DrinkBoy: Adventures in Mixology

Angostura Orange Bitters

Thu, 17 May 2007 20:54:31 GMT

Some of you already know about this, but for others, this might come as a bit of a surprise. Angostura is coming out with "orange bitters'... and SOON.

But before I get to that (don't worry, I'll spill the beans by the end of this post), let's cover a little background first to get everybody up-to-speed. Here is a little bit about bitters that was published in "The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book", by Albert Stevens Crocket from 1935:

BITTERS - Beverages containing alcohol, together with a component for cathartic effect. Best known varieties: Angostura, made from the bark of a South American tree; Calisaya, synonymous with cinchona or quinine, also of South American origin; Orange; Boonekamp, made in Germany; Boker's, Amer Picon (which a stenographer rendered for me "American Pecan"); Hostetter's, West Indies, Pepsin, Peychaud (formerly made in New Orleans); Fernet Branca, etc. So named from the usual bitter taste.

Elsewhere in that same book he says:

"…Bitters of one kind or another was considered a necessary ingredient of most Gin cocktails. The favorite was Orange Bitters, which appears in something like one hundred different recipes."

This particular book was published right after American Prohibition ended, and is based upon the bar book that had been in use by the Waldorf Astoria before prohibition hit. During the time of Prohibition, the Waldorf Astoria hotel was torn down to make room for the Empire State Building.

After Prohibition, things changed drastically. A few bitters survived this terrible time, Angostura being primary amongst them. The others that survived (which I am aware of) were Peychaud's bitters, Abbott's bitters, various folks who produced orange bitters (or re-started production), and Fee Brothers, who survived prohibition by manufacturing products which could be used in non-alcoholic drinks.

Over time, the notion of adding bitters to a cocktail gradually fell away, with fewer and fewer customers requestiong them, or bartenders adding them, to their drinks. Today, we are at a point where the only common drinks which you might still find bitters used in are the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Champagne Cocktail.

Time was however, when by its very definition, anything known as a "cocktail" would include bitters. Yes, even the Martini was properly made through the use of bitters, and specifically through the use of orange bitters.

When I first started getting into cocktails, the ony bitters I could find were Angostura bitters. As I read up more and more about the history of the cocktail however, I became intent on finding the various other bitters which were being listed for various other drinks. Eventually I found some Peychaud's bitters, but it was orange bitters which I really wanted to track down. And I wasn't the only one, this is the time when the classic cocktail was gradually seeing the glimmer of a resurgance.

Eventually I came across Fee Brothers out of Rochester New York, who appeared to be the only remaining company that manufactured orange bitters. I also came across a recipe for "orange bitters #4" in "The Book of Bourbon" by Gary Regan, this recipe prompted me to try making a batch of orange bitters myself. I then found some bottles of full Abbott's bitters on eBay and scarfed them up. Gary Regan eventually was able to bring his orange bitters to market, although by this time it had gone into revision #6. I have since acquired a few different bitters that are manufactured in Peru, for the use in their famous "Pisco Sour", some friends over in Germany are manufacturing bitters (aromatic, orange, lemon, and Boker's) in small batches under the name "The Bitter Truth", and the Suntory company in Japan makes an orange bitters under their "Hermes" label.

My quest for bitters led me to attempting to re-create Abbott's bitters, and my early experiments ended up with a product that was different from all of the bitters I have tried so far, and thus was born what I refer to as "House Bitters" (others refer to them as "Hess Bitters") the recipe for which was just recently published in "Imbibe" magazine.

One of the things that really sunk home for me as I was doing my various experiments with bitters, is that Angostura bitters rocks. It's rich complexity along with its overall flavor balance, really can do wonderful things to cocktails when properly utilized. It is no surprise that of all the pre-prohibition bitters, it came out as almost the sole survivor.

The bitter landscape has radically changed in just the last ten years. Where once there was only a single noteworthy bitters available, today there around a dozen different ones which can be found if you look hard enough, add to that some of the bars across the country which have taken to making their own bitters (The Zig Zag Cafe, Vessel, and Licorous here in Seattle, No. 9 Park in Boston, Pegu club in New York... just to name a few). Overall however, bitters is still the unsung hero of the cocktail. Their might be small and dedicated pockets of "cocktail geeks" who really get into using bitters in their cocktail, but the general public, and even the average bartender, is still clueless when it comes to the value of bitters.

Imagine my surprise then on a recent trip to London, when I am asked to sample two different possible recipes for a new orange bitters that is looking at coming onto the market. The bottles were distinctly unlabled Angostura bottles, and a glance and a nod indicated that this indeed was the company behind this new product. These bitters had the complexity and balance of flavor that I had come to appreciate in Angostura, but with the subtleness that is appropriate for a bitters that is indended more for gin cocktails than it is for whiskey.

Now I knew the who and what, but the burning question remained of "when". Within a year or so was all I could find out.

Recently I had heard a variety of rumors that Angostura's new bitters would be coming out fairly soon. Some were saying in a month or so, others were saying in the fall. I decided to take the bull by the horns and today got in contact with Patrick Sepe, the CEO of Angostura Spirits & Wine here in the US. As it turns out, Angostura Orange Bitters is set to be officially announced THIS WEEKEND, at the National Restaurant Associations annual show in Chicago. The plan is then to role out the product for nationwide distribution in late June or early July, with it expected to be available through every location that regular Angostura bitters is within six months.

The role out is going to be accompanied by both a marketing campaign aimed at raising the awareness of the importance that bitters can play in both cocktails and cooking, as well as a focus on getting bartenders to re-discover the cocktail craftsmanship that was common place prior to Prohibition. Angostura USA will also get it's own website, so that not only will information on it be more appropriate to an American audience, but it will also make it easier for contact, sales, marketing, and product information to be distributed quickly and efficiently.

I am very excited about the potential of having Angostura enter the orange bitters market, It may be just the shot in the arm that we have been needing to move the classic/culinary cocktail out of the small pockets of devotees that it has today, and into a larger audience of customers. Joe Fee over at Fee Brothers, and Gary Regan, are both very good friends of mine, and while on one hand it might seem that Angostura orange bitters might be biting into their sales, I fully expect that what we will see instead is that everybody will see higher sales. Not just Joe and Gary, but I expect that Angostura's original aromatic bitters will also see higher sales, since there will be an increased awareness of bitters overall, which will increase in it's use across the board.

The next battle? Improve sales of vermouth by getting people to realize that a great Martini can be made by using a lot more vermouth than is commonly seen used today... and of course a dash of Orange Bitters!

Tales of the Cocktail

Wed, 16 May 2007 15:06:04 GMT

I have been highly remiss in my duties. I've been working so hard at helping with various aspects of the upcoming "Tales of the Cocktail" (July 18 to 22nd at the Hotel Monteleone), that I haven't taken the time to tell any of you anything about it.

To begin with, Tales of the Cocktail is a wonderful event that takes place each year down in New Orleans. It is essentially a conference all about spirits, mixology, and cocktails, with a little bit of New Orleans flavor tossed in for good measure. The audience is a broad mix of people including restaurant owners, bartenders, and ordinary people who just have an interest in learning more about quality cocktails.

The event is described as:

Tales of the Cocktail: a culinary and cocktail festival for the connisseur or amature, to fully experience (taste, see and learn about) cocktail culture in New Orleans and around the world. The event's annual components are Spirited Dinners, seminars, Cocktail Hour, Cocktail Lunceons, walking tours of the French Quarter, and classic and contemporary cocktail parties -- all presented by the country's hottest chefs, authors, bartenders, an cocktail experts.

