Cocktail Advent Calendar-Dec 8th, The French Connection

Today’s Cocktail Advent Calendar is another one of those, “you have to look it up every time some one orders it” cocktails. I’ve only made the French Connection at a few different points in my bartending career that seem like they’re shots from B movies. Like, two people walking up to the bar seem to be arguing, something about missing diamonds, then walk up to me and say,

“Boujour, French Connection sil vous plait.”

Then they wander back into some noir haze. The French connection is another one of those great cocktails from the 70s that’s just a two-fer. Though we added Angostura to make it into a three-fer so you think we we’re working.   And, if by any chance you missed the amaretto of Monday you get another shot at amaretto again – right now. But, unfortunately, this is the last amaretto on the entire Cocktail Advent Calendar menu.

Listen, I was wondering. Can I ask you a question? Uh... was your father a meat burgler? Here's why I ask: because it looks like somebody stole two fine hams and shoved them down the back of your dress.

To really bring home the feeling of this cocktail coming – from a bar wrapped in Naugahyde, red lights and slow jam music – we will be serving it at room temperature with hot water on the side. It will be gentle enough to sip that way, or could be warmed up to improve the aroma, either way you can spend the entire evening doing your best ladies man impression.

Get down with it.

The French Connection

• 1.5 oz Cognac
• .5oz Amaretto
• 2 dash Angostura

Serve with an old fashioned glass of warm water and some Bill Withers tunes on the side

Teaching Christine how to make a Caipirinha

Christine: The hammer she is holding means that she never pulls punches.

As a child I remember Christine as a good friend of my parents, one of their many friends that I had a lot of respect for.  I recall Christine as being louder than, well…most things. And, as a shy child I was embarrassed by her off-the-cuff grown-up topics of conversation.  As an adult I really appreciate her joie de vivre and would like to get drunk with her to embarrass other shy people with our loudness, because no one has ever wondered how much fun Christine is having: more than you.

When Christine sent me an email asking how to make a Caipirinha, it hit me at just the right moment.  She didn’t know, like most Americans don’t know, that the Caipirinha is one of the world’s most ordered cocktails, just not in the US of A.  In that way, the Caipirinha is the soccer of the cocktail world.  A truly accurate metaphor as most Americans experience soccer through the peewee swarm ball played on Sunday afternoon, instead of the violently skilled and nuanced sport that it is, so shall they not get the real Caipirinha.

But lets talk about me, ’cause this is my blog.  It struck me because I recently quit my job and like every genius or angry loner, I am disillusioned with most of my peers. An exception would be my friend Casey Robison who said, “Remember when you could just make a Sazerac and people would freak out?”  I want to go on record to say that Casey  is my touchstone in this industry, if he says I’m OK, then I am.  If he says I’ve gone too far, I’m coming back.  To explain Casey’s sentiment with yet another metaphor, what he means is that much like the 13 minute progressive rock guitar solo, such a riff can only be understood by the members of Steely Dan.  Many bartenders forget their audience and craft drinks for each other. Furthermore, so much information is available now on blogs like this, that many bartenders forsake the basics for the showstoppers.

Casey Robison is looking up at that text to see if it is bullshit. photo by chad coleman at: chadcoleman.wordpress.com

With all of this in mind I really wanted to take the time to explain one of the world’s simplest and most popular drinks to a family friend who is very far from the craft cocktail renaissance enjoyed by Seattle.  Every time I make a simple drink like this it brings me such great joy because I can work to perfect them the rest of my life, unlike so many other cocktails that get tried once before getting shelved, filed and forgotten.  Drinks like the Caipirinha also bring me to the joy of the drink’s roots: a simple country drink – the direct meaning in Portuguese.  It is the simple combination of mashed fruit, spirit and sugar, but when made well, it goes far beyond the sum of its parts.

Christine emails (not knowing the the huge can of Arrakis sized worms she was opening) to ask about the Caipirinha.

To: Andrew
From: Christine

Tim suggested I try Caipirinha, a Brazilian drink with cachaca, a Brazilian alcohol. I CAN’T find either the drink offered or the alcohol offered ANYWHERE.

In typical verbose Andrew fashion, I’d like to show off my lexicon while explaining what goes into this drink.  Heard that shit before?   Fine, just skip the first email where I give a history lesson, and scroll down to the second email wherein lies the how-to-make-a-better-drink lesson.

