The time is near where I give myself over the powers that govern alcohol and the way we enjoy and consume it.  In other words, next week I’ll be taking the Beverage Alcohol Resource seminar; held once a year by spirits industry mavens Steve Olson, Paul Pacult, Andy Seymour, Dave Wondrich, Doug Frost, and last but certainly not least, Dale DeGroff. Click here to take a look at their informative website.  Read some of their bios to get just a glimpse of the combined knowledge and wisdom that this group brings to the table.  Here’s the breakdown from the website.

“The Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR) Program is the spirits and mixology equivalent of a Masters of Wine or Master Sommelier program. BAR, a Limited Liability Company headquartered in New York, is an independent organization whose mission is to propagate the healthy and responsible use of beverage alcohol products through innovative and comprehensive training programs and seminars. Formed by six of the world’s leading spirits and cocktails authorities, Dale DeGroff, Doug Frost, Steven Olson, F. Paul Pacult, Andy Seymour and David Wondrich, BAR is revolutionizing the way in which spirits and cocktails are viewed, understood, appreciated and enjoyed.

One or more of BAR’s managing members/principals guides every course, using BAR’s own authoritative materials, innovative methods and textbook, The BAR Manual. BAR offers various programs and many other services (i.e., advisory and analytical services for the industry) both in New York City and out-of-state through the BAR Mobile Unit that, for hire, travels to suitable sites to conduct customized corporate sponsored programs. BAR’s unique instructional methods helped earn it the “Industry Innovator of the Year Award for 2007” at the Cheers Conference in 2007.

BAR is the most trusted, comprehensive, innovative, and autonomous source of systematic information on distilled spirits and mixology in the beverage alcohol industry. Anyone who successfully passes BAR’s Five-Day Intermediate Certificate Program is able to mix a balanced Sidecar, distinguish a Speyside malt from a Lowland malt, explain in detail the difference between Bourbon whiskey and Irish whiskey, recognize when a tequila is overpriced, identify a potato vodka by its nose alone, explain the origin of the Manhattan cocktail and why the bitters are an integral part of the drink, draw up a cocktail list that matches the elegance of the establishment it’s created for and, in short, do everything that one expects from a comprehensively informed professional. This Five-Day core program is conducted only once yearly in New York State.”

Needless to say, it will be an honor to take this course and without doubt (according to my colleagues who have taken it) will be one of the most challenging five days of classwork, palate exhaustion, and information soakage.

I would like to thank Grand Marnier for giving me the opportunity to take part in this years BAR.  I am one of the six recipients of the Grand Marnier BAR Scholarship and without it I would not be making the pilgrimage to NYC next week.  In return for the scholarship I will be working as a consultant for Grand Marnier at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic.  This will be an amazing experience as I’ll get to work alongside some incredible bartenders.  The Classic looks to be an unforgettable time, chock full of spirits industry heavyweights and the best bartending talent the country has to offer.  Here’s a little tidbit from their site.

“Welcome to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, New York City’s first ever multi-day event celebrating the history, contemporary culture, and artful craft of the cocktail. Part festival, part fête, part conference, part cocktail party, the Manhattan Cocktail Classic brings together the unparalleled talents and opportunities of the bars, bartenders, and restaurants of our great city for two days of activities, both educational and celebratory in nature, championing the common ideals of authenticity, equality, sustainability, service, and pleasure. (There will be some drinking involved, too.)”

Hope to see you there!

LA Weekly
The Examiner

What I loved about this competition in relation to most other cocktail competitions was indeed the format.  All we had to bring in preparation was ourselves and a few ideas regarding the best way to use Chartreuse in cocktails.  After we had all arrived and were treated to shots of green Chartreuse for breakfast, we were then informed as to what would be available for us to use for our cocktails.  The fine folks at Doheny opened up their resources and allowed us to use (within reason) a wide array of mise en place and booze. Marcos Tello, who helped put the competition together along with Carbino Cattani of Cattani imports, even brought a cornucopia of fresh market goods, with everything from fresh thyme to multi-colored peppers.  For the Top Chef fans out there, the competition took the form of multiple quickfire challenges, only with this competition the judging was blind.

