyo’s legendary cocktail lounges. Cocktails first came to Japan in a big way following World War II and as is the case with most cultural importations, the Japanese quickly added their own take to making cocktails. Over the last sixty years a defined Japanese style of bartending evolved, with unique methods for shaking drinks, preparing ice, and serving guests. To my American eyes, the Japanese style of bartending is primarily focused on precision in practice and making sure each drink is suitable for the person who ordered it. There’s something magical about it in a way that goes beyond what you get at Pre-Prohibition style cocktail bars in the United States.
Throughout my trip, I’ve seen bartenders at bars deploy the particular Japanese style of preparing drinks. This was surprising to the extent that in the US, while there is, broadly speaking, American style for craft cocktail bartenders, this style doesn’t get transmitted through your run-of-the-mill bartenders at dives, beer halls or hotel bars. In contrast, every bartender I’ve seen in Japan – from a hotel lounge to small restaurant’s bar to high-end lounge – has worked in the typical Japanese style. A hard shake is employed, droplets of the mixed cocktail are tasted on the bartenders wrist to confirm it is suitable, and the ingredients of the drink are displayed on the bar for a guest to enjoy. The ubiquity of the Japanese style is impressive, though not all top Japanese bartenders think this is a good thing.
I spent last night at Hidetsugu Ueno’s Bar High Five, which in 2009 was named the best barin Asia and the Pacific. Mr. Ueno thinks the formal style of Japanese bartending gets in the way of bartenders actually making good drinks that are right for the person they’re serving. “Recipes are meaningless,” he says, emphasising that each person should have a drink that’s right for them, not what is printed in a book. He says he never uses recipes himself, but relies on his sense of balance and aroma to determine how to make a drink that is right for his guest.
While the concept of bartending by rote style being bunk is somewhat radical to hear, the idea that a drink should be made specifically for the person who will drink it is not. Throughout contemporary bartending literature, both in the US and Japan, there is an expectation that a guest should be able to have the right drink for them, not the bartender or an author of a recipe. Of course, what’s said in theory might not always make it out to the other side of the stick.
As if there were any doubt, the three cocktails I enjoyed with Mr. Ueno were all superb. I started the night with a Martinez, a precursor cocktail to the Martini made with Old Tom Gin (a sweeter, stronger type of gin), sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and orange bitters. In what was my first surprise of the night, Mr. Ueno didn’t know the recipe. He said that while Japan is a country of traditional cocktails, there is almost no interest in the older cocktails now popular in the US thanks to exhaustive research into 19th century cocktail manuals. As such, there is no demand for what are considered Pre-Prohibition classics like the Martinez or Ramos Gin Fizz. He looked up a version of a Martinez in one of his many cocktail books and made me an excellent drink that I thoroughly enjoyed. If a bartender can make you a cocktail he or she isn’t familiar with and it can still turn out to your liking, you’re almost always in the presence of someone who has mastered the ability to balance ingredients in cocktail form.
I next had a Daiquiri. This is one of my favorite cocktails and one of the simplest ones, made with only white rum, fresh lime juice and simple syrup. I find it’s a great drink to order at a lot of bars as a means of finding out the style of the bartender who serves you. Recipes for this drink vary widely, some with a lot of sugar to make a sweet, tart drink, others with a heavier pour of rum to make a dry cocktail. This is the style I prefer and Mr. Ueno’s Daiquiri nailed it.
My final cocktail for the night was a White Lady. Though this is not an original to Mr. Ueno, he is known in Japan for mastering it and making it a signature drink at his bar. He uses a strong pour of Beefeater Gin, along with scant pours of Cointreau, a fine orange liqueur, and fresh lemon juice. He then deploys the famed Japanes hard shake and the resulting drink is a light, refreshing, yet still brisk rendition of a White Lady.
White Lady
45 mL Beefeater Gin
12 mL Cointreau
15 mL fresh lemon juice
Combine ingredients in a cobbler shaker over ice and shake. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Do not double strain.
