Alcademics.com

Smoke Drinks in SF

2009-11-08T10:02:28-08:00

Is it 2001 all over again? Suddenly I'm contributing to CitySearch on occasion, as I used to do in the last recession.

Here's my latest round-up listing bars serving smoky drinks.

Smoking may be illegal in bars these days, but smoke-flavored drinks are on fire in San Francisco and across the country--easily the hottest trend in the spirits world. Many of the top local cocktail spots now have smoky cocktails on their menus, whether that smoke taste be derived from peaty Islay scotch whisky, fiery and rustic mezcal or actually lighting things on fire. Inhale this trend in any of the following cocktails.

Then I list seven smoky drinks and where to find them: at Nopa, Jardiniere, Dosa, Absinthe, Beretta, Rickhouse, and Foreign Cinema.

Cognac by Salvatore Calabrese Book Review

2009-11-07T12:44:00-08:00

This fall I visited the Cognac region of France. Also the trip was Salvatore Calabrese, owner of Fifty in London, where I visited a year ago on a trip with Plymouth Gin. In preparation for Cognac I read the book Cognac by Nicholas Faith because Calabrese's book is a lot bigger and didn't fit in my luggage.

Also, I thought Calabrese's book Cognac: A Liquid History wasn't going to be very good. It has beautiful pictures on just about every page and large font with large spacing between sentences, so I assumed it was going to be light on the content.

Not so much. The book is actually has most of the information as in Faith's journalistic book, just written more in narrative style than in charts and graphs. This is very fitting with Calabrese's personality- he's one of those bartenders who is a master of service and a lover of the romance of cocktails.

I particularly liked his detailed timeline of what seems like every event in the history of cognac. Another strong point is his description and tasting notes on pre-Phylloxera cognacs (Phylloxera his the region approximately 1860-1900, wiping out the entire industry). Calabrese's bar specializes in these very rare, very expensive cognacs and he has tasted more of these than most people.

Also very cool were his generalized tasting notes. He describes different colors, aromas, and flavors in cognac of different ages from five to 20 years. This should help me (and others) identify the age of cognac by the flavors.

I suppose the downside of this book is that the index isn't very good and the information is scattered throughout the narrative, making it difficult to find particular bits of information. It is a very good book about cognac; it's just not written as a reference book.

The Bartender's Gin Compendium Book Review

2009-11-06T09:00:00-08:00

Recently cocktail writer Gary Regan rebranded himself as Gaz Regan and wrote a new book called The Bartender's Gin Compendium.

The book is a study of gin in many of its forms, with chapters on the history of gin and gin cocktails, dry gin, genever, old tom gin, plymouth gin, and gin cocktails.

The history chapters are informative but not so in-depth that you'll get bored with them. The Old Tom chapter was particularly good and more information on the subject than I've seen elsewhere. There is also some great background about a few particular cocktails including the Tom Collins and Singapore Sling. But really, the focus of this book is practical knowledge about gin, and the title is appropriate in that it is really written for bartenders and other industry folks rather than for consumers.

I quite enjoyed the breakdown of the botanicals commonly used in gin- what they are, what they taste like, and what they do for a gin. We learn that some ingredients exist not for their own flavors, but to marry other ingredients in the recipe.

Regan largely let brands describe their own products, for better or worse. He gave each brand a chance to list the botanicals used their gin and explain why the gin is different from other brands. The thing I would have liked here is a mention of whether the list of ingredients was all-inclusive or a partial list. For example, Martin Miller's gin has always talked about their secret flavors that everyone recognizes as being cucumber, yet cucumber is not listed here as an ingredient. Thus it's a partial list.

Still, knowing key flavoring agents in different brands will be useful to the taster who is trying to analyze each gin, and to the bartender who wants to know what other ingredients to pair with it in cocktails. The important thing about gin is that it helps embrace and echo other flavors in cocktails. This book lists many, many great gin recipes in the final chapter, but I think with the information about what is in each brand its best utility is as an ingredient guide to help bartenders create new cocktails going forward.

Glossy Booze: Early November Edition

2009-11-06T06:00:00-08:00

Glossy Booze is a regular Alcademics round-up of booze stories in magazines.

Details (November) has a story on underappreciated red wines.