One of the great things that became prevalent early on was the overwhelming sense of camaraderie.  Sure we were all competing, but we were also learning from each other.  It was great to see some of the tricks my cohorts had up their sleeves.  My first round competitor was Vincenzo Marianella of Copa d’Oro.  A draw that I wasn’t very happy to see as he is credited as being one of the bartenders that sparked the beginning of LA’s cocktail renaissance.  Needless to say, a hoss.  Earlier, once we had been informed of the available ingredients , I started writing down some notes and ideas for cocktails to compete with.  I wanted all of my recipes to have been written that day as I wanted to challenge myself as much as possible.  What fun would it be to have brought in recipes that you had used a thousand times?  Another strategy at play here was what cocktail idea to use first.  I felt all of my ideas were good, but since four cocktails would have to be created to ultimately win I took the stance of coming out guns a blazing knowing that each round you had a chance of being eliminated.  Vincenzo and I squared off and I came out the victor with what turned out to be the only cocktail that day featuring rum.  Here’s the recipe.

Carthusian Send Down
1.5oz Scarlet Ibis Rum
.5oz Green Chartreuse
.75 fresh lemon juice
.75 simple syrup
1 small egg white

Combine all ingredients to shaker tin and first dry shake without ice.  Next add ice and shake well again.  Strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with 3-4 healthy drops of Peychaud bitters swirled onto the surface of the cocktail.

I was number 15 for the day.

Next round I faced Joel Black, another Copa d’Oro bartender and as of this writing, the new GM of the Doheny.  Once again after fighting the good fight and enduring the barrage of Chartreuse shots all while trying to bang out a cocktail, I won my round. Through all the mayhem I forgot to take a picture.  Conversely, this cocktail happened to be my favorite of the day.  I wanted to use Yellow Chartreuse as the base spirit and it really came out delicious.  Here’s the recipe.

Alpine Mule
1.5oz Yellow Chartreuse
.5oz fresh lime juice
.5oz ginger agave syrup  (I believe the house formula was 3:2 fresh ginger juice/agave nectar)
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
2 good size chunks of cucumber
seltzer water

Start  by muddling cucumber, thyme, and ginger agave syrup.  Next, add lime juice and Yellow Chartreuse.  Shake with small amount of ice and double strain into ice filled collins glass.  Top with soda and garnish with a cucumber slice threaded with a thyme sprig.

Now that I had made it to the final four, my next competitor was good friend and Varnish co-worker Matty Eggleston.  Matty ended up being the Syracuse to my Texas in the 2003 NCAA Men’s Tourney.  For those who don’t know what that means; I lost. I will say this, making it to the final four was pretty sweet. Especially considering the field that day. Having made it to the final four, Chartreuse was kind enough to bestow upon us their Elixir Vegetal de la Grande-Chartreuse (Diffusion).  This is a powerfully potent little potion (142 proof) and is evidently illegal to import into the states.  I’ve been waiting for the right time to fully experiment with the stuff.  More on that later.  Here is my losing recipe.  The cocktail was delicious…and so was Matty’s.  Unfortunately I didn’t write down the other recipes.

Mountain Medicine
1oz Famous Grouse scotch
.75oz Yellow Chartreuse
.5oz fresh lemon juice
3/8oz honey syrup  (1:1 honey/water ratio)
3/8oz ginger agave syrup

Combine all ingredients in shaker and really shake it hard.  Strain into ice filled double old fashioned glass and float a quarter ounce of Green Chartreuse over the top.  Finish by garnishing with a swath of lemon peel and spraying its oils on the surface.

At the end of the day it was Matty Eggleston and Matt Biancanello going head to head for the championship with Biancanello taking home the trophy.  All in all this was one of my favorite competitions to have been a part of and a format that I hope to see more frequently.  The blind judging, show us whatcha got, pay the winner in cash money attitude was a treat and everybody involved (even spectators) had a blast being there.  Congrats to Matt Biancanello of the Library Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel for winning the $500 bucks and both the oak aged Yellow and Green VEP Chartreuse bottles.  You can also check out Matt Biancanello’s new blog Ultimate Cocktails.  Meanwhile I’m going to go hit him up for some of that Yellow VEP.

What happens when you gather 100 of the country’s most talented bartenders for a weekend in Vail?  A party of epic proportions.  Having that much talent together in one place threatened to melt all of the snow in Vail Pass.  This is part one in a series of posts describing what really went down. 

A couple of weekends ago I had the opportunity to attend  the Grand Marnier & Navan 2009 Mixology Summit in beautiful Vail, CO.  The weekend was designed to bring together 100 of the countries most talented and passionate bartenders for parties, education, networking, and most important of all, sharing in the passion for the craft.  Grand Marnier fully succeeded in creating an environment that was both conducive to education as well as having a damn good time.  Much to my delight, the weekend ended up being completely free of pretense, leaving even more room to open up, be yourself, and let your ideas run free.  