The speakers at this event are essentially a "who's who" in the culinary and mixology world. With such notables as Tony AbouGanim, Ted Allen, Kevin Brauch, Dale DeGroff, Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, Gary Regan, Julie Reiner, Audrey Saunders... and that's just the tip of the iceburg.

There are a wide array of different types of events that will be going on. Some events are free, but many cost around $35 to attend (many sessions include cocktails being served). You can purchase a "Founders Day Pass" for $485, which essentially is an "all you can eat" ticket. You'll pre-register for 8 seminars, and then be able to get into any other seminar (that isn't already sold out) once you get there.

Some of the major events are:

Cocktail Hour - Where attendees get a chance to meet many of the authors of famous cocktail books, purchase copies, get them autographed, as well as sample each author's and mixologists signature cocktail and collect their recipes.

Spirited Dinners - Many of New Orleans most famous restaurants hold a special dinner on Thursday night, with a fixed menu that has been carefully paired with individual cocktails by the attending authors and mixologists. The dinners range in price from $65 to $85 per person. (FYI: If you want to come to the dinner that I will be doing the cocktails for, sign up for NOLA!). The restaurants participating this year are:

7 on Fulton
Anatole
Antoines
Arnauds
Bombay Club
Bourbon House
Café Adelaide
Café Giovanni
Commanders
Delachaise
GW Fins
House of Blues
Rib Room
La Cote
Louis XVI
Mr. B’s
NOLA ( <-- That's mine!)
Palace Café
Pelican Club
Tujaques

Raising the Bar - A special series of seminars specifically targeted at the professional mixologist to help them advance their overall knowledge and understanding of cocktails and cocktail service.

Ask The Experts - A casual lunchtime gathering of many of the guest authors and mixologists to allow attendees to ask any questions they might have on a variety of related topics.

The Bar Chef Challenge - In the vein of "Iron Chef", this event will test the abilites of several mixologists as they work against the clock to come up with a cocktail which best utilizes the "secret ingredient".

Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Awards Ceremony - The "Oscars" of the cocktail world, this event will present a wide range of awards for notable accomplishments and abilities related to food and drink.

Movie Night - A chance to get a brief seminar about the important role that cocktails often play in movies, before the showing of the classic "Thin Man"... cocktails will of course be served.

Tasting Room - With the various products on the market it can often be difficult to have a good understanding of what each one is, and what it should be used for. The Tasting Room will be a regularly scheduled series where the producers of various products will have the opportunity to describe their product to attendees and in many cases allow them to sample as well.

The Seminars - At the heart of Tales of the Cocktail, are the large number of seminars and panel discussions which will be presented. Here is hopefully a full listing of the seminars being presented, I've marked in bold the ones that I will be hosting so you can be sure not to miss them!

Revolution to Evolution: The story of the American Cocktail
Drink in History: THe Napoleon House - New Orleans Greatest Saloon
Lost Ingredients: Obtaining (or making) rare ingredients for even rarer cocktails
On the Rocks: The importance of Ice
Spirited Women Past and Present
The Cocktail's Family Tree
The Martini
Rum's Punch - A spirited view of rum's rise, fall, and return
Drinks and Dishes Born in New Orleans
Rum Balls and Other Spiked Food Items
Sake To Me!
Enter the Distologist
Johnny Appleseed, Hard Cider, and Applejack - The Spirit of Americana
The History, Oddities, and Eccentricities of Galatoire's
From Glen to Glen, exploring the making, the magic and the myths of Scotch whisky
South American Spirits
How to Conduct a Home Tasting
From Farm to Glass
Prohibition's Shadow
Aromatics and their uses in Cocktails
American Rye Whiskey
Cocktail Culture Around the World
Cocktails and the Blogosphere
Vermouth
History of the Cocktail
South of the Border... Down Mexico Way
Wine Based Cocktails
Tiki Drinks - From A to Zombie
Cocktail and Film
Party like a Pro
Gin
Spirits Glass Tasting with Georg Riedel
Absinthe
The Mint Julep: Its History and Celebration

Oh, and I'll also be doing some filming for future episodes of "The Cocktail Spirit" for Small Screen Network down there as well.

I always have a great time down there, and I'm sure you will to!

New Episodes: The Cocktail Spirit

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:28:01 GMT

As previously mentioned, I'm involved with a new project for producing videos that will hopefully help expose folks to cocktails and mixology. We did the filming for this a couple months back and are now starting to post the episodes up in a "one-per-week" schedule. The first two episodes are now available, so be sure to check back later to see how this project progresses!

Episode 1: Cocktail History and the Champagne Cocktail

Episode 2: Stocking your bar and the Last Word

Announcing: The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess

	Episode 1: Cocktail History and the Champagne Cocktail	Episode 2: Stocking your bar and the Last Word

The Cocktail Spirit

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:01:18 GMT

This last weekend we headed out to my "still under contruction house" and got the bar all set up and filmed about 30 episodes of an upcoming "web show" that I am going to be hosting called "The Cocktail Spirit". This will be one of the first (of hopefully many) different shows being offered by "Small Screen Network".

You can see a segment from a "Pilot" episode we filmed a few months back on a beta version of their website here: http://www.SmallScreenNetwork.com, with our new episodes hopefully ready to be posted on a weekly basis starting the end of March. The original pilot was filmed with the notion that it would be a half-hour show with guests that I'd be serving drinks to and discussing the overall process and concepts of cocktails. We decided after the pilot to take a slightly different approach, and go for shorter episodes (about 7 minutes... although some still ended clocking in at 20 minutes or more!), and to just have it be me talking straight to the camera/audience.

My intent with this show is to try to raise the awareness of people to the culinary value that cocktails can play, and to see them as far more than just an alcohol delivery vehicle. I discuss history, methodology, construction, quality ingredients, proper recipes, and sometimes even creative enhancements. I try not to get overly fancy or fussy with how I make the drinks, but instead just focus on showing how just about anybody can make great drinks, using great ingredients.

The first few episodes that will air will cover "The History of the Cocktail", "Stocking Your Home Bar", "The Basic Tools of the Bartender", and "Your Cocktail Library", we'll then run through episodes in which I breifly touch upon each of the six base spirits (Brandy, Gin, Rum, Tequila, Whiskey, Vodka), plus episodes on Bitters, and Champagne. Some of the drinks that I'll be showcasing are the Last Word, Champagne Cocktail, Caipirinha, Champagne Flamingo, Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Bloody Mary, Opera, Sidecar, Jasmine, Martini, Daiquiri, Floridita, Margarita, Rosita, Whiskey Sour, Kir Royale, French 75, Harrington, Cosmopolitan, Mojito, Pegu Club, Black Feather, Frostebite, Irish Coffee, Moscow Mulse, and even an episode on Abisnthe.

Each episode was basically shot fairly "off the cuff" (ie. no scripting or rehearsal), and there were only a couple of times where we eneded up needing to stop camera to re-shoot. In one particular case, I ended up getting into a bit of pontification and forgot to add the last ingredient to the drink. When we finally stopped, one of the cameramen pointed out that I still had something in my jigger... Duhooo! So we did a quick pickup shot to show me pouring that into the mixing glass... but if you watch carefully you should be able to pick out the episode where this happens. I'll leave it up to you to find it!

