Bartender Journey - Cocktails. Spirits. Bartending Culture. Libations for your Ears. (Brian Weber is a Professional Bartender and Cocktail & Spirit Enthusiast.)

In this difficult time of the Bud Lite, um, Corona virus...we are sending good vibes/wishes to stay healthy mental, physically and financially.  That last one...financially is really tough right now, I know.

Before we go any further, please understand that while I am a professional Bartender, I am not a lawyer, doctor, financial planner or anything like that.  Please go to bartenderjourney.net/disclaimer to read our Disclaimer.

We talk with Peter Grasso of the Monmouth Whisky Club and Julia Ritz Toffoli founder of Women Who Whiskey.

Great Education with founder of Hiatus Tequila, Kristopher DeSoto for Cinco de Mayo! For a deep dive into Tequila Education, check out the Hiatus Tequila YouTube page. 

Brian’s Picks:

• Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s The Bar Book, Elements of Cocktail Technique  is always my #1 recommendation. (He was a guest on Episode 113.)
• Esquire Drinks, An Opinionated & Irreverent Guide to Drinking - David Wondrich (out of print, but is available used on Amazon for as little as $2.81!) An old book - 2002, but a goodie.  Mr. Wondrich, who is the end all authority on cocktail history wrote this book for Esquire Magazine.  If you ever want the definitive answer on the history of a cocktail, just google the name of the drink and "Wondrich". (He was a guest on Episode 110.)
• The Joy of Mixology The Consummate Guide to the Barternend’s Craft - Oh Gaz....I miss you. Originally published in 2003, there is an updated version of this book.  (He was a guest on Episode 175.)
• The Curious Bartender,  The Artistry and Alchemy of Creating the Perfect Cocktail - Tristian Stephenson.   Smart guy.  I love how in this book he presents a classic cocktail, gives the classic specs, and then his interpretation of an improvement on the recipe. (He was a guest on Episode 122.)
• Regarding Cocktails - Sasha Petraske (Foreword by Dale DeGroff), Shsah changed everything in our industry. (He's NOT been a guest on the show, he unfortunately passed away in 2015... I never had the opportunity to meet the man, but he influenced so many).

Benny’s Picks:

• Liquid Intelligence, The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail by Dave Arnold.  The Science of Cocktails?  Who would have thought?  A great and well thought out book.
• Smuggler’s Cove, Exotic Cocktails, Rum,and the Cult of Tiki by Martin and Rebecca Cate (He was a guest on Episode 186 .) A beautiful book full of great information and beautiful tiki drinks.
• Beach Bum Berry Remixed, Gallery of Tiki Drinks by Jeff Berry.  A real tiki book, full of old school tiki recipes.
• PDT Cocktail Book, The Complete Bartender’s Guide From the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan (He was a guest on Episode 77.) Meehan is a true gentleman who created a perfect Speakeasy.  Every Bartender should own this book.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Meehan’s Bartender Manual by Jim Meehan (Featured on Episode 89.)  If you ever even considered owning your own bar, you must read this book from cover to cover.
• The Flavor Bible, The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen age and Andrew Dornenburg.  An outstanding book on flavors - what goes with what.
• Cocktails Made Simple: Easy & Delicious Recipes for the Home Bartender by Brian Weber and Amin Benny.  What to make cocktails at home, or get a foundation for becoming a professional Bartender?  This book is authored by host of Bartender Journey, Brian Weber and co-author Amin Benny.

 

More from Mexico, as we drive around the Town of Tequila in the back of a pickup truck drinking Tequila Fuenteseca Reserva 18 year old Extra Anejo bottled in 1995.

I have just returned from Mexico as a guest of Tequila Fortelaza. It was an amazing trip. I had such a great time but also learned so much about Tequila. 

Coincidentally, less than a week before the trip, I took a 6 Hour Tequila certification course sponsored by Hiatus Tequila and presented by the Tequila Regulatory Council or CRT. 

Listen to the Bartender Journey Podcast #291 for a Deep Dive into Tequila!

For this information in text form, see the blog post.

 

We chat with Chris Timmerman from Dano's Tequila.

Today we talk with the very interesting Jacob Briars - Global Advocacy Director at the  Bacardi Company. Sorry there may be a few weird audio dropouts. Seems like I need to buy a couple new mic cables. 

Tennessee was recently hit with a series of very destructive tornadoes. Nashville was hit very hard, which is a great town and one that has a lot of hospitality workers. 

Our love and thoughts are we those impacted by this tragedy, but we’d also like to provide information on relief efforts for industry professionals in need of assistance led by the Nashville USBG Chapter.

We shared the GoFundMe page and a list of businesses offering support and services on social media, we would also like to highlight two immediate avenues: the Bartender Emergency Assistance Program through the National USBG Foundation that provides emergency relief grants to bartenders, and a family charity partner, Core Gives, that provides assistance to service industry families.

Follow the Facebook page for Nashville USBG that provides up-to-date information on the list of places impacted and bars that are hiring for those displaced.

 

We, at the Bartender Journey, send our support and wishes for a speedy recovery. 

Bartender Journey Episode 293

On Episode No. 294 we talk with Frank Ciulla, Educator, Scientist and Founder of Hudson Educational Services about COVID-19, commonly known as "Coronavirus".

OUR FULL DISCLAIMER HERE FOR YOUR REVIEW.​

We talk with Chad Cadden