Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Pope's Hangover

This was a cocktail I was playing with during the Pope's visit to Philadelphia. Every week at my restaurant we feature a different city in Italy. We do regional dishes and wines and even a cocktail designed to pair well with the menu or that uses some regional ingredients or flavors. I was told that for our week in the Roman ghetto I would need to use a cocktail with Cynar. Why Cynar, I'm not entirely sure, but it's good to have a guide. Here's what I came up with. 

1.5 oz. Brandy
.5 oz. Cynar
.75 oz. Earl Grey Tea Syrup
.75 oz. Orange Juice
.5 oz. Egg White
Peychauds bitters

Add all the ingredients except the bitters to a mixing tin without ice. Dry shake until the ingredients are well emulsified. Open the shaker, add ice, and shake until well chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange wedge and a dash of Peychauds. 

Now, I don't personally like Cynar, but I find that amaro-style liqueurs work very well with tea. Perhaps it's the natural digestif qualities of both. I decided to continue this with brandy, a typical after dinner drink. I know lemon is more traditional with teas and toddies, but I was drinking during brunch time and found that the orange was more mellow and better maintained the balance of the drink. I called this drink the Pope's Hangover because everyone was beaten down by the Holy Pontiff coming to town. There was a crazy rush of tourists, but not enough money to keep people jazzed up. This drink was for that morning after.

"Men are like wine - some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age."
- Pope John XXIII

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Tequila 201: The other Agave drinks

Pulque
Pulque is known as the drink of the gods, a Mexican Ambrosia, so to speak. This drink dates back about a thousand years. The drink was considered sacred and a privilege reserved for the upper class. Unfortunately, the beer industry spread a lot of stories about pulque and how it had cow excrement in it and pulque started being seen as low-class. Pulque is the fermented sap of the agave plant. Think of what beer is to whiskey. Pulque is that but to tequila and mescal. Pulque is usually made in a number of delicious flavors called curados. It's low proof, usually 3-5%. It's also pretty healthy, almost like a slightly alcoholic smoothie. 

Mezcal
Mezcal or Mescal is actually the original form of tequila. Much like how brandy is the basis for Cognac. All tequila technically is mezcal but produced in the designated regions around tequila Mexico. Tequila is a protected term, enforced by the Mexican government, while mezcal is not. The CRT, Consejo Regulador del Tequila (tequila regulatory council), makes frequent inspections on every aspect of tequila production to allow the producers to sell their product as tequila. Mezcal doesn't have that. Now you might think that this inherently makes tequila a better product but that's not necessarily the case. Tequila has to use at least 

Many modern mezcal producers have actually created products that rival and even dwarf the quality of some tequilas. For a while, the only brand of mezcal I could find was Monte Alban, which was a decent mezcal, but these days you can find all sorts of premium brands, like Wild Shot, Ilegal, and Joven. While tequila can only be made with the Weber Blue Agave, mezcal can be made from any of dozens of agave plants, but most commonly the green agave, or Agave Angustifolia. It is effectively still just distilled Pulque. It's made mainly in Oaxaca and has a stronger smokier flavor than tequila. It also has a worm. Yes, this is where the worm in the bottle comes from. It won't hurt you; drink it once. 

Bacanora
Bacanora at its foundation is just a different genre of Tequila. Bacanora was named after a town where it was popularly produced. Today, it is a protected term ensuring that is only made using the certain agave grown in the select northwestern regions of Mexico, the agave Pacifico or Agave Yaquiana. It is another government-regulated name that ensures that the product is only made to certain standards. In terms of flavor, it's a bit more robust than most tequilas but not quite as harsh and smokey as many mescals. 

Sotol
Sotol is worth mentioning as well. Sotol is another distilled Mexican spirit made and distilled in very much the same vein as mescal and bacanora. It technically doesn't use the agave plant, however. It is made from the Desert Spoon, or Dasylirion Wheeleri, which is a type of evergreen shrub common in northern Mexico and parts of Texas. This plant was originally fermented some 800 years ago. It started being distilled in the 16th century when the Europeans brought over distillation techniques. The production of this spirit is nearly identical to mescal down to the way it's harvested and trimmed. Much like tequila, it is put in three different age classifications: Plata, Reposado, and Anejo. Sotol is generally slightly smokier and more vegetal in flavor than the average tequila. 

Special mention to Raicilla

Photo Credit: Wikimedia, Flickr

Thursday, September 3, 2015

The Shamrock in the Guinness.

I remember the first time I went into a pub and ordered a Guinness. This was a good, proper pub that poured it on nitro, had the glasses, and knew what they were doing with it. I'd had Guinness by the can and bottle before but there's something special about getting a beer on draft. I also remember going into a pub a few years ago and ordering a Guinness and noticed an extra step in its serving, drawing a shamrock in the foam. I thought this was a cute little touch at first, but the more feedback I hear from people whose opinion I respect in such matters, the more I dislike the idea. 

The original piece of negative feedback I heard on the subject was from a character named Super Hans on the David Mitchell show, Peep Show. He said you were effectively drinking an advertisement for a product you're already drinking. I find that argument a bit lacking, but it is a point. I more prefer the argument that it actually diminishes the ritual of the perfect Pint. 

Guinness has a long-standing standard of what it is to perfectly pour their beer. They offer a certification program for bartenders. You're meant to take a clean, dry, clear Guinness branded glass at a 45-degree angle and pull the handle. Once the beer reaches the harp you straighten the glass and stop the tap. Let the beer cascade until it's gasses settle. The continue to fill to give the beer a perfect head. Or as Dara O'Briain explained: "You have to let it sit, let it go black. Then you push it back so that more gas goes into it. 5/12 of an inch is the ideal head around the top. And if somebody paints a shamrock into it, you're allowed to stab them in the eye with a fork." 

As a friend put it once, "Never go into a bar that has a neon shamrock." The Shamrock in the pint seems to be the mark of a place that is Irish for the sake of being a theme restaurant. There's a big difference between your chains and your properly Irish pubs. A pub is simple, it doesn't need frills or flashy lights. It just needs good beer and quaint surroundings to be with friends. I can't stand plastic cups. Karaoke belongs in karaoke bars. Irish Pubs just need beer, proper beer. It's a pub, not a Starbucks. I've said enough quotes this post so I think I'll close on a song that explains what way too many pubs have become: 


Monday, August 31, 2015

Golden Apple Martini

This was actually a discussion I had almost a year ago over the best way to make an appletini. Many bartenders would say 2:1 vodka and sour apple pucker. This drink somehow gained popularity. Lord, if I know how. I suppose it was the simplicity of the drink in combination with the craze of the fancy glass. It's also incredibly easy to make at home if it's a drink you particularly like. All you needed was two bottles. On my opinion, though, the drink is rubbish. Many people have jazzed it up so to speak with sour mix, lemon juice, or citrus vodka. none of which really save the drink, they merely help balance a bit of the sweetness and lessen the proof. I wanted to take my crack at it

1 1/2 oz. Citrus Vodka
3/4 oz. Berentzen Apple Liqueur
1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 oz. Rich Honey Syrup

Add all the ingredients to a shaker tin with ice. Shake the drink well and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a golden delicious apple fan.

