Camper English's Blog, page 48

A Peek at the new San Francisco Virgin Hotel's Lobby and Rooftop Bars

I had the chance to visit the new Virgin Hotel in San Francisco to check out its two bars. 

The lobby bar and restaurant is called Commons Club. The lobby has one small lounge area, a narrow bar area, and the dining area that has some additional cocktail seating. The cocktails in the lobby, designed by consultant Tommy Quimby (Trick Dog) are meant to be more serious than the ones on the roof. The drinks are named after Virgin Records. 

 

I like how they call out dairy and nuts on the menu. I tried the Human League (tapatio blanco tequila, campari, jamaican carrot juice) and found it earthy and surprisingly dry for a slightly creamy drink, with a nice Campari backbone. 

The Culture Club (spring 44 gin, st. germain elderflower liqueur, hibiscus, blood orange) is Instagram bait with the caper berry in a sugar cup, but was pretty unremarkable in flavor. 

 

Upstairs is called Everdene, named for a book character rather than Catniss from the movies. There is a central bar with seating and two different wings off to the side that can be reserved for private events. If the whole roof is open, you can see a 360 degree view of San Francisco. The hotel is located across the street from the Children's Creativity Museum with the carousel at Yerba Buena. It has a great view of the Salesforce Tower on one side and the Sutro Tower on the other. 

The roof opens at 5PM and people line up on the ground level alley entrance waiting to get in. (This is much like SF's other rooftop hotel bar Charmaine's.) As they exit the elevator on the roof and show their ID to the bouncer, they practically pounce on the available seating and fill the bar within just a few minutes of opening time. It's quite the scene. 

The drink menu, also designed by Quimby, is filled with slightly floral and very crushable crowd pleasers in a range of bright colors and flavors. The drinks lived up to their billing - no complaints on any of the three that I tried.

The  Her Majesty's Pleasure has tequila, cucumber, mint, snap peas, and lime juice, and was pleasantly minty in flavor. 

Maiden's Blush is made with rum, ginger, beet juice, lemon, and pineapple. It's largely a rum and spicy ginger drink.

Revived Spring is a low-ABV drink made with Chareau, mango, galangal, lime, and soda. It was super tasty (love that Chareau) and a little gingery from the galangal. 

It's All in the Proof: Diet and Sugar Free Vodka

I received a press release today for Smirnoff Zero Sugar Infusions, a new line of lower-calorie flavored vodka. It's interesting because in specifying that these flavored vodkas are sugar-free, they're implying that other flavored vodkas are not. 

That implication is true. 

Vodka is a neutral spirit, defined by the US government as "Spirits distilled from any material at or above 95% alcohol by volume (190 proof), and if bottled, bottled at not less than 40% alcohol by volume (80 proof)." and furthermore, vodka is "Neutral spirits distilled or treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials so as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color."

Flavored vodka is defined as:

Vodka flavored with natural flavoring materials, with or without the addition of sugar, bottled at not less than 30% alcohol by volume (60 proof)·

The name of the predominant flavor shall appear as part of the class and type designation, e.g., “Orange Flavored Vodka”

Wine may be added but if the addition exceeds 2½% by volume of the finished product, the classes and/or types and percentages (by volume) of wine must be stated as part of the class and type designation

This means that flavored vodka can have sugar added, and there is no upper limit to that sugar as long as there is still at least 30% alcohol in the bottle. So the line between a flavored vodka and a liqueur can overlap and often does. 

Particularly for the vanilla/cake frosting/whipped cream type of sweet flavors, a lot of sugar is added to flavored vodka. Not all brands do this, but many do. 

 

Diet Vodka

So the new Smirnoff line has no sugar added to the flavored vodka, but if calories are the concern, there is more savings from its low ABV of 30% alcohol than there is from its low sugar content. 

Ketel One launched their Botanical line in 2018, though the title positioning wasn't ringing of calorie savings as the Smirnoff line. Those are also 30% ABV but it turns out those aren't even categorized as flavored vodka. "Ketel One Botanical will be marketed as simply “made with vodka” because though it may seem like the real deal, it technically doesn't classify as actual vodka... "There actually doesn't exist a classification for this product," Jim Ruane, Ketel One Vodka director, says. "It's not a flavored vodka because of our two-tier production process, with the second distillation and the flavor infusion at the end."" according to this article.  

Flavored vodka must be at a minimum ABV of 30%. Unflavored vodka must be a minimum of 40% ABV.

There are unflavored diet vodkas on the market though, including Skinnygirl Bare Naked Vodka. What's their trick? The trick is that they're actually flavored vodka, flavored to taste like nothing. You can see on the label that the Skinnygirl is "vodka with natural flavors."

At least one brand has figured out how to get the calorie count even lower: KEEL vodka is bottled at 23.8%. They claim, hilariously, "At KEEL, we dare to be different, and in making the world’s first premium light vodka, we chose to distill our vodka to just the right amount of alcohol: 23.8%. Why? Too much alcohol can overpower the palate. At 23.8% our flavor profile is at its peak, providing you the best tasting and smoothest vodka on the market. "

Sure. But the labelling on this one is a mess, and it's hard to believe it got TTB approval. The label says it's "Vodka with Natural Flavor," but also it's a "Premium Light Spirit." So it's not even a flavored vodka. 