Then I got started ranting:

To: Christine
From: Andrew

Leblon is the only cachaca available in Virginia. [Found this on the liquor board's barely functioning website] It is owned by Bacardi and shouldn’t be too hard to find. But at least it is a good cachaca. Did you know that the Caipirinha is one of the most ordered drinks in the world, just not in America? It is the soccer of cocktails.

Cachaca is basically a type of rum, an, “agricole,” meaning from fresh pressed sugar cane. As apposed to an, “industrial,” which is made from molasses; almost all rum is industrial.

There are only 2 other agricoles in VA: Oronoco and 10 Cane. These aren’t cachaca, but they are close. Diageo owns 10 Cane but Oronoco is small time. They are only OK either way.

Once you pick up a bottle of Leblon, I can show the traditional and hybridized was of making a caipirinha.

It is not rum, but in America, the law is that it says, “rum’” somewhere on the bottle. Cachaca is not a liqueur, though it is often found in the liqueur section in the liquor store. Captain, “former raping and pillaging pirate retired to own a bunch of slaves,” Morgan is however a 70 proof bottle of piss that is allowed in the rum section. So please understand these things don’t always make sense.

Then, Christine needs more information:

To: Andrew
From: Christine

OK, I have to find the Leblon today. What do I have to buy to make the drink? Limes? And how does one pronounce this drink?

Now starts the explaining :

To: Christine
From: Andrew

Next steps, I’ll probably put all of this into a blog post for you, is that OK?

Cachaca: kuh- cha-suh:  Fresh pressed sugar cane rum
Caipirinha: kai-per-EEN-yuh: Portuguese for “little country drink”

It is the Brazilian national cocktail and is very easy to make, here are two ways, the first is the most traditional and the second is more advanced.

Recipe 1: Traditional
aka- most rustic, how they literally do it on the farm

1 good bottle Novo Fogo Cachaca, Sugar, Lime

A bag to crush ice (lewis bag), a jigger, a muddler, a knife and a mixing tin

Start off with a pint glass or a mason jar [mason jar is so 2005 says Michelle, but I still like it] or a sturdy bowl.

Quarter the lime

pretty easy

Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar on the lime in the glass.

Muddle them together, no muddler? Use the handle of a large wooden spoon, I can send you a muddler, too. [just Christine, I can't send you a muddler. GO BUY ONE:  I use this muddler from Vic Firth.  Here are photos of me doing so.]

Do not muddle through ice, muddle only fruit. If you muddle through ice you will bring shame upon your house. It is also stupid.

Pour in 2 oz of cachaca (I do this is a mixing glass)

Pour into an old fashioned glass and mix with ice

This will be chewy, but it is the most traditional

Eh, it is drink-a-bull but not that great, lots of dumbasses top with soda at this point, sigh

A simple improvement: same thing but use simple syrup instead of sugar

[Recipe for simple syrup] Heat water to the point of boiling (don’t boil) and add an equal part sugar by volume to the water. Remove from heat, stir til dissolved. Better why? Sugar doesn’t dissolve in alcohol, when you add sugar to this drink; it eventually dissolves from melting ice. Use simple syrup for a better drink.

Ideally, the drink is better over crushed ice. Just put your ice in a towel and hit it with a wooden or rubber mallet. Voila!

Smack ice with a hammer or mallet in a towel, a rolled up napkin, or perhaps a lewis bag, this one by Alison Webber

Recipe 2: Improvement on Traditional
It is complicated, but better than any other recipe out there

My buddy Dragos, who owns a Cachaca brand, [the one pictured here, Novo Fogo, highly recommended] taught me this one:

Those little ends will bring you no juice

Cut the lime in half and carefully cut off the very tip of each end (this removes more of the bitter pith)

Make a little, “v,” incision to remove the pith that runs the length of the inside of the lime, again, just bitterness that adds no juice, the oils in the peel will give us just the right bitterness

Cut that middle pith, this removes another bitter aspect and will make muddling super easy, unless you muddle through ice, like an airport bartender.

Put the lime half on a cutting board, peel side up and score just the top of the peel, like making little tic-tac-toe boards

Score the lime

After scoring the lime in a different direction, it will look like this, full of juice, bereft of bitter and easy to muddle. It also stays true to the drinks aesthetic.