This drink was sort of inspired by the various appletini recipes I've seen and blended with a sort of sour and Cosmopolitan recipe. I thought of creating an apple shrub or using a calvados, but I wanted something that would be fairly accessible to the average person, as that was a part of the appeal of the original. I think the flavors carry over well and do give the proper taste of an apple rather than the sour sugar taste you get from most appletini's.

"I'll have an Appletini and the girliest drink in the house"
"Two Appletinis coming right up"
- Scrubs

Coffee Kiss

This was an interesting cocktail I made for the Chilled Van Gogh Vodka Competition. The specifications were simply to use at least an ounce and a half of any of the flavors of Van Gogh Vodka. Unfortunately the one flavor available at my local liquor store was espresso. On the bright side, I do know my coffee.  

1 1/2 oz. Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka
3/4 oz. Amaretto
1/2 oz. Blood Orange liquor
1/4 oz. Apricot Nectar
1 oz. Cream

Shake all the ingredients except the cream with ice. Double strain into a chilled martini glass. Gently float the cream on top of the drink. Garnish with some shaved dark chocolate.

I recently began working at an Italian Cafe and I knew I wanted to play with the espresso flavor. I combined some complimenting dessert flavors like almond and a bit of blood orange. I opted for some apricot as well. I knew it would be a bit too strong but didn't want to make this into a creamy drink. The float made for a beautiful presentation. This drink was really inspired by a nice midday coffee and a nice sampler platter to pair with your espresso. Orange, almonds, and apricot slices are amazing snacks to enjoy while enjoying a lazy afternoon at the cafe.

"The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself."

- Mark Helprin

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Whiskey 401: Dissecting a cocktail: The Whiskey sour

The drink known as the Sour has gone through countless iterations over the centuries. I thought of organizing this by time period, instead I opted to go simply by the level of complexity and adding a few variants once the foundation has been laid. The Sour has gone through so many modifications and iterations it's near impossible to pinpoint a date when the trends changed. The origins of the sour as an individual cocktail and not a punch probably started around the 1850's. This was most likely done by sailors drinking rum while trying to fight scurvy with citrus juice and adding sugar to make the drink taste good. It was certainly after World War II, in the 60's, when store-bought sour mix became widely popular. Eventually, it even made its way onto some of our soda guns. In the nineties bartenders started exploring the idea of fresh ingredients once again. 

Modern
The first recipe I ever learned was 1 oz Whiskey and 2 oz of Sour Mix. This was shaken and served in a rocks glass with ice. It was mentioned that this could be served up, but most people took it on the rocks. Most people I saw wouldn't even really shake this, especially if it was going on the rocks. They'd just give it one or two shakes and dump it in.  They thought that shaking was to chill a drink. No, it's to blend the ingredients and to incorporate air, adding texture. To cite a blog that helped inspire me to start this, Death to Sour Mix. Assuming you use a prepackaged store-bought sour mix, this should just be called a sour, as you can't taste or appreciate whatever liquor is in the drink. The chemicals and sugar content in that mix just destroys the integrity of the other ingredients. I did learn how to make a simple sour mix however and that's where we get into the real recipe. 

Classic
This drink follows much more closely to the classic cocktail bars. I eventually learned a true recipe for this drink. It being 2 oz. Whiskey, 3/4 oz. Lemon Juice, and 3/4 oz. Simple Syrup. It's shaken good and hard, strained or double strained, and served up or on the rocks. This is an example of proper balance. A drink should have an equal balance of sweet and citrus. This while maintaining a respect for the alcohol makes a proper ratio of ingredients. This is a bit stronger than the standard drink ordered at the bar today. It's about twice the ABV of a whiskey ginger or similar highball. This is much more in line with cocktails and less focused on speed of production. Store bought sour mix was created to increase the speed of drink production and to eliminate a lot of the prep work that would need to be done every day, namely squeezing fruit and making syrups. But losing the craft means losing the character of a drink.

Traditional
This drink took a little adjusting to when I first heard about. It took a bit of a leap in order to try it, but to my amazement, it was really good. To this day, there are very few Americans that know about using egg white in cocktails. People think that the drink will taste like breakfast or egg nog. Neither is true nor are you at all likely to get salmonella. So, what does the egg bring to the table? The proteins in the egg while unravel and create an amazing silky texture and decadent foamy cap. This kind of cocktail should use the same recipe as the Classic Sour but add the white of one egg, or about 1oz. of egg white. You can't just shake a drink with egg white normally though if you want the best consistency. You need to shake the drink without the ice first to blend the cocktail and open up the proteins. This is called dry shaking. Once you do that, you shake normally with ice to chill the drink and usually double strain into a sours or cocktail glass. Most people think that the beautiful foam that comes from using egg white is lost when the drink is served on the rocks, but it can be done. 

Other Great Variants
The Stone Sour is a very fun variation which uses orange juice as well as lemon and simple syrup. A Gold Rush uses honey instead of simple syrup. The New York Sour is one of those drinks that just keeps adding to a great drink. It's a classic or traditional whiskey sour served on the rock with a float of red wine. I always find this drink very odd when made with egg white and red wine floated on top of the foam. I prefer it made without the egg white and served on the rocks. The ice makes it much easier to float the red wine. I also find that a layered presentation works best with more cylindrical glasses, rather than martini glasses or coupes. There is also the Fix, which is just a sour made over crushed ice. A John Collins is just a tall whiskey sour topped with club soda. A Fizz is the same thing but also using egg white to create a very fluffy foam on top.

“Sometimes life is sad. You can cry in your booze if you want. I think that’s called a Whiskey Sour.”
- Jarod Kintz

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The Yellow Blur

This was an interesting little cocktail I created. Technically it's the first cocktail I've ever made that actually won a competition. At a guild luncheon that was hosted by Ruffino Prosecco, they decided to pit us in something of an Iron Bartender Competition. They divided us guild members up into 5 teams and told us to make 2 cocktails per team, one on the rocks, and the other served up. We were given free reign of the bar at Stratus Lounge. Many teams tried to come up with a game plan, but our team took a totally different approach, a more playful one. We all just hopped behind the bar and started making drinks. I started with a sort of orange French 75. It was a good drink but a bit boring. My friend Dan was working on a sort of strawberry smash. As the five of us were playing around we would taste each other's drinks and give feedback. In the end, Dan turned his into our up cocktail and I switched mine to a collins style drink with a little chartreuse zing. 