Long story short: In diet/flavored vodka, the vast majority of calorie savings are in the proof of the alcohol, not in the added sugar. 

 

 

A Few Pisco Drinks at Kaiyo in San Francisco

Kaiyo is a seven month old restaurant in San Francisco's Marina District with "the food and drink experience of the Japanese journey in Peru."  I stopped in to try the pisco cocktails and speak with manager Debora Fernandez. 

Lately I've been contemplating the relative disappearance of pisco from cocktail menus, particularly in San Francisco where it has such a strong history. I wrote about the Pisco Punch and the Clampers in 2009 for the SF Chronicle, and in the same newspaper in 2011 how pisco selections had expanded from just acholado to multiple varieties. In 2014, I visited Pisco Porton (now Caravedo)'s amazing distillery in Peru. 

Pisco was going to be huge. 

It seemed back in those days, every San Francisco bar had at least one pisco cocktail somewhere on its menu, but in recent years it's rare to find any outside of Peruvian restaurants. Mezcal has definitely overtaken pisco (and cachaca) as the white spirit alternative to gin and vodka.

 

In any case, Kaiyo doesn't shy away from the pisco, and in fact uses a range of brands and varietals in several cocktails on the menu. Here are the drinks I tried: 

 

Panyo Panyo: Capurro Pisco Torontel, Martini Ambrato Vermouth, rice milk, chamomile, lemon, orange bitters.

This cocktail created by Fernandez is the star of the menu. It's all light floral (but not perfumy) flavors bound together with the rice milk. Just a truly wonderful light punch-style cocktail. 

 

The Last Airbender Barsol Pisco Primero Quebranta, El Silencio Mezcal, apricot, Hitachino White Ale, lemon, Amargo Chuncho and egg whites.

This drink was created by Helen Diaz and Anthony Parks who consulted on the menu. As the menu evolves more of Fernandez' cocktails will take their place. This cocktail looks like a Pisco Sour but it's so much improved with the fruity Hitachino beer and apricot. The mezcal is used as a light touch and gives the drink a nice depth.  

 

Cowboy Bebop Pisco Caravedo Acholado, maiz cream, honey, lime and angostura bitters.

I was mostly curious about the maiz cream in this drink - turns out it's a mix of corn, coconut cream, and a touch of lime. While I wouldn't call this tropical, the coconut cream gives it a little wisp of island flavor. 

 

There is also the Artemis & Luna cocktail with Macchu Pisco Quebranta, Eiko Fuji Sake, and blanc vermouth that I did not try. Fernandez made me an off-menu cocktail (formerly on the brunch menu) that was made from nori-washed pisco, cachaca, Benedictine, and a touch of sesame oil. It was a fantastic and savory stirred drink, hopefully it will pop back up on the regular menu (it's a bit intense for brunch) this summer. 

The cocktail menu is below.

 

 

A First Look at Here's How in Oakland, Jennifer Colliau's Highball Hideaway

Here's How has opened Oakland's busy Uptown district, across from the Fox Theatre. It's still in soft opening mode but will have expanded hours starting pretty soon. Last night I had the chance to check out the bar.

The bar is a project of Jennifer Colliau, long time Bay Area bartender/bar director (Slanted Door, The Perennial, The Interval) and owner of Small Hand Foods, maker of the best cocktail syrups. The bar was announced a couple of years ago and it has been a long slow build-out from the former art gallery space. 

Much of the design of the space is tuned for big crowds before and after shows at the Fox Theatre and monthly Oakland Art Walks. The interior is large and open, with a sunny front room, just a few big couches, and a lot of space for standing. There is also a small back room with its own bar. 

 

When the expected crowds come in, there are canned cocktails and hand-held credit card readers to speed up service, along with a selection of quickly-made highballs. 

Not only are the highballs the regular menu specialty, but the canned cocktails (three currently on offer - one with vodka, a Paloma, and a whiskey soda) are also highballs, just prepped in advance. They are carbonated in a keg then canned, probably about weekly. Colliau says that the lightweight aluminum is a well-recycled material and a point of differentiation from bottled cocktails some other bars are doing, and they hold carbonation well (at least for the week they'll be stored). 

 

As you can tell, highballs are the heart of the drink program, made possible to Colliau's high standards with a fancier cold plate/carbonating system than you'll find most everywhere else. Not only does it allow for better carbonation in general, it allows her to dial in each soda/highball mix separately, so one drink may have 4.5 parts cocktail mix to carbonated water while another is 2:1. 

The core of each of the highball cocktails is a soda. They include a sparkling cranberry (cranberry juice with citrus acids and sugar), a cola (Monin syrup amplified with acid phosphate), a delicious homemade ginger beer, tonic water (made with Small Hand Foods tonic syrup), diet cola, and importantly the house lemon-lime soda. 

 

These sodas and highballs don't have fresh citrus as it would oxidize, but use a citrus acid blend (you can read about it in Dave Arnold's Liquid Intelligence; I wrote a great story about it for Cook's Science but unfortunately it's now behind a paywall), which doesn't taste a lot like fresh citrus but especially in the case of the lemon-lime soda tastes a heck of a lot like Sprite. To me it registers at first like fakey commercial soda but after a few sips you get the hang of it and it becomes delightful. 