Now what will happen when you muddle is you will get the most juice, with the least amount of effort. And,  just the right amount of oils will come through for this rustic farmer’s drink.

The weakened lime, sprinkle with a touch of sugar will muddle with just a couple easy mashes. Then add the simple syrup and the cachaca.

When muddling, split the difference between sugar and simple syrup. Modern bartenders don’t use granulated sugar, but Dragos [and this guy named Evan Martin who works for him] says respecting this tradition helps tear the skin of the lime.

Transfer sugary muddled lime to cocktail shaker

Add 2 oz of cachaca

Fill shaker with that crushed ice you just learned how to make

Gently shake the drink

Shake the drink with crushed ice, please note the caipirinha is one of the only drinks that retains the ice it is shaken with. This drink will stay cold and frosty the whole BBQ long.

Pour into a glass, NO STRAW, enjoy the cold in your face

So hopefully you can see why this was such a refreshing question to have asked.  When I first met Dragos, I thought I knew the Caipirinha just fine and he showed me I could do it better.  I try to apply this philosophy to every cocktail I approach.  The modern bartender or mixologist can easily be overwhelmed with so much information about vermouth, Fernet and fresh orgeat they may never perfect the simplest aspects of the craft.

Daniel-san, “show me, paint fence,” then you can have a bottle of Ardbeg to do whatever you want with.

The recipe for a Vesper, a lesson in technique.

The recipe for a Vesper, a lesson in technique.

A friend of mine asked me “the Zig Zag Vesper: I adore Murray’s version. I don’t suppose you have any inkling how he does it? I’m trying to recreate as closely as possible on a trip to Los Angeles. (Otherwise we’d just plop ourselves down at the bar at Zig Zag.)”

I quickly responded:

“I’m sure, he makes it 1.5 oz gin, .5 vodka and between .5 and .25 Lillet Blanc, the drink is traditionally shaken, but true form would stir such a drink, I don’t know which he does. Then it gets s a heavy lemon zest. If you don’t zest the lemon over the glass, you are fucking up” “There are supposedly no “good” bars in la, so good luck, also my favorite way to make the drink is to use a very citric or high proof gin like martin miller’s, a vegetal style potato vodka like luksosowa or Chopin and I always go heavy on the Lillet, even though the recipe says “splash” that was when drinks were smaller, so I feel that .5 is acceptable” “And that is the vesper, bond says shake it for texture, though that is the wrong procedure, you’ll find most bartenders shake everything anyway. So really that’s one that you can’t go wrong except that you must shake it furiously if you shake and stir gently if you stir, but now I am ranting” “Does that make sense?”

I thought that was better than a glance at the Internet, but she had another question:

“Basically. I’m actually buying the liquor–so no limits from the barkeeps, just my own finesse. A couple of recipes mention bitters, etc. I’m assuming ski it? And I can go with a stir, but I’m not totally sure what that means.”

I then responded:

“It 2 am, frankly I’m drunk, tomorrow is my first day off in 16 days. I’ll explain it very thoroughly tomorrow”

In my defense I just opened a new bar called Naga in the re-opening restaurant Chantanee and I was tired. Upon awakening I thought to myself, “hey Brett Favre, how to you throw a football?” He seems a down to earth guy, I reckon he’d say: “I just cock my arm, see where I want it to go and throw it.” This is true for Brett Favre, perhaps a more in-depth answer would be: “well, Andrew, I’ve been in the NFL for 17 years, played for South Miss before that, and high school ball before that, and frankly, I am a professional quarterback, its what I do, almost half my life has been dedicated to being good at that one thing.” And with Brett Favre’s inspirational ghost sitting on my shoulder, I wrote this back:

The Bar Naga at Chantanee

Here is everything that one would need to know about how to make a vesper and the proper technique, seriously, this is everything that goes through my head when I make a drink. A vesper is a cocktail that needs to be strained in a chilled cocktail glass, a martini glass is a glass with a martini in it, a martini is a combination of gin and vermouth and sometimes-orange bitters. A martini needs to be strained into a chilled cocktail glass. What I’m trying to say, is that there is only one instance when is proper to call a glass a martini glass, that is when it has said cocktail, is indeed strained into a cocktail glass. A chilled cocktail glass is essential, otherwise, you go to the trouble of carefully marrying booze with cold, and only to warm is again when you put it in the glass. Chill glasses in the freezer or fridge, or quick chill them as we say by filling them with ice and water. There are two ways to execute the vesper, the way in the book and the way that a real bartender would make it.