3/4 oz. Bombay Sapphire
1/2 oz. Yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz. Cointreau
1/2 a Peeled Orange
1/4 oz. Simple Syrup
Ruffino Prosecco

Peel an orange and tear away about half the slices. Add the slices and all the ingredients except the prosecco to a mixing tin with ice. Shake very vigorously to break up the orange. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice. Top with prosecco and garnish with a lemon wedge.

This cocktail took quite a bit of ingenuity. Toward the end of the time limit, all the tools seemed to disappear. I had been fresh squeezing juice from halves of oranges for all of my experiments but when the clock was ticking I couldn't find a juicer, or a knife for that matter. I just said, "I'm doing this like in grade school." I used my thumbnail and peeled off the skin, tore off half the orange and chucked it into a tin. The ice they had at Stratus was good and dense so I knew it would do the job pulverizing and juicing the orange. I originally planned to double strain this to make for a clean presentation, but they were counting down the seconds as I wrapped up and a mesh strainer was nowhere to be found. I wound up just using a Hawthorne strainer which filtered the big chunks of pulp but left a few bits. This actually made the drink a lot more fun. I made it again later by double straining and I don't think it was as good. The pulp added a feel of scratch made lemonade and I think made the drink feel lower proof and more drinkable. The pulp floating around the drink in the bubbles is actually partly what inspired the name of this drink. Though the name takes an indirect reference to a Ron White bit. 

"Tiny bubbles. In the wine. Make me feel happy. Ah, they make me feel fine."
- Don Ho

Photos by Bry Guy of dumbartender

Monday, July 27, 2015

Superfruit Creamsicle

This was a cocktail I designed to be submitted to the VEEV, A Better Way to Drink, bartender challenge cocktail competition. The cocktail must feature 1 1/2 ounces of VEEV. Which was a hard thing restriction when you have such a strong liqueur. I was a bit confused by this challenge as it asked you to recreate a classic cocktail using VEEV, an ounce and a half of VEEV. Yet, points were awarded for originality. I took inspiration from a few classics and put my own spin on them while incorporating the liqueur. 

1 1/2 oz VEEV
1/2 oz Thyme infused Cointreau
1 oz Fresh Orange juice
1/2 oz Heavy Cream
1 Egg White (1 oz)
Chocolate Bitters

Dry shake all the ingredients except the bitters for one minute. Add ice and hard shake for 15 seconds. Double strain into a sours glass and add four drops of chocolate bitters. Use a pick to make a pattern in the bitters. Serve with a smile.

The original inspiration came from the standard Creamsicle recipe but drew inspiration from the Fizz as well. I knew I wanted to really bring out the dessert snack notes of the acai. One of my favorite snacks is chocolate covered acai berries. I included some cream and orange flavors as well as a bit of grassy flavor from the thyme and Voila!

“When you are attracted to, and eat, fruits, occasionally a seed will be carried within you to a fertile ground.”
- David Wolfe

Sunday, July 26, 2015

My Ideal Meal

This was an interesting thought experiment I posed to myself. What would my ideal meal be if money, materials, and time were no object? My birthday is coming soon at the time of writing this post and I was wondering what I'd like to do for it. A nice hearty dinner has always been a tradition, but if I could have anything, from any restaurant, for any number of courses, along with any drink pairings, what would I want? To be clear, these are all items I've enjoyed individually in the past, though not necessarily together. While these are not all my favorite foods specifically, they are foods that hold some significance or nostalgia to me. I hope you enjoy it. What would you do for your greatest meal ever?

Drink 1: Americano
This is my staple before meal drink. It's light. It opens my palate. It won't compete with other flavors and it's one where I can sip it at any speed I like and on a hot day, it is truly refreshing. This drink was the first drink ever ordered by James Bond in Ian Flemming's novel, Casino Royale. I adore Campari so I knew I'd need that in my first drink as it is an aperitif. For the vermouth, I would prefer Vya, a new, Californian made, line of Vermouth. I might take it with regular soda, but I would prefer it with Perrier. It is worth mentioning that during the entire meal I would like a side of ice water. 

Appetizer: Cheese and Meat Plate
To follow up with the last bits of my cocktail, I would like to consume an array of cured meats and fine cheeses. I know I would require some prosciutto, ideally thin-sliced prosciutto de parma. Some of the meats must be a bit spiced, some properly made pepperoni, salami, or bologna. One of the greatest slices I've eaten recently was actually of duck prosciutto so I'd like a few slices of that, but not too many as it's quite rich. I'd like a bit of Roquefort, sheep's blue cheese, but again not too much. In contrast, I believe that some smoked brie or Pierre Robert would be in order. We may as well throw in some goat's milk cheese as well, some bucheron perhaps. Naturally, there would be a few other compliments such as candied walnuts and spicy stone mustard, along with bread, oil, and jam.

Drink 2 and 3: Sazerac & Fruh Kolsch
As I move from lighter flavors of cheese to some stronger flavors I opted for my ultimate favorite cocktail and a good all day drinking beer. Yes, a bit of double fisting here, but I would be sitting and having water as well. The Sazerac is really a favorite cocktail if I know I have a competent bartender tending to me. It's supposedly the first cocktail truly invented in the United States though there is much dispute over this. The original recipe supposedly called for cognac, and then started being cut with rye, until eventually it just became a rye whiskey cocktail, which is how I like it. I like Dad's Hat Rye with Grande Absente for the rinse. 

Fruh holds a special place in my heart as the first drink I ever had technically legally. Sorry, Herr Goetz but I had a few beers when I was on the school exchange in Germany. It was in violation of the school regulations, but it was worth it. A group of us students went out with the German students to Rhein Park and we drank. We got a case of Fruh and of something else, Spaten or Becks. I'd had plenty of beer before, even wine, and a few liquors. But there was something about that beer that made me feel good. This was the first where I really felt like that there was nothing wrong with it. We didn't have to hide it from anybody. I looked for this beer everywhere when I came to be of age in the United States to no success. It is in no way the best beer I've ever had, but it's a simple true pleasure. One particularly bad day I found myself at a bar and they had Fruh on draft. As I was drinking that beer all the awful things that were happening fell away.