In the case of the lemon-lime soda they not only use the citrus acids, they add clarified lemon and lime juices to the mix: clarified juices can last several days if not longer, and don't oxidize as much. To clarify the juices, leftover lemon/lime juice at the end of shifts is agar clarified to remove solids and extend its lifespan.

This lemon-lime soda is used in their interpretation of the Rebujito, a traditional drink in Spain of fino or manzanilla sherry mixed with Sprite or 7-Up. The Here's How's version is fantastic. 

 

The other highballs include a Batanga (tequila and Coke in Mexico) with added Ancho Reyes and a salt rim, a Madras (vodka, orange juice, and and sparkling cranberry), and a Here's How made with armagnac, lemon, ginger soda, and port wine.  The Here's How doesn't actually come from one of the Here's How books, but from Cocktail Bill Boothby's World Drinks and How to Mix Them. (She says Boothby's formula is terrible so it's a big adaptation with roughly the same ingredients.)

With all the highballs, there is the undernote of those citrus acids, more or less noticeable depending on the drink. I'd recommend starting out with a lemon-lime soda first to acclimate your palate to what's happening before trying everything else. 

They also make a homemade version of Topo Chico - a carbonated water with homemade mineral mix (that they supercharged with extra minerals). I always love trying house mineral waters and this is the only one I've had that doesn't taste chalky. A must-try. 

The lemon and lime juices aren't the only ones clarified in house. Centrifuge clarification is used for the grapefruit in the canned Pineapple Paloma, and for the whole drink in the canned Marina (vodka, elderflower, cucumber, cucumber, basil, citrus).

For the non-highball cocktails, there are five other drinks: Colliau's Navy Gimlet, made famous at The Interval; an olive-oil washed Martini variation, and Old Fashioned variation with a split base of tequila and rye that surprisingly works terrifically, a mezcal-passion fruit drink that reminded me in flavor format of Thad Vogler's Single Village Fix from Beretta's opening menu (also made with a Small Hand Foods syrup, but pineapple gum), and the requisite tiki-style drink with banana and coconut cream, with a base of cachaca and spiced rum. 

 

The stirred cocktails are not stirred to time, a certain number or rotations, or taste, but to temperature - instead of barspoons, cocktails are stirred with thermometers so that when the drink reaches a certain temperature, it will have the correct dilution every time. The Navy Gimlet gets stirred down to 25F (because of the higher proof gin, it can get colder than other drinks), while other cocktails are stirred to 32F. 

 

The ice for most of the drinks is cut in-house. They use a system of coolers in their walk-in freezer to make clear ice blocks (the directional freezing method I developed here on Alcademics) and then cut them to size on a band saw; the process visible behind a window into the kitchen area. They gave us a demo of the process but I don't know if this will be done during normal service. 

 

Another touch I really like is that all the drinks are labelled as to their alcohol content - not to the proof of the drink (because you need to take into account a drink's volume to know how much alcohol you're getting in total), but the number of "alcohol units." An alcohol unit is defined as 1.5 ounces of 40% ABV alcohol. (A drink with 2 oz of 40% vodka comes out to 1.3 alcohol units in this system.) I LOVE THIS.

The canned cocktails come in at $10 each, highballs at $11, and other cocktails at $12, so things are a touch less expensive than in San Francisco and you can justify your BART ticket with the savings. Here's How is just around the corner from the 19th Street Oakland station, a 13 minute ride from the Embarcadero. 

Menu shots below.

Camper English Speaking at Invasion Montreal in May

I'll be headed to Montreal for the first time in a while (make that a very long while - the last time was for a rave) to give a talk at the Invasion Montreal cocktail conference.

I'll be speaking on Pro Day, meant for professional bartenders. Luckily my talk is in English, a language named after me. 

 

I'll be combining some topics from CocktailSafe with a tasting of Italian amari and vermouths. 

 

Delights and Dangers in the Cocktail World

This seminar will pair information about controlled ingredients and risky techniques used in the bar world with a tasting of delicious Italian liqueurs and vermouths. Many of these products contain limited ingredients including wormwood, quinine, and/or rhubarb that will serve as jumping off points for discussion about what plant products are safe, how much of each can be used, and where information about their legality is found. We’ll also discuss ingredients not in these spirits but sometimes used in the bar including tobacco, activated charcoal, and sassafras and whether they’re illegal or just ill-advised. We’ll talk about some risky techniques like foraging, fat washing, and chilling with liquid nitrogen, and finish with a discussion of allergen-activating and medicine-interacting ingredients like orgeat and grapefruit that are only a problem for some. Come sample safely and learn about danger!

 

I hope you can make it!

More information here.

 

Twelve New Drink Books, Four of them About Gin

A new batch of drink books has arrived! This time around it's mostly recipe books, with four! of them on gin. 

As usual, the descriptions below are not reviews by me but text from the publishers. Links are to purchase on Amazon. 

 

The Big Book of Gin by Dan Jones

With Gin making record sales across the world, there's been a boom in new distilleries and a thirst for new ways to enjoy this juniper-based spirit. Enter Dan Jones, bestselling gin author and cocktail enthusiast, who will make you love this tasty drink even more.