Once these episodes are posted, and we start getting some traffic, we'll listen to the feedback we get from all of you and will use that to make any adjustments to the overall show when we film the next set of episodes sometime in the Fall.

Hopefully, you will enjoy the show, and perhaps I'll have some things to say that you'll find interesting, if not educational, about cocktails and mixology.

Here we're getting the lighting all set up and checking the camera angles to make sure we can properly get all of the action:

I brought along a "mascot" to keep me company on the set. If you look closely, you should periodically be able to see him in some of the episodes:

I mixed up a LOT of drinks, and the crew seemed to always find enough time to at least take a sip of each one. They claimed it was quality control, but I think they were just glad I was doing a "Cocktail" show, and not one on vetrinary medicine.

The Mixology Summit

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:58:53 GMT

It often seems like I travel a lot. When I’m not traveling as part of my day-job at Microsoft, I’m traveling for my “night-job” as a Cocktail Evangelist. I enjoy both of these occupations a lot, so it really doesn’t seem so much like work. It shouldn’t be surprising then to learn that I really don’t make it a habit of taking time off for “vacation” trips.

I did just get back however, from an honest to goodness vacation. It was, as you might expect however, slightly related to my involvement in the world of mixology and cuisine.

Some good friends of mine, Anistatia Miller, and Jared Brown, who are cohorts in my cocktail adventures, annually take a vacation in the United Kingdom where they rent out property that is part of the Landmark Trust. This is an organization which buys up old (and often in heavy need of repair) buildings of historic importance. They then fix them up and turn them into vacation houses which people can rent out and stay in. Landmark Trust shouldn’t be confused with the National Trust, which is an organization which similarly purchases historic buildings, but they open them up for tours instead.

This year, the property they chose was the Old Campden House, in Chipping Campden. The property once was home to a very grand house, which was built in the early 1600’s only to be burned to the ground in 1645 by the Royalists during England’s civil war. All that remained on the property were some of the ancillary buildings, which over the centuries fell into sad shape. The Landmark Trust purchased these buildings and after a lot of renovation opened them up for use.

There apparently is a strange “mystery” surrounding the Campden House property, which has been come to be known as the “Campden Wonder”. It occurred in 1660, when William Harrison, the estate manager headed out for Charingworth. When he failed to return, a search began, and eventually turned up a hat, shirt, collar, and comb which apparently belonged to Mr. Harrison. The worst was feared. Eventually John Perry, who worked for Mr. Harrison came forward and confessed to having killed Mr. Harrison. He later also implicated his mother and brother in the deed as well. They eventually were tried, and found guilty, and later hung. The “wonder” however, comes in the fact that two years later, Mr. Harrison walked into town, claiming that he had been abducted by three men and shipped to Turkey and into slavery. Why John Perry would have confessed to a crime he obviously never committed, was never discovered.

The buildings on the property include the East and West Banquet Hall, the Almonry, and the North Lodge. The Banquet Halls are the two most impressive buildings, although still relatively small. They were apparently designed for diners to have their repast while looking back onto the main house, which would have candles lit in every window, presenting a beautiful and elegant spectacle.

With the rooms available, we had sleeping for up to 10 people maximum, and by renting a couple of additional rooms at the 8 Bells Restaurant and Pub, we could get up to 12. The core group consisted of just myself, along with Jared and Anistatia. During the course of the week however, we had a rotating group of additional visitors who participated in our festivities. These consisted of Nick Strangeway (from the “Hawksmoor” restaurant in London), along with his girlfriend Claudia; Dre Masso from the Worldwide Cocktail Club; Nick Blacknell, from Beefeater gin; Sasha Petraske, from Milk & Honey in New York (and London); Simon Ford, from Plymouth gin; and Adrian Hodgkins, a beer aficionado and good friend of Anistatia’s from Oxford, along with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law. Essentially we had a group of folks where every single one of them was either directly associated to food, drink, or both, so it should be no surprise that we had a wonderful time.

We started out in London for two nights, where we had a chance to watch the extremely exciting darts finals (trust me, it was indeed exciting!). On the drive up to Chipping Campden, we made a stopover in Oxford, where we met up with Adrian for a couple pints at the Turf Tavern, which dates back at least to the 1200’s. From there, we continued on to Chipping Campden, and the Old Campden House. After figuring out who would stay where (I in the West Banquet Hall, Anistatia and Jared in the East Banquet Hall), we struck out onto the town to see what it had to offer, finishing off with dinner and a couple of pints at the Eight Bells.

The next day, we started prepping some of the food that we would be cooking over the course of the week, including a brace of four ducks which Anistatia marinated in a honey glaze and then hung in the fireplace to age for a couple of days before we would cook it. We eventually discovered that the Lygon Arms had wireless internet, and so we had to briefly stop in so we could do a quick checkup on e-mail and such. The only downside of this was that in order to get access to the wireless, you had to buy a pint of beer. Did I say downside? What was I thinking!

On an adjoining property, there was a small flock of sheep that were grazing, and on one occasion they discovered a hole in the fence around our property which allowed them to get over to our property and into the fenced in area that surrounded the East Banquet Hall. It was then up to Jared and myself to figure out how to properly motivate the sheep into heading back down a narrow stone stairway, and through the hole in the fence back to their own pasture. In the process they decided that they liked the little terrace that was alongside the building.

When Nick Strangeway showed up (along with Claudia and Dre), he brought with him a huge goose, as well as a bone-in brisket which was absolutely fabulous. When Nick Blacknell and the Hodgkins arrived, we kicked things into full gear and started pulling out some of the various spirits and such, and started doing some experiments with various cocktails. Pomegranates, quince jelly, blood oranges, oak infused gin, various scotches, tequilas, and vodkas, homemade rhubarb syrup, and a broad assortment of bitters would be brought to bear as we tried one drink and then another… unfortunately, I think we were too busy tweaking the various libations and so nobody remembered to actually takes notes on what we ended up with.

Sasha then showed up, in his typically dramatic fashion, by knocking on the door of the East Banquet Hall just as we were finishing our main course. It should be noted here that the property is surrounded by a tall wall, which is designed to keep out trespassers, and Sasha really didn’t know exactly how to find us. As luck would have it, when his train arrived in another town, and he called for a driver, he just happened to get a driver who not only knew exactly where Old Campden House was, but he also owned the sheep which often grazed on the property, so he knew exactly how to get into the property, and which building we would probably all be in. Leave it to Sasha.

Many of the pubs in Chipping Campden appeared to carry Hook Norton beers, usually their “Hooky Bitters” and their “Double Stout”. We were also right in the middle of where Donnington Brewery distributed their beers, and so part of our adventures were to seek out a few of their pubs to try this special brew. One of the places we found was the Farmers Arms, where we not only had several pints, but some great food and conversation as well.

At the close of our visit, Simon Ford finally made it in, but unfortunately after all of the rest of the group had taken off. By this time however we welcomed the more relaxed pace which this afforded. We then headed back to London Heathrow, where I boarded my flight back to Seattle, while Anistatia and Jared stayed on for a couple days before they would head back to New York. All in all, a great trip.

Now with a houseful of mixologists, it should be no surprise that we not only spent a lot of experimenting with cocktails, but also in discussing the state of cocktails and spirits in London, America, and the world. Many of us are involved in the Museum of the American Cocktail, the Worldwide Cocktail Club, as well as various bars and restaurants. Sharing information at this level, and in this sort of environment proves to be extremely useful for helping us all get a better understanding of where things are going, as well as who is going there. The fact that we also had some representatives from both Beefeater and Plymouth in attendance allowed us to also discuss how and where these spirits could and should fit into the overall equation. It was interesting to hear about their various marketing and distribution approaches, as well as where they felt they needed to go in the future. Anistatia and Jared say that each year their little “vacations” move closer and closer to turning into an “industry” event… I can only imagine what next years will be like!