Entree: Surf and Turf with Potatoes and Mac 'n' Cheese
You can never go wrong with two premium pieces of meat. Steak is one of those things that pair well with the heartier cheeses and my new refreshments. One of my favorite meals at my old job was a 9-ounce steak cooking in its own bloody juices topped with a disk of melted soft cheese, I forget which one at this time and a few potato medallions cooked in what I recall being duck fat. Like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, I typically take my steak bloody as hell. To pay homage to the song of a dear friend, I think I'd have a porterhouse. Though I'd take it pan-roasted to medium rare with butter and light seasoning. A really wet steak would not be best paired with my other dishes and sides.

I have a long-standing love of lobster. I remember being a boy and cooking live lobsters with my parents. My cat would fight them and my father would try to recreate the scene from Naked Gun 2 1/2. I remember visiting Cape Cod in the summers as a child and eventually coming to love ripping apart and eating the messy treat. A bit of melted butter to pair with a split lobster tail and two big fat cracked claws is all I could ask for were it to be paired with a steak as well. I imagine a 2-pound lobster would suffice for this.

I debated a long time what side or sides I would want with this main course. Potatoes were what came so naturally, it was almost a cliche. Baked potatoes were never my style. Roast potatoes in duck fat would easily be my ideal, but I always like mashed potatoes too. So I decided to have both. A half dozen or so baby potatoes split and fried to give them a nice crisp snap. Naturally, a little salt and pepper, possibly rosemary.

The mashed potatoes would require some mix-ins. A bit of garlic and cheddar cheese should suffice, but butter, cream, and other light flavors would be welcome. A nice creamy feeling to wash the palate. I don't care for them overly lumpy or fluffy. a nice creamy texture is what makes it my comfort food. I thought of incorporating bacon to the potatoes, but I thought that better suited to some pasta, or better yet, some Mac 'n' Cheese.

I firmly believe that the best macaroni and cheese is baked with bread crumbs on top, forming a crust. Bacon pieces should be incorporated, not bacon bits, pan-cooked bacon sliced to about 3/4". Also, nice long noodles please, while elbows and shells promote nostalgic thoughts of mom making Kraft or Velveeta, I believe, in this case, comfort food serves the function of providing the comfort. Oddly enough the cheese sauce blend isn't a real concern for me in this dish though I would like it not to be over watery, and preferably to have a little spice to it, a little warmth.

Drink 4: Patron Burdeos
I thought a very long time about what my after-dinner drink should be. Ideally, my previous two would hold through my main course spread. I thought of whiskey, port, amaro, or even a boozy milkshake kind of drink. While whiskey was my style, I thought it better suited to leave that to pair with the steak and not to be with dessert. Then I thought of brandy. No, that wouldn't be for me. While I like it, I knew there was something better. Then it hit me, the most wonderful drink I was privileged enough to taste as a gift when I did my first cocktail showcase. Patron Burdeos had the taste of fruit and wine from it's wonderful aging in the Bordeaux wine barrels. When you mix that with the proof of a good tequila you get a drink a is is better than cognac at being brandy. A snifter of this neat would be fitting for the last drink of the evening.

Dessert: Lava Cake, Ice Cream, Berries 
I needed some chocolate for dessert, but also a little more creaminess other than just cheese and butter. Lava cake is a great go-to dessert because it's never bad, but when it's good, it's tremendous. If the cake has a good crunch to the shell that almost cracks allowing the hot lava to flow out, then you have yourself an amazing cake. You naturally need some cold to go with that. So some vanilla ice cream, you can't beat a cliche sometimes. A few chilled strawberries, and maybe a few raspberries

I thought of doing a whole spread of every kind of food imaginable, but I knew much of it wouldn't pair together. So I opted for the most luxurious cohesive spread I could. A meal that would remain uncluttered was a necessity. I wouldn't want a volcano sushi roll with some barbeque pulled pork and creme brulee. It just would mesh right on any level, though all of those things are amazing on their own.

I thought I'd price this were I to order it at a restaurant assuming average markup and prices. I'd actually estimate this at a little over $200, maybe $240. A good chunk of that comes from just the Burdeos. Were I to make this on my own, excluding cooking costs, it may only cost about $65 if I shopped the deals available to me. Of course, that is by the ounce for cocktails and may be considerably higher than that if you factor in the cost of whole bottles and containers. But I think this meal would be worth that. In practicality, I might switch the Burdeos for something more practical, but this thought experiment was for the ideal meal.

"The meal isn't over when I'm full. The meal is over when I hate myself"
- Louis C.K.

Photo Credit: Flickr, Wikimedia, Pixabay

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Wine Keys and Openers

Pull Corkscrew
This is the oldest style of wine bottle opener around. The style of it makes it look like it was some type of woodworking equipment. In short, you press the point in, screw the handle until it is deep enough. Grip the handle firmly and yank the cork out. The original design is of course very risky to use as it requires a very firm grip on the neck and shoulder of the bottle to be able to physically yank the cork out. These are the kind of screw you find Many times when an amateur tries to use this type of corkscrew they will drop the bottle and make all kinds of mess, especially if it's a bottle of white wine that's been chilled and has condensation on it. Some modifications were made over the years. Springs and levers and more form-fitting grips have helped, but they still tended to rely on physical strength to yank the cork out

Waiter's Wine Key
Give me a lever and a fulcrum and I can move the earth. Just about anyone who has worked in the service industry has used one of these at some point. They start as a sort of swiss army knife of handy bits. There's a blade for removing the foil around the cork. There is, of course, the metal helix on a hinge that screws in. What gives this little tool the nickname Waiter's Friend is not just the portability of the tool, it's that little extra piece of hinged metal which just makes the job so much easier. Once the metal helix is screwed in, you tilt the handle and bend down that metal plate so it presses against the top of the rim of the bottle. Carefully holding all parts in place, raise the open side of the handle levering out the cork. It takes so little effort compared to trying to pull it straight out.  It does take a little getting used to. You need to figure out just how deep to screw it in so that when you pull, the entire cork comes out. Some newer keys have a two-tiered metal plate. This allows the key to pull the cork part way out, and then finish the job with the whole length of the plate. 

Butterfly / Wing Corkscrew
These are the most common wine openers I find in your average home. This is a very novel modification to the standard cork pull. they simply took the standard corkscrew that had a brace on it and added some levers attached to gears so that it pries itself out rather than having to be yanked out. It maximizes efficiency and cuts the amount of force needed in half. simply position the screw at the top of the cork and twist the knob. If you have a firm grip on the base of the corkscrew and the bottle then it should screw in with very little resistance. As you screw the winged levers will raise. When you reach a sufficient depth firmly grasp the levers and press down. the cork will be forced out without much strain. Often times the twisting knob serves a second function of a beer bottle opener.