Starting with the history of gin, Dan reveals how the first distilleries opened in the UK in the 1600s, explains the nuts and bolts of making the beverage, as well as all the different trends it has experienced. He'll take imbibers on a journey around the world to some of the top producers, uncovers new trends, and shares over 100 tasty recipes, from classic cocktails, batch drinks, new concoctions, homemade syrups and more, and answers all the gin questions you were afraid to ask. Featuring stylish photography and illustrations throughout, The Big Book of Gin is a comprehensive guide to the renaissance of one of the world's most celebrated spirits.

 

 

That's the Spirit!: 100 of the world's greatest spirits and liqueurs to drink with style by Jonathan Ray 

Calling all spirit enthusiasts, wannabe mixologists and fans of aperitifs and digestifs... That's the Spirit! is here to guide and entertain you through the world of spirits and liqueurs, including whiskies both familiar and surprising, dangerous tequila and mezcal, gin and its Dutch counterpart genever, under-rated grappa, love-it-or-hate-it Bailey's, legendary absinthe and enough rum to make you book a flight to Jamaica immediately.

Behind this very well-stocked, virtual bar is author Jonathan Ray, who knows a thing or two about alcohol, being drinks editor of the Spectator. Through his personal selection of the 100 most deliciously fascinating spirits and liqueurs in the world, he tells us all about the makers behind the drinks, what makes certain brands so enduring and fascinating, which famous drinkers had one glass too many, and what makes specific tipples taste so irresistible. Among these 100 bottles are tips on your essential home cocktail kit, the world's best cocktail bars, which glassware is right for which drink, and the ultimate way to serve key spirits at home.

 

 

Spirits, Sugar, Water, Bitters: How the Cocktail Conquered the World by Derek Brown and Robert Yule

The story of the cocktail --"the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet," according to H.L. Mencken --featuring 45 recipes for rediscovered classics and inspired originals.

A cocktail-- the fascinating alchemy of simple alcohols into complex potables-- is an invention as unlikely as it is delicious, and an American innovation whose history marches in step with that of the Republic. In Spirits Sugar Water Bitters, nationally recognized bartender and spirits expert Derek Brown tells the story of the cocktail's birth, rise, fall, and eventual resurrection, tracing the contours of the American story itself.

In this spirited timeline, Brown shows how events such as the Whiskey Rebellion, Prohibition, and the entry of Hawaii into the United States shaped the nation's drinking habits. Brown also tells the stories of the great men and women who made their mark on cocktail culture, including America's Distiller-In-Chief George Washington and modern-day King Cocktail Dale DeGroff, as well as lesser-known mixology heroes like Martha Niblo, the nineteenth-century New York proprietress famous for her Sherry Cobblers, and Frederic Tudor, whose ice-shipping business gave early drinks like the Cobbler and the Mint Julep the chill they needed. Featuring classic and original recipes inspired by each period, this book serves up the perfect mix of geography, history, culture, and taste.

 

A Sidecar Named Desire: Great Writers and the Booze That Stirred Them by Greg Clarke and Monte Beauchamp

A rollicking illustrated history of alcohol and its literary imbibers, from Jane Austen’s beer brewing to James Joyce’s passion for Guinness to E.B. White’s cure for writers’ block—a dry martini—by celebrated illustrator Greg Clarke and award-winning editor/art director Monte Beauchamp.

“The tools that I need for my trade are simply pen, paper, food, tobacco, and a little whiskey.”

 —William Faulkner 

“I keep a dictionary, a Bible, a deck of cards and a bottle of sherry in the room.”

  —Maya Angelou 

“A writer who drinks carefully is probably a better writer.”

  —Stephen King

Throughout history, there has been no greater catalyst for creativity among writers, so they claim, than a good, stiff drink. In this graphic volume, the authors take us on an unforgettable literary bar crawl, packed with historical factoids, anecdotes, booze trivia, and fascinating detours into the lives of our favorite writers, along with literary-themed cocktail recipes such as Ernest Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon and Philip Larkin’s Gin and Tonic set to verse.

For the literary-minded drinker, whether wine, gin, vodka, beer, whiskey, or tequila is your elixir of choice, A Sidecar Named Desire will whet your appetite. Bottoms up!

 

The Tequila Dictionary by Eric Zandona

An A-Z compendium of everything you need to know about tequila and agave spirits, from history, ingredients and the latest craft tequila techniques to tasting notes and the many regional variations and specialities.

A tequila revolution is taking place, with more and more people learning to appreciate the rich culture, craft and flavor to be found in this unique spirit. The Tequila Dictionary is the drinker's guide to this wonderful world. With hundreds of entries on tequila and agave spirits covering everything from history, culture and ingredients to distilling techniques, cocktails and the many varieties of the drink, spirits expert Eric Zandona explores the truth behind this truly captivating drink.

 

 

 

 

Cities: The First 6,000 Years by Monica L. Smith

"This is a must-read book for any city dweller with a voracious appetite for understanding the wonders of cities and why we're so attracted to them."--Zahi Hawass, author of Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt

A sweeping history of cities through the millennia--from Mesopotamia to Manhattan--and how they have propelled Homo sapiens to dominance.

