The fine friends of Leopold's came and showed us some really nice products at this weeks wsbg.org meeting. I was a amazed at the new york apple whiskey and remarkably surprised at the french press espresso liquor they had. Everything we tried today was great in my opinion. That includes the Bakon that a friend brought in.
So since I've been in the mood of rehashing old bits, and its baseball season again, AND I am going to Ichiro bobblehead night tomorrow with an old friend that was the first person I was happy with as a manager and taught me the importance of being fast, I figured I'm awake at three with nothing better to do once again.
T.W.I.B. #8 - Uninformed customers. Its part of the job, and I'm working on better customer service. I know when I sit down and order a beer and a shot, I want a beer and a shot.. I want a beer and a shot and don't want to be upsold to some beer and whiskey mix. However some orders are still funny to hear.
a. " Can I have a Lime Margarita?" yup, yes you can b. "How much is well beer? uh, well is usually a term used for liquor while beers are usually either on tap, or referred to as draft.
T.W.I.B. #9 - Bartending is the new Rock n' Roll The parallels are there. I spent ten years chasing that dragon and still have the itch to play music but I've been over analyzing this personal connection moreso lately. You still want to have people show up and have a good time, however people who go to bars are spending on booze and not shirts and cd's. Instead of a catchy song it is a delicious drink. I didn't get to see the guy at work, because I was working as well, but the people at Vessel had Erick Castro from San Francisco in town and I got to hang out two of the nights and it had the same feel from back in the day when I'd host touring bands and we'd talk into the late night at shitty late night diners. I'm looking forward to next week when Daniel from the Teardrop will be in town.
This month’s Mixology Monday is all about twists on classic cocktails, that for one reason or another do an even better job than the drinks upon which they are based.
This could be as simple as a classic Margarita with a dash with a special touch that completes it, or maybe as complicated as a deconstructed Hemingway Daiquiri with a homemade rum foam/caviar/jus/trifle. It might be taking a classic like a Manhattan and using Tequila instead of Bourbon?
I've lately been tackling the blue blazer as its been becoming ever more popular around town and hey, I wanna do em too! Thing is a lot of people aren't fans of scotch and even more so of a peaty cask strength scotch. So this is just basically a twist on the blazer, or even moreso a twist on the prep of a hot toddy. Its sacrilegious to some to vary on a Jeremiah Thomas recipe, but I'll say I like this bourbon version a tad better.
The Bookers Blazer It is preferred that at least two of these are ordered as more liquid means an easier time pouring and keeping the stream of liquid fire going. You will need 2 metal containers preferably with angled pours on them. At one bar I use coffee milk steamer tins and another place I use metal water pitchers. If you want to, you can go out and find classic pewter mugs. 2 oz. Bookers Bourbon Hot Water Lemon Wedge 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
Fill one metal container with hot water (boiling water works best) Allow the metal container to warm and then transfer hot water to the other metal container as well as the glasses you will be using for the drinks. Add Bookers Bourbon to the first warmed metal container. After the second container and the glass are warmed empty the container and put the water from the glass into the second container. Squeeze lemon wedge and add honey to the glass. Carefully set the Bookers afire and pour about half into the container. Carefully pour the (hopefully) flaming mix between the two containers and hope for a pretty blue stream of fire. Pour into glass and smile.
p.s. cheers to Andrew for the conversation we had at the zig zag, both showing up by ourselves, but sitting down and talking shop for an evening.
I mentioned this drink a log time ago and since its Easter, aka the celebration of the dead rising like a zombie, (oh hush, I was raised catholic) I decided to post about it. Also there was a last minute decision to close for this Sunday.
On a funny sidebar: I was hanging with an old roommate, someone who I also worked with in the service industry, share the same birthday with and took to a bar for their 21st ( all the same dude ) that I haven't seen in a few months and went for an absolutely delicious dinner at Branzino. As for the food, I am big on good Italian. My first job was as a dishwasher for Pizzuto's at age 14 and have dug italian food ever since. After words I wanted to show him the gastropub. The chefs and the manager were sitting down and we sat down alongside them and ordered our drinks. Back to the bunny.....I've been making this drink a bit often and for the first time that I've seen it was ordered for table service. Not at our table, but one a few down. The fall out was the guy working thought I had ordered four egg white drinks during the middle of a rush. Egg drinks take time and I don't recommend them when its busy time.
So instead of a molecular cadbury bunny....
I give you the Peter Cottontail.
2 oz Gin 1 oz lime 1 oz simple egg white dash of Rhubarb bitters Cucumber
hand blend the above ingredients and in a pint glass add 2 slices of cucumber and ice. Add mix and shake vigorously. Garnish with a floated cucumber slice or if feeling festive use two slices as rabbit ears.
So to start its simply one of my favourite records of all time. I've heard tales of musicians drunk at house parties sitting down with nothing but an acoustic, a bass and a snare drum and playing this record front to back. For a lot of the musicians that I was around this was The Last Word. Everyone wished they had made this record. To sum it up Jimmy Eat World just did a tour where they played the album Clarity from front to back and just released the live recording via their website at Jimmyeatworld.com. Seriously if you like this record you need to pay the 8.99& and download it.
One Small Instrument.
2 oz. Cazadores .5 oz Heering .5 oz Licor 43 .5 oz Benedictine 1 dash Rhubarb bitters ( not pictured ) Stir and strain into a chilled, absinthe rinsed glass.
So its been since like last june since I did a rant. I found out a few people actually read this thing, and doing the natural "oh I don't want to offend anyone" attitude I kinda dropped the O.A,A. bit but I am reviving it, cause I had a few conversations that could be beneficial for the general non bar familiar crowd.
Tip Your Bartender
One of my farourite songs from one of my fav bands, and I actually carded Daryl at one part of my bar career.
Advice on tipping. This is a taboo subject, it should not be talked about, but ............I'M GOIN THERE!!
p.s. I heard state restaurant tax went up???(unconfirmed) if it is 10% like I heard then a 20% tip is easy math.
1. Mr. I'm buying drinks. I fully respect and have totally been the guy that says, "can I get 10 shots of *fillintheblank* and they are all on me! ex: 10 shots @ 6$ = 60$, 20% Should be 12$ but that is f*cking ridiculous. 10 looks good and 5$ is a minimum. Yes I'm talking to you, Ms. I'll have 8 shots of awesome german liquor jagermiester @ 6$ each and leave a 50$ looking like a bigshot.
2. Ms. Everyone is giving me cash and its gong on my card. I really do love u lots. It is SO much easier to run just one card, but the thing you always fail to realize is that a cash tip is better than tipping on your card. Cash at the end of the night can mean not walking home or lunch the next day. Remember cash is king.
3. The buyback This was a hot topic on Jeff's site, ( i made the mistake of signing up for email responses and got one for every post. ) but had one of my most curious new customers ask me about it tonight, which brought about this whole post.
I really should know this guys name by now, but our conversation is minimal. He usually comes in and gets a rye Manhattan or a red hook with rye off the shelf, reads a book, has a second of the same, the for a third will ask for something rye based.
Tonight I made:
2.5 oz. Rittenhouse 100 .5 oz. Benedictine 3 dashes Peychaud's Stir above and strain into a chilled Fernet-Branca rinsed glass Flamed Lemon garnish.
So he asked me proper etiquette about tipping when a bartender bought him a drink.
Semi-flummoxed I gave him my opinion. If a bartender buys you a drink take it at face value. If that bartender is not a douchebag and a thief they are actually paying for that drink and that monetary value is actually the bartenders responsibility. Leaving a tip equivalent to the cost of that drink is proper.