Rabbit Opener
This is a sexy piece of bar equipment. The advantage of this model is that it twists itself into the cork as you raise the handle. So all you have to do is grip the two ears, lift the lever up, and then pull it back down. When this works, they seem like the smoothest bottle opener I've ever worked with. But these are far more form over function I find. They are sexy and can impress your house guests, but sometimes they just don't work. The worm will slide in but then slide ride out without pulling the cork with it. I find the expense and bulk of this item to be impractical for a bartender though they do look pretty at home

Electric Wine Bottle Opener
I'm seeing more and more of these on the market today. Yet I don't see enough of them used in bars or even households. I think there's always been a certain charm to seeing a bottle opened by hand. While as an employee I like expediency in my work, as a guest I like the little ritual. They operate very much on the same system of the rabbit opener but use a battery to spin and pull the worm helix. Oddly enough, these tend to be cheaper than the rabbit openers. Yet, there's no lifting, twisting or squeezing necessary. I find these work very well for home use. The average battery would not be sustainable for a busy wine bar environment, only being able to open five bottles a day. I like these though, most brands work well and look very sexy sitting on the counter with the other appliances.

Coravin Wine System
These are a fairly new addition to the wine game. They use a small needle inserted through the cork of the wine bottle and a CO2 cartridge or draft pressure system to pressurize the wine bottle and force the wine through the needle. This is great for restaurants that don't want to open a bottle of wine which might not sell and could potentially spoil within days. It's also great for liquor reps. You draw out your glass or sample, remove the needle and the bottle remains sealed and preserved. For a regular consumer who doesn't need to worry about having an open bottle of wine sitting around the house for too long, this is not a necessity. 

"Wine is bottled poetry."
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Photo Credit: Pixabay, wikimedia

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Gin 201: The Different Botanicals

Juniper Berries
This is what gives gin that note of Christmas trees. All gins have to use juniper in order to be called gin. This goes way back to when gin was first invented and they started modifying the recipes from Dutch genever. Legally Juniper has to be the predominant flavor. That rich pine flavor actually comes from the fruit of the evergreen tree. Well, not really a fruit, but a seed or conifer cone. It also has slight notes of lavender and occasionally a touch of heather. Juniper is a very potent flavor and gins that are too juniper-forward tend to be very off-putting to the average drinker so a rounded, balanced gin is much more preferable for most distillers.

Cassia Bark
Cassia Bark is a close relative to cinnamon. Many people find that cassia has a slightly more delicate flavor though. It again comes from a breed of the evergreen tree this time originating in the south of China. Many gin makers source their cassia from other countries like Indonesia, Thailand. India, and Vietnam. Chinese Cassia does remain the most common. In gin, the freshly dried bark is typically ground to release as much of the flavorful oils as possible. Cassia bark supposedly is also good for blood pressure.

Angelica Root
Angelica root, sometimes known as wild celery, is grown widely in Northeast Europe. It does have its roots in the celery family, no pun intended but has a more woody vanilla smell. It blooms as a many-headed flower and is often harvested in the winter months. Angelica is rarely a dominant flavoring component; it is more being used as a balancing agent to bind the harmonies of various oils together. It does add a slight earthy tone but it more about providing a balance. Angelica is also used as medicine to fight viruses and bacteria.

Orris Root
Orris is really just a part of the Iris flower. This isn't used in the vast majority of gins but it is a fairly common component in more floral gins. Flavor wise it is very similar to violets. Tragically, due to its allergenic nature orris root was banned in many parts of Europe and the US, though this ban is mainly for cosmetics and scents. In gin production, the flower is harvested in late summer and made to dry a couple years before being ground. As with most gin ingredients Orris root has been used in medicine, in this case, it's helpful with sore throats and as an anti-inflammatory.

Coriander
Coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant, also known as Chinese parsley or dhania. The entire cilantro plant is edible, stem seeds and leaves, but the vast majority of gin producers only use the seed. The flavor of the leaves and seeds are similar in a few regards but really have completely different profiles. It's worth mentioning that coriander seeds if consumed in severely high doses, can act as a narcotic. This goes away during gin production though. Coriander is probably the second most botanical in gin actually. Its flavor is a blend of citrus and sage. Its aroma is very akin to rose actually. Coriander in olden times was used to fight flatulence and arthritis.

Grains of Paradise
Grains of paradise are native to West Africa and Ethiopia. This area became known as The Pepper Coast. Grains are actually the seeds of a member of the ginger family. It's also known as Melegueta pepper, alligator pepper or Guinea pepper. These are often used in medicine as stimulants. The flavor is of course quite spicy and peppery, but the aroma is a bit more floral than your standard black pepper. Several centuries ago it was actually more common to use grains of paradise in cooking than pepper. Its use in gin was actually briefly banned in England for tricking people into thinking that the spirit was stronger than it really was.

Cardamom Pods
Cardamom is actually a member of the ginger family. It's native to southern India and is very hard to grow and cultivate aside from very hot climates like Tanzania and Guatemala. It is thus also one of the most expensive spices. 5000 years ago it was used in tooth cleaners and perfumes. Cardamom is widely used in South Asian cuisine, namely curries. There is black cardamom and green cardamom. Black has an almost peaty, smokey flavor while green is more floral, like the eucalyptus. Cardamom is a very warm flavor, slightly sweet, but very pungent.

Citrus Peel
The oils from lemon and orange peels are used very regularly in gin production. Almost everyone knows the flavor of citrus and it's very easy to place a citrus heavy gin. A fun fact is that the aroma molecules of a lemon are the mirror opposite of those of an orange. Citrus oils are great for a number of healing factors. It's good for the skin and also acts as a mild sedative, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic. Citrus was also used to fight scurvy which made it almost a necessity among British naval sailors, who popularized the gin and tonic. Another useful aspect of citrus is that it's helpful as a cleaning agent. That's right, lemon Pledge actually has a reason to be lemon scented. This actually makes a distillers job easier as the tanks don't get as dirty when citric acid is in the gin.

Other botanicals may include lemongrass, black peppercorn, cucumber, rose, cubeb berries. anise, licorice, almonds, grapefruit, chamomile, sarsaparilla, nutmeg, saffron

"The intense perfumes of the wild herbs as we trod them underfoot made us feel almost drunk."
- Jacqueline du Pre

Photo Credit: Wikimedia, Pixabay

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Shakers

There are two main types of shakers used by bartenders across the globe. Each bears its own merits. Some are designed for aesthetics while others are designed for versatile use. 