Qube, a new Seattle Restaurant and Bar

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:01:30 GMT

I love checking out new bars, especially ones that might show promise of actually doing things right. But I also get a bit of a sick pleasure out of checking out bars that just really don't get it, but think they do. I stopped by Qube the other day, expecting for it to be one of the latter. Why? Because they apparently feature a $15 Cosmopolitan on their bar menu, the high price is because they use "Ultimat" vodka, which here in Washington State goes for $56 a bottle. I bet they couldn't tell the difference between a Cosmo made with Ultimat, and one made with Smirnoff.

Like I said, I was "expecting" Qube to be a dissapointment. But they weren't. They really showed some promise with their cocktails, and even the general knowledge and ability of the bartender. When I ordered my Old Fashioned, he asked me if I wanted it with bitters or not, and bemoaned along with me those sad few who prefer it without. Their appetizer menu featured a nice collection of "Sticks" (Satay), as well as various other asian inspired fair (apparently prepared in French fashion). I went with the Salmon Tartare, which I thought was quite wonderful and flavorful.

Eventually, the bartender and I got into a discussion about their "infamous" Cosmopolitan, and he quickly assured me that all of the bar staff was opposed to it, and were petitioning the management to get it off of the menu. It can't come off soon enough in my mind, such a menu item has no reason to exist.

I plan on checking back with the folks at Qube over the coming months to see how they are going, they do have some work ahead of them to bring things up to what I would consider a "Quality" bar, but they do show promise.

Qube
1901 Second Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 770-5888
http://www.quberestaurant.com

Herb Flavored Vodka

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:23:10 GMT

Those who know me may be a little surprised to see me actually saying something favorable about a vodka. To clarify, it's not so much that vodka is evil incarnate or anything, but that the general publics over-facination with such a totally non-descript product doesn't do my culinary sensibilities any good. The masses are attracted to vodka for two very specific reasons.

1) Their "young" palates haven't yet acquired a taste for the other spirits (brandy, rum, gin, tequila, whiskey). The distince lack of significant flavor of vodka allows it to add alcoholic effects to any drink, without actually forcing them to encounter unexpected flavors.

2) They fall prey to marketing hype and/or peer pressure. Smirnoff Vodka made great inroads by getting James Bond to always order a vodka Martini and have that bottle of Smirnoff strategically located on-screen. Smirnoff has given way to Grey Goose, Belvedere, Chopin, Stoli Elite, or one of the various other brands out there, but in truth, when mixed as a cocktail, it really is hard to tell one from the other once you get into the premium brands.

Flavored vodka on the other hand starts moving things into slightly more interesting territory. And I'm not talking about the "citrus", "vanilla", "raspberry", or "green apple" flavors either. I'm instead refering to the flavored vodkas that might be introducing you to slightly unexpected flavors.

First there was Charbay and Hangar One which introduced people to not only distinctively fresh flavors, but sometimes slightly unique flavors as well, as in Hanar One's "Mandarin Blossom", or Charbay's "Green Tea". Gradually, the general public is getting the idea that their spirit can actually have flavor in it.

I was recently sent a sample of a new vodka coming to the market, "Herb's Aromatic Vodka". This series of four different vodka relies on the flavors of Fennel, Dill Leaf, Rosemary, and Cilantro to provide both unique and subtle flavors to their vodkas. While any one of these can be used to simply make a vodka martini, and result in a more unique flavor experience than plain vodka ever could, I think the real value of these flavors is in tasking culinary bartenders/mixologists into coming up with drinks that specifically incorporate their flavors into new drinks as opposed to simply switching them in to already established cocktails.

On the Herb's website they provide a few example cocktails:

Rosemary vodka, with cranberry juice and grapefruit juice.
Cilantro vodka, with lime juice.
Dill Leaf vodka, with creme de cassis and soda.
Fennel vodka with triple sec.

Which, while perhaps good "training wheels" to introduce folks to their new flavors, while retaining some semblence of other vodka drinks they might be familiar with, such attempts fall short of being representative of the potential.

As a personal challenge I took it on myself to attempt to build up a few simple cocktails which I felt played upon some of the specific flavor qualities presentd in these different vodkas, and perhaps also represent slightly new overall cocktail flavors for many.

Here they are, and as of yet unnamed:

Dill Leaf Cocktail

2 oz. Herb's Dill Leaf Vodka
1 oz. Lillet Blanc
1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.

Rosemary Cocktail

1 oz. Herb's Rosemary Vodka
1 oz. dry vermouth
1 ounce brandy

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.

Fennel Cocktail

1-1/2 oz. Herb's Fennel Vodka
1 oz. Dubonnet
1/2 oz. Lillet Blanc

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.

Cilantro Cocktail

2 oz. Herb's Cilantro Vodka
1/2 oz. lemoncello
1/2 oz. dry vermouth

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.

My sincere hope with these new vodkas, is that they allow people to take the next step in cocktail appreciation, which revolves around truly undestanding and appreciating the culinary potential of the cocktail, and to discover how a drink which is artfully designed to draw together several different flavors can be far better then "yet another" Lemon Drop.

To me, vodka is till just vodka. It is the "entry level" spirit that can provide new drinkers with the introduction to what cocktails are all about. Vodka does represent craftsmanship and art in it's distillation, and plain vodka does have a place in the cocktail landscape, just not a very big one. Flavored vodkas can raise the steaks a little further, by providing the mixologist (and the customer) with an ingredient that has more value then just the cleanliness of the alcohol. Herb's Aromatic Vodka represents what I think is the next step in this flavor journey, and is worth spending some time with. After all, gin is really nothing more than a flavored vodka anyway.

"Cocktail Smarts" A Beginner's Intro to Cocktails

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 03:40:32 GMT

There are games about DRINKING, and games ABOUT drinking.

Hopefully we gave up the former back in our college days, but the latter are few and far between. I recently had the chance to preview a new drinking game coming onto the market which fortunately at no time in the playing of the game is it necessary, or even a perceptible option to, partake in a drink in order to continue playing.

“Cocktail Smarts” is what could be considered a “Trivia” game that revolves around exposing people to various aspects of cocktails, cocktail construction, and cocktails in the media. Players take turn answering the questions on the cards, and as they answer enough of them correctly advance from Barback, to Bartender, and finally to Mixologist.

The questions needed to be answered range from bartender basics such as “True or False: Bourbon is a type of whiskey”, to recipe knowledge “A White Lady, a Sidecar and a Between The Sheets all have which flavor in common?”, to media trivia such as “True or False: When Rick Says “Here’s looking at you kid” in the film Casablanca, he and Ilsa drink Champagne.”. It would only be the “media trivia” questions that should even phase an experienced bartender, but a cocktail neophyte will probably find many of these questions to be fairly challenging.

One issue I have regarding this game, is that the instruction booklet that comes with it spends almost all of it’s time being a mini cocktail pamphlet, and leaves only a single paragraph to actually describe how to play the game. Hopefully they will update this in follow-on updates.

While I would love somebody to come out with a cocktail game that would be challenging and entertaining for experienced bartenders and bar customers, I have to take some solace in the fact that this game isn’t just another excuse to drink, and instead will actually impart some information and understanding about cocktails to those who play it.