Imbibe (Nov/Dec) has recipes for homemade eggnog, drinks with figs, and party drink recipes, a comparison of witbiers, a story on Greg Boehm of CocktailKingdom.com, one on barleywine, another on bargain sparkling wine, fancy hot chocolate, and a travel piece on drinking in Hawaii.

Malt Advocate (Fall 2009) has stories on Japanese Whisky, Australian whisky, water in whisky, GlenDronach, and drinking in Bardstown, KY.

Men's Journal (November) has stories on California blended wines and good Canadian Whisky.

Food & Wine (November) has stories on ten Thanksgiving wines, new wine books, a recipe for mulled wine (to use with leftover bottles), American ciders, and $10 holiday wines.

Delta's in-flight magazine Sky's October issue has a round-up of wine and food festivals, and a big feature on visiting the world's best wine regions.

Sunset (November) has a round-up of spirits new spirits distilleries in the west, lists their annual Wine Awards, and lists a recipe for kumquat digestif.

Everyday With Rachael Ray (November), in addition to the story I wrote on avoiding hangovers, has a few recipes for simple cocktails.

GQ (November) has a recipe for a 2:1 Martini.

Esquire lists recommended single-malts from Scotland's islands, Highlands, and Lowlands, and adds two new bars to its best bars list: One Flew South in the Atlanta airport, and Dutch Kills in Queens.

In ReadyMade (November/December) Alex Day shares sherry knowledge and there's a project on making a rolling bar out of an old trunk.

And the winner for best booze coverage this month goes to Conde Nast Traveler (November), with its this huge round-up of 38 bars in New Orleans' French Quarter.

Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary Book Review

2009-11-05T09:00:00-08:00

I recently received a review copy of Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary by Paul Dickson. It is both a book and a Guinness World Record holder for the largest collection of synonyms for any term in the English language. Does anyone need a book with 2,231 synonyms for "drunk"?

Absolutely not, but it's fun reading.

I made note of the terms that made me laugh out loud but had to stop as there were too many. Between "A" and "D" I noted: above par, all in, badgered, baptised, beyond salvage, bricked, chateaued, colored, debacled, discumfuddled, dog-sucking drunk, dribbly, and drunkulent. Ha!

If I ever write a book about a heavy drinker, I'll use this one as my thesaurus.

To go along with the book there is a blog accessed here. On the blog you can submit your own synonyms for "drunk" on this post for possible inclusion in the next edition of the book.

I came up with a few terms that are probably only relevant to me. Some of you may be able to recall these instances. I'm sorry if you were there.

Calling 911 from Vail
Spending time in the VIP lounge at Rickhouse
Swimming in Josephine's Bathtub
Riding the luge with Julio

The Prohibition Hangover Book Review

2009-11-05T06:00:00-08:00

If one was to judge The Prohibition Hangover by its cover, it would be an awful book. There is a blue drink garnished with both a nuclear maraschino cherry in the bottom of cocktail glass and a lime wedge balanced on the rim, right front and center. It really looks terrible. Or perhaps the cover is a subtle work of genius in that the drink, like Prohibition, is designed to leave a bad taste in one's mouth.

The thesis of the book is that Prohibition, which ended in 1933 in the US, shaped nearly all of today's alcohol laws and attitudes, and much of our behaviors towards it. This is undoubtedly true, but Peck takes a wide look at the topic.

We start the study with the history of the temperance movement culminating in Prohibition, and learn many of its effects today. Then Peck gives us a lengthy analysis of beer, wine, and spirit consumption trends and in-depth information on the top companies selling in each of these specialties.

In his chapter on spirits he focuses on bourbon with its history, information on how to drink it, the history of cocktails, and a travelogue of his trip along the American Whiskey Trail. This isn't the only detour in the book. In the wine chapter we have a multiple-page synopsis of the movie Sideways and its effects on the market. There is also much talk about the global market and globalization, which at first seems odd in a book about American Prohibition, but as we know the 18th Amendment had impacts across the globe.

Next we return to alcohol policy with a detailed explanation of the 2005 interstate alcohol shipping ruling that pitted the 21rst Amendment that granted states the right to control the sales of alcohol against free market laws relating to interstate commerce. These laws were always confusing to me so this chapter was my favorite in the book. (And you may have heard- last week Amazon.com decided to drop its plan to sell wine due to the all the distinct laws for shipping alcohol to different states, so this is quite relevant.)