One of the unique things about Mr. Ueno, though I’ve seen other Japanese bartenders do the same, is that when serving a shaken drink from a three-piece cobbler shaker, he does not double strain it. Instead, he uses the built-in strainer in the shaker and lets the tiny shards of ice to sit on the surface of the drink. When he made my Daiquiri and explained his logic on this, he noted that the way he shakes produces a very cold drink (-7.1 C in this instance). Since the liquid is so cold, the flecks of ice on its surface won’t melt and dilute the cocktail. Instead, when you take a sip of it, they will melt in your mouth and throat, adding a bracing burst of cold to the profile of each sip.
Going to one of the world’s best cocktail bars was quite an experience. The only thing that made this even more remarkable was that I went wearing clothes that I’d been traveling in for over a week. Japan is an incredibly stylish and well dress country, with suits the norm at most bars. Going to Bar High Five, with only nine seats at the bar and very closed quarters throughout, was a test of Scottevest clothes, both stylistically and whether they resisted odor. Fortunately all was well. I wore my TEC Shirt, which is a very stylish gray button down, and my Flex Cargo Pants, which look like a regular pair of chinos, and fit it just fine. Even more importantly, my method of washing what I wear each night (at least the tshirt, socks, and underwear, then sporadically pants and top shirt) has kept the clothes completely free of odor. Add in that I’m showering twice a day and I’m free and clear. This was definitely the biggest test of my clothes, beyond the daily travel with my girlfriend and parents, and the Scottevest gear passed with flying colors.
Today is my last full day in Tokyo – I fly back to the US tomorrow morning, marvelously landing two hours before I take off. The flight will be another opportunity for me to go through security with no baggage, as well as come back through customs. I had zero problems leaving the US and coming to Japan with no baggage and expect the same for my return.
Disclosure: My No Baggage Challenge for Charity trip is being done in collaboartion with Scottevest. I received some of the clothing I am using, including the Carry-On Coat, Tropical Jacket, TEC Shirt, Travel Boxers and Flex Cargo Pants for free. I am also using other Scottevest clothes that I’ve purchased myself: Q-Zip, Performance T-Shirts, and Travel Pants. Scottevest is making a $1500 donation to Students for a Free Tibet in honor of my trip and will raise their donation to $5000 if videos I shoot on this trip reach 10,000 views. I am covering all other trip costs.
If you would like to make a donation in support of Students for a Free Tibet, please click here.
Totally not related to politics, but I’m about to embark on a 10 day trip to Japan and carry with me only what I can fit in the clothes I wear – no bags allowed. I’m partnering with the travel clothing company Scottevest and they will be making a donation to Students for a Free Tibet in support of the trip.
My first post explaining why I’m taking this trip and how it’s going to work is up at Huffington Post. I just posted another one where I go over what exactly I’m taking with me and how I’m packing it. I’m also posting my updates at my travel and technology blog, Blogger Hamlin.
I’ve also made a couple videos so far. The one explaining the trip itself is a bit…let’s say dry. I had some technical problems with the recording and posting and a few reshoots left me without a lot of passion. But I think the packing video is pretty fun.
The way the charity aspect of this works is that Scottevest will make at least a $1500 donation to Students for a Free Tibet. They will raise that donation to $5000 if the Youtube videos from my trip get a combined 10,000 views. So please, share posts and videos from my trip with your friends!
While I’m in Japan, I hope to go to High Five and possibly also Tender Bar. If I do, I’ll definitely be posting on the experience of visiting two of the world’s best cocktail bars.