You can find more information and purchasing details for “Cocktail Smarts” on the website of the game publisher: Smarts Co: http://www.smartsco.com

Or it is (or soon will be) for sale through the following:

http://www.Wrapables.com

Spec’s Stores throughout Texas

San Francisco of Modern Art
151 Third Street
San Francisco CA

Fresh Egg
58 Clarendon Street
Boston MA

Paul Smith
108 Fifth Avenue
New York NY

Bibelot
1114 Grand Avenue
St. Paul MN

Grace & Company Paperie
271 Madison Avenue S.
Bainbridge Island WA

Beefeater Global Gin Symposium 2006

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 18:42:32 GMT

It's a tough life I lead. Sometimes I have to take on chores like I did this last week, and fly off to London to attend a symposium on gin. To top it all off, it was also required that I spend several days before the symposium going to a variety of restaurants and bars and sample a wide variety of food and drink. If that wasn't enough, most of the other folks attending the event were all friends of mine, and so I had to share the time with them as well.

The overall focus of this event was "The Global Gin Symposium 2006", which was put on by Beefeater Gin, in association with the Worldwide Cocktail Club. This was a day long set of presentations that covered a wide variety of gin related topics. It was held at the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road. This wonderful and well-appointed single screen cinema, was the perfect venue for this event. The only problem, was that the seats were far too comfortable, and after being up until far to late the previous night, many of us had problems keeping our attention on the topic at hand.

In attendence, were about 80 bartenders from the London and surrounding area. Beefeater also flew in a variety of speakers and guests (such as myself) from around the world to participate in this event.

Things started off with a history of gin presented by Professor Geoff Palmer and author Geraldine Coates, followed by a comparison of gin styles with Desmond Payne (Master Distiller for Beefeater Gin), Larry Ebersold (Master Distiller for Seagrams in the US), Piet van Leijenhorst and Philip Duff (both from Bols). Then after a wonderful lunch at Bumpkin Country Brasserie, we returned to the Cinema where Audrey Saunders presented on Matching Gin Styles to Cocktails, then Anistatia Miller, Jared Brown, and Angus Winchester provided an examination of a variety of "Lost" gin cocktails which bore rediscovery.

But that was just the activites of one day. There were other days (and evenings) to fill up, and fill up we did. On my first day there, a few of us made a point to quickly pop down to a (very) local pub and have a quick pint. Followed by heading off to another pub for lunch, where I made sure to have a traditional Steak & Kidney pie. It was then back to the K-West hotel for a couple of quick cocktails before venturing out for dinner at the Anglesea Arms. Many may scoff at the thought of "British Cuisine", and may even roll their eyes in abandon at the thought of "Pub" food. However, there is a focus these days on what they call "Gastropubs", which are slightly upscale pubs, which are specializing in providing great food that definately breaks the mold of what you might think of as traditional pub-grub. On this trip we visited a fairly wide variety of pubs, bars, and restaurants, and had wonderful meals at them all.

From the Anglesea Arms, we next went to Montgomery Place, which is a cocktail lounge in Notting Hill, a wonderful and compact little bar which served a variety of classic cocktails. We then headed down to Lonsdale, where we finished out the evening (and the first half of the next morning) running through a great selection of drinks that they had to offer as well.

The following day, we started out with a visit to Prince Alfred, one of London's many "Gin Palaces". These were primarily a response to the Beer Houses that started taking over following the 1820 "Beerhouse Act". A Beerhouse didn't have to abide by any licensing control, while spirit retailers did. So the first Gin Palaces started showing up around 1830 as a way to provide a semi-oppulent environment for gin drinkers. Prince Alfred was built in 1863, and still retains much of it's original spendor. The inner area is split into several different rooms, each with a private outside entrance. Within, each of the rooms has access to the central "bar", with small access doors leading from one room to the next. I would love some time to take a tour of some of the various Gin Palaces still standing in London, such would surely be a memerable experience.

After our lunch at the Prince Alfred, we then headed out to the Beefeater distillery for a private tour. Beefeater is the only commercial gin still being manufactured within London, the others having left for larger, and cheaper, factories; many of them moving all the way to Scottland.

Nick Blacknell presided over the first half of the tour, and then we met up with Desmond Payne (their master distiller) who walked us through the process of how they produced their gin, from sourcing of the raw ingredients, all the way through distillation. The facility at Beefeater is larger then the distillery at Plymouth gin (where I toured a little over a year ago), but it still seems very small when compared with some of the larger breweries and distilleries we have here in American. One aspect of this is that gin producers don't (and legally can't) distill the neutral grain spirit (NGS) that they use to make their gin with, they have to purchas their NGS from others. So that greatly reduces the size needed for their facility. Beefeater combines their raw ingredients with NGS and macerates this for 24 hours before they run it through a distillation to produce their gin. This is a rather long steeping time, and Desmond explained that they feel it allows more of the crisp flavors of the botanicals they use to become solid flavors in their product.

After the wonderful Beefeater Tour, we headed over to Bedford & Strand, a new wine bar that Nick Blacknell had opened up, where we had more cocktails, as well as a wonderful dinner. Since it still wasn't quite time to call it a night, a number of us quickly headed off to Milk & Honey where we hung out until the wee hours of the morning.

Bright and early Tuesday morning was the Gin Symposium that I have already described, and following that we headed back to the Lonsdale for a variety of cocktails and appetizers. We then all jumped aboard two chartered "double-decker" busses and were driven the "long way" around town, with a little London bar history along the way (unfortunately incomprehensible through the busses speaker system) before arriving at our next destination, "Volstead" on Swallow Street near Piccadilly.

After an hour or so of cocktails and conversation at Volstead, it was back onto the bus for another spin through town before arriving at "Hawksmoor" on Commercial Street. Here we had a wonderful "Sandwich Buffet" set up, with thick sliced breads and a great array of various meats and cheeses to use. The featured drink here was a classiclly made "Punch", served of course in elegant glass punchbowls.

It was naturally a very late evening once again, with the next day all of us flying out to our various respective cities. I was fortunate in that my flight wasn't until 3pm, and so was able to sleep in almost until noon before having to set off to the airport. Others unfortunately were not quite as lucky.

More pictures from this trip can be found here.

Vessel, Seattles Newest Cocktail Lounge

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:28:56 GMT

Last night was the opening night for Vessel, a new bar in downtown Seattle. Jamie Boudreau, the bar manager, hesitates to refer to this as an "official" opening, since the upstairs section isn't quite ready yet. When the stairway leading up there is finally ready for foot-traffic, later this week, he'll finally be able to sigh a breath of relief and declare Vessel ready for business.

Vessel
1312 5th Avenue
Seattle, WA
http://vesselseattle.com/

Jamie has had this project in the works for quite some time now. Originally he was just organizing the bar and setting up the original cocktail program, but eventually he realized that in order to do this project justice he'd have to leave his position at Lumier, a noted restaurant in Vancouver B.C. and become the full-time bar manager. This not only meant he'd have to move, but it also meant he'd have to apply for a US Visa so he could work down here.

The schedule originally had them set to open in late August... then delays pushed that into mid-September... then late September or early October, but finally here we are just past mid-October and they've finally opened. Frankly, that's not too bad considering the delay's I've seen other establishments face as they were racing to the finish line.