We then learn about the policies towards alcohol of the Catholic, Baptist, and Methodist churches in the US and how they differ from each other. Then we look at the neo-Prohibitionists, public health advocates, and MADD, and the policies about alcohol advertising in print, television, and other mediums. The final chapter studies the 21-year-old drinking law, how it was passed, and why it should be lowered.

Note that the last chapter is largely an argument. Much of the book swings back and forth between analysis and argument, presenting the facts on both sides then sometimes (but not always) forming an opinion about what should be done. Sometimes Peck appears level headed and others it seems he has a bone to pick- with MADD, zero-tolerance driving laws, Sunday bans on sales of alcohol, raising taxes on booze, and dry counties. A lot of time his argument is the argument for a free market.

The central point Peck makes in this book is that since Prohibition attitudes towards alcohol have generally changed- it is considered a normal consumer product that two-thirds of adults consume and do not see it as inherently un-Christian or unhealthy. Yet it is still treated and regulated more like a controlled substance.

In my case he's preaching to the choir, though I found his arguments about the drinking age refreshing and the interstate commerce information enlightening. What I liked best about the book though was not the Prohibition stuff at all, but the market and social analysis. What is selling, to whom, who is drinking what, what are different laws in different states, who are the major players in different categories of alcohol, and the like. I found it to be one of the better books out there about the current alcohol market and I would recommend it for that reason alone, especially to people who work in alcohol sales, advertising, marketing, and distribution.

Don't judge The Prohibition Hangover by its cover, not just because the cover contains ugly drinks, but also because the title may not reveal the full value of the text.

Notable Cocktail Lists in Michelin Guides

2009-11-04T06:00:00-08:00

The 2010 Michelin Guides to restaurants have just come out. I received copies of both the New York and San Francisco guides.

New in both is a designation of "Notable Cocktail List" (also, Notable Sake List) along with the Notable Wine List designation already in the guides.

Venues in San Francisco (I omitted the suburbs for this analysis) that received the notable cocktail list designation are: Alembic, Absinthe, Jardiniere, Nopa, Poleng Lounge, 1300 Fillmore, Yoshi's, Gitane, Slanted Door, Dosa Fillmore, Laiola, Spruce, Tipsy Pig, Beretta, Conduit, Range, Bix, Aziza, Ame, Chaya Brasserie, Heaven's Dog, Orson, and Zare at Fly Trap. This is 23 venues by my count.

San Francisco Venues written up that did not receive this designation include: Fish & Farm, Lar Mar Cebicheria Peruiana, Michael Mina, Mamacita, Slow Club, Zinnia, Americano, Boulevard, Coco500, Epic Roasthouse, Fifth Floor, Luce, Lulu, Mexico DF, One Market, WaterBar, and Town Hall.

In New York (I only looked at the Manhattan listings), venues that received notable cocktail list designation are: Craftsteak, The Redhead, Eleven Madison park, 'inoteca e liquori bar, Chinatown Brasserie, Double Crown, Gotham Bar & Grill, Mas, Minetta Tavern, Allen & Delancy, Rayuela, The Stanton Social, Acquavit, Rogue Tomate, Bar Masa, Kittichai, Pulic, Savoy, Macao Trading Co, Marc Furgione, Daniel, and Ouest. This is 22 venues by my count.

New York venues included in the guide that did not receive the notable cocktail list designation include: Momofuko Ssam Bar, WD-50, The Modern, Per Se, and The Odeon.

Seeing which venues are included and which are not leads me to believe that this designation defines "notable" as being noted in the press, or heavily advertised by the venue itself. The cocktails at La Mar and Epic Roasthouse are generally solid and well-executed; those at Michael Mina and Boulevard in my experience have been some of the best in the city. But none of these venues has had many write-ups in the media. Yet the drinks at these venues are far better than some that did make the list. Particularly confusing are high-volume drink venues like Americano that didn't make the list, while others like Chaya Brasserie did.

The New York list is confusing to me also but as I don't live there I can't say what's really going on. I just noticed that most of the top cocktail spots are not included at all (it is a food guide at its core, so this could be the cause). Any New Yorkers reading this, I hope you'll include your insights in the comments.

