A tale of two cocktails.

So this MxMo post is going to offer up two things.

My current favourite of he classics has been the Sangaree which I've been playing around with variations consists of any base spirit plus lemon, sugar and water. According to Imbibe a Sangaree is a cocktail consisting of a wine, a spoonful of sugar and water. I was described this drink containing lemon as well and want that considered into the mix. My favourite drink of this summer is a cooler which is basically an Applejack Sangaree.

Served in a tall collins glass:
1.5 oz. Applejack
Juice of half a lemon
.5 oz. simple syrup
Top with water.

Wiki says...

Applejack is a strong alcoholic beverage produced from apples, originating from the American colonial period. It is made by concentrating hard cider, either by the traditional method of freeze distillation, or by true evaporative distillation. The term "applejack" derives from "jacking", a term for freeze distillation.
Known as "Jersey Lightning", applejack's long history in New Jersey includes once being used as currency to pay road construction crews during the colonial period.
Around 1760, George Washington discovered this unique beverage, asked for and received the Laird family recipe and soon introduced Applejack to the Virginia Colony.[1]
From the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than ten percent, the concentrated result contains thirty to forty percent alcohol, is slightly sweet, and usually tastes and smells of apples. Freeze distilling concentrates all of the alcohol by-products of fermentation including ethanol, methanol and fusel alcohols. Distillation by evaporation can separate these as they have different boiling points. Due to the relatively higher cost and lower yield of alcohol produced from fruit fermentation, commercially produced applejack may be composed of apple brandy diluted with grain spirits until the drink reaches the desired alcohol content.
The oldest distillery in America is Scobeyville, New Jersey's Laird & Co.,[2] a producer of applejack (This is the same Laird family from which George Washington received his recipe). The "Apple Jack" that Laird & Company produces is an apple brandy, produced by distillation by evaporation and blended with neutral spirits.

Applejack is honestly one of my favourite spirits and I'm curious if one of my Applejack recipes is known under another name. If you can find my Newjack known under another name i'll give you a night of drinking on me.

The Newjack
3.5 parts Applejack
.5 part Maraschino Liquor
2-3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

WSBG day 2 / I have been busy

Today was the 2nd meeting and had some new faces and outlined some more structure to the Guild. Things are going amazingly well for bringing together so many strong minded individuals and we are all putting our teammate hands in there. I'm happy to say i am on the treasury alongside Casey. Still a ton of work for everyone but things are rolling along well.

So I have been settling into my new schedule and having 3 days off and still need to write about my Oregon trip two weeks ago as well as Vegas and not sleeping for 48+ hours and the hilarity that ensued. This week I am staying home and will spin those yarns a little later this week. I'm still tired and recovering.

also, Spur got a write-up in the PI and Dave looks pretty bad ass.

WSBG day 1 / Bowling!

We actually did it!

Yesterday was the first meting of the WSBG The founding members of the Washington State Bartenders Guild were: Andrew B., Andrew F., Anu, Casey, Charles, David, Erik, ,Keith, Kevin, Will, & Zane. The eleven (if you say it fast enough it sounds like Elvaan {I feel like a total geek and i'm playing ffxi} sat down and had a great discussion about what the objectives and hopes were for this group and there is a solid group the wants this to happen.

Eric Witsoe turned 40 and had an awesome rooftop BBQ where I had some delicious Champagne courtesy of someone named Dr. Hurt. After that the crew went bowling. I've ben bowling since i was 13 and damnit if I'm gonna bowl I wanted my gear. Put on the ol' wednesday night league shirt and grabbed my ball and shoes and met up with everyone at the Garage. My game is hella rusty but I did finish the first game with 4 strikes. It felt great to have a Turkey tenth again.

The Oregon Trail

So I'm taking back the previously mentioned recipe and renaming it the Northwest Trail. Works great with any northwest gin so people get to choose the path they take similar to the Oregon Trail Game

Just another manic monday.

I wish it was Sunday.

I'll be a bit of a fanboy and say I had a few instances tonight where I was making drinks for some really rad people. Early in the evening I had Robert Hess and he gave me bartenders choice. I tried out an experimental cocktail I've been working on and while its a drink I'm working on for Spur, I did a variation at Sun tonight. In the classic cocktail spirit I'm going to offer variations #1 and #2. Its the hessgin. Its pronounced like Hessian, could be spelled hesitian, or for fucks sake be called the Charlton Heston. I like naming drinks almost as much as I hate naming drinks.

Hessgin #1 (spur version)
1.5 oz. Gin
.5 oz lime
.5 oz Licor 43
dash of Fee bros. Lemon bitters
drop of Rose Flower water on top

Hessgin #2 (Sun version)
1.5 oz Gin
Juice of half a lime
.5 oz. Tuaca
dash of Fee bros. orange bitters
drop of Orange Flower water on top.

later in the evening I had Andrew Bohrer sit down right before Keith and his new wife (who wouldn't let me charge them nothing as a belated wedding gift >.< ) sat down. Ended up talking more about the guild idea as Andrew showed off some things he had been working on. I am honesty curious about the homemade blue curacao recipe. I have made up such recipes as :

Blue Myself

1.5 oz. Vodka or Gin
Juice of half a lime
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 oz Simple
1/4 of Blur Curacao

I need to sleepp. I am going to Oregon tomorrow!

T.W.I.B. - This week in bartending

Back again.

TWIB #4 : The Bulleit Dinner

As I'm sipping on a Bulleit and h2o I wanna give the highlights without giving away the whole scoop. Things went better then expected. Mr. Bulleit himself is a venerable ol' gentleman and I was happy to meet him and have pictures taken afterwards. Dave put together an incredible program that paired cocktails with a 7 course meal and all were top notch. There is expected to be a nice write up in several placeas and I'll post them when I see em.

It was supposed to be my day off so as soon as possible I got out of there and tried to catch up on my usual thursday and went to the Zigzag and asked Murray to make me anything not using Bulleit which got one of the biggest laughs that I've ever gotten from him. Unexpectedly, Keith sat down next to me sporting a sleek new summertime / p.o.w. camp haircut and we finally got to talk about the idea of the Washington bartenders guild at length. We bonced ideas off of Murray and Eric for a bit (aside: I heard Eric broke his arm and I want to wish him a speedy recovery and want to say the guy who gets to cover his shifts is one lucky son of a bitch. We talked a bit about my upcoming Vegas trip to see Motorhead and discussed what concerts were worth traveling to see. Get well soon.) and I am hoping they will want to be a part. There's a lot to do in prep but I want to help get the guild off the ground. I'm going to Oregon for a few days this week and am looking forward to picking Jeffery Morganthaler's mind for advice. That and I want some Everclear

TWIB #5: I quit and didn't throw a fit.



I never want to see a ticket like this again. Yes, it says "Light on vodka". they deserve a punch in the ear.

My last night at the Sitting Room was slow as hell and it justified my decision. I will miss everyone there and wish em the best. ( I just mt'd beat and contemplated leaving it.) I ended the night by discounting a shot of the Remy XO and quickly making a beeline to Sun. There I ran into the girl for the first O.A.A. segment only to find out that her Grandmother had passed away. Turns out her Grandma was my Grandma's bestfriend and someone I had known all my life. I felt very small and like a very big asshole at the same time.

Work is great but..

nothing sux like walking in and finding your dog has been sick all night. I'm starving but can't fathom eating due to the stench. My parents have agreed to watch her twice over the next two weeks and I hope she gets back in good health.