Camper English's Blog, page 66
March 21, 2017
San Francisco's Second-Oldest Drinking Spot
The bar Elixir was recognized this weekend as being the second oldest (known) drinking location in San Francisco by the wacky historical/drinking club E. Clampus Vitus (aka The Clampers).
The oldest is the Old Ship Saloon, which was literally a ship dry-docked in what is now the Financial District that was turned into a bar.
Elixir dates back to at least 1858 and it has been continually operated as a drinking establishment since then (we know this thanks to the thorough research by The Clampers) - with the exception of the 1906 earthquake and fire when it burned down and was rebuilt, and during Prohibition when it was a soda fountain.
The Mission seems pretty far out for an old drinking establishment, but keep in mind that Mission Dolores nearby is the oldest surviving building still standing in SF dating back to 1791.
I attended the event and took a couple of snaps. It was fun because The Clampers are ridiculous and also because the bar's owner, H. Joseph Ehrmann, has been a long-time Clamper himself. Also, there were two-dollar shots of whisky so I didn't get much else done that day.
March 20, 2017
Boozy Botany at the Berkeley Botanical Garden
[image error]This past Friday I went to the UC Botanical Garden with pal Jennifer Colliau from Small Hand Foods, knowing that she, too, would probably like to nerd out on some plants.
They're currently running a Fiber & Dye exhibit (that ends March 26) that I wanted to see. The exhibit has plants used to make paper, clothing, hats, and other fibrous materials, as well as plants that are used to dye those fibers and other materials. It turns out there are a lot of natural tattoo dyes.
The exhibit was pretty fun (I mean, for nerds): a building with signs and displays of preserved/harvested plants and their uses, and a detailed walking tour around the rest of the botanical garden to find live plants we'd just read about.
We spent a solid couple hours doing it. It was good stuff. Many of the plant dyes are found in the roots, so there wasn't always something interesting to see, but we had many moments of revelation about plants including papyrus, flax, agave (turns out the leaves are great for making soap), cochineal, and more.
Boozy Herbs
Unbeknownst to us, the botanical garden also has a section of its herb garden dedicated to herbs used for beer, wine, and liquor. The included the obvious ones such as hops, grapes, and wormwood, but also a lot of flavoring herbs like lemon balm and chocolate mint.
So, short story short: Check out the temporary exhibit if you have time in the next week, and now you have even more reason to see the whole gardens than you already did.
Related articles
Natural Food (And Drink) Coloring Notes and Future Experiments
March 8, 2017
Drink Your Way Through San Jose (and Los Gatos)
San Jose is an hour or so south of San Francisco, and is a larger city in population, but most of its residents have preferred to come up to SF for their nightlife, cocktails, and culture. Though I'd been paying attention to the very few cocktail bars that would pop up on the radar here and there, and increasingly kept meeting excellent bartenders from the South Bay at events and competitions, I had never made it down to explore the bars until last week.
It turns out there is some great stuff happening. In downtown San Jose itself, the bars are huge! I expected them to be small venues built to hold 40 people but they seem like they could each fit 100+. Additionally, all of them (55 South, Five Points, Paper Plane, Haberdasher) were built for big rushes- three of them had bars spanning the length of the room with at least three bartenders working (and this was on a quiet Tuesday).
Tony, tiny Los Gatos on the other hand, had surprisingly small venues - both The Bywater and The Lexington House are teeny tiny restaurants with bar programs, but not so much room at the bar.
The other two venues - Orchard Street Kitchen in Campbell and Jack Rose Libation House just outside Los Gatos, were each large funky spaces with casual, seated crowds and unusually great liquor selections.
Most of the drinks at these bars were of top quality, most of the bartenders working were very knowledgeable, and I'd go to most of these bars again in a heartbeat.
Long story short, the South Bay has some great stuff going on. What follows are pictures I pulled off my Instagram page, which you should be following anyway.
Orchard City Kitchen, Campbell
The cocktails on the menu (all Star Wars themed with great names and puns) had unique ingredients like squash and boba pearls. Both our drinks tasted pretty mild (though good) despite their wild and exciting descriptions, so they excite your mind but don't freak out your mouth.
The Lexington House, Los Gatos
A tiny little restaurant where the drinks have unique touches from liqueurs like Batavia Arrack, Chartreuse and a variety of fortified wines.