To be a part of this amazing event, Grand Marnier selected 100 bartenders based on four of their original cocktail recipes.  Three of them were to utilize Grand Marnier and one recipe to use Navan, (a vanilla cognac.)  For the Summit each bartender chosen was required to select two of the four recipes they had submitted, and create them in a lab designed to showcase the bartender as well as their cocktails.  Having arrived early to the Summit, I chose to do my lab early the first day.

I ended up choosing two of my cocktails that I felt best represented my style.  Fresh, balanced and delicious.

On the left we have La Guera.  My approach here was to start with Hendricks Gin and highlight the cucumber used in making the gin.  It’s actually a very simple drink based on the classic White Lady (gin, Cointreau, lemon juice)  I replaced the Cointreau with Grand Marnier and added muddled cucumber.  For balance I opted to use agave nectar, as I love how it sweetens but doesn’t overwhelm.  For the garnish I chose edible Borage flowers.  They have a slightly sweet herbal flavor and also taste a bit like cucumber. Here’s the recipe.

La Guera
2 oz.    Hendricks Gin
.75oz.  Grand Marnier
1 oz.     fresh lemon juice
.5oz.    agave nectar syrup  (1:1 ratio with water)
2 Tbsp peeled and diced cucumber
1 barspoon St. Germain Elderflower cordial to rinse glass
3 Borage flowers for garnish 

Start by muddling agave nectar and cucumber in the glass half of shaker.  Next, add remainder of ingredients minus the St. Germain, followed by ice and shake vigorously for at least 10-15 seconds.  Finally, fine strain into chilled cocktail glass that has been rinsed with St. Germain.  Garnish with thin slice of scored cucumber with three Borage flowers tucked into the middle.  Enjoy!

My other cocktail is the Sonora Cocktail.  While both of these display a bit of my Texas roots, the Sonora really brings it home for me.  Having worked in many a Mexican food restaurant growing up, I would always see some of the staff putting chile powder and lime juice on fruits (especially melon), a common practice in the northern Mexican state of Sonora.  What an amazing combination of flavors.  The sweet and spicy combo really blew my mind back in the day, and I’ve always wanted to recreate that combo in a cocktail.  The garnish here is a Calendula flower.  It’s in the marigold family and together they have been called poor mans saffron.  The idea is for it to be aromatic while you sip, adding to the flavor without being tasted.  I use Chile de Arbol powder here because I want it to really stand up to the other ingredients. 

Sonora Cocktail
2 oz.    El Tesoro Blanco
1 oz.    Grand Marnier
1 oz.    fresh lime juice
1 oz.    demerara simple syrup
1/2 cup peeled and chopped cantaloupe
1/8 tsp Chile de Arbol powder 
Calendula flowers for garnish

Start by muddling cantaloupe and simple syrup in glass half of shaker.  Next, add remainder of ingredients followed by ice and shake like the dickens for 10-15 seconds.  Fine strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with calendula. 

I’d really like to thank Nathan Peitso of Maggie’s Farm again for growing these flowers specifically for my use at the Summit.  He and his crew have been an invaluable resource here in LA for hard to find specialty produce.  Just another reason I’m happy to call Los Angeles home.

After a couple sips

More to come about the rest of the event.  The parties, seminars, the fact that I’m still alive. . .

Bar Keeper, Silverlake’s little bartending Mecca, celebrated its third year this past Friday.  Known for vintage glassware, esoteric barware, absinthe paraphernalia, and a heady collection of cocktail books, Bar Keeper has been supporting a growing Los Angeles cocktail renaissance.  With a keen eye and a penchant for detail, Joe Keeper (proprietor) has built a solid collection of things you want. 

Airline Style Bar by AL.Carts

Like this item to the left.  I mean, who doesn’t want an airline style beverage cart bar that rolls and even has a brake like the original?  I certainly do.  Could you imagine that thing at one of your parties?  You could roll it down the hall and make someone an Old Fashioned right there on the spot.  Talk about service.  Or how about rolling it into the bedroom to wake your significant other up with a delicious Bellini in bed, fresh white peach puree and all?  The possibilities truly are endless. 