The Boston Shaker
Supposedly the first concept of a shaker goes back to well before the common era to Central and South America where it was used to incorporate chocolate into a beverage. The Egyptians also used it to incorporate spices. The shaker as we know it today goes back to the late 1800s where an innkeeper noticed that two of his serving vessels nested together. In 1872, a device was actually patented to shake six drinks at once.

In America and many other countries, when you shake a drink, it's going to be in a Boston shaker. Especially in a high volume bar environment. The two pieces of a Boston shaker are very multi-purpose. Mixing glasses can be used as beer glasses or even collins glasses. Take a mixing tin, and insert it with the open end down over the mixing glass and give it a light smack to make a seal. Most bartenders find it easier to create a seal with the tin cocked to the side to create a flush seal between the glass and tin. This makes it easier to separate the two once shaken. Shake vigorously, horizontally, rather than up and down, for 8-10 seconds. to break the seal that has most likely tightened due to the ice shrinking the metal strike the side of the tin, at the rim, 90 degrees from where the two parts are flush. This should break the seal and allow the removal of the glass.

Variants of the glass on tin combination are very common. Many craft bartenders have opted to use smaller, 16 oz., cheater tins to make the seal rather than a mixing glass. this allows for a seal that can be gripped and maintained with one hand while shaking. This allows for the shaking of two drinks at once which is very handy at craft cocktail bars as they have become famous date venues. No one wants to stare at their drink waiting for their partner to get theirs, so two drinks at once allow for a proper toast. The French shaker may deserve its own category, but I regard it as a simple variant to the standard Boston shaker. The smaller tin is specially designed to create a perfect seal with the mixing tin and bows in to create a firm grip for the bartender. This also has the advantage of not having any glass that could break.

The Cobbler / Three Piece Shaker
The cobbler shaker has a similar design but with an added dedicated middle piece in the design. It dates back to 1884 as a modification to the Boston shaker which included a built-in strainer. One simply builds the drink in the bottom tin, adds the middle strainer piece to the top of the tin, and then adds the cap on top to create a full seal. Some people say that this incorporates less air into the drink and that when liquid gets trapped between the top two pieces it creates a less emulsified drink. I do find myself just naturally shaking these drinks longer to make sure it's well chilled. Personally, I really don't enjoy this style of the shaker as they often can become stuck together and impossible to separate. With a bit of training, I'm told this won't occur but I really don't see it as a time saver in the long run. There is still a separate strainer piece you need to clean and the pieces are far less versatile. These styles of strainers can look very impressive and ornate, but they really don't serve many functions, all things considered. 

"You can't buy happiness, but you can prepare a cocktail, and that's kind of the same thing."

Photo Credit: Wikimedia, Project Noun

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Next Level Jell-O Shots

Hey all, most of us love jello shots or have loved jello shots. This post assumes you've at least had a crack at making them in the past. You've probably learned that using pure vodka in place of the water creates a mushy unappetizing shot and that it should be split fifty-fifty with water. You've probably also learned that other spirits work amazingly well in a jello shot. Tequila, triple sec, and lime jello are a natural blend. You might also know that some jello mixes work great with milk for a creamier hold and a less transparent color. Most jello brand products work well together, but some more advanced recipes will use straight unflavored gelatin. These are some tricks that you may not have thought of in your typical playing around. 

Glow-in-the-Dark Jello Shots
This was probably this first real jello shot trick I learned. For the record, these do not glow in the dark like those stickers on your childhood bedroom ceiling. They glow under blacklight, like the poster in your college dorm room. I had made jello shots before, in college, but the first time I decided to dig into what other people were doing I found this little trick. The trick is to simply incorporate a luminous nontoxic chemical into the mix. The best one I find used is Quinine, commonly found in tonic water. Many people opt for a normal mixture of 1 part boiling water to 1 part spirit to make the flavor of the jello more palatable. Simply replace the water with flat boiling tonic water, and you'll have a great treat for your next blacklight party. 

Molded Jello Shots
When you were first introduced to jello as a kid, you probably made Jello Jigglers. Pouring jello into any container will allow it to set into that shape. Many people will use cookie cutters as fun shapes for kids. Occasionally, depending on the material of the mold you may need to spray it with some cooking spray to allow it to be removed easily. For Halloween, you can buy brain-shaped molds so that kids can poke and eat a bit of a jiggly brain. Switch that to include some rum and you have yourself an adult treat. I've seen other tricks done in this manner. Add a bit more powdered gelatin and you can keep it firmer once it hardens. You can use popsicle molds provided the mix is firm enough. The same trick applies to the novelty ice cube trays. you can have shot glasses made of jello and even penis shaped gelatin. This Video might be the greatest idea I've ever seen that I could apply to a boozy drink.

A spin on this that has been really erupting is the idea of jello shots in fruit. cut an orange in half and cut out all the meat without puncturing the skin and you have a handy cup. Once the jello hardens you can even slice the orange and be reminded of grade school soccer practice. You can do this with limes, as well. If you add extra gelatin powder, you can use this trick on watermelon and slice it to create great big slices of jello, great for picnics so long as it doesn't get too hot. I've even seen strawberries used. Take the stem out and hollow out as much as you can to form little cups. I recommend cutting a bit of the tip-off so it doesn't wobble when you put it in the fridge to cool. 

Layered Jello Shots
This is actually the easiest trick I've ever heard. Make a batch of jello, pour it into a tall enough vessel, chill it. Make another, different batch, pour that over the old batch and continue the cycle. This trick is even easier than making a pousse cafe, as you're just pouring liquid over a solid. Don't let the layers chill for too long otherwise they won't bond together and when you remove them they may tear apart at the seams. Some flavors, of course, blend better than others. If you are using the type of mixture that uses milk to be careful with your flavor pairings. An orange creamsicle works great. but some liqueur flavors don't play well. You can make rainbow layers, or go patriotic and recreate your favorite flag. 

One of the most advanced tricks in this is the Jello Shot Cake. In a bundt cake pan build your layers of jello upside down. One of the most popular recipes for this uses a bit of yogurt in between the clear gelatin layers to create a beautiful visual presentation. It's truly beautiful to see executed properly. It takes some work to have the layers look uniform. It also takes many hours to ensure the right consistency and that it doesn't tear or fall apart. Everyone always feels so guilty making the first cut into this masterpiece. Make sure you make clean slices and don't shred the thing. This picture shows a twelve layer cake, but you should feel free to start smaller. 