New Orleans-themed small restaurant from David Kinch of Manresa with cocktails by consultants Tin Roof (Claire Sprouse and Chad Arnholdt). I had their clarified Ramos Gin Fizz and it was delightful. They had a Pimm's Cup on tap and were celebrating the tiniest little Mardi Gras when we visited.
Jack Rose Libation House, Monte Sereno
Super cool, all-wooden indoor-outdoor restaurant with beer garden attached to a set of cabins that are (or were? I'm not quite sure of the status) rented out for weddings and other sleepover events. Huge selection of whiskey, and though most of the cocktails were pretty expectable, the one I had had a peanut butter foam atop a strawberry-infused spirit. So it was meant to taste like a PB&J. And it was delicious.
Five Points, San Jose
When we arrived a big brass band was setting up in the back section of this huge venue. But behind where that ends is another bar in the back room that has recently opened. (I don't recall if that was going to be a membership venue or limited capacity or exactly what, but it was going to be treated as a special place rather than just the back room.) I believe this bar is fairly new and they're still adapting it as they go along.
Most of the cocktails seem to be made Jerry Thomas-era in format, but with a different selection of flavors (butter-washed tequila, apricot with port, passionfruit bitters) in the drinks. They also have a selection of house shots (like Sfumato and Smith & Cross) and a section of low-proof cocktails (most with fernet and amari).
55 South, San Jose
This corner clubby bar is the host to Tiki Tuesdays, which was happening when we visited. That seems to be one of their main events based on the listings on the website, though they also host many wine/beer/spirits tastings and 'tap takeovers' by breweries. It would be interesting to see how much it changes from night to night, as there was a lot of tiki decor.
Paper Plane, San Jose
I've met several of the crew from Paper Plane at events so I was looking forward to this bar, and it didn't disappoint. As mentioned I was expecting something small but nope! Huge. They have a graphic menu, punch on tap, cocktails from bars around the world, coconut orgeat, the whole shebang.
Haberdasher, San Jose
Haberdasher is the bar at the site of the former Singlebarrel, which was one of the first (if not the first) bar trying to do the speakeasy vibe in San Jose. It's a very red room and coincidentally for our second round of drinks we all ordered red ones so they were like camouflage. Our first round of drinks were poured from the draft system - Gin and Tonic, Americano, and the two top-selling cocktails at most cocktail bars in America: The Old Fashioned and Moscow Mule.
Other drinks had ingredients like carbonated bourbon, matcha tea, oak syrup, and carrots (not in the same drink). If it wasn't our eighth bar of the night, I would have stayed for more.
Related articles
The Cocktail Bars of Sydney, Australia
Drinking Cocktails with Vonnegut in Indianapolis - Alcademics.com
A History of Australian Bars and Bartenders
March 6, 2017
New Booze Books: Henny History, Cork Dorks, Bar Carts, Cocktail Cooking
Here is the latest batch of booze books to hit store shelves and my mailbox. We've got a cognac history, a couple of cocktail recipe books, one on cooking with cocktails, and another exploring wine.
The descriptions below come from the publishers and are not reviews.
Hennessy: A Toast to the World's Preeminent Spirit by Glenn O'Brien
Lavishly illustrated, this is the first book on the world's most famous cognac producer. Considered a benchmark of excellence, its blends have become icons of refinement and luxury. In Pass the Henny, renowned writer Glenn O’Brien invites the reader to discover the history of cognac. The highly entertaining text, filled with extraordinary events and O’Brien’s irresistible humor, is married with classic cocktail recipes and evocative imagery that conveys the lifestyle of the Hennessy connoisseur through the ages, including the Mad Men of the 1960s and today’s stars of hip-hop.
Featuring contributions from such cultural luminaries as Shepard Fairey, Nas, Futura, Fab 5 Freddy, and Todd Selby as well as never-before-seen images from the Hennessy archive, Pass the Henny is an informative and engaging account of the world’s most revered brandy and a book that belongs on every cognac enthusiast’s shelf.
The Classic & Craft Cocktail Recipe Book: The Definitive Guide to Mixing Perfect Cocktails from Aviation to Zombie by Clair McLafferty
Whether you’re hosting friends or unwinding after the workday, making gratifying, high-quality cocktails at home is a skill worth having. And like any good skill, it requires expert, up-to-date guidance.