Michelin Guides are famous for their anonymous inspectors who travel the world doing these reviews and doling out stars for restaurants, but I'll bet their "notable cocktail list" designations aren't part of the review process. They seem to pick up that information from media instead- and as a member of the cocktail media I've got a pretty good perspective on what/where other cocktail writers and myself have covered and not. I don't find many of the choices offensively wrong; just slightly inconsistent with reality. Who is doing these reviews after all, reviewers or... me?

And, just saying, if Michelin is looking for people to do real cocktail menu reviews I'm available.

It's a good sign that they've acknowledged in these new editions that cocktails are important in fine dining- a great step towards noting that cocktails are a culinary craft and not merely flavored intoxicants.

Speaking of fine dining, I also noticed this: Very few restaurants that receive a Michelin star are on the notable cocktail menu list.

In SF, only Range, Aziza, and Ame received both a Michelin star and a notable cocktail list designation. In Manhattan, one-starred Gotham Bar & Grill, Minetta Tavern, Rogue Tomate, and Marc Furgione all did, and restaurant Daniel received a Michelin 3-star rating as well as a cocktail designation.

I think this says something about the Michelin rating system, but more about cocktails and fine dining: the restaurateurs are (still) not paying enough attention to cocktails. If you're at an expensive, white tablecloth, Michelin one-star restaurant and the bartender pours some unbalanced, lukewarm Lychee Martini, you should have your star removed. At least in my book.

Bonus Boothby

2009-11-03T14:00:53-08:00

The good folks at Anchor Distilling have reprinted Cocktail Boothby's American Bartender. About a year or so they put out an edition of the book, but this summer they added more to it. In addition to Boothby's text, there is an introduction about drinking in San Francisco around the turn of the century, a biography of Boothby, pictures of venues where Boothby worked in San Francisco and beyond, and other historical documents such as letters of recommendation from Boothby's previous employers. In the back of the book is a handwritten copy of an addenda, probably for a later revision, with additional recipes written sometime after 1909, and possibly written by Boothby himself. It was found tucked into one of the few remaining copies of the book left after the 1906 earthquake and fire.

Boothby was the most famous San Francisco bartender of his day, working around the Bay Area and eventually behind the bar at the Palace Hotel. That's one of a few places he worked that are standing today, so I plan to do some research on the other venues because a Boothby tour could be kinda fun.

Within the recipes there are some treats as well. Boothby includes a recipe for "Water, Hot." I'm not sure when the first instance of the word "muddler" (instead of "toddy stick") was used, but Boothby uses it for his Brandy Julep.

In the book's addendum there are other recipes credited to local bartenders- the Champagne Cup (pineapple, white wine, Batavia arrack, champagne) by Geo Suff of the Palace Hotel, and the Stinger (creme de menthe and cognac) credited to "J.C. O'Connor, proprietor of the handsomest cafe for gentlemen in the world, corner Eddy & Market Streets, S.F.".

I am tempted to try this drink:

Breck and Brace
A '49ers Beverage

Fill a small bar glass with water and throw it out again, then fill the glass with bar sugar and throw that out, leaving the glass apparently frosted inside. Pour in a jigger of cognac then fill the glass with cold champagne. Then smile.

Not all the drinks sound as delicious. The Golden Slipper, for example, layers goldwasser atop an egg yolk atop Yellow Chartreuse. The Knickebein is a shot with egg yolk and egg white used separately in a drink. (At least one brave soul has tried it at home.)

Boothby offers practical advice too, such as "Do not serve a frosted glass to a gentleman who wears a mustache, as sugar adheres to that appendage and causes great inconvenience." There is also advice about the impossibility of listing accurate recipes for sour/sweet balancing, as each lime/lemon is different. He calls this "one of the most important secrets in barkeeping" that can only be acquired by practice.

All in all, this book a worthy addition to any cocktail/San Francisco historian's cabinet.

Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails Book Review

2009-11-03T06:00:00-08:00

This spin-off of the famous Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide shows just how far from the standard format the series has come. The Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails book is edited by wine/spirits writer Anthony Giglio and Jim Meehan of New York's awesome bar PDT, and contains recipes from the who's who of cocktails today: Eric Alperin, Jeff Berry, Jacques Bezuidenhout, and Jamie Boudreau are just the first four mixologists listed alphabetically out of 46 contributors.

Unfortunately their individual recipes are not credited in the book but that's about my only complaint.