Book: shaken real: stirred.

This has nothing to do with not shaking vermouth or gin; it has everything to do with what ingredients are used. When all ingredients are clear, aka, booze, the drink must be gently stirred as to keep the texture silky smooth and free of air bubbles.

Whenever you mix in a juice or syrup, the ingredients must be shaken. While every drink need not be shaken furiously, you should shake until the shaker frosts and try to get this done as soon as possible (by shaking hard). But understand that I routinely make whipped cream in a shaker by adding cream sugar and ice and shaking until the ice is gone, my point is if you shake too long the ice will be the water in your drink. For stirring: get a mixing glass (again, when it is filled with beer we call it a pint glass), fill it with cracked ice, crack the ice by hand just before you drop it into the glass.

For Stirring: Cracking ice on stirred drinks maximized the surface area of ice to booze but you still get the cold from the ice of the fresh ice. When stirring, stir for at least 30 seconds, and when stirring think of the booze as stationary and that you are moving the ice through it. When stirring, understand that the point is to introduce no air into the drink. When straining from glass, you use a julep strainer; place it inside the glass and strain into the chilled cocktail glass

A crystal lake of still booze

For Shaking: get a Boston shaker that is the one that is glass and metal. To use a cobbler shaker, a 3 piece metal shaker, is an art that I’ll go out on a limb and say that hardly any American bartender understands, let alone the novice (the Japanese have mastered this art, it is called the hard shake). That being said, cobbler shakers are pretty and it’s nice to have one around. A Boston shaker however is a mixing glass and a tin that fits over it, build the drink over cubed ice (it will break when you shake it) attach the tin to the top firmly and shake with 2 hands, one holding the end of each part of the mixer. Never shake a Boston shaker with the glass end pointing at a person. When you have formed the frost on the tin turn the shaker so that all of the drink is in the tin with the butt of the glass pointing up. To remove the glass twist it, if this doesn’t work, look at the space between the openings of the tin and where the frost is forming, tap in the middle of those two lines and the shaker will open. Never open it upside down, when shaking a drink, you strain from metal and never tap the lip of the tin on the bar to open it, aside from being bad form, it is pathetic, and when I see a man do it, I wish him dead. But I digress, when straining for metal (only after shaking) use a Hawthorne strainer. Don’t let the drink sit too long and don’t pour it into something else first (you loose the bubbles), the point of shaking to quote harry Cradock is to “consume the cocktail while all of the bubbles are still laughing at you.”

Only Jim Romdall could bruise a drink more

The zest: use a channel knife or a y peeler to cut a zest above the glass, so that the oils spring onto the surface of the drink and the glass itself. When using a channel knife, twice around the lemon is proper, the y peeler, and the length of the lemon. Twist the zest over that glass and drop it in.

My favorite way to make the drink is to use a very citric or high proof gin like martin miller’s, a vegetal style potato vodka like luksosowa or Chopin and I always go heavy on the Lillet, even though the recipe says “splash” that was when drinks were smaller, so I feel that .5 is acceptable its important to use Lillet Blanc and keep it fresh. Lillet rouge is a clone of Dubbonet much as Dubbonet Blanc is a clone of Lillet Blanc. Lillet is wine based and will go bad and visibly oxidize at room temperature; after it is opened it needs to be refrigerated.

Simply put by a my Boston style bar guide:

Vesper Cocktail Recipe

1.5 oz Gin

.5 oz Vodka

.25 Lillet Blanc

Twist of lemon

Strain into a cocktail glass

Cheers

Chartreuse

Life at my house, Chartruese, on rock after work. (hand carved ice of course)

So I was in a conversation with what will continue to be an unnamed bartender from a very exclusive French joint, and he was explaining the high-end fuck buddies that he cultivates through his position. Less than 2 sentences later, he slammed his fist on the table and said, “Why do people shoot Chartreuse? It is to be sipped, slowly, and appreciated after a meal.” I bring this up to illustrate that Chartreuse is mysterious and frequently confusing.