The bar was already hopping by the time I got there a little bit after 6pm. I was thankfully able to find a seat at the small downstairs bar. I perused over the menu and instantly settled on the "Marmalade Sour" (Cachaca, lemon juice, orange bitters, egg white, and citrus marmalade) as my first drink. I had heard that this was one of Jamie's signature drinks, and was anxious to give it a try. As he mixed it up for me he complained that he had so far been disappointed by the quality of the marmalade we had down here in the states. Ours he felt is too sweet when compared to the traditional marmalade he would use up in Canada. Frankly I have to agree with him, American seem to have a sweet tooth, and feel that everything should be sweetened at least a touch. I wouldn't be surprised to see sugar coated mushrooms show up one of these days. The drink however turned out fabulous regardless, probably had something to do with the fact that Jamie has been tweaking the marmalade just a little to try to get its flavor just right.

For my second drink, I chose the Rubicon (Flamed green chartreuse and rosemary sprig, gin, maraschino liqueur, lemon juice), mostly because Brandon (the barback, and a friend of mine) recommended it. It was indeed a tasty drink, and it even comes with a bit of a floor show as Jamie ignites a misting of chartreuse over the sprig of rosemary in the glass.

For my third, and final, drink of the evening, Jamie volunteered up a Cablegram (rye, lemon juice, simple syrup, ginger beer). Unlike the other two drinks, this is an older cocktail dating from the 1930's. It is a refreshing "tall" drink, and the home-made ginger beer that Jamie uses for it is wonderfully spicy.

Vessel isn't just about drinks however, they also have some food. The food focus is on simple snaking fare, and especially sized portions for sharing amongst your friends. Tonight, the Croque Monsieur sounded the most appetizing, although the sweet corn fritters might be something I'll need to try on a return visit.

Seattle has gradually been establishing itself as a strong center for true cocktails. While we might have our share of places that are more interested in just being "hip and trendy", there are several establishments that are really focused on breathing a little culinary excitement into the cocktails they offer. I think that Vessel will be a wonderful addition to the scene, as well as a good sign of the increasing momentum that is underway.

(picture set on flickr)

WHAT to DRINK with WHAT you EAT

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 02:03:58 GMT

To start off with, if the appreciation of food and drink, as well as the proper flavor pairings of these two culinary components is something that interests you, then you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of the recently published book “WHAT to DRINK with WHAT you EAT” by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page.

Go ahead; place an order by clicking the image below. I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.

Done? Great. That didn’t take too long now did it? :->

It was one of their early books “Culinary Artistry” which clued me in that these two had a great grasp of the concepts associated with flavors and flavor pairing.

Think about it for a second. While at its very core, cooking is all about the proper and appropriate combination of flavors, very few cookbooks actually cover this topic in any meaningful way. Sure, they might make some sort of passing comment about how the flavors they are using were because of how well they complimented each other. But they don’t actually provide details about “how” these flavors work, or perhaps more importantly what doesn’t work. After all, we often learn more from our mistakes then we do from our successes.

To produce a reference guide that lists specific flavors and what other flavors work with them takes guts. That is what Andrew and Karen did with “Culinary Artistry”. Now they are back with their second salvo. In “WHAT to DRINK with WHAT you EAT” they expand their flavor guidance and reference by cross referencing it with what liquids will provide a proper culinary accompaniment to the foods you might be serving.

As a chef, food is very important to me, as a mixologist the cocktails are also very important to me. Combining the two is just an obvious culmination of the culinary arts, and provides an opportunity to draw these two crafts together. “WHAT to DRINK with WHAT you EAT” is a fabulous resource for anybody interested in how to better understand how these two draw together these two seemingly opposing cuisines.

I’ve been conversing electronically with Andrew and Karen for a while now, but it was only recently that I had the opportunity to not only meet them, but work with them as well.

At the 2006 “Tales of the Cocktail” in New Orleans, I hosted a panel on “Pairing Cocktails with Food”, and joining me on this panel were Audrey Saunders, Ryan Magarian, as well as Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. In this session we discussed not only the importance of understanding how food and drink can be combined together, but also provided a few specific “hands-on” examples for the audience to work with. Obviously, both “Culinary Artistry” as well as the still-unreleased “WHAT to DRINK with WHAT you EAT” provided a lot of valuable content and discussion topics for this session.

But don’t just take my word on this, as part of the publication drive for their new book, Andrew and Karen have been doing a “virtual” press tour, which has been including a variety of different websites and blogs. You can see their entire release schedule here:

http://www.becomingachef.com/what_to_drink_virtual_book_tour.php

And here is a list of the blogs that have already covered the book:

David Lebovitz: "...Living The Sweet Life in Paris"
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/10/#000319
MUG: Manhattan User's Guide:
http://www.manhattanusersguide.com/archives_content.php?contentID=100206&category=food
About.COM: Gourmet Food:
http://gourmetfood.about.com/od/cookbookreviews/fr/whattodrink.htm
Megnet: A food blog by Meg Hourihan
http://www.megnut.com/2006/10/what-to-drink-a-review
Dirty Sugar Cookies:
http://dirtysugarcookies.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-to-drink-with-what-you-eat.html
BellaOnline: The Voice of Women
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46437.asp
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46436.asp
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46435.asp
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46434.asp
Dave McIntry's WineLine:
http://davewine.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-to-drink-with-what-you-eat.html
The Amateur Gourmet:
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/the_amateur_gourmet/2006/10/dornenburg_page.html
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/the_amateur_gourmet/2006/10/how_i_dissed_do.html
Savory Tidbits:
http://www.savorytidbits.com/posts/2006/10/what_to_drink_w.html
Cooking with Amy:
http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-to-drink-with-what-you-eat.html
Medmusings:
http://www.enochchoi.com/thoughts/archives/002411.html

And here are links to Andrew and Karen’s other books:

Culinary Artistry

Dining Out

Chef's Night Out

Becoming A Chef

The New American Chef

Pottery Barn "Town Crier" Novelty Bell Cocktail Shaker

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 22:31:58 GMT

Following Prohibition, everybody was getting into making cocktails at home, and this led to a massive influx in a wide variety of different cocktail shakers hitting the market. While many of them were simply taking on different artistic styles, other's attempted to impart a little extra whimsy, even if it might have detracted just a little from then functionality.

One such cocktail shaker was the "Town Crier" bell shaker. There were a couple of different styles that this took, I assume because one company was trying to copy the successful products of another. One of the more functional, and I feel more elegant, versions was the nickel/steel with wooden handle version which came out in the late 1930's.

While perusing the Pottery Barn website today, I noticed that they now sell what appears to be a fairly faithful reproduction of this cocktail shaker, and at $54 it doesn't seem like a bad price. I have an original, and will have to try to find one on the local stores to compare it with. If any of you have picked one of these up, post a comment and let us know what you think of it?

For comparison purposes, here is an image of one of the orignals, which is being sold for $230 here.

"Throwdown with Bobby Flay: Mixology"

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 17:49:49 GMT

It is with a sigh of relief that I can report that this episode was not nearly the train-wreck that I anticipated it might be.

Going into it I was afraid that it would do like so many other attempts by the Food Network to cover cocktails and mixology that it would put the bulk of the attention on flair and other non-culinary aspects of bartending.

Overall, I'd give this episode a B+.

One thing significantly missing from this episode, was the "inside scoop" from the unsuspecting contestant as to the secrets of what it takes to make their specific product properly. I think the producers realized this, and so they brought in Dale DeGroff to be a "mentor" for Bobby Flay at the beginning of the show, and Dale provided the audience with the necessary insights to what makes a great cocktail. So hat's off to Dale for rescuing this episode!