The DC Craft Bartenders Guild Repeal Day Ball has been the best party of the year the last two years. This year looks to be even better, per the DCCBG release for the Ball:
DC Craft Bartenders Guild Celebrates the Third Annual Repeal Day Ball
The DC Craft Bartender’s Guild (DCCBG) is holding its Third Annual Repeal Day Ball on December 4th from 9 P.M. to 12:30 A.M. for general admission (8 P.M. to 12:30 A.M. for VIP ticket holders) celebrating the 77th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Attendees will enjoy craft cocktails from the city and country’s best mixologists served in era-themed rooms with food from Occasions Catering, while dancing along to 1920s hot jazz by the Red Hot Rhythm Chiefs. We will also honor legendary Washington, D.C.-bartender Jim Hewes with the Johnny Walker Silver Shaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Bartending. The dress is creative black tie and will be held at Maison Biltmore at 1822 Biltmore Street, NW in Adams Morgan.
This year’s ball will have themed rooms corresponding to significant eras in cocktail history, 1800s (punches), 1900s (pre-Prohibition), 1920s (Prohibition), 1940s (Tiki), 1960s (Mad Men), 1980s (inspired by Cocktail, the movie) and the Future, along with the main ball room where the band will play.
Gina Chersevani, ambassador of the DCCBG and mixtress at PS7’s, calls the event, “The premier Repeal Day party in the country and the best party in Washington, D.C. all year —no one knows how to throw a party like bartenders.”
Come celebrate with cocktail creations from local favorites Gina Chersevani, Derek Brown, Tom Brown, Chantal Tseng, Owen Thomson, Rachel Sergi, Dan Searing, and Adam Bernbach, along with special guests–bartending legends Dale DeGroff from New York, Chris McMillian from New Orleans, John Hogan from Annapolis, and Jeffrey Morgenthaler from Portland, as well as nationally-renowned cocktail historian and writer David Wondrich and Tiki expert Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. We will also feature top brands including Absolut Citron Vodka, Plymouth Gin, Beefeater Gin, Dewar’s Scotch, Macchu Pisco, Fentimans Botanically Brewed Beverages, Canadian Club Whisky, Cruzan 9 Spiced Rum, Square One Organic Vodka, Square One Organic Botanical Spirit and Boca Loca Cachaça.
VIP guests will gain entry early and enjoy exclusive access to the bartenders, special demonstrations, heavy hor d’ouevres and access to the Hayman’s Old Tom Gin “Gin Lane” VIP after-party at one of the city’s top cocktail bars.
Tickets are $100 for general admission ($150 for VIP) and can be purchased online at www.repealdayball.com. The annual Repeal Day Ball benefits the D.C. Craft Bartenders George A. Williamson Scholarship Fund and the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans.
I seriously cannot recommend this party highly enough. It’s a blast. The cocktails and food are great. The people are great. It’s just straight-up fun.
Great news: I won the Tweet, Tweet, Chile contest! I’ll be heading to visit Chile in January and tour a ton of wineries. I can’t wait!
Thanks to everyone who voted for me – I couldn’t have done it without your support.
When I go, I’ll be tweeting up a storm while I check out some of the best wineries in the world. I’ll also surely do some blogging & video blogging as well. Stay tuned for more…
This is actually a pretty funny, interesting video. This guy Daniel posted ads on Craigslist promoting his services as a drinking buddy for hire in LA. Craigslist TV shot a video of him doing this with a handful of people who found his ad. The result is pretty fascinating.
While Daniel’s services are compared to therapy a few times in the video, I think the more important point he makes is that “alcohol is a license for people to talk.” There’s certainly a sense that good drink allows people to open up, even to strangers. While alcohol should never be used as a crutch for social interactions, there’s value in people like Daniel’s clients having someone to talk to over a drink. If the movie Crash is to be believed, people in LA in particular need more direct human connections and Daniel is providing them.
Beyond any real or perceived therapeutic value, I’ve had many great nights talking to strangers at cocktail bars, both bartenders and other guests. I’ve found that craft cocktail bars in particular are great places to strike up conversations. In an age of mediocre drinks, fine drinks demand to be talked about. Invariably sharing my interest in cocktails leads to many other questions (“no, I’m not a bartender. Yes, I am a geek.”). The point is, drinks can be a great opening to social interaction that is otherwise hard to have. And craft drinks in particular afford the opportunity for people to connect with each other.