Six thousand years ago, there were no cities on the planet. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in urban areas, and that number is growing. Weaving together archeology, history, and contemporary observations, Monica Smith explains the rise of the first urban developments and their connection to our own. She takes readers on a journey through the ancient world of Tell Brak in modern-day Syria; Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan in Mexico; her own digs in India; as well as the more well-known Pompeii, Rome, and Athens. Along the way, she presents the unique properties that made cities singularly responsible for the flowering of humankind: the development of networked infrastructure, the rise of an entrepreneurial middle class, and the culture of consumption that results in everything from take-out food to the tell-tale secrets of trash.

Cities is an impassioned and learned account full of fascinating details of daily life in ancient urban centers, using archaeological perspectives to show that the aspects of cities we find most irresistible (and the most annoying) have been with us since the very beginnings of urbanism itself. She also proves the rise of cities was hardly inevitable, yet it was crucial to the eventual global dominance of our species--and that cities are here to stay.

 

The Complete Home Bartender's Guide: Tools, Ingredients, Techniques, & Recipes for the Perfect Drink by Salvatore Calabrese 

Sharpen your skills and master the classics with THE WORLD’S BESTSELLING COCKTAIL BOOK—now thoroughly redesigned, updated, and with all-new, eye-catching photos.

From advice on setting up your home bar and planning a successful cocktail party to selecting the right glass and choosing the right garnish in three easy steps, The Complete Home Bartender’s Guide has it all. You’ll learn industry terminology, must-have ingredients, including the six essential syrups you should make at home, how to choose a juicy lime every time, how to batch cocktails, how to chill glasses if you don’t have room in your freezer, how to create layers in a drink, and the secret to inventing memorable cocktails. Written by award-winning bartender and industry legend Salvatore Calabrese, this indispensable volume covers everything you need to know and provides recipes for hundreds of drinks—from the Algonquin and the Martini to the Negroni and Zombie—as well as new developments in the cocktail world. It will make the perfect addition to your liquor cabinet or bar cart and will help you create picture-perfect drinks every time.

 

 

Gin Made Me Do It: 60 Beautifully Botanical Cocktails by Jassy Davis 

From its delicate floral notes to its crisp citrus bite, gin remains a perennial favorite of cocktail-sippers everywhere. This beautifully illustrated book introduces readers to a host of gin-spirational treats, from the classic to the cutting-edge.

In Gin Made Me Do It, gin aficionado and cocktail maven Jassy Davis explains everything you need to know: how to choose the perfect bottle, mix the ultimate martini, and deliver delicious cocktails for every occasion. Between its colorful illustrations and fascinating dashes of gin history, this book makes a perfect gift for the gin-lover in your life.

 

 

 

 

Ginspiration: The Best Distilleries, Infusions, and Cocktails by Klaus St. Rainer 

Learn how premium gin is made and gain insight from profiles of more than 45 gins by distillers from all over the world, acquire top tips on how to serve and taste it, and follow step-by-step instructions to make your own irresistible infusions.

Gin aficionados, let your ima-gin-ation run wild! Curiously quirky yet comprehensive, this is your ultimate guide to choosing and infusing your favorite spirit. Discover 45 of the top craft gins from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and enjoy an in-depth profile of the smallest commercial distiller of its kind. Soon you'll be familiar with botanical flavors and craft ingredients like raspberry syrup, hibiscus sugar, and smoky ice cubes. Once you know your coupe from your collins, peruse and prepare a gorgeous array of cocktail recipes straight from the mind of international mixologist Klaus St. Rainer. Whether you choose a classic Martini or a Royal Hibiscus Gin Fizz, Ginspiration will put you in the spirit to shake up something sensational.

 

 

Gin Cocktails: Classic & contemporary cocktails by Hamlyn 

A gin-filled collection of classic and contemporary cocktails.

The gin-lover's companion to everything gin and everything cocktail.

There's nothing quite like a gin and tonic on a hot day. Or on a cold day. But then there's nothing like a Dry Martini either. Or a French 75. Or a Negroni. Or a Sloe Gin Sling. Here's a collection of classic and contemporary cocktail recipes that celebrate that favourite spirit of them all... GIN

Cocktails are split into the following chapters:
Light & Floral
Vibrant & Zesty
Intense & Sultry
Sharers and Punches and Sharers
Classics

 

Rum Cocktails by Hamlyn

A rum-filled collection of classic and contemporary cocktails.

The rum-lover's companion to everything rum and everything cocktail.

There's nothing quite like a Mojito on a hot day. Or on a cold day. But then there's nothing like a Daiquiri either. Or a Mai Tai. Or a Piña Colada. Or a Long Island Iced Tea. Here's a collection of classic and contemporary cocktail recipes that celebrate a favourite spirit of them all... RUM.

Cocktails are split into the following chapters:
Light & Floral
Vibrant & Zesty
Intense & Sultry
Sharers and Punches
Classics

 

Whisky Cocktails by Hamlyn

A whisky-filled collection of classic and contemporary cocktails.

The whisky-lover's companion to everything whisky and everything cocktail.

There's nothing quite like a Whisky Sour on a hot day. Or on a cold day. But then there's nothing like an Old Fashioned either. Or a Rob Roy. Or a Godfather. Or a Manhattan. Here's a collection of classic and contemporary cocktail recipes that celebrate a favourite spirit of them all... WHISKY.

Cocktails are split into the following chapters:
Light & Floral
Vibrant & Zesty
Intense & Sultry
Sharers and Punches and Sharers
Classics

 

 

The Smart Spirits Dispenser - Everything Very Old is New Again

As reported by The Drinks Business, Smart Spirits is a new drink dispenser, but it's not a cocktail maker. The device holds a grain neutral spirit, and Keurig-style pods are used to change that neutral spirit into tasting like various liqueurs and base spirits. It produces spirits meant to taste like everything from brandy to amaretto to Irish cream to coconut rum. 

It's a strange concept because it doesn't make mixed drinks, and includes mixing instructions like, " For the party goer in you try mixing it with sparkling Moscato style wine and strawberry soda. Add more strawberries for a great way to start the evening."

 

 

The other thing that stood out to me what that though this is a new high-tech app-controlled device, the concept of using one base spirit to fake the taste of other spirits goes way back. 

The second half of Jerry Thomas' Bar-Tender's Guide from 1862 contains "Manual for the Manufacture of Cordials, Liquors, Fancy Syrups, etc." Many of these recipes, like the ones for gin, simply rely on neutral spirit plus flavorings. Others water down other base spirits with neutral spirits, or add flavoring to other spirits. 

And to be honest, neither the old method nor the new one sounds too appealing. 

 

 

 

Tales of the Cocktail 2019 Seminars from Camper English: Allergies and Color

Tickets are now on sale for Tales of the Cocktail 2019.

Some observations: There are now a row of seminars on Tuesday afternoon. I'd guess the rooms are smaller since many of the cocktails are saying "Hurry! Only 15 seats left" within a few hours of tickets going on sale. 

Topics this year are geared toward bar managers even more than usual with no less than 4 seminars on sustainability, at least three on diversity and inclusion, a few on social media, and a bunch on budgeting and bar ownership.

This does still leave room for seminars on the actual drinks - some on literature and research of drinks, 101-level talks on a few spirits, and some fun-looking micro-topics like cream, grains, citrus, and Colombian spirits. Those are my jam. 

As always, some great seminars I'd otherwise go see are slotted at the same time as mine.

But speaking of my seminars, I have two this year: 

 

 

Friday, 7/19/2019



Allergies Diets & Cocktail Menu Warnings





3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

 





Business of Bars





This seminar will study allergies and dietary restrictions as they apply to the cocktail bar. Many menus include a disclaimer about consuming uncooked egg whites, but should they also specify that orgeat and falernum contain almonds to alert those with allergies? Or note that clarified milk punch can still upset the lactose intolerant? Do bartenders owe it to customers to list every single ingredient on a cocktail menu (impossible when most liqueurs and bitters have secret recipes), or is it the customer’s responsibility to ask?

We’ll start the discussion with a look at the current science on allergies and the specific spirits and mixers that activate them. We’ll cover dairy (milk and eggs), tree nuts/peanuts/seeds and pits, seafood, and grains including soy and wheat – plus some of the lesser-known allergies like corn and melons. We’ll try our best to separate the allergic from the sensitive to the intolerant. We’ll consider special diets like vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free. We’ll form a list of the top allergy-activating products.

And then we’ll get into the ethics – how trained should a bar staff be on the allergens on a cocktail list? What should you do when a customer claims they’re allergic to vodka? Should your bar produce a separate allergen menu, or should you clutter up the main menu with un-fun warnings and explanation- or should you let the customer take personal responsibility for knowing and asking about ingredients they might be allergic to? There is a lot to consider!

Moderated by Camper English

 

Saturday, 7/20/2019



Color in Spirits and Cocktails





12:30 PM - 2:00 PM



Royal Sonesta



General





This seminar will examine color in spirits and in cocktail ingredients, from the history of naturally-derived colors (and how to use them today) to artificial coloring, to ways to remove color from cocktails and spirits.

Until the creation of synthetic dyes – a laboratory accident in the attempt to synthesize quinine – food and beverage dyes were naturally derived from materials including tree barks (oak bark used to dye curacao liqueur), minerals including copper and iron to make things green and blue (and often, toxic), and insects (kermes scale insects, later replaced by the New World discovery of Oaxacan cochineal). The first synthetic dye (mauve), derived from coal tar, gave way to dozens of others that ended up in food and drink, including most colored liqueurs today as well as those neon maraschino cherries. We’ll study the history of synthetic dyes and modern safety concerns (did you know red M&Ms were taken off the market for 11 years due to a cancer scare?), as well as touch upon how some spirits use different coloring in different countries. And of course we’ll talk about blue wine, because yuck.

These days there is a renewed interest in natural colorings for cocktails, with cochineal making the strongest comeback but bartenders using everything from beet powder to butterfly pea flower tea to annatto to alter the color of drinks and garnishes. We’ll talk through the options and pros and cons of using various natural colorings in your drinks at home and the bar.

We'll also study the most popular natural coloring in the spirits world: caramel that’s used in rum, whisky, and tequila, and other spirits. And finally, we’ll review ways to remove color from cocktails and spirits: by charcoal filtration as is done with aged rum and cristalino tequilas, and we’ll briefly touch on how milk washing works to filter color from cocktails.

Moderated by Camper English

 

 

New Concept Cocktail Menus

I thought I'd share some interesting new cocktail menus, or rather cocktail menu concepts. 

 

A Book of Spells at Grey Tiger in Toronto

The menu is called The Grimoire of Grey Tiger. I had to look that word up. Wikipedia says, "A grimoire is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities and demons." 

For each recipe there is an incantation and a witchy illustration. More pictures here.

 

 

Untranslatable Words at Little Red Door in Paris 

The new menu at Paris' Little Red Door features 10 cocktails, each created around the theme of an untranslatable word. Examples include:

NA'EEMAN  Arabic – A feeling of self-freshness. The Purity and ritual of cleanliness 

MAURI  Māori – our connection to the world around us. We share a  force of life, principles, emotions

 

 

Scientific and Technological Discovery at Baccano in Rome 

The menu is described as, "The new menu at Baccano was motivated by the important discoveries that defined the 20th century. The ability to dream thanks to the magic of cinema, the great scientific advances of penicillin and anaesthesia, the concept of speed, thanks to the increasingly modern automobile, taken a step further with the aeroplane."

Each menu item has a little vignette about the discovery, told through the lense of a bartender's interaction. I love the X-ray story. The images are of the cocktails. 

Milky Way

Rome, 18 September 1927

A few days ago, an American tourist came in. I don’t know his name. He always asks for a different drink. His last request seemed a bit strange to me. "I would like something whose color reminds me of the deep color of the universe". I told him that I had to think about it and would let him know. I discovered that he produces large telescope lenses by profession. He told me that it is a booming industry and the success of the Hubble telescope has made him quite hopeful. His 'Hooker' has put an end to the great scientific debate, showing that other galaxies exist other than our Milky Way.

I wonder: how many are we in the universe? And how many universes are similar to ours? I have the impression that a future of great discoveries awaits us in the next few years. In the days that followed I could not think of anything that could satisfy his request. I hope, frankly, that whoever comes after me, reading these lines, has better imaginative skills and more knowledge than I have.

Hubble : Greygoose Ducasse, distilled orgeat, Seedlip Garden, 3d lime(shrub+clarified+fermented) meringue, edible printed garnish

X Rays

Rome, 20 July 1957

I discovered, with a touch of sadness, a piece of Miss Manzilli's past. She confessed to me that although everyone calls her 'Miss', she is actually a widow. Herhusband fought fifty years ago in the Italo-Ethiopian war and was killed. She was left with a photo of him taken by X-rays, a technique that our doctors were experimenting with at the time. She showed me the amazing photo, revealing a hand, or more correctly the bones of the poor man. You could see the wedding ring on the ring finger of the man. For this reason, Manzilli decided to take off her ring, making it invisible to others. I wonder how many people would use x-ray technology to see through others.

XRAY: Stoli Vodka broken bones sous vide, Midori, seedlip spice, banana extract, tannin , lemon juice, meringue, edible rice printed garnish

 

Cocktails with a Soundtrack at The American Bar at The Savoy Hotel, London

"Paying homage to the legendary musicians and songwriters that have entertained guests in the bar for decades, ‘The Savoy Songbook’ will be a collection of twenty  cocktails that have been created with the bar’s most iconic songs in mind. And in an industry first, the menu will be  launched with an accompanying live album, recorded by the American Bar’s resident piano player, Jon Nickoll.

The structure of the new menu mirrors the track listings of an album, with each cocktail’s title playfully referring to a  memorable line in the song that provides its inspiration. The songs themselves, their lyrics, melodies and soulfulness  are reflected in the ingredients, styles and spirits used in the drinks. Jazz standard ‘Beyond The Sea’ inspires  Somewhere Sailin’ a moody cocktail that reflects the tempestuous nature of the ocean, while Sun, Sun Sun, based on George Harrison’s uplifting track shines with sunny flavours like orange blossom, yuzu wine and lime. Sharing  cocktail, I Love You… inspired by the famous Nancy and Frank Sinatra song, ‘Somethin’ Stupid’ is a cocktail duet and Electric Lover, a riff on Prince’s modern classic, ‘Purple Rain’ understandably has glitter as one of its ingredients."

You can listen to the soundtrack to the cocktails here.

Deeply Nerdy Stuff About Jack Daniel's Production - Charcoal, Souring, Fermentation

I just attended an amazing talk by Kevin Brent Smith (Micro-Biologist & Distillery Manager - Jack Daniel's Distillery). I wasn't planning on doing a blog post about it but I learned so much I wanted to write it down! 

Kevin B. Smith authored the chapter on "Yeast practices in the production of American whiskies" in The Alcohol Textbook.

First up, you may want to review my notes on my visit to the distillery from 2012 to see the production process in general and in order. 

 

Miscellany

According to Smith, if your fermentation doesn't finish and you still have sugars in your mash, these can burn and stick in your still, lending off  flavors to the final whiskey. 

If you think about it, whiskey isn't made from grain, it's made from the seeds of grain. 