Jello Shots with Mix-Ins
There's so much more to a gelatin dessert than just gelatin. I remember in the fourth ever episode of The Simpsons, Marge makes a gelatin dessert chock full of marshmallows. If you saw The Office, You'll remember the stapler in the jello. Simply put in your fruit or candies into the mold and pour the jello over it. To create a layered effect, pour a layer of jello, let it harden a bit, and then place the snacks inside. If it's still soft enough you can shove some snacks into the hardened jello. This makes creating scenes of Swedish Fish swimming in a fishbowl much easier than doing dozens of layers of the same mix. One trick I see all over the place is using a cherry, namely, using the cherry stem to act as a sort of handle. This allows for a great party favor that doesn't require utensils and doesn't get your guests' hands sticky. 

“Whoever said nothing is impossible obviously hasn't tried nailing Jell-O to a tree.”
- John Candy

Photo Credit: Wikimedia, pixabay

Friday, June 5, 2015

Advanced Syrups

Sugar is a crucial component in just about every cocktail available today. Sometimes it's the sugar in a piece of fruit. Sometimes it's honey or maple syrup. Bartenders have been taking these sugars and making them our own for some time now. 

Flavored Syrups
One of the easiest types of complex syrup you can make is a simple infusion. Take an Earl Grey Tea Syrup for instance. We all know how to make simple syrup, simply apply heat to sugar and water. Well, this is exactly how we make tea. Simply add our tea bag or tea leaves to warm water. let this sit for about an hour and then add to a saucepan and put on heat. Add equal parts sugar and stir until well mixed. Remove from heat and strain off any solids. This same technique can be applied to mint syrups and even things like berries and peppers. Simply make a syrup the way you normally would and steep the flavors you would like to infuse. Try not to boil the syrup as that takes away the water and makes the flavor significantly harder to replicate. One of my favorite creations was a strawberry and serrano pepper flavored agave nectar.

Fruit Syrups / Grenadine
Most fruit syrups are actually very easy to make. While the typical syrup uses water to mix with the sugar component, a perfectly legitimate substitute is to use a juice. This method only works well with fruits that leave a very watery type of juice such as pomegranate. Juice like lime and the like need to be cut down with water to ensure a consistent texture. To make homemade grenadine, simply pour equal parts of pomegranate juice (I use POM Wonderful) and sugar into a saucepan and apply heat while stirring. I like to add a tiny splash of fresh lemon juice and a few drops of orange flower water to really make it unique.

Oleo Saccharum
Oleo, in short, is oil. Saccharum is sugar. Lemon oil syrup was a crucial component in old-world punch recipes. The oil comes from the peel of citrus fruit, lemon being the most common. Oleo can also be made from other citruses, like orange and grapefruit. The easiest way of making this is by peeling several lemons into a bowl and adding about two ounces of sugar to the bowl per lemon. Muddle this vigorously for about 15 minutes to ensure that the sugar really gets into the peels and they start to sweat. Let the bowl sit for a few hours or overnight to allow all the oil to precipitate. collect this in a bottle and filter out any peel, some people will add a bit of hot water to stretch the oil and make it less potent in cocktails, but in punches that doesn't matter as much.

Orgeat
Orgeat is probably the most difficult syrup to make on your own and I don't recommend trying unless you are well versed in syrups. Orgeat is used in several tiki cocktails. It is a very potent blend of flavors and can be incredibly overpowering if prepared incorrectly. To make, one would muddle a blend of sweet and bitter almonds in a mortar and pestle with a little water until it becomes a smooth paste. Add more water without heat. Then incorporate some sugar and orange flower water or rose water. These are very potent flavors that if not used cautiously can seriously overpower any cocktail. Floral sweet almond syrup is very tempting to start playing with, but I urge you to start small and leave this one to the professionals. The fact that this doesn't use any heat also tends to mean the shelf life is not as great as many other syrups so I encourage you to use filtered water or water that had been boiled beforehand. Also, keep it stored in a well-sealed container. Also, don't trust any store brand orgeat that costs less than $10 a bottle. 

Gum Syrup
Gum syrup is actually one of the more basic and classic syrups. It is, at its core, a simple syrup that has been thickened to change the texture of certain cocktails. Gum, also called Gomme, syrup is a simple syrup made typically with gum arabic. Very few people, aside from some artists, have heard of this powder. It's a simple thickening agent used in some painting, and, in our case, cocktails. Gum syrup works best in stirred, spirit-forward cocktails so that the texture it brings can be appreciated. Typically it is used in old fashioned cocktails and some sazeracs. It can be used in shaken cocktails and with drinks built with crushed ice.

"I told my wife the truth. I told her I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then she told me the truth: that she was seeing a psychiatrist, two plumbers, and a bartender."
- Rodney Dangerfield

Photo Credit: pxhere, open food facts

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Syrups

Syrups are one of the quintessential components for any knowledgeable bartender. They are what give a drink its sugar, it's sweetness. They are what making drinking fun, and not like drinking medicine. There are many great sugars in the world at a bartender's disposal and I'm going to touch on the most common and most versatile of these syrups. Coming soon I will be doing a post on making some more advanced syrups and I hope you take those techniques and create something truly that is your own.

Simple Syrup
Simple syrup is the easiest and most common sweetener in cocktails today. Is very quite simply, sugar and water. The most common type found in America is equal parts sugar and water by volume, put over some heat to remove any impurities. This is commonly referred to as 1:1 simple syrup. Across the pond, they use a ratio of 2:1. This is called rich simple syrup by many. The added sugar acts as a preservative which helps the shelf life of the syrup before it goes off and starts accumulating mold. The reason we use syrups instead of accurately measuring granulated sugar is because sugar dissolves very slowly in cold environments like cocktails. No one wants a muddy puddle of raw sugar at the bottom of their drink. Simple syrups are typically made with plain white sugar, but they can also be made with brown sugar which is comprised of 3.5-6.5% molasses. Many bartenders have opted to use Demerara sugar, or Sugar in the Raw, made from crystallized sugar cane juice, which brings some notes or caramel and molasses. 

Honey Syrup
For the record, a honey syrup is not the same as honey. Raw honey right from the bottle is far too dense to be incorporated in a cocktail. Even a hot toddy might not dissolve all of it. Again, we simply mix our raw honey equal parts with water, ideally with heat to remove impurities and help the shelf life. When you pick out a bottle of honey from the store try to make sure you invest in quality honey, not one from a little plastic bear. Pure honey can have citrus notes or even taste grainy. different styles like sage honey can be quite delicate while avocado honey is richer, almost buttery. I'm not saying you need eight different honey syrups, but be aware of how different kinds of honey can compliment different cocktails. 