Today, Monday November 1st, is the last chance to vote for me in the Tweet, Tweet, Chile contest. The winner gets a seven day trip for two to Chile and I’m up against some accomplished wine bloggers and enthusiasts. Please take a minute tovote for me — no registration or sign-up is required to vote. It’s super easy!
Great news – I’m one of the five finalists in the Tweet, Tweet, Chile contest. Whoever can get the most votes will win a seven day trip to tour Chile and sample the incredible wines produced there.
Please go to http://tweet.winesofchile.org/vote/and vote for me, then pass the link along to your family and friends. Seriously – help would be greatly appreciated, as I’d love to use this trip as an opportunity to learn a great deal first-hand about Chilean wines.
This is my first experiment with posting instructional cocktail videos. I’m doing a project next month where I’ll be travel blogging and I wanted to see how well my iPhone 3G worked as a video camera. The lighting on this is pretty awful and my dryer buzzes in the middle of it. You can probably tell I’m not that comfortable on camera and wasn’t working off of a script, so it’s pretty raw.
I recently got an authentic Swizzle Stick from Cocktail Kingdom. Swizzle Sticks are natural wood branches that grow with prongs perfect for cocktail mixing. They are very hard to find and until recently were not available for sale online. Mine isn’t quite straight or smooth, but that’s what happens when the tool comes from nature and not a machine press.
1 oz Green Chartreuse
1 oz White Rum (Flor de Cana 4)
1 1/2 oz Pineapple juice
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 oz Falernum
2 dash Angostura Bitters
Float Smith & Cross
Add ingredients to a suitable glass full of crushed ice. Swizzle to mix, float Smith & Cross and garnish with plenty of fresh mint, and add straw.
Y’see, in case you haven’t noticed in this whole cocktail renaissance that’s been under way for some time, there’s been a great deal of emphasis placed on precision, nuance and the ideal of esoteric ingredients. God knows I’ve done my part to push this whole thing along, but recently — and I’m certainly not alone in this — it’s all begun to seem a bit much. While I can still bore a bystander to tears when chatting with another cocktail geek, I’ve been at the point for a while where I honestly don’t give a shit about all the dogma and detail anymore. For all the heated debate about historical ingredients and the true origins of certain old classics, ultimately these are just drinks we’re talking about — they’re just fucking drinks. By getting too caught up in rigid formulae and absolute rules, we as a generation of drinkers are at risk of missing the most essential point: a drink is made for simple enjoyment, and different drinks please the drinker in different ways. And for me, with the whole sloughing off of rigidity and relaxing with things that simply taste good, few drinks fit the bill better than old-fashioned punches.
This is just so spot-on. Not to say there shouldn’t be care and attention paid to making good cocktails, but at some point, this is about fun, enjoyment, and relaxation, not “dogma and detail.”
Eric Asimov, the NY Times wine reporter, had a piece earlier this week on HR 5034, the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010. The Orwellian-named CARE Act would would “severely restrict direct interstate shipping of wine by retailers.” The bill is being pushed in Congress by beer and wine wholesalers who are threatened by online or direct from winery/brewery/distillery sales that leave them – the middle man – out of the money making process.
Yet as welcome as these lifelines are, they may be threatened by a bill introduced earlier this year before the House of Representatives, the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010, or H.R. 5034, which has the potential to severely restrict direct interstate shipping of wine by retailers. Direct sales from wineries could be threatened, too, although the current language of the bill appears to focus more directly on retailers….
Opponents, however, including wine and beer producers, retail shops and importers, assert that states already have ample regulatory authority. They say the bill is meant to protect beer and wine wholesalers, who have been cut out of the loop by the rise of direct sales. Wholesalers have set their well-financed lobby to work for the bill and have liberally doled out campaign contributions to supporters.
The industry is threatened that other businesses are able to use internet commerce to break their hold on what Americans are able to use their money to purchase and drink when it comes to wine. Their lobbying arm, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, prominently features a promotional statement on HR 5034 on their website. According to OpenSecrets.org, the National Beer Wholesalers Association is the fifth largest federal PAC this election cycle. They have spent over $3.1 million dollars just in the last two years. Obviously this is a high priority bill for them and they’re spending to get it through Congress.