The drinks are divided into Seasonal Sippers (using seasonal ingredients), Perfect Punches (tons of them), Hot & Steamy, Rich & Creamy, and Highly Spirited. Despite this being a holiday recipe book, these are the types of drinks I enjoy all year.

Many of the flavors in the book are deep, rich, and heavy. There are recipes with Islay whisky, maple syrup, aquavit, and mezcal; tons with Benedictine, port, and sherry; and I'm pretty sure this book contains the highest concentration of tequila recipes of any holiday book ever written. Heck, it contains more tequila recipes than 99% of all cocktail books on the market.

Tempting drinks in the book include the Bitter End #2, containing Campari, Yellow Chartreuse, blood orange juice, and champagne; the Abbots & Friars with Benedictine, sloe gin, and Abby ale; the Duckboot with aquavit, mezcal, hot chocolate, and hot sauce; and the Corenwyn Alexander with corenwyn genever, creme de cacao, and milk.

I already published the recipe for the Pumpkin Steamer from the book here.

Most of the recipes in the book, like this one, aren't incredibly difficult to produce and do not include too many infusions that take months to make before you even get to the drink. However there are many ingredients that the home mixologist won't have in stock (see above) so you shouldn't expect to pick up this book and make all the drinks on the same night without a serious detour to the liquor warehouse.

Overall this is an incredible collection of recipes with very cool and sometimes obscure (yet obtainable) ingredients. I say ignore the whole "holiday" part of the book title and buy the book whenever you get the chance.

And if you get a chance, sign up for Alcademics A-Plus, an email list only for giveaways. This weekend (November 6, 2009) I'll be giving away five copies of this great cocktail book.

Spice & Ice by Kara Newman Book Review

2009-11-02T07:00:00-08:00

Out now from Chronicle Books is Spice & Ice by Kara Newman. Newman is a columnist for Chili Pepper magazine, and as that and the title would indicate, the book is full of recipes for cocktails with various hot spices.

The book's first section holds a lot of information on spices generally, using spices in cocktails, and many tips and techniques for getting spicy flavors into infusions, bitters, garnishes, and liqueurs. For a book of its (small) size this is a pretty large section, making it one that could be quite useful to people who want to experiment with creating their own drinks in addition to following the recipes in the rest of the book.

The recipes are arranged by season with ingredients fresh to the season or appropriate to be consumed during the season. Some of the drinks are simple spicy additions to known cocktails, such as a Mint Julep with added jalapeno pepper and a jalapeno infused Vodka Martini. Others are more complex and intriguing.

I was particularly interested in the 24 Carrot Cocktail, created by Ryan Magarian and made with horseradish-infused vodka, carrot juice, and mint; the Spicy Pisco Punch invented by Tim Stookey of San Francisco; the Zapple with habanero-infused applejack, whiskey, amaretto, and lemon juice; the Scotch Bonnet by Eben Klemm with habanero-infused scotch and pineapple juice; and the Tandoori Sunrise, made with tamarind, tandoori spices, tequila, ginger liqueur, and orange juice.

I don't see too many obscure ingredients in the recipes, making most of them easily doable by anyone in the country. The book has a good balance of easy-to-adapt drinks that you know with interesting-sounding ones that you don't. I have a particular sweet spot for drinks that are spicy/cool- gimlet with a hot rim or a hot drink with a sugar rim, so many of these cocktails are right up my alley.

Here is a recipe from the book:

Blackberry-Poblano Margarita

The luscious purple color of this drink is a stunner! Taste a berry first to check for sweetness; if it’s not super-sweet, add a tablespoon of sugar when muddling the berries.

1 Tablespoon fresh blackberries
1 Tablespoon diced poblano peppers (or 1 1/2, if very mild)
1 ounce silver tequila
3/4 ounce Cointreau

In a cocktail shaker, muddle blackberries and poblano peppers. Shake together with tequila, Cointreau, and ice, and strain into a martini glass.

Want to win one of five copies of Spice & Ice by Kara Newman? Sign up for the Alcademics A-Plus email list and you'll have pretty good chance of doing so. The contest will run the weekend of November 6th, 2009.

Also, Kara Newman will be in San Francisco for a book launch at Cantina on November 9th, from 5:30 - 7:30. Pop on by for a cocktail.