I will say this, that Tobin was a great character to compete against Bobby. He was lively, entertaining, and came of quick witted and funny. The drinks he prepared were clearly targeted at the "Las Vegas" cocktail-neophyte crowd, and while on one hand he was using fresh fruits and such for some of the ingredients he was using, he also was using a commercial sour mix (Finest Call). I realize that this might be a requirement imposed upon him by the establishment, but I still find commercial sour mixes to be totally inappropriate at any bar that thinks they have even a glimmer of quality.

In the end, Bobby Flay's drink beat out Toby's, which isn't terribly surprising since they were thankfully more focused on the flavor and drinkability of the drink then anything else (the judges noted that Toby's drink was a better presentation). Bobby, being a chef, would have an appropriate grasp of flavor balance, so as long as he could execute this with the products he chose, the rest would be easy.

Bobby's winning drink was the "Throwdown", which he made with ginger, pineapple juice, rum, and a float of unsweetened coconut milk. Served in a rocks glass with ice, and garnished with mint and a pineapple wedge. (No direct recipe was provided)

Toby countered with the Serengeti, which he made with cane spirit, lemon juice, brown sugar, and sour mix, served in an ice filled collins'ish glass (it looked like a mojito glass), garnished with basil.

Here is the recipe, which is listed on the Foodnetwork Website. I rephrased it a little bit, as well as chaning the spirit from the "flavored rum or flavored vodka" as listed on their site, to instead use "white rum" which would be closer to the "cane rum" that Tobin said he was using in the segment.

Serengeti

1/2 lemon
4 to 6 basil leaves
3 to 4 teaspoons brown sugar
1 1/2 ounces white rum
3 ounces sour mix

Quarter the lemon and put, along with the basil and brown sugar, into a glass. Muddle well to combine and dissolve the sugar.
Fill the glass with ice.
Put the rum and sour mix into a shaker (without ice), and shake to mix the ingredients and "froth".
Strain into the glass and stir to combine ingredients.
Garnish with a sprig of basil and a small lemon wedge.

The judges comented that Toby's drink was perhaps a little too citrusy, and while they liked it, they couldn't see themselves ordering a second one, where with Bobby's drink they said they could easily imagine ordering a second. That's one of the signs of a great cocktail, when you come to the end and you wish there was more.

You'll note in Toby's drink that he used lemon juice and brown sugar, as well as sour mix. To me, that is always the sign of somebody not really understanding their products. The lemon juice and brown sugar was already playing the role of the sour mix, so instead of messing up the flavor by adding a commercial mix on top of his fresh one, he should have instead tried to figure out what was missing from the flavors in his drink and try adding something to balance it out. Perhaps the brown sugar was producing too carmelish of a sugar flavor, in which case he could have easily settled this out by making a simple syrup using half brown sugar, and half regular sugar, or just all raw sugar. I probably would have also used lime juice instead of lemon. I expect that the "sour mix" was just playing the role of a filler here, providing the drink with enough volume to make it a full drink. Shaking the drink with ice would have added some additional volume from the melting water, as well as calming down some of the citrus (which the judges had felt was a little overpowering), and then topping it off with soda, or better yet ginger ale, would have taken care of the rest of it. But that's just my opinion, I'd have to actually give his original recipe a try and then try some alterations to see how it could be improved... but that would mean I'd have to pick up some sour mix, and I'm not sure if my reputation could survive that :->

The Food Network and Cocktail Competitions

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 22:28:18 GMT

Perhaps I'm just being too critical, or overanalyzing, or something, but it really bothers me that the Food Network, who spends so much time and energy trying to promote quality food advise (for the most part) can be completely clueless when it comes to cocktails.

For one thing, their coverage of cocktails is so minimal as to be almost non-existant, and then when they do choose to present a show that has some sort of cocktail/mixology/bartender focus, they get it so terribly wrong.

A few weeks ago they had another one of their "Bartender Battles" type of shows, where bartenders around the nation would compete against each other. One thing I appreciated about this competition, was that they -finally- added a section where the bartender would be scored on the quality of an actual drink they prepared for the judgets. However this delight was short lived, since out of 620 points possible, 400 points were for "flair", 200 points were for "speed", and the remaining 20 points were for the Signature Drink that they would make up... in other words they could have given the judges a glass of vinegar and it really wouldn't hurt their chances of winning if they were good at the other two.

Yes, I know that Flair Bartending is a artform that takes lots and lots of skill. Yes, I know that there there is a big circut of bartenders out there who travel around the world at such competitions, and yes, I do have a lot of respect for Flairtenders and even think that they deserve the competitions and awards. My problem is that if you were to simply go by what the general public sees by watching TV as to what it means to be a great bartender, then flipping bottles a'la Tom Cruise in "Cocktail" is where it's at. It would be like having all of the cooking shows on TV being done by chef's at Benehana (you know, the asian restaurant where the chef's do all that fancy knife and food juggling stuff... impressive... talented... but not cuisine).

This week, the Food Network has another show coming out that might, just might, provide a different view into what they really think about cocktails. Or perhaps just prove my point about how clueless they really are.

I've been watching "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay, and think that this is an interesting as well as entertaining premise. Send Bobby Flay in to do a one-on-one cooking challenge with soembody who is (based on awards and reputation) the best in the business on a particular type of cuisine. About half of the show is taken up with Bobby relating to the audience what his approach is going to be, and what he views as being the core principles of making a "world class" product. While at the same time the unwitting opponent is thinking that the Food Network is just doing an expose about them and tells the camera about their craft and their methodology. The last half of the show has Bobby throwing down the gauntlet, and doing some on-the-spot cooking, which is then judged and the winner declared.

Well, the next episode is on "Cocktails". And Bobby is going to pit his mixology skills (shallow that they are... I don't think I've yet seen Bobby present a cocktail on any of his shows that makes me think he has a clue about mixology) against the "Champion". This time the acclaimed champion is a Las Vegas bartender "Toby Ellis". The preview shots that they showed were all "Flair", which has me a little scared. But I'll grant them that as a "teaser" to the general public, bottle flipping shots might help draw an audience. But the real test will be if they spend more then a few minutes actually "doing" flair on the show, much less promoting it as a core part of a bartender's skill. And if Flair enters at all into the judging of the final drink, so help me I just might have to throw my TV set out the window.

Stay tuned post-show, and I'll report on what I thought of the show overall. Keep your fingers crossed!

Mapping some Seattle Area cocktail hangouts...

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:38:59 GMT

I noticed that "Windows Live Local" (the mapping website from Microsoft, which is part of their overall "Windows Live" suite of online tools, etc) offers the ability to submit a "blog" entry based on a current collection of mapping points. So I've quickly identified a few of the different cocktail lounges in the Seattle area (but by no means all of them) that I often recommend to people for various reasons. I'm sort of curious to see how this is going to be exposed on my site when this is done. If it works well I just might have to expand upon this a little.

Quote

My Windows Live Local collection

Pimento Dram

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 00:49:06 GMT

As always, it's been a while since my last post.. which means it's about time I corrected this. this particular post is for two additional reasons as well. First, to just check out the improved "mobile" interface (I'm using my Treo PocketPC), but probably more importantly, to record a recipe I was recently given for "Pimento Dram".