 To commemorate the anniversary, Joe Keeper threw a fantastic little soiree at his store.  On hand were bartender Rhachel Shaw of Malo and hired gun Scott Campbell (former San Fran bartender now retired) to mix a couple of cocktails specially selected by Joe. 

Scott Campbell

 Scott manned his bar shaking up a wonderful concoction called the Mujer Verde.  A feature drink of the famed San Francisco bar Absinthe, the Mujer Verde was at once a bracing and refreshing combination of Hendricks Gin, yellow and green Chartreuse, lime juice and simple syrup.  It was a fantastic marriage of the soft botanicals within Hendricks and the alpine spices of Chartreuse. 

The Mujer Verde

 “Mujer Verde”

1oz.     Hendricks Gin
1/2oz.  Green Chartreuse
1/4oz.  Yellow Chartreuse
1/4oz.  Fresh Lime Juice
1/4oz.  Simple Syrup

 Combine all ingredients into shaker with ice.  Shake well for 10 seconds.  Strain into chilled cocktail glass.  Enjoy.

Rhachel Shaw

 Over on Rhachel’s side, she was having fun with some of Joe’s homemade Swedish Punsch, a potent elixir combining the Dutch sugar cane distillate Batvia-Arrack Van Oosten, cardamom, lemon juice, simple syrup and grated nutmeg.   Here’s the recipe for the resulting cocktail as well as the Swedish Punsch.

Making the Mabel Berra

 “Mabel Berra”

1oz.      Swedish Punsch
1/2oz.   Sloe Gin
1/4oz.   Martin Millers Gin  (original recipe called for 3/4oz. Sloe Gin and no regular                                                        Gin, but was modified just a touch, for balance)
3/4oz.    Lime Juice

Combine all ingredients in shaker, shake vigorously, strain and serve.

Homemade Swedish Punsch – Courtesy of Imbibe Magazine and excecuted by Joe Keeper

9oz.      Simple Syrup
6oz.      Batvia-Arrack Van Oosten
3oz.      Lemon Juice
1/2tspn Grated Nutmeg
10         Cardamom pods

Start by removing seeds from cardamom pods and discard pods.  Crush seeds in mortar and pestle.  Next add all ingredients to a glass mason jar and refrigerate for 24 hours.

What I loved about both of these cocktails was their simplicity, especially the Mujer Verde.  I love a complex cocktail, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it is nice to go back to the basics with no more than 4 to 5 ingredients. The most complex flavor of the night had to be the Punsch.  It was extremely herbal, with the cardamom beaming its way right through, which made it absolutely delicious when mixed with the two gins and lime juice.  Somewhat of an acquired taste I would say.  All in all, very well played by our two bartenders that evening.  Well done y’all.

Bitters Anyone?

In addition to partying, a little shopping and bitters tasting were in order.  Joe has the most extensive collection of bitters that I have ever seen.  Period.  Not only that, he has a bar in which you can taste every single one of them.  When it comes to bitters, this guy knows his stuff.  He’s got everything from your traditional Angostura and Peychauds to the rarely seen in the wild German brand, The Bitter Truth.  Joe has been importing these, and until now have been next to impossible to find.  I highly recommend them.  I plan on doing a bitters tasting post some time in the near future, so I’ll have more of a full rundown then.  Some highlights included The Bitter Truth’s Celery Bitters, which at first, I was pretty sure the 2 drops (only 2 drops!) I tasted had been too much.  I wasn’t expecting such power and spice.  The kick alone made me envision beautiful brunches filled with mouth watering Gin Mary’s accented with this wonderful yet peculiar bitters.  Then came Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters also by The Bitter Truth.  Rumored to have snake oil in it (that’s right y’all, snake oil) I immediately recognized the Chinese 5-spice characteristics, and at once declared it the most complex and riveting bottle of bitters I had come across.  I’m pretty sure that Professor Jerry is somewhere smiling.

Absinthe Porn

 If you are reading this post and you live in LA and haven’t been by yet, what on earth are you waiting for?!  Get thee to Bar Keeper!  If you do live in LA and you’ve been there before, go back!  He’s always switching it up so you never know what you might find.  In from out of town?  By all means pay Joe a visit, he might even pour you something fun. Then you can march your butt right over to the bitters bar and spike it with one of the many testers he’s got.  All in all, this a great place for everybody, from the amateur enthusiast to the professional bartender.  Bar Keeper has got you covered.  As long as this shop is around, I’ll keep making room for more glassware.