Clair McLafferty has been on both sides of the bar. She’s studied the art of cocktail making. She’s made the drinks herself. And after writing about everything from the science of aging whiskey to common behind-the-bar injuries, she knows how useful a solid cocktail recipe book can truly be. Today, Clair’s on a mission to make craft cocktails accessible to everyone—and with The Classic & Craft Cocktail Recipe Book, she’s doing exactly that.
The Classic & Craft Cocktail Recipe Book is the only complete, up-to-date resource for making classic cocktails and cutting-edge innovations with your own two hands.
BARTENDING 101—Professional techniques, brand spankin’ new barware, and modern cocktail gadgets help you create bar-quality cocktails at home
THEN & NOW—Updated selection of 400 recipes with official serving instructions and inspired serving notes that have gained popularity over the past decade
WWMBD (What Would My Bartender Do?)—Guest mixologists contribute recipes and offer special tips from the trade
Cocktails have grown up. With The Classic & Craft Cocktail Recipe Book, your bar skills will grow up, too.
Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker
Amateur drinker and professional tech reporter Bianca Bosker didn't know much about wine—until she stumbled on an alternate universe where taste reigned supreme, a world of master sommeliers who could, after a single sip, identify the grape a bottle was made from, in what year, and where it was produced, within acres. Where she tasted “wine,” they detected not only complex flavor profiles, but entire histories and geographies. Astounded by their fanatical dedication and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, Bosker abandoned her screen-centric life and set out to discover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a “cork dork.”
Thus begins a year and a half long adventure that takes the reader inside elite tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, a California mass market wine "factory," and even a neuroscientist’s fMRI machine as Bosker attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what’s the big deal about wine? Counterintuitive, compulsively readable, and hilarious, Cork Dork illuminates how tasting better can help us live better—and will change the way you drink wine forever.
The Bar Cart Bible: Everything You Need to Stock Your Home Bar and Make Delicious Classic Cocktails
Like with any good drink, the secret to creating a winning bar cart is to understand its components. The Bar Cart Bible breaks down these elements and provides you with the necessary information, including:
300+ cocktail recipes
Bottles to have on hand
A glassware guide
Required equipment
Measurement charts
Definitions of bartending terminology
Garnish suggestions
Mixology tips
4 pieces of frame-ready, decorative art
Now isn't it time for a drink?
Cooking with Cocktails: 100 Spirited Recipes by Kristy Gardner
Julia Child famously commented, "I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food . . . " Kristy Gardner has taken this idea to the next level in Cooking with Cocktails. Every recipe is touched with alcohol; the result is a punchy visual adventure with roots in Italian and French cuisine that demands enjoying meals with passion, with friends, and with alcohol. Recipes include:
Irish Whisky French Onion Soup
Limoncello Spot Prawns with Fresh Black Pepper
Beer Braised Chicken Thighs
Apple Cider Pork Loin with Thyme and Rosemary
Red Wine Poached Pears with Creamy Ricotta
Whiskey Soaked Vanilla Anise Cherries
Join the celebration of the very best that life has to offer―good friends, good food, good drink, great stories, and bad jokes―with humor, delicious recipes, and mouth-watering photographs.
Related articles
Eight New Cocktail and Spirit Books on Beer, Whiskey, History, Laws, and More
Your Summer Reading List: Seven New Drink Books on Tea, Tequila, Computer-Generated Recipes, and More
March 2, 2017
Drinking Cocktails with Vonnegut in Indianapolis
I had a chance to visit Indianapolis recently as a guest of VisitIndy.com. I gave a talk about the Gin and Tonic, but the rest of the time ran around to the bars trying all the cocktails I could.
The city is celebrating the Year of Vonnegut to commemorate 10 years since Kurt Vonnegut's passing. A new, larger museum will be opening later in 2017, but in the meantime the top cocktail bars are running Cheers to Vonnegut specials named after his work.
This list of drinks is also a great list of 'great places to drink in Indy.' Plus, the weather was perfect during my visit so it gave me plenty of time to walk around and explore the city outside of the bars as well.
