I was caught and slightly inspired by a story recently about variations on classics and I will admit that finding old recipes and making the basic recipe work for what we can get on hand is always a fun challenge. I found this recipe in Boothby's 1934 World Drinks and How to Mix Them.
So I haven't done the research to know what a jigger was in 1934 and I'm not sure what kind of spoon Mr. Bill was using but the recipe calls for equal parts gin and cointreau and equal parts grenadine and lemon. I've tinkered a bit and want to report the following:
Using shitty ingredients like well gin, triple sec, sweet/sour mix, and rose;s grenadine makes this a bad drink. Using a higher proof gin like Junipero or Bellringer to offset the sweetness of the Cointreau works amazingly. If using a london dry change the ratio to 2 to 1 and go a touch heavier on the lemon and aslo the grenadine. Using Lime instead of using Lemon makes for another nice variation on this old school spring time classic.
I've also been a fan of garnishing by taking a lemon (or lime) wheel and cutting like 10% out and spearing with a cherry.
I'm ready for my vacation. ready to get the hell out of town. I've been sworn to so much secrecy its driving me nuts. I made a decision that I want to see if I can stick to. I know I cant but we'll see. I wish I could just say the witty thing and not worry about the funny situation. I think I want to spend a day or two alone. I want to have people over. I want this to all make sense.
I worked the past 4 nights, forgot to have dinner last night , and so I went out and had a Deluxe NY steak and baked potato for lunch today.. which led to me napping til 8pm. I haven't had a decent sleep schedule lately.
So Update stuffs...
I will be attending Tales this year and am looking forward to it very much. There is too much to want to go to, but I think I'll be happy with my selections of seminars and tastings. Had dinner last wednesday courtesy of Bacardi, where Willy(ie?) Ramos was there answering any questions about rum and Bacardi in specific. It was a pleasure to see him go head to head with everyone at that table. Some mouths were bigger than others. I have been asked to be a part of the new venture that will be Tavern Law and am looking forward to working down the street from my good friend Casey at Barrio whom I met up with at zig zag tonight before heading to the Irish house for what developed into an evening of gambling on bar touch screen games. Really fun times.
Tonight was pretty much a 9, the extra 1 would have been if I wasn't sleeping alone again with the pooch.
Today in the mail at work was the new edition of Food and Wine Cocktails for the 2009 year. I am extremely proud to say that Sun Liquor was named in the best 100 bars in the country. ( I love how this is my follow-up to a rant about bullshit reviews. )
Joining that barstaff has been the best thing in a while to ever happen to me personally and professionally.
Personal aside:
June 1st marked the 4th anniversary of my brother Steve being killed in action in Iraq. After his passing I turned to the bottle pretty hard, subsequently I lost 2 jobs, couldn't handle a relationship, and my music career wasn't the same passion it once was.
I am thinking tonight I may be feeling a bit like my old self.
Back to work:
Tonight I had a friend in town from San Diego who brought a ton of friends and kept happy hour lively. I saw a ton of old faces tonight, not that they are old, but I saw some people I hadn't seen in a few years. During this time someone who for the sake of argument I will label "Bartending Friend #1" henceforth referred to #1, bring in one of his employees during happy hour and enjoyed our patio. I had hung out not too long ago with said employee at someone who will referred to as "Bartender #2"s 30th birthday party. #1 had already closed out when #2 showed up, but re-opened his tab with beers and shots. A few rounds of drinks went back and forth and hopefully a good time was had by all. A bit later #2 gave his girl a piggyback ride down the street. Said employee had already closed out #1's tab and left #1 in a heated discussion with my roomate who I also work with at job #2. #`1 was talking about how knowing recipes does not constitute being a good bartender. I fully agree. "How many Margarita's can you make in 5 minutes???"
Personal aside #2
Me and the roomie have come to fisticuffs in the past and tonight was the first time I saw that same fire in his eyes directed at someone else and I'm glad nothing happened. #1 was talking as much trash as he was talking sense but was a pleasure to watch and be on the other side of the stick ( you did tell me the importance of the bartender being the most sober person in the room. ) and..... although he was trying to make a point of how much he had taught me, I will reiterate we have never worked behind the same bar. I hold him in the upper echelon of people I have learned from while sitting at a bar, but the first people to ever teach me anything about working behind a good bar were Erik and Will from Sun.
I meant to write this up a few weeks back when Tank was in town, but the timing didn't seem right, or more so, we were up every night drinking and I didn't have time, and subsequently forgot to mention it. Its been a bit since I spun a yarn so being awake and dehydrated I have no other option.
I want to talk about the power of bullshit reviews.
Yes, I'm pointing at you Yelp.com-ers. "See you on Yelp!"... See you in hell.......
I'm also shaking a finger at last months Seattle Met which named the top 25 bars in town. Ya, you got some things right, However, I feel half your list was simply the people that pay for advertising. You left off some very good places and featured some that frankly couldn't make a proper drink to save their life. The magazine said its all about classics these days. So I made a point to visit a few and give them the drinkboy challenge of an old fashioned, followed by a classic, followed by dealers choice. There was a ton of let downs. You loved the new speakeasy in town and name dropped one of their bartenders, guess what..... she isn't there anymore ( however their new guy is a SOLID hire ), you loved the *uck, guess what, fuck the *uck, it fucking sucks. The hotel bar celebrating its 100th anniversary? the guy they brought in to revamp the program quit because the management is awful. Press doesn't understand what constitutes good and bad in most cases, because they aren't doing what they are writing about 90% of the time. What a lot of these bullshit writers don't realize is a lot of new business owners actually pay attention to the bullshit you are saying. Which makes working in these places a lot more harder for some people.
Do you still hate me? 2 oz. 100 proof rye 1/4 oz. Benedictine 1/4 oz Maraschino 3 dashes Peychaud bitters One barspoon absinthe 3 large cubes of ice
Combine all ingredients in a double rocks glass and stir. No garnish.
So the song:
So the lyrics:
Been hearing about you. All about your disapproval. Still I remember the way I used to move you. I wrote you a letter. I heard it just upset you. Why don't you tell me? How can I do this better? Are you out there? Do you hear me? Can I call you? Do you still hate me? Are we talking? Are we fighting? Is it over? Are we writing? We're getting older. But we're acting younger. We should be smarter. It seems we're getting dumber. I have a picture of you and me in Brooklyn. On a porch, it was raining. Hey, I remember that day. And I miss you.