Another mysterious thing about chartreuse are the myths perpetuated about it, why would people spurt random things about it while holding a bottle that says otherwise, to make a rule right now, read any and every bottle before you drink it. Info you’ll find on the bottle (listing only the true things): Chartruese is an intensely herbal 110 proof liqueurs made near Grenoble France from 130 herbs according to a recipe from 1605. In America it is sold in 4 varieties a green, a yellow, which is sweeter and milder, and an aged version of each bottle that is called V.E.P. The secret recipe is never known by more than 3 monks at a time and is protected by their vow of silence.

There is much more information on the bottle, but that information is incomplete or misleading. First I’ll list the bottlings before I explain the rest. There are 5 bottlings, 1 of which is not imported into America.

1: Green Chartreuse 110 proof

2: Yellow Chartreuse 80 proof

3: Green Chartreuse VEP (Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé)

4: Yellow Chartreuse VEP (Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé)

5: Elixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse 142 proof

The elixir is not sold in America and is basically green in its original non-bottle strength form. Sometimes people say there are 2 chartreuses sometimes 4, what’s important: there are 5 different bottlings.

Next, monks do not make Chartreuse; it was, for centuries, by now it’s made by what we call “factories.” After centuries of production by monks, demand is too great for them to keep up with. The recipe however, is still blended secretly by monks. 1605, that’s also kind of true, the monks were gifted the marshal of King Henri IV, Francois d’Estrees. This elixir for long life wasn’t perfected and put into production until 1737. So it’s not really 400 years old. Bother Brother Gérome Maubec was the brother who made this public. 1838 brought Yellow Chartreuse to the market; its sweet flavor is very similar to that of Licore Strega. Chartreuse’s production has twice been halted, in 1793 and 1903. This was because of the French revolution and later the government seized their land and exiled the monks to Spain where they continued production until they were allowed back in 1935. It is said during this time, the monks’ brandy reserves, (dating back to Napoleon) were all destroyed. But it’s all roses and sunshine for the brothers now, even with no add campaign outside of death proof by Quentin Tarantino, Chartreuse is selling better than ever.

That’s probably enough fact checking. To make Chartreuse make more sense, some of the generally assumed ingredients are: sweet flag, orange peel, peppermint oil, hyssop, balm, angelica, tonka bean, wormwood, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and mace. Though some of those ingredients are considered poisonous, the monks did indeed consider this an elixir for long life. I have had an opportunity to take a bug tug off of the tiny bottle of chartreuse elixir, unlike almost all liquor I’ve tasted of that proof the flavor is distinct and moreover life changing. Honestly, it felt like god was using a pepper grinder at the base of my skull, I began to sweat immediately and lights were created halos around non-moving objects. I can’t recommend this enough.

As for the general flavors for chartreuse it’s the opposite of what you would call diplomatic. However, it enhances many flavors, it pairs very well with coffee, chocolate and stone fruits. It’s also a test; I have overheard many bartenders say, “No, you don’t mix chartreuse.” I have heard this said of single malt scotch, anejo tequila, fernet branca, or anything confusing or difficult to understand. This is a cop out; there are only three reasons to not mix anything, 1. If you can’t afford it, if you can’t handle fucking up a $400 sidecar, don’t. Which leads to 2. If you don’t have the skill, and then very rare 3. If you are mixing with something that will never be available again. It bet you can wake a great Bobby Burns with Port Ellen scotch, but that distillery doesn’t exist anymore, you may not mix with it. That’s the test, can you mix? Or do you not even try?

Here are a few Cocktails for you

The Alaska-
The earliest I have it is the Savoy Cocktail Book 1930, Unaccredited

1.5 Gin
.75 Yellow Chartreuse
2 dashes orange bitters
Lemon twist
Stir and strain into a cocktail glass

The Last Word- Detroit Athletic Cub, Before 1951

Equal parts
Gin
Green Chartreuse
Maraschino
Lime
Shake and strain

And one from me

Penelope’s Pit stop
1.5 El Tesoro Platinum Tequila
.5 Yellow Chartreuse
.5 lemon juice
.25 of a muddled pear

It’s all the same drink

Well, there is more than one, but not many more. Think of it as half and half drinks, 2 thirds to 1 third, equal thirds, equal forth’s and “other.” You’ll find to make drinks “good” or “not all taste the same” you’ll need to tweak these ratios a bit, but start with simple ratios to understand how flavors work together. Shortly there after, you’ll be subbing sugar for St Germain and adding dashes of bitters to everything. For this example I’ll say “sugar” to mean simple syrup or sweetening agent. Follow these examples:

Two Fourths to a couple others

Caiphrinia                  2 oz Cachaca 1 oz Lime   1 oz Sugar

Daquiri                      2 oz Rum       1 oz Lime    1 oz Sugar

Papa Doble                2 oz Rum       1 oz Grapefruit 1 oz Maraschino

Margarita                   2 oz Tequila  1 oz Lime    1 oz Sugar
Bartender’s Magarita  2 oz Tequila  1 oz Lime    1 oz Sugar splash Cran
Cosmo                       2 oz Vodka    1 oz Lime    1 oz Sugar splash Cran
Kamakaze                  2 oz Vodka    1 oz Lime    1 oz Sugar
Lemondrop                2 oz Vodka    1 oz Lemon 1 oz Sugar
Aviation                     2 oz Gin        1 oz Lemon 1 oz Maraschino
Bay Breeze                  2 oz Vodka   1 oz Cran     1 oz Pineapple
Madras                       2 oz Vodka   1 oz Cran     1 oz Orange
Sea Breeze                  2oz Vodka    1 oz Cran     1 oz Grapefruit

Half and Half
Greyhound                 2 oz Vodka    2 oz Grapefruit
Salty Dog                   2 oz Vodka    2 oz Grapefruit salt rim
Chihuahua                 2 oz Tequila   2 oz Grapefruit
Salty Chihuahua         2 oz Tequila  2 oz Grapefruit salt rim
Paloma                       2 oz Tequila  2 oz Grapefruit top with soda salt rim

2 Thirds to 1 Third
Manhattan              2 oz Rye     1 oz Sweet Vermouth 2 dashes bitters
Rob Roy                 2 oz Scotch 1 oz Sweet Vermouth 2 dashes bitters
God Father             2 oz Scotch 1 oz Amaretto
God Mother            2 oz Vodka 1 oz Amaretto
Vesper                    2 oz Gin 1 oz Vodka Splash Lillet

This is just a basic bartender’s short list, its much more important to note that these are really just ideas on how drinks evolve and how changing one ingredient makes a new drink. I would also like this table to show “list of 5,000 new cocktails,” books as utter bullshit. Seattle local hero chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas would sell you his cookbook, but that doesn’t give you the skill to execute on all recipes nor secure the bank loan to open 6 or 7 restaurants. Do buy, these “5,000 new cocktail” books for ideas, and because they are indeed pretty, but mostly they are only for reference and ideas. There are too many variables and too little information in these books. Take the Manhattan, one of the best right? If you answered no, you might consider how odd it is that you have an incorrect opinion.

The Manhattan is a ratio of 60-85% bourbon, rye or whiskey, to 40-15% sweet vermouth to 1-4 dashes of bitters. If that’s not enough of a variable in ratios, consider the rich complexity of rye, to the earthen smoke and maturity of bourbon or the caramel sweetness of a Canadian blend to a dry Irish whiskey. The quantity of vermouth matters but lets not forget, they have more brands than I could list here. When it comes to bitters, everything changes, normally you’d get Angostura, but it’s not unusual to get a different brand of aromatic bitters, orange bitters and sometimes Peychauds. Then there is my fave: a Bookers (126 proof cask strength bourbon) Manhattan with heavy Punt e Mes (very grape-y sweet vermouth) and 3 dashes of Angostura bitters.

To flog a horse be it not already dead: take Pernod, an 80 proof anisette liquor that is an aperitif in not America but commonly used as an absinthe substitute in old timey recipes. Though not dissimilar in flavor, characteristics and ingredients, it is half the proof and is nowhere near the pervasive flavor of absinthe. The use of more Pernod just results in anis like watery mélange. Brands and ingredients matter but what matters more if the end result of the flavor. Unfortunately there is only one way to insure that drinks taste right, or that the recipe needs to be tweaked for the brands being used: taste the drink. The pro way and the sanitary way to do this is to dip a straw into the drink, then put your finger on the top of the straw to taste a sample. Any bartender worth a damn does this all shift long if not to every drink. I use a straw if some one asks me to taste any drink even at a party. Why? Because I have no intentions of getting herpes whilst answering the question, “does this taste funny to you?” I hope you aren’t laughing.