Eleven bars are involved in Cheers to Vonnegut, and I was able to hit nine of them (plus a few venues not on the list). Many of them involved scotch whisky, because they say that was a favorite of the author.
So let me review my Instagram account and see what they were:
Not Kilgore's Drano at Spoke and Steele
My hotel had a pretty sweet bar, where companies can buy private barrels of barrel-aged cocktails. Not only did I have the Vonnegut drink, they sent a barrel up to my room as a welcome treat. Well done.
This cocktail has scotch, rye, lemon, thyme agave syrup, saline, and activated charcoal. (For a good analysis of activated charcoal in cocktails, see this article.)
Purely Coincidental at ball & biscuit
This super busy bar was one of Indy's earliest cocktail bars, and looks like a music venue except there's not concert room in the back. The Purely Coincidental contains scotch, Swedish Punsch, pineapple rum, grenadine, bitters, and absinthe.
Breakfast of Champions at Bluebeard
I mean. The garnish on this cocktail is Vonnegut's illustration of a butthole. The drink contains applejack, amaro Montenegro, Amaro di Angostura, honey, lemon, and Apple Jacks-infused half-n-half. It was probably my favorite drink of the list. The restaurant itself is beautiful/cool too and I'm going to try to eat there the next time I'm in town.
Armageddon in Retrospect at Plat 99
The big upstairs bar at the Alexander Hotel has beautiful views in an impressive designer space. This cocktail contains bourbon, persimmon syrup, lemon, apple cider liqueur, and orange bitters. It was bright and delicious.
Galápagos at Thunderbird
This cocktail from one of Indy's top cocktail spots has three kinds of rum, lime, pineapple, allspice, and honey, plus FIRE. It was a top-selling drink at the bar, for good reason.
The Hartke at The Libertine
My first drink in Indy was at The Libertine, a cool basement-like cocktail bar with creative cocktails and an interesting mix of hipsters and weekend warriors on the night of my visit. The Hartke has scotch, green tea, coconut, banana liqueur, mole bitters, and salt.
And So it Goes... at 1933 Lounge
1933 Lounge is the upstairs bar at St. Elmo Steakhouse, an iconic steakhouse for people into that sort of thing. The bar is surprisingly large and filled with the corporate card crowd.
This cocktail seemed a good fit: It is literally just a big pour of bourbon with a splash of smoky scotch, served over an ice cube with a lemon peel garnish. I can drink that.
Amber Moment at Black Market
Black Market is a narrow restaurant packed with people dining at long central tables and a back bar stocked with so, so much booze. Much of it is rum from Martinique. For the Vonnegut drink, however, they turned to scotch, plus Benedictine, genepy, sweet vermouth, passionfruit, orange, and lemon juices, and bitters. The drink was garnished with a slice of edible "amber." Not everyone gets a Vonnegut finger puppet to accompany the drink - I'm just special.
Player Piano at Milktooth
Word on the street is that Milktooth is the buzziest restaurant in town, which is pretty unique for a place only open for breakfast and lunch that serves things like broccoli waffles. They offer both breakfast-identified cocktails and more traditionally-nighttime ones (despite not being open at night), including the Player Piano. It has scotch, amontillado sherry, 'brown sugar cranberry caramel', orange bitters, and egg white.
The Two I Missed
I didn't make it to the Hotel Tango distillery and bar for their cocktail. Actually I made it to their distillery to peek around, but I didn't have time to grab the cocktail. The drink, called Sherman Krebbs, is made with gin, lemon, and green tea syrup.
At Dorman Street Saloon, the Sirens of Titan cocktail contains mezcal, Suze, grapefruit juice and hopped grapefruit bitters, plus rosemary and prosecco.
That's All Folks!
Thanks to all the bartenders and to VisitIndy.com for a great trip. Should you be hitting up Indy any time soon, download the bookmark from the Cheers to Vonnegut page and stay the course.
March 1, 2017
In Which I Blather About Stuff (I Was On A Podcast)
I recently was a guest on the Shift Drink Podcast during my visit to Indianapolis, along with hosts Ed Rudisell and and Arthur Black.
I don't quite remember what I said, and I'm certainly not going to listen to me humiliate myself, so you'll have to let me know if the podcast matches its description:
NEW EPISODE with Camper English of Alcademics today! We're talking about tonic water, clear ice, malaria, and syphilis.