Maple Syrup
Maple syrup can be a very fun syrup to use in whiskey cocktails. Again we need to dilute it to make it functional for cocktails. It is made in the same style as honey syrup. Take maple syrup and add it to hot water in equal parts. Again, the stuff in the plastic log cabin isn't that great quality. Premium maple syrup is incredibly easy to find at your average farmers market and you can probably find some quality syrups at the supermarket, but it might take some experimentation and research to find the best quality. Some people think that Canadian or Vermont maple syrup is the best. This isn't necessarily true, it's just that climates with greatly changing seasons yield more sap as the seasons change. These regions thus produce more and get a name for being producers. I made maple syrup in my house with my father in Massachusetts since I was old enough to carry a bucket. and it tasted great. As a kid, I liked the plastic bottle of Log Cabin, but when I grew older I enjoyed the richer woodier flavor, especially with some whiskey. Dad's Hat has actually started aging maple syrup in their old whiskey barrels.

Agave Nectar
Agave nectar is actually the concentrated compound from which tequila and mezcal (mescal) is fermented and distilled. Most agave nectar comes from the blue agave, the agave used in all tequila production, but it can come from other species as well. Agave nectar, like honey and maple syrup, contains fructose, not the sucrose found in granulated sugar. Nutritionally they behave the exact same way. They are just broken down differently in the liver. Agave nectar is arguably the sweetest syrup you will find common behind the bar. Agave nectar can come in two varieties, light and dark. Light is fairly flavor neutral while the darker varieties can pick up flavors of caramel, and even some fruity pineapple notes. As always the plastic bottles you find in the average supermarket are very close to high fructose corn syrup but you can find less processed nectars if you look hard enough.

"Health - what my friends are always drinking to before they fall down."
- Phyllis Diller

Photo Credit: Pixy, pikrepo

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Berry JAMboree

This was a cocktail I created for the BOLS Around The World Competition. The goal being to create a truly memorable low alcohol cocktail. The only rules were that the drink had to use no more than 1/2 oz. of 80 proof spirit, that the drink had to use at least 1/2 oz of BOLS liqueur, and that the drink not exceed 12% ABV. It was actually a lot of fun playing with this drink. Low alcohol meant that I could actually try more than 3 of my drinks a day. 

1 Egg White
1 oz. Lemon Juice
3/4 oz. Strawberry Liqueur
1/2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz Blueberry preserves
1/2 oz. Simple Syrup

Add all the ingredients to a shaker without ice. Dry shake vigorously. Once blended, add ice and shake again. Double strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a split strawberry. 

This drink really didn't have any inspiration. This was my first time using jam or preserves in a drink. Blueberry really adds a lot of color to the drink. I tried it with egg white to thicken it up and it really does feel like a smoothie. The strawberry garnish is great because once the guest is done drinking they can use the berry to soak up any foam that was left clinging to the glass. The final alcohol by volume of this drink would be a little under 9.6% depending on ice melt

"Now is the time for drinking, now is the time to make the earth shake with dancing."
- Horace

Friday, May 8, 2015

#015 Beedrill

This is a part of an ongoing project I'm working on to make a Pokemon cocktails for each and every Pokemon. I'm starting with just generation one and we'll see how the response is. 151 drinks is a tall order, but people have done crazier things. If I succeed I will most likely publish an eBook or possibly hard copy collections of each drink. Give them a try and let me know what you think. 

1 1/2 oz. Pepper Infused Tequila
1/2 oz. Blood Orange Liqueur
1 oz. Honey Syrup
1 oz. Lemon Juice
Top Sparkling Wine


Add all the ingredients except the bubbly to a mixing tin. Shake well with ice. Double strain into a tulip glass with ice. Top with bubbly. Garnish with two spears of serrano pepper. 

To make a pepper-infused tequila simply fill a small mason jar with whatever type of peppers you'd like. Make sure you cut it up to about 1/2" pieces to increase the surface area. Personally, I'm a fan of serrano pepper for this cocktail. Many people may prefer to use a Jalapeno or Habanero pepper, but I find that serrano offers a very balanced flavor and heat for this drink. If you don't want too much spice to dominate the drink I recommend seeding the peppers first. Pour tequila over the peppers, seal the jar and give it a little shake. I like a Reposado tequila here. The slight smokiness brings out the pepper flavors, but an Anejo could work as well. I find that about 6 hours is enough to get a full pepper flavor without it becoming too potent. For seeded Jalapenos and Habaneros, less time may be prudent.

This drink again takes a lot of inspiration from the margarita. A common variation I've seen in chain restaurants these days is a champagne margarita with a little split of sparkling wine stuck into the drink just like the Coronarita. Beedrill is a bee, so for a sweetener, honey was the obvious choice. It also has a potent poisonous sting that can supposedly kill, so I wanted a little more spice in this one. I find that blood orange plays a bit better with spice that Cointreau or another triple sec. Add a little lemon juice and bubbly and you have yourself a great drink to sip on out on the patio on a hot spring day. 

"Beedrill. This Pokémon is an evolved form of Weedle, following its Kakuna stage. Its sting is highly poisonous."

Pidgey -->
<-- Kakuna

Recommended Brands: Milagro Reposado, Solerno, wildflower honey, fresh lemon juice, Comte de Bucques Brut

#014 Kakuna

This is a part of an ongoing project I'm working on to make a Pokemon cocktails for each and every Pokemon. I'm starting with just generation one and we'll see how the response is. 151 drinks is a tall order, but people have done crazier things. If I succeed I will most likely publish an eBook or possibly hard copy collections of each drink. Give them a try and let me know what you think. 

1 1/4 oz. Reposado Tequila
1/2 oz. Blood Orange Liqueur
1/2 oz. Honey Syrup
3/4 oz. Lemon Juice

Add all the ingredients to a mixing tin. Shake well with ice. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a small spear of serrano pepper that has been deseeded. 

This drink clearly takes a lot of inspiration from the margarita. I opted to use a Reposado tequila to help represent the middle nature of Kakuna. The insect and bee-like nature of this evolution line made honey an obvious choice for a sweetener. I like a wildflower honey syrup if you can find it. A different orange liqueur could be used, but I adore Solerno, and I find it pairs better with spicy and smokey flavors which are going to be more present in our last iteration of this evolutionary line. You have to have a bit of sting in your bee Pokemon. 

"Kakuna, a transitional stage between Weedle and Beedrill. Kakunas remain inactive until they evolve into deadly Beedrills and hatch."
<-- Weedle

Recommended Brands: Milagro Reposado, Solerno, wildflower honey, fresh lemon juice