Most likely, you've never heard of Pimento Dram (unless of course you arrived here as a result of a search). It is a rum based cordial, that to th best of my knowledge, hasn't been available in the states for at least a decade. Its primary flavor comes from allspice berries, and while not called for in many recipes, it is used in a variety of old Tiki era drinks.

Murray Stenson, at the Zig Zag Café here in Seattle, encountered an old Jamaican recipe a while back, and has been known to mix up a batch or two for his use at the bar. He recently sent me a copy of the recipe, and I figure one way to keep trak of it would be to post it in my blog...

so without further adeu, here it is:

Pimento Dram

1/3 cup whole dried allspice berries
1/2 cup lime juice strained
2 1/4 cups Demarra 151 proof rum
3 cups water
1 oz. cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 lbs. brown sugar

Crush allspice and place with rum and lime juice in a jar.
Cover and leave for ten days.
Boil water, sugar and cinnamon about ten minutes to make a thin syrup.
Strain liquid from berries.
Add rum mixture to syrup.
Cool and strain, then bottle.
Age at least one month.

Hasta La Vista Las Vegas

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 22:26:00 GMT

My trip to Las Vegas is now over, and on my last night there I was able to partake of cocktails in three more bars.

Our group had a "end of show" celebration in one of the restaurants which were attached to the hotel, and while the food was quite good, the drink setup left a bit to be desired. As I suppose should be expected, their specialty menu was filled with drinks which were of the "fruity and fanciful" bend, but a specific telling point about their full grasp of quality cocktails was that they listed pineapple juice as an ingredient in their Mai Tai.... yes, you can make a good "polynesian inspired" drink with pineapple juice, and yes, some people have been known to refer to these as a "Mai Tai", but we all know that a "real" Mai Tai does not include any pineapple juice.

I then hotfooted it out to a couple more bars that I had been wanting to try. One was the bar at "Bouchon", which was located in the hotel I was staying at. I had lunch there on the first day, and a couple of breakfasts, and thougth that they were all delicious. Having noticed that they carried Regan's Orange Bitters #6, I figured they must have some idea at what they were doing.

My Old Fashioned at Bouchon was quite good, even though he did top it off with a little bit of water. For the personal specialty he served me one of their house drinks (which I didn't quite catch the name of), which included an lambic beer as one of the ingredients. It was good, but just a little bit flat in flavor, so I had him add a couple dashes of Angostura bitters to it, which helped pop the flavors up nicely. If I had remembered to bring along some of my own bitters, I think those would have worked even better in this drink.

For my third drink, I became curious as to what they might be doing with the orange bitters, and so asked him if he could recommend one of the drinks that used it... he seemed a little shocked to discover that they even "had" orange bitters, I had to point out to him where they were. And he didn't have any ideas what recipes might use it. I was thinking about seeing if he could make an Opera, and so asked if he had any Marachino liqueur... they didn't, but he said that they did once have a bottle of it, which remained unopened for so long that they finally got rid of it. Apparently they didn't know any cocktails which used it either.

...So I settled with a Pegu, which he made perfectly.

I then took the long walk down to the Aladdin hotel and Commander's Palace. I had only had a quick stop in here on my first day down to Las Vegas, and had been wanting to take the time to check out their bar and get better aquainted with the setup.

The bartender, Randy, made me a great old fashioned, although he took just a little too much effort at muddling the fruit at the beginning, left more of a "soup" in the bottom of the glass, then a muddled orange wheel and cherry. But all in all it was a good drink. For the personal specialty, he made me a wonderful Sazerac, even got a chance to try the new Sazerac Rye, which they had just received. And for my third drink, I had him make up a "classic" dry Martini (2 parts gin, 1 part dry vermouth, 2 dashes orange bitters). He didn't normally keep the (fee's) orange bitters at the bar, but had mentioned ealier that they did have some in storage, so he was more then happy to get it for me.

During my stay at Commander's, I had some delightful conversations with several of the other customers, one of them turned out to be one of the Managers, who had brought in some out-of-town visitors on his day off. We chatted about cocktails as well as the museum, and I introduced him to the Jasmine cocktail, which he loved.

The end result of my trip to Las Vegas, was that out of the 8 or so bars that I tried, there were three that stood out as providing good potential for having a well crafted cocktail.

Eiffel Tower Restaurant (Paris Resort)

Bouchon (Venitian)

Commander's Palace (Aladdin)

And if you've read all of my posts in this little collection, you'll notice that I didn't mention the "lesser" bars by name, this is because it easily could have been that I just didn't hit the bartenders at those establishments at the right time, or perhaps got a bartender that didn't really reflect the establishments focus on quality cocktails, so I don't want to inappropriately call them out in that manner. I'll most likely try some of them again on another visit, and will see how they fair.

-Robert

The Mix'06 Cocktail

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:36:23 GMT

As mentioned in my previous entry, I'm down in Las Vegas on a business trip... for the "Mix'06" conference in specific.

Knowing my predilection towards cocktails, and being at an event in Las Vegas, and called "Mix" on top of it, I was asked to come up with a special cocktail that could be served at the opening nights gala affair.

So I spent a little time experimenting, and with an eye towads a drink that would be approachable, casual, not too strong, and made with ingredients that wouldn't be out of line for most decent bars to have on hand, i created the following:

The Mix'06 Cocktail

In an ice filled Old Fashioned glass, or Collins glass, combine:

1 oz gin
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/4 oz Campari
1 dash Angostura bitters

Top with ginger ale. Garnish with a cherry.

A relatively simple cocktail, but at the same time one that would introduce folks to some spirits that they might not otherwise be familiar with.

We contacted the hotel in advance with the recipe, and they said that it would be no problem at all for this to be the specialty drink of the night.

I unfortunately had to work the night of the event, and so only had a few moments to pop in and see how they were doing the drink... I stopped up to the bar and ordered a "Mix'06" cocktail... the bartender seemed a little confused and then replied "oh, we don't have Benedictine at this bar, they are only serving it at the main bar." They at least knew what the cocktail was, so that was a good sign at least.

I finally worked my way through the very packed room, and over to the main bar, and tried my order once again. The "hooter's wanna-be" who was bartending looked at me with a blank stare, and then it dawned her what I was asking for. "Oh, we can't make that, we don't have Benedictine."

"Yes you do, the other bartender said you were making it here."

"Well, we'll have to go get some, it will be a while."

"That's ok, I'll wait."

and wait, and wait, and wait. About 10 minutes later, I see a couple of bottles of benedictine show up on the counter behind her.

"Are you sure you don't want a different drink. We still don't have the Benedictine."

"Yes you do, it's right there behind you."

She looks around for a while, then notices the bottles... takes a couple other drink orders, then starts making mine. She has to search around now for the Campari, which is clear down on the other end of the bar, adds that to the Benedictine with a splash of gin. Then serves it up.

"That's not right... where's the ginger ale?" (not to mention the Angostura bitters... but at this time I'm not going to push my luck.)

She grudgingly topped the drink off with ginger ale, and I quickly made my exit.

I had watched her make it, and it looked like she had the recipe totally upside down... and it tasted like it as well. It was most likely 1 ounce Campari, 1/2 ounce Benedictine, and 1/4 ounce gin... thank goodness I like Campari, but it was nothing like the drink should have been. I expect I was probably going to be the only person that night who ordered this drink, which based upon the actual drink served, is probably a good thing.

I'm not quite sure why it is I am always surprised at the ability for bartenders to underwhelm me so much... I guess it's because I know that there are bartenders who really take pride in their craft and like to make good drinks... I just wish that there were more.

-Robert