Camper English, the founder of Alcademics, is one of the most important cocktail writers working in the industry today. His experiments and findings have been discussed and implemented into home and commercial bars all over the country. He even developed a method of making crystal clear ice at home, called “directional freezing”. With his new book, Tonic Water: AKA G&T WTF, he discusses the historical importance of tonic water, malaria, syphilis, and Operation Catdrop.
Listen to the Podcast here.
February 28, 2017
Where to Drink (Cocktails) in Detroit
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Detroit as a guest of Dave Kwiatkowski of Detroit Optimist Society - a group of bars and restaurants including Sugar House and the just-opened Bad Luck Bar.
I had such a great time in town that I've probably forgotten most important details about where I went, but here's a quick run-down of some of them.
This seems to be home base of the whole operation, and much of Detroit's drinking scene. Though Sugar House is an everyone-must-be-seated cocktail bar, it's perhaps the most casual (and one of the most spacious) versions of that model I've seen. To me the place looks more like a Western Tavern with an old piano, wooden tables and chairs than a dark booth-laden speakeasy-themed bar, but I suppose it has elements of that too.
The cocktail list is a big batch of classics plus a frequently-changing seasonal menu that was a Chinese Zodiac calendar during my visit. Overwhelmingly it just felt like a place in which you could spend a lot of time- comfortable, creative, casual, and not over-themed in one way or another. Solid.
Bad Luck, which just opened at the end of 2016 with Yani Frye at the helm, is a Detroit take on a special occasion bar like ZZ's Clam Bar in NYC or London's Nightjar (read: fancy drinks at splurge pricing), and was inspired in-part by a Nightjar pop-up at Tales of the Cocktail a couple years ago.
Here, the bar is located down an alley and though they don't take traditional reservations, you can call on your way to see if they have seats and put you on the wait list (so you're not hanging out in an alley all night). There are about 30 seats at curvy booths in one square room, with a glowing bar counter holding 6 or so barstools.
Cocktails are over-the-top in glassware, preparation, and garnish, and most cost around $20 apiece, with some shared cocktails at higher prices, plus one that comes with an optional caviar garnish. Much fussed-about in the local media was the $80 "cocktail" which is not in any way a cocktail but a pour of black tot rum (if you want it to be a cocktail, they'll throw it into a Daiquiri). It turns out it wasn't such a crazy thing to put on the menu - they've sold several liters of the rum.
But back to the actual cocktails: they come in specialty glassware like a julep cup, skull mug, and mini milk bottle, and include ingredients like cereal-infused cream, cascara syrup, prosciutto-infused gin, and in one case ketchup. They're garnished with flavored smoke, lavender pop rocks, and dehydrated Campari. It's great stuff.
Cocktail at Bad Luck Bar with lavender pop-rocks garnish.
Cocktail at Bad Luck Bar with dehydrated Campari dust garnish.
Cocktail at Bad Luck Bar with aquavit and ketchup.
If Bad Luck is Detroit's Nightjar, then Standby is the city's Booker & Dax. The bar owns a centrifuge and all the other tools out of Dave Arnold's Liquid Intelligence to make "justinos," clarified juices, cocktails on tap, and all that other back-of-house molecular mixology.
Interestingly, this bar is not seated-only, and can apparently get super busy on weekends. My visit was on a quieter night and I was able to try a bunch of the cocktails and food, both of which were super.
The proprietors of this bar also run the seasonal bar The Skip, which wasn't open during my visit.
This "craft dive" subterranean fortress bar is well-loved for its industry nights, during which it seems one of the primary goals is for the bartenders to make weird shots with which to mess with you. I got out of it relatively unscathed.
Afterward we went upstairs for pub food and pinball at Checker Bar but that's nothing much to talk about.
This diner-bar mashup (from the same group as Sugar House and Bad Luck) is either a dive bar or a dive-themed bar; probably more the latter.
I ate their once for hangover-absorbing breakfast and once for a just-one-more-beer last call. Both times seemed appropriate.
Missed It!
I did not make it to The Oakland Art Novelty Company (which opened around the same time as Sugar House) or Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails (which looks like you're eating in a terrarium of sorts).