The most laughable part of Asimov’s article is this:
Wholesalers argue that they are not acting to protect their own financial position but the rights of states.
“Our main concern is making sure states can continue to effectively regulate alcohol and maintain the system that serves the public well by balancing competition with an orderly market,” said Rebecca Spicer, a spokeswoman for the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
Yeah, right. The wholesalers lobby is using a states’ rights canard to appeal to Republicans and Blue Dogs (who make up most of the bill’s sponsors). The “balancing competition” they support is simply a way of using their influence in government to crush competition and reduce consumer choice. This is about a major business lobby using their influence in Congress to try to quash small businesses who provide a meaningful service to consumers: increasing selection and quality of wines on the market. Asimov notes, “The bill, though, which is unlikely to come up for a vote until next year, would clearly mean a narrowing of choices for consumers.”
Hopefully HR 5034 doesn’t get a vote in Congress any time soon, but with 151 cosponsors, I have to assume that it will at some point next year.
This past Saturday night, I hosted a fundraising cocktail party to benefit Students for a Free Tibet. I’ve been involved with SFT for almost 11 years, including two years working on staff. I currently serve on their Board of Directors. Prior to the event, I received sponsorship from Maker’s Mark, Tommy Bahama Rum, Leopold Bros., and Employees Only Brands. I can’t begin to thank the sponsors enough, as their contributions defined the cocktails which were enjoyed.
The event came off great. I’ve obviously had friends over to my house plenty of times for cocktails. Not surprisingly, there are a huge range of cocktails that I can make for friends when they come over and I’m always somewhat befuddled about what to make for a given person at a given time. For this event, I made a menu ahead of time. This was such a huge help for me as a bartender, as it limited the number of recipes I had to keep in mind, as well as gave me a clear pathway to think about off-menu cocktails my guests might enjoy based on what they’d already had. I kept the menu very simple and classic. The thinking behind this is that while a lot of my friends enjoy craft cocktails at DC-area bars, it’s rare that cocktail bars keep classic drinks on the menu. As such, my menu consisted of a Manhattan, Daiquiri, Suffering Bastard, Singapore Sling, Dry Martini, and my homemade Barrel-Aged Negroni. We also had a big batch of a bourbon punch recipe by Gina Chersevani of PS7s.
As promised, here’s a rundown of the recipes I used at this event.
Bourbon Punch by Gina Chersevani
1 bottle of bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark)
1/2 bottle of St. Germain
32 oz of fresh grapefruit juice
1/3 lb of 10x powdered sugar
16 oz of fresh squeezed lemon juice
10-15 dashes of the Angostura bitters
4 oz of mint
16 grapefruit peels or segments (garnish)
32 oz sparkling water
In a bowl, whisk grapefruit juice, lemon juice, and powders sugar together until sugar is dissolved, then add bourbon, St Germain, bitters, sparkling water and stir. Then garnish with peels and mint. Let stand with an ice block in it for about 10 minutes or serve over ice.
This was undoubtedly one of the biggest hits of the night. Everyone loved it, including people who normally don’t like bourbon or grapefruit. It was also really nice to be able to offer guests punch as they came in, creating more space for me to make cocktails to those who were already there. Guests didn’t have to wait to have their first drink.
One thing that I should note is that I was using light, non-weighted 8 oz tumblers for my up cocktails. As a result, I made my recipes a bit larger than I normally would make them. Additionally, I varied my Manhattan and Martini recipes depending on the guests’ preference, I’m printing what I mostly made.
Manhattan
3 oz Maker’s Mark
1 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
1 dash Boker’s Bitters
Stir over ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with one bourbon cherry*.