What you should have learned:

Most recipes follow very simple formulas
Change those formulas to achieve the specific desired results

Recipe books are pretty, slick packages of ideas, not rule (including these)
The tasting straw is one of the most useful bar tools
The Manhattan is the best drink

Campari

 

Salma Hayek in the Hotel Campari

Campari is where it started for me (and Larry Flynt). On my first solo bar shift I took down all of the bottles I didn’t know and tasted them, and I don’t think its surprising for an American boy to make to 24 years or until the viewing of The Life Aquatic to meet Campari (Steve Zissou orders up Campari from his interns, the interns confirm, “rocks?”). Actually, thanks to Salma Heyek’s, “Hotel Campari” add campaign, men may be introduced to Campari at a younger age. But more about me, with the first sip, I was shocked and seduced, I have never looked back, the first cocktail I ever invented (later that shift) was in honor of The Life Aquatic, the Esteban, equal parts vodka, lemon, Grand Marnier, with a 1oz sinker of Campari that was to be his blood, garnished with a wedge of lemon, sprinkled with cinnamon. And this drink that did not catch on, is the principal example of why new bartenders should be forced to work slow Sunday shifts, alone and stay open until 2am. How else will you learn the history of Campari?

Gespare Campari invented, in1860, as a bittersweet 70 proof apertivo to serve to the patrons of his coffeehouse this was Campari, and the recipe we still serve today. In fits of elitism, with fists balled, I will grumble, “its not a bar if you don’t have Campari or Rye.” I’ll come back to the Rye, but Campari is recognized the world over, its only in the United States that we don’t love it. But as I said before, Salma will help. Campari was very popular in America during prohibition due to it being legal and called a digestive aid. After prohibition, it fell away to a taste for mediocrity and homogeny. What is it? Well, its bittersweet and red, otherwise it’s a secret. A sexy secret. However, it’s commonly known that some of the secret is quinine, (which comes from the bark of the Cinchona) rhubarb, ginseng, bergamot oil, Seville orange peel and ginger. And yes it is colored (along with many other products) with Cochineal. I’ll save you a trip to the Internet and go ahead and tell you that Cochineal is a little Central American cactus-eating bug. Thus, Campari is not vegetarian nor is it for the chosen people (kosher). But that’s just history, all you really need to know are Negroni, Americano, and soda.

Campari will likely be ordered one of 3.5 ways. On the rocks or with soda, is the classic Campari way, in not American its common to see pre-bottled Campari and soda. Unfortunately, in many states its illegal to sell pre mixed spirits outside of liquor stores. Shift gears momentarily to James Bond, a man who drank almost every important drink there was to drink. Among those are the other two important Campari drinks.

The Americano: Campari, sweet vermouth and soda, I will never forget the Americano, because of a story a fellow bartender told me. He had answered what we call a “cattle call,” and open call to fill a bartender position. The interviewer asked him what was in an Americano, upon answering correctly; he was told that he was the only bartender that knew the ingredients. Why? Because most bartenders are actually beertenders.

The Negroni is equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth (though, don’t be surprised to get a little extra gin). Count Camillo Negroni was real, and frequented a bar called Caffe Rivoire in Florence where he ordered an Americano with gin substituted for soda. I frequently say subbing champagne for soda is wise but in this case gin works well. Which brings another lesson, swapping two ingredients is the easiest way to make a new drink. The Old Pal for example is a dry vermouth Negroni sub bourbon for gin. Lastly, when ordered in Europe or Italian restaurants, expect to get it on the rocks due to the genealogy, whereas in America it will be served up. The Negroni is my Favorite drink, much like “crunk” is getting “drunk” up in the club, I am trying to introduce “negronked” as a term for getting drunk on fancy drinks, specifically the Negroni.

What you should have learned:

Thanks be to Salma and Steve Zissou, but more to Salma.
To be a better bartender, work lame shifts that allow you to learn at your own rate
Campari is bittersweet, not completely bitter
Campari is an apertivo, that is to say, before dinner

Serve it with orange and know :

The Americano
1.5oz Sweet Vermouth
1.5oz Campari
splash of club soda
Garnish: orange slice
Build over ice into a collins glass.

And the:

Negroni
1.5oz gin
1.5oz sweet vermouth
1.5oz Campari
Garnish: Orange Zest
stir and strain into a cocktail glass or over ice in an old fashioned glass

And here is one from me:

Mr. Richter

1.5oz gin

1oz Tuaca
1oz grapefruit juice
.5oz campari
Garnish: Rosemary sprig
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass