Camper English's Blog, page 57
April 26, 2018
The Ins and Outs of Running the Bars for a Big Hotel Group
In my latest post on SevenFifty Daily, I interviewed Shel Bourdon, director of bars for the Two Roads Hospitality group that runs Joie de Vivre and Thompson hotels, among others.
In particular I was curious about how one person can do all that, and how one keeps concepts of different hotel bars separate, and do hotel groups own the hotels or just run them, and if it's easier to run 90 bars than just one, and any efficiencies and difficulties in the whole process. I had to learn a ton about both hotel groups and hotel bar operations in order to do the story.
In any case, give it a read and I hope you find it interesting.
April 17, 2018
Disaronno Cocktails in SF to Celebrate National Amaretto Day [sponsored]
April 19th is #NationalAmarettoDay and Disaronno has stacked up some ways to celebrate in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
We'll start with events then list a recipe.
#DisaronnoDay Events in San Francisco
April 18th:
Women Movers & Shakers: Spring Cocktails of the Farmers Market - Jordanne Ho-Shue of Anina in Hayes Valley will be serving the cocktail Smasher? I hardly know her! (based on a GLOW theme) featuring Disaronno.
April 19: National Amaretto Day
The following bars will be offering up cocktail specials for #DisaronnoDay
Anina
Doors Open at Lillie Coits – Disaronno is supporting this three month pop-up charity event with 100% profits donated to the North beach fire victims. [update: The opening date for this is now April 25]
Dirty Habit featuring High for This (pictured to the right) (Disaronno, Strawberry, saba, lemon, tonic water)
54 Mint featuring two cocktails: Magic Oak (Disaronno, Rutte Old Simon Gin, Vida Mezcal, Chocolate) and Termini (Appleton Rum, Disaronno, Orange, lime, sugar, mango foam)
Elixir featuring the Il Pirata
Nihon Whiskey Lounge featuring the Irish Godfather (Writers Tears Irish Whiskey and Disaronno)
Twenty Five Lusk - The new rooftop bar will be featuring the Bitch Please
Del Mar - Featuring the Bird of Paradise
Mr Smith’s - Featuring a Disaronno Bourbon Sour with Thyme syrup
Odd Job
Tony’s - Featuring the Bernardino Cobbler (Disaronno, sherry, mint, strawberry and lemon)
Blackthorn - Featuring the Irish Godfather (Writers Tears and Disaronno)
K-Oz - Featuring the Irish Godfather (Irishman Founders Reserve and Disaronno)
Featured Recipe
Il Pirata from Elixir
1.5 Disaronno
.5 Plantation OFTD overproof rum
1 Elixir/ Standard Devient collaboration Barrel Aged Stout
.5 Lemon Juice
2 shakes Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters
.5 to 1 oz Stout Float
Method: Shake everything over ice and double strain over crushed ice in a double old fashioned glass. Add the float and a lemon disk.
This post is sponsored by Disaronno.
April 9, 2018
Once Always Almond, Orgeat Has Gone Nutty!
In my new story for SevenFifty Daily, I wrote about how orgeat, the French almond syrup famously in the Mai Tai, is now being made with a range of nuts, seeds, and other ingredients.
The story cites examples from around the country and we come up with a new working definition for orgeat.
April 2, 2018
California Brandy is Ready to Rock, 35 Years Later
In the April issue of San Francisco Magazine I wrote three stories on California brandy.
California’s Original Craft Spirit Isn’t Vodka or Gin. It’s Brandy.
In this piece, I tell the story of how the craft distilling movement was mostly born in California, and mostly started with European distillers (St George, Charbay, Germain-Robin) making grape and other brandies. The piece looks at the past of brandy and the potentially big future for the category as bartenders love it and as a major player - Gallo Wines - purchased Germain-Robin and now offers three distinct brandy lines.
Eleven California Distillers at the Forefront of the Brandy Boom
Local distilleries making brandy, or using it as a base for gin and other spirits.
Ten Brandy Cocktails to Drink in the Bay Area
As it says, here are ten brandy cocktails to grab in SF and the East Bay right now.
March 27, 2018
RumChata Salted Caramel Martini Recipe [sponsored]
RumChata Salted Caramel Martini
2 parts RumChata
1 part Caramel Vodka
Sea Salt/Table Salt (Do Not Use Margarita Salt)
Rim with salt. Drizzle Caramel Sauce.
March 23, 2018
Black Cocktail Alternatives to Activated Charcoal
In my latest story for SevenFifty Daily I wrote about how to turn cocktails black without using activated charcoal.
While black cocktails may be extremely Instagram-worthy, the activated charcoal often used to give the drinks their inky hue could have serious health consequences. Activated charcoal can adsorb oral medications (and poisons, in the case of drug overdoses, for which it’s commonly used by emergency room doctors) so that the drugs never reach the bloodstream. It’s an uncomfortable fact that the sexy obsidian-colored old-fashioned you serve to a customer may affect the medication that person has taken shortly before, or after, imbibing.
While one could add a medication-interaction warning about activated charcoal, like an allergen label on a drink menu, there are other ways to color a drink black that don’t require a scary-sounding note. SevenFifty Daily asked bartenders around the country for cocktail-darkening alternatives and learned that black sesame seeds, cuttlefish ink, and black food coloring are among the ingredients being used.
The full story is here.
March 12, 2018
Barra Mexico takes place June 10-11 in Mexico City: Featured Guests Announced
Barra México returns to Mexico City for its fourth and largest show
— Save the Date: June 10-11 at the CENTRO CITIBANAMEX —
Barra México returns to Mexico City June 10-11 for its fourth annual show welcoming international premium spirits brands, bar industry professionals and trade media to one of the world’s most dynamic cocktail cultures.
As the leading trade show for the Latin American bar and spirits industry, Barra Mexico is the major business platform for premium and craft spirits industry producers, importers and distributors seeking opportunities in Mexico and Latin America.
More than a trade show, Barra México hosts 26 seminars by spirits industry professionals and bartending icons who are global leaders in their areas of expertise. Confirmed speakers include author and beverage consultant Jacob Grier from Portland, Ore.; bar educator and consultant Philip Duff from New York City; bar consultant Rebecca Sturt from Dubai; and influential international bartenders Marian Beke (The Gibson, London), Tony Pescatori (The Nightjar, London), and Kate Gerwin (Front & Cooper, Santa Cruz), among many others. All seminars feature simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.
In 2017, Barra Mexico attracted nearly 4,000 people from 41 countries. Attendance in 2018 is easily expected to exceed those numbers. Recognized as one of the world’s best places to experience multicultural, cosmopolitan cocktail culture, Mexico City boasts three of the World’s 100 Best Bars (Limantour at number 14, Fifty Mils Bar at number 61 and Hanky Panky at number 75). With Mexican haute cuisine trending on the world stage, Mexico City also has two of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants (Pujol at number 20 and Quintonil at number 22). Kitchens are influencing the Mexican mixology industry as many ingredients used in traditional and ancestral dishes are being applied by bartenders in Mexico City.
Mexico is the 11th largest spirits producer in the world and the origin of rare and important internationally-prized spirits including Tequila, Mezcal, Sotol, Bacanora, Charanda and Rum as well as regional spirits like Raicilla and Pox. Mexico is the largest beer exporter in the world, accounting for 21.2 percent of total exports and $2.8 billion in sales.
In 2018, the Bacardi Legacy Global Final Competition will take place in Mexico City in May. Mexico City has also been named the World Design Capital of 2018, the first city from the Americas to receive this designation as a model for other megacities around the world using design to tackle the challenges of urbanization and achieve a more livable city.
Barra México Co-Founder Paula García says: “Barra México is a gateway for international spirits brands that want to enter the Latin American market. This show provides brand owners, distributors and wholesalers with the opportunity to either begin, expand or consolidate their presence in Mexico and the wider Latin America region. This part of the world continues to make waves in the industry with leading bars and restaurants claiming their spot on the world’s best lists, making it a region to watch. We are looking forward to another exciting year and offering both exhibitors and delegates the opportunities they need to grow their business.”
Barra Mexico will kick off with a welcome reception on Friday, June 9. Trade shows hours are Sunday, June 10, from 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. and Monday, June 11, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Pre-show events include bar tours of Mexico City on Thursday, June 8, and a mezcal tour to Xochimilco with international and Mexican bartenders on Friday, June 9.
For ticket information and a list of speakers, sponsors, seminars and exhibitors, please visit barramexico.com. For more information about being part of BarraMexico, e-mail ara@barramexico.com.
About Barra México
Ara Carvallo is an international consultant, professional speaker and co-founder of Barra México, The Latin American Trade Show for Fine Spirits. She has 18 years’ experience in the international spirits industry. Ara worked for 10 years at Lucas Bols, the oldest distilled spirits company in the world, based in Amsterdam where she held different positions working the last four years as Global Brand Manager responsible for the international premium portfolio and global bartending programs. Ara currently lives between Mexico City and Amsterdam and consults for spirits brands, mainly helping them to find distributors in Latin America and Europe and reach out to bartenders globally. Ara also runs Difford’s Guide Mexico.
Paula García, co-founder Barra México is a lawyer and sommelier, who graduated from Escuela Argentina de Sommeliers en Mendoza, Argentina. With more than six years’ experience in the spirits industry, Paula spent several years in New Zealand and Argentina working on different wine projects. In 2012 she moved back to Mexico City to join La Europea, one of the most important spirits retailers in Mexico, as spirits and mixology brand manager. Paula has led different projects such as PorQué Mezcal and the first Mezcal Fair. She has also been on the organization committee of different gin, vodka and mezcal fairs.
This post is sponsored by Barra Mexico.
February 27, 2018
New Cocktails and Spirits Books For Winter 2018: Tequila, Tiki, Southern, Political, Mocktails, and More
Ahoy! These are the new crop of cocktail and spirits books that have come out in recent months- or are just about to.
The write-ups below come from the publishers and are not reviews. Links are to usually to Amazon.
Julep: Southern Cocktails Refashioned by Alba Huerta and Marah Stets
A tribute to the spirits and drinking traditions of the South through a leading barwoman's glass, with 80 recipes and photos.
Craft cocktail maven Alba Huerta succinctly tells the story of drinking in the South through themes such as "Trading with the Enemy," "the Rural South," "the Drinking Society," "the Saltwater South," and others that anchor the menu at her destination bar, Julep.
With historical overviews, 15 bar snack recipes, and 65 bespoke cocktail recipes, ranging from the iconic Mint Julep (and variations such as Rye Julep and Sparkling Julep) to modern inventions like the Snakebit Sprout, Liquid Currency, and Hot July, Huerta recounts the tales and traditions that define drinking culture in the American South today. Approximately 80 evocative cocktail and location photographs convey the romance and style that distinguish Julep and serve to inspire beverage enthusiasts to relive Southern history via the bar cart.
Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari: Tenth Anniversary Expanded Edition by Jeff Beachbum Berry
• 10th anniversary expanded edition
• In-depth Tiki history with recipes, 14 of them never-before-published
• Completely redesigned featuring new graphics and photos unique to this edition
• Additional 26-page preface and 29-page afterward
• Hardcover, 315 pages
• Published by Cocktail Kingdom
• ISBN: 978-1-941199-16-9
• List Price - $39.99
The One-Bottle Cocktail: More than 80 Recipes with Fresh Ingredients and a Single Spirit by Maggie Hoffman
A collection of more than 80 wonderfully creative, fresh, and delicious cocktails that only require a bottle of your favorite spirit, plus fresh ingredients you can easily find at the market.
In The One-Bottle Cocktail, Maggie Hoffman brings fancy drinking to the masses by making cocktails approachable enough for those with a tiny home bar. Conversational and authoritative, this book puts simple, delicious, and inventive drinks into your hands wherever you are, with ingredients you can easily source and no more than one spirit.
Organized by spirit--vodka, gin, agave spirits, rum, brandy, and whiskey--each chapter offers fresh, eye-opening cocktails like the Garden Gnome (vodka, green tomato, basil, and lime), Night of the Hunter (gin, figs, thyme, and grapefruit soda), and the Bluest Chai (rye whiskey, chai tea, and balsamic vinegar). These recipes won't break the bank, won't require an emergency run to the liquor store, and (best of all!) will delight cocktail lovers of all stripes.
Tequila Beyond Sunrise: Over 40 tequila and mezcal-based cocktails from around the world by Jesse Estes
Even the world’s most fun drink has a serious side. Look beyond that naughty reputation and become an agave-based beverage connoisseur with this book that delivers over 40 delicious, cheeky, and surprisingly sophisticated cocktail recipes.
It’s the perfect accompaniment to a Mexican meal full of spicy flavors and the ideal fuel for dancing the night away. Made from the fermented juice of the agave plant, this spirit, along with its trendy cousin mezcal, has a complex yet light flavor, which is perfect in cocktails. Premium quality versions are becoming readily available, especially for the discerning cocktail drinker—the simple rule is the higher the percentage of agave, the better. Learn about the proud heritage of agave-based spirits from expert Jesse Estes. Start with a margaritas, choose from a Pink Pomegranate to a Greener Pastures, and then try something longer such as a Hibiscus Highball or Mezcal Mule. If you prefer something a little more moody, try a Fallen Angel or brace yourself for a Tequila Smash. Finally, unleash your wild side with an Under the Volcano!
Wild Mocktails and Healthy Cocktails: Home-grown and foraged low-sugar recipes from the Midnight Apothecary by Lottie Muir
Award-winning cocktail-maker and gardener Lottie Muir brings you another selection of wonderfully wild and flavorful concoctions from her pop-up bar, The Midnight Apothecary. For this new repertoire of drinks, Lottie set herself a threefold challenge: to achieve the same amount of pleasure and balance that refined sugar provides in the taste and mouth-feel of a cocktail, to create new aromatic and bitter-forward drinks, and to make delicious new mocktails for those who want to consume no, or less, alcohol.
Lottie has created delicious infusions, cordials, sodas, shrubs, bitters, teas, and tonics that can be mixed alcohol free as mocktails—try out the Cherry Blossom and Flowering Currant Cordial, the Thyme and Licorice Syrup, or the Iced Spring Tonic Tea—or added to your favorite spirits to create a magical take on old-time classics, such as the Wild Negroni or the Windfall Punch. There is the perfect drink for any time of the year and whatever your mood, so whether it is Dry January mocktails that you need, no-added-sugar fun, or the restorative powers of an indulgent cocktail, Lottie’s plant-powered potions hit the right spot.
Wild Winemaking: Easy & Adventurous Recipes Going Beyond Grapes, Including Apple Champagne, Ginger–Green Tea Sake, Key Lime–Cayenne Wine, and 142 More by Richard W. Bender
Making wine at home just got more fun, and easier, with Richard Bender’s experiments. Whether you’re new to winemaking or a seasoned pro, you’ll find this innovative manual accessible, thanks to its focus on small batches that require minimal equipment and use an unexpected range of readily available fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. The ingredient list is irresistibly curious. How about banana wine or dark chocolate peach? Plum champagne or sweet potato saké? Chamomile, sweet basil, blood orange Thai dragon, kumquat cayenne, and even cannabis rhubarb wines have earned a place in Bender’s flavor collection. Go ahead, give it a try.
The Connoisseur’s Guide to Worldwide Spirits: Selecting and Savoring Whiskey, Vodka, Scotch, Rum, Tequila . . . and Everything Else (An Expert’s Guide ... and Savoring Every Spirit in the World) by Richard Carleton Hacker
Everyone thinks that they know how to drink, but do you really know the difference between a scotch and a whiskey? How about a gin or vodka martini? Do you know whether Johnny Walker is a single malt or a scotch? Well now is the time to finally learn the definitive answers to these questions, and so many more that you’ve always had about your favorite drinks. In The Connoisseur's Guide to Worldwide Drinking, world-class connoisseur and celebrated critic Richard Carleton Hacker provides you with all the information that you’ll ever need to properly enjoy and imbibe every type of spirit, and to start drinking alcohol the right way. After reading this definitive guide, you’ll be able to:
Taste the subtle distinctions between different types of spirits
Learn they difference between varieties of the most popular kinds of cocktails
Recite how many popular spirits are made, distilled, and crafted
How to properly “nose” spirits
The correct containers from which each spirit would be sipped
And so much more!
Complete with more than a 100 full color photographs, The Connoisseur's Guide to Worldwide Drinking is a perfect buy for every alcohol consumer, whether novice or aficionado. With The Connoisseur's Guide to Worldwide Drinking you’ll be the most knowledgeable drinker in every bar that you walk into and at every cocktail party that you attend.
Craft Cocktails by Val: Drinks Inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton
The book title refers to the character "Val", a bartender played by Clinton herself in an episode of the comedy show "Saturday Night Live". In the skit, which aired on October 3, 2015, "Val" serves drinks to the character "Hillary Clinton" played by the actress Kate McKinnon. In this book, you will find 47 craft cocktails that "Val" could have served. A surprising and often funny book chronicles the US presidential election 2016 - in the form of 47 original cocktails. Whether you feel like pouring a bright red "Shoulder Shimmy" or a luscious "Woman Card", the choices are here. Go for a harsh "Glass Ceiling", opt for an unexpected "October Surprise" or choose a soothing "Swiss Sleep Sanitarium". Or how about a "Hot Roddy"? Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton’s opponents Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump also get their own cocktails. And if you’d rather forget the whole fiasco that was the US presidential election of 2016, grab "The Cloth", an alcohol-rich drink that comes in a bucket.
The book "Craft Cocktails by Val: Drinks Inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton" merges two creative practices, fine art and craft cocktails. The German journalist and cocktail enthusiast Heike Kevenhörster shares her original drink recipes, chronicling the US presidential election of 2016, its lead-up and aftermath. Each cocktail is paired with an original photo collage by the visual artist Sarah Sole, also made in real time during the campaign. Now their unique creations have been transformed from topical instagram accounts to traditional printed paper. This limited edition hardcover book is linen bound and comprises 200 pages. It was printed in color using the classic offset printing technique. "Craft Cocktails by Val: Drinks Inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton" is self-published and available on the website www.craftcocktailsbyval.com.
February 3, 2018
The Future of San Francisco Cocktails (Predicted By Me) in San Francisco Magazine
It has been many years since I have contributed to San Francisco Magazine, but now I'm back! In the new February Bars & Nightlife issue, I have ten stories loosely themed around "Future proofing the cocktail: How Bay Area drink makers are reinventing our favorite alcoholic beverages."
Below is the intro with links to all ten stories and brief intros from me.
Two decades into the Bay Area’s cocktail awakening, you’d think that bars would have settled into a comfortable middle age—the imbibing equivalent of staying home to Netflix and chill. But you’d be wrong.
Creativity stirs all over the region, and drink makers and bar owners continue to spin out new ways to stay relevant and keep us guessing: with secret menus, popup concepts, and menu launch parties; with vibrant drinks, exotic ingredients, and bar-specific spirits; with quality concoctions served at double the speed, thanks to newfangled juices and outsourced ice. And to meet the expanding demand for quality, novelty, and expediency in booze consumption, new clusters of great bars have sprung up not just in the East Bay but also to the north and south. These changes are often nuanced but pervasive, taking place across many bars in many precincts throughout the ever-thirsty Bay Area.
Scanning the cocktail horizon, you can spot the big ideas and the small revisions that are changing the way we drink in 2018 and beyond. Here are 10 of them.
Bartenders Are Going Straight to the Source
How bartenders are directing spirits creation from distillers.
Forget The Simple Description: These Are Very Complicated Cocktails
A look into the mind of Adam Chapman from The Gibson.
Wine Country Has An Unofficial Cocktail AVA
Drinks at the fantastic Duke's and other Healdsburg cocktail bars.
The Future (and Present, Actually) Is Female
Who runs the bars? Girls. A sampling of ten women running things in Bay Area Bars.
Asian Restaurants Are the Center of Cocktail Innovation
Once the home of sake bombs and soju immitations of real drinks, now Asian restaurants are some of the most forward-looking.
Viking Drinks Are So Hot Right Now
Aquivit will be everywhere in 2018.
You'll Be Spending the Night in San Jose
Paper Plane and other great bars in San Jose.
Your Highball Intake Is About to Increase Dramatically
Whiskey and other highballs are happening.
Blind Tiger Ice and Super Jugoso are going to have a major impact on prep work in SF bars.
The Mission Has Only Just Begun
So, so many new bars are opening in the Mission District.
I've already got my next assignment for San Francisco Magazine, so hopefully this will be a regular thing.
January 26, 2018
Allergy Labelling Approaches on Cocktail Bar Menus in the US and Abroad
In an era when customers are more and more attuned to their allergies, aversions, and dietary restrictions, and as bartenders are using evermore exotic ingredients in their drinks, it may be time to consider adding warning labels to the cocktail menu.
In a story I wrote for SevenFifty Daily, I took a look at some bars’ philosophies on the matter and the labeling schemes they’re employing to warn customers about potential dangers in their drinks.
We looked at labelling for nuts, seafood, soy, gluten, vegan/vegetarian, how these are listed on various menus or handled only in person, and look at a few unusual things that need to be labelled in UK bars.
Bars I spoke to include Trick Dog, the Proper Hotel, and the Tonga Room in San Francisco, Bar Clacson in LA, Bresca in DC, Saint Ellie in Denver, Bar Fiori in NYC, The Aviary in Chicago and New York, and The Hide Bar in London.
I hope you get a lot out of the story, I had a great time researching it. Read it here.