* My bourbon cherries are simple to make: Mascerate sweet, frozen cherries with a cinnamon stick and Maker’s Mark. The longer they mascerate, the richer they get, but this batch was only about 48 hours old and still quite tasty, if a bit more mild than I like.
Not much to say that you probably don’t already know. I recently got a bottle of Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters. They are freaking awesome, with more herbal complexity that any other aromatic bitters I’ve tried. They added great depth to the Manhattan.
One of the biggest hits of the night was the Daiquiri. For most people who tried it having never had a classic Daiquiri before, it was a revelation. I’ve also recently been using Kazuo Uyeda’s 3:1:1 recipe, which I really like. It worked especially well with Tommy Bahama White Sands Rum, which is one of my favorite light rums.
Daiquiri
3 oz Tommy Bahama White Sands Rum
1 oz lime juice
1 oz simple syrup
Shake over ice and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
The cocktail that I expected to be most popular was The Suffering Bastard. Ginger beer is an ingredient that makes everything taste better. It’s also a cocktail that is very accessible and appealing to people who don’t want a strong glass of booze.
Suffering Bastard
1 oz Maker’s Mark
1 oz gin (Beefeater)
0.5 oz Employees Only Lime Cordial
1 dash Angostura bitters
Top with ginger beer
Add Maker’s Mark, gin, Employees Only Lime Cordial, and bitters to an ice-filled shaker and shake. Pour into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with ginger beer and garnish with a mint spring.
I’m really impressed with how fresh and rich the Employees Only Lime Cordial makes this drink. It really pops. It was definitely one of the two most popular cocktails of the night.
The other most popular cocktail was the Singapore Sling. A late addition to the menu, it’s a fantastic drink that is really easy for people to drink. There’s a great mix of spice, without cloying sweetness. I used the Ted Haigh version of the recipe:
Singapore Sling
2 oz gin (Beefeater)
2 oz pineapple juice
0.75 oz Leopold Bros. Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur
0.75 oz lime juice
1/3 oz Cointreau
1/3 oz Benedictine
2 dashes Employees Only Grenadine
1 dash Angostura bitters
Combine in an ice-filled shaker & shake. Double strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with sparkling water and garnish with an orange wheel.
This was, as expected, a really popular drink. What I didn’t factor in is that a drink with nine ingredients really slows things down. If there was any cocktail I regret putting on the menu, it was this one, simply because it took the longest to make.
Dry Martini
2 oz gin (Beefeater)
2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1 dash orange bitters (Regan’s No. 6)
Stir all ingredients over ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Zest orange peel.
Most of my guests were not Martini drinkers and I’ve found that for people who don’t think they like a Martini, a 1:1 ratio is actually pretty eye-opening. This is also my preferred ratio.
The final cocktail was my own barrel-aged Negroni, based on Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s method from Clyde Commons. I served this garnished with a flamed orange peel. The challenge was making sure enough water was added during stirring to give the cocktail proper dilution. The guests who were already Negroni drinkers loved this, but few people asked for it, mostly scared off by the Campari. I’ve found that Campari is a pretty big indicator as to whether or not someone is a cocktail afficionado. There are few people who like Campari who don’t also like most craft cocktails. And the Negroni is, I think, the ultimate bartenders’ cocktail. I don’t think I know a single bartender who doesn’t love it.
All told, this party was a total blast. It wouldn’t have been possible without the generous in-kind donations by Maker’s Mark, Tommy Bahama Rum, Leopold Bros., and Employees Only Brands. I’m really grateful to the people at these companies and their PR firms who helped make this happen. This event also couldn’t have happened without the tireless hard work and cooking by my girlfriend Lori and my best friend Austin.
The best part is this event successfully met the goals I’d set for it when it comes to raising money for Students for a Free Tibet. For those readers who would be interested in donating to Students for a Free Tibet, please click here. A scanned copy of the menu is below the fold.
A very cool video from Lifehacker featuring a cicerone (read: beer sommelier) from Buffalo talking about how to give your beer a glass that is appropriate for its style, as well as how to properly pour your beer.
A Jigger of Blog 