I did make it to the super chic restaurant Katoi but didn't have any cocktails there. Unfortunately it suffered a large fire shortly after my visit so it is temporarily closed.
Wright & Company - Also from Detroit Optimist Society. I ate here but just had one quick cocktail. More of a big Downtown restaurant and first-date spot. The Peterboro is a Chinese restaurant also from this group but I didn't get to visit.
February 15, 2017
New Ways to Write About Whiskey, As Seen in Three Books
Most books about whiskey are about whiskey: how it's made, the history of a distillery, tasting notes, and the like. But as whisky/whiskey grows as a category and a cultural phenomenon, authors have found interesting new angles with which to talk about it. Or at least put it in the titles of their books.
Here are three new whiskey books with unique takes on whiskey narrative. (The descriptions are provided by the publishers and are not reviews.)
The Christian Whiskey Novel: The Angels' Share by James Markert
Some believed he was the second coming of Christ.
William wasn’t so sure.
But when that drifter was buried next to the family distillery, everything changed.
Now that Prohibition has ended, what the townspeople of Twisted Tree, Kentucky, need most is the revival of the Old Sam Bourbon distillery. But William McFee knows it’ll take a miracle to convince his father, Barley, to once more fill his family’s aging house with barrels full of bourbon.
When a drifter recently buried near the distillery begins to draw crowds of pilgrims, the McFees are dubious. Yet miracles seem to come to those who once interacted with the deceased and to those now praying at his grave. As people descend on the town to visit the “Potter’s Field Christ,” William seeks to find the connection between the tragic death of his younger brother and the mysterious drifter.
But as news spreads about the miracles at the potter’s field, the publicity threatens to bring the depth of Barley’s secret past to light and put the entire McFee family in jeopardy.
The Angels’ Share is a story of fathers and sons, of young romance, of revenge and redemption, and of the mystery of miracles.
The Whiskey Mystery and Treasure Hunt: Breakfast Tea & Bourbon by Pete Bissonette
Solve this novel's mystery to find real treasure worth $50,000!
Follow five best friends who sign up for a treasure hunt, rent a dilapidated RV, and head out on the search. This funny and quirky novel is a story within a story, because woven between the lines are clues to an actual treasure hidden for you to find.
After experiencing enough losses for a lifetime, Nels Ware does not take things for granted, especially his family of friends. So when a $50,000 treasure hunt grabs his attention, he recruits them for the rollicking quest.
Nels is certain he has deciphered the clues to the treasure's location. But has he? Is he leading his friends on a cross-country wild-goose chase? Will their dilapidated RV even deliver them to the treasure? Or will someone else beat them to it?
Might that someone be you?
Woven within the pages of the book are real-life clues leading to an actual physical treasure hidden somewhere in the United States worth $50,000.
The Inspirational Whiskey Book: Pure Heart: A Spirited Tale of Grace, Grit, and Whiskey by Troylyn Ball and Bret Witter
Troylyn Ball and her husband, Charlie, an engineer and real estate investor, had spent their entire lives in Texas. But after a near fatal trip to the emergency room with their mute, wheelchair-bound son Coulton, they admitted the dust and the heat were too dangerous. To save their boys, the Balls cashed out, sold their beloved farm, and moved to Asheville, North Carolina.
Nearing fifty, Troy thought her chance at adventure had passed. But in this booming little Appalachian Mountain city of hippies, farmers, artisans, and retirees, she unexpectedly discovered a support network and something she’d never had in twenty-five years of providing round-the-clock care for her special needs boys: the freedom to pursue her own dreams. She struck up a friendship with a legendary eighty-year-old raconteur from the mountains, met his friends, and soon found herself in a rickety country shack with an ingeniously inventive retired farmer trying to create the best recipe ever for traditional mountain moonshine.
But when the real estate bubble burst and the collapse of her husband Charlie’s new venture in Asheville left them deeply in debt, Troy realized her ten-year business plan for Troy & Sons Platinum Whiskey wasn’t enough. If she was going to save her family—and she was definitely going to save her family—she needed to become the most successful woman in the legal whiskey business. And she needed to do it fast, before the bank took her house, her business, and everything she’d worked so hard to achieve.
Full of eccentric characters and charming locations—from a "haunted" cabin in the mountains to the last farm in the world to grow heritage Crooked Creek corn—Pure Heart is a charming story of a woman who set out to find a purpose in the most unexpected of places, and ended up finding happiness, contentment, and a community of love and respect.
February 13, 2017
Bartenders Beware the Bright Orange Batch Bucket
I'm delighted to see increased awareness of proper food handling and safety in the bartending community, but we still have a way to go. I continue to learn as well.
One issue that came to light recently is the use of non-food-grade buckets for batching cocktails. Five-gallon buckets with lids are light, stackable, portable, and reusable, and have become an industry standard for use at big cocktail conferences and events.
However, some buckets are designated as safe for food handling, and others are not. Probably the most commonly misused bucket is the Home Depot "Homer" bucket in its signature bright orange color. These are not rated safe for handling food.
How Dangerous Are They Really?
How much damage can using this bucket cause? I can't say with any certainty, but alcohol is an excellent solvent that can leach chemicals out of plastic- and this plastic is dyed orange, while food-safe buckets always seem to be colorless.
Some bartenders have commented that it's the same type of plastic as buckets rated food-grade, so what gives? Avery Glasser of Bittermens Bitters makes a great point when he says, "Regarding HDPE#2, the resin is food safe, but the dye, the lubricants and the chemical cleaners they use on the line could be mutagenic, carcinogenic or cause renal issues. Some flush out with urine, some stick to your internal fat. That's why the resin isn't the indicator for food contact safety, it's the international food safe symbol."
He continues, "Think of it like a piece of oak. Inherently, it's safe to use as a cutting board, but the varnish or stain they use could be hazardous. "
An Easy Solution
On the plus side, when these buckets are used for cocktails they're not typically used for full-strength or high-proof spirits alone, and get watered down with other cocktail ingredients and kept cool with ice. This will slow down any chemical extraction. Also at events, the booze doesn't sit around too long in the buckets before use, leaching out chemicals over a long period of time.
Based on this, my guess is that you don't need to panic if you've had drinks made in orange buckets, or if you've made them in the past. (I've probably had hundreds of them.)
But it's a learning curve. Going forward, let's do our best to eliminate non-food-grade plastics at cocktail events.
The good news is that the same Home Depot that sells the orange buckets we're avoiding also sells five-gallon food-safe buckets! (Perhaps not in the store, but if you order online they'll deliver it to your local store.)
This cocktail cloud has a silver lining.
February 9, 2017
Fake Eggs! Aquafaba Comes to Bay Area Cocktails
The aquafaba cocktail trend - a fluffy replacement for egg whites made from chick pea water used to create a foamy texture in cocktails- has been going around for a year or two now, but I hadn't seen any on offer in Bay Area bars.
I'm not in love with drinking egg whites, so I've been keeping an eye out. Recently, I noticed a few places featuring them.
Zachary Brian Taylor says they always have it available (as there is a chick pea dish on the food menu), but so far it is being used in "dealer's choice" drinks.
He says, "The drink I make most often [with it] I call the Peggy after the regular who loves this drink." That drink contains gin, ginger, lemon, muddled strawberry, aquafaba, and basil oil as a garnish.
He says, "I'll also have a Hot Date Sour for Valentine's Day. Similar drink, but with date syrup and chili oil and no ginger. Choice of spirit."
Aquafaba Whiskey Sour at Bar 587
On the current menu they offer the cocktail Golden State of Mind, made with cognac, persimmon & cardamom, aquafaba, orange blossom, and lemon.
Aquafaba drink from The Treasury in San Francisco
Raul Ayala's new menu offers an aquafaba cocktail, made double-trendy as it's topped with a light dusting of activated charcoal for a cool black-and-white topping. (It's not much activated charcoal, for those of use concerned about its prescription drug-cancelling effects.)
The cocktail is the Tom Yum Sour: Spring44 Gin, Tamarind, Galanga, Kaffir Lime, Lemongrass, Lime and Aquafaba.
Aquafaba cocktail at Dirty Habit in San Francisco. Photo: Nader Khouri
Recently, Benjamin Cooper had one on their menu (no longer), and Douglas Bedford from The Double Standard did one for a competition, but as far as I know it's not on the menu.
Have you spotted others in the wild? Let me know.