When grinding grains before fermentation, the grinding process could release heat and damage the quality of the grain, but a hammer mill works well and doesn't have an impact. 

 

Souring In Two Places

"Souring" is not like sourdough starter in that the process' job is to remain consistency between batches. "Souring" means lowering the pH, making it more sour/acidic. "Sour mash"ing is adding backset (stillage) from the previous distillation run to the next one. The stillage contains lots of dead yeast that is food for the new yeast, but also it is acidic and lowers the pH from about 5.6 to 5.3. 

They use about 30% backset in each distillation. 

There is another place where they used soured mash, in the production of "lactic soured yeast mash." This is used in yeast propagation. 

Yeast is started from a lab-preserved copy, then propagated in several steps. It grows on a medium for the first couple of rounds, then it's transferred to a grain mash - the lactic soured yeast mash - to propagate further. 

In essence, lactic soured yeast mash is propagating yeast with lactic material (lactobacillus; not from the stillage) to lower the pH to about 5.0. 

Not all distilleries do this, but Smith says it's a traditional process. All Brown-Forman distilleries use lactic soured yeast mash. 

This lactic soured yeast mash will have flavor impacts on the whisky. 

 

 

 

Enzymes, Fermentation, and Rye Grain

Rather than, or in addition to, using malted barley (whose job in American whiskey is to provide enzymes that break down long chain carbohydrates into fermentable simpler sugars), commercial enzymes (not from the barley) can be added to whiskey. This has become common.

Jack Daniel's does not use commercial enzymes, and in fact most Brown-Forman whiskies do not. This is because commercial enzymes produce less maltose in the conversion process, which they feel leads to less flavor in the whiskey. 

(However they keep some enzymes around in case of emergencies, for if a batch of mash didn't convert all the way they could add some enzymes rather than trying to throw away a huge vat of basically sticky grain pudding.)

Rye as a grain is notoriously viscous/sticky and tends to gum up the process. At Jack Daniel's they do use a type of enzyme (different from the standard one for conversion) to help make it less sticky; but not to convert its starches into sugars. 

Another thing that helps rye not be so sticky is that it is added to the mash later in the process than the corn is. Corn is mashed at a hot temperature which is necessary for gelatinization, but if you leave rye with the hot water for very long it gets stickier. So it's added just before the malt is added at the end of the mashing process just before fermentation. 

After fermentation, their beer is at a pH of 4.6, while companies that don't use the soured yeast mash have a more acidic 4.0 beer.

 

 

Note that the next three charts are the same, with added information each time. 

 

Charcoal

Charcoal mellowing (aka the Lincoln Country Process) was needed in the olden days because distillers didn't have a good handle on consistent fermentation; it was needed to remove some off flavors in whiskey.

Running the newly-distilled spirit through charcoal is not a purely subtractive process, which is what I thought until today.

Sugar Maple trees are used to make the charcoal because it's an abundant but not terribly useful wood generally, and it doesn't impart much flavor. The wood is burned and then the fire put out. The larger pieces of charcoal are broken up. 

The charcoal production is not to make activated charcoal. However the charcoal does do some adsorptive filtration of the whiskey to remove certain components. 

The additive quality of the charcoal is that minerals in the charcoal are extracted by the whiskey. The whiskey comes off the still at around 5.5 pH, and after charcoal filtration it goes up to a pH of 7.5 -  8.0!  So this has lowered the acidity of the whiskey substantially and probably adds to the perceived "mellowness" of the whiskey. FASCINATING. 

Why is this exciting? Because it makes me think about either running spirits/cocktails through a Brita to raise the pH for certain purposes, and or taking the direct route of "mellowing" spirits (or just de-acidifying them) by adding minerals to them. (I've done lots of work on how the minerals in water affects how whiskey tastes, would be curious to try things with just minerals and whiskey.)

For example, most spirits are a bit acidic so if we filtered them or added minerals that will raise the pH. Butterfly pea flower tea usually starts out blue in water (neutral pH) but purpleish in spirits. If we want it to start out blue in spirits, maybe we just alter the pH first? 

Charcoal Practicalities

In olden days, the charcoal vats were used until the charcoal was no longer effective, as measured by taste. Then (I think in the 1980s-ish) they standardized it so that vats were used for 6 months then the charcoal was replaced. However in recent years they did chemical analysis and found that this was excessive, so now they use the charcoal for one year before replacing it. [When I last visited the distillery in 2012 it was 4-5 months.]

When the whiskey is poured over new charcoal it comes out watery (as the charcoal starts out wet) and they cannot use it until it comes out the bottom of the vat at the same 140 proof that it went in. At the end of the year before they replace the charcoal they run water through it and the resulting water has lots of whiskey in it. So these watery "heads and tails" of the charcoal mellowing process are redistilled. [I'm not sure if the redistilled parts are used for whiskey or, more likely I'd guess, refined into neutral spirit for other products.] 

To make sure all the whiskey comes through the process tasting the same, their many different vats are spaced out in the freshness of their charcoal so that there is an average age of 6 months age on the charcoal being used, rather than having all whiskey from one vat change over time and be barrelled tasting different. 

 

Thanks to Jack Daniel's for a wonderfully nerdy session.