Do You Still Hate Me?

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.

I was inspired by this footage of Spencer losing his shit at Sasquatch.

So the recipe:



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.

Epicness.

Today was pretty rad.

first of all Spur got a great write-up in the paper and was on the front page, where I was named on the deep bench of talented mixologists we have there. While I was feeling good about that I got a text from Mr. Morganthaler saying he was in town with the Preacher, aka, Danny Shoe, also known by Daniel Shoemaker. Prefunctory cocktails at Vessel, followed by dinner at Spur, followed by a long stint at the Zig Zag. I had probably the most fun I've had today in a while. A long evening of drinking has made me a bit short-winded, but there is nothing better than a fun evening with some great like minded people.

MxMo : Amaro

So this months MxMo is being held over at Chuck's site and the topic is Amaro. I didn't cross paths with Chuck when he was in town, but heard quite a tale or two.

The topic for this month is Amaro, which refers to the bitter liqueurs usually drunk as an after-meal digestive, either alone (neat or on the rocks) or in some kind of mixed drink or cocktail. They tend to all share certain characteristics -- drinking bitters are generally made of alcohol with any number of herbs, plus sugar and some kind of coloring. The word "amaro" means bitter in Italian, and although the more famous drinking bitters tend to come from Italy our amaro theme this month is most certainly not limited to that country. Amaro, amer, amargo, what have you. Italy, Spain, France, America, Serbia, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland ... wherever somebody drinks a bitter liqueur, that's a source for your drink this month.

I could wholly write this bits in praise of Fernet-Branca, but instead have something else fun in mind for you. I like the process that occurs when someone is becoming a fan of something that is not in their usual taste portfolio, i.e, a bitter. Too many of us were weened on sweet and there's a whole wide world of flavors out there.

So to be obligatorily contradictory I wanted to show off a drink that I made a while back. It uses Averna, which is a sweeter than usual amaro. pictures will be up this friday.

The Blanchard.

Take three strips of orange zest and place them in a pint and cover with a quarter ounce of simple syrup. Using a misto, roast the orange zest. Add 2 ounces of Laird's Applejack, a half ounce of Cointreau, a half ounce of Averna, a barspoon of orange juice and a barspoon of Peychaud bitters. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?

Moar updates soon.

I've always wanted to maintain the fact this blog is strictly a personal endeavor that somehow saw the light of day. I have a few bits in the hopper that I just need to write out, but I've been busy doing things that I haven't wanted to write about. Once in a while I see some really cool things when working, tonight was one of em, and I want to share.

I had a semi-know local bartender who happens to be a brand rep for St. Germain who was hanging out with a rep from 42 bleow and also this young lady, as well as the local rep for the Sazerac company taking up 4/7 seats of the bar.. Meanwhile a few other great bartenders were at tables while members of the L.A. Galaxy FC were having dinner.

Hell and Yes!

Now with updates!

I been on a bloogng kick, so what about it?



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.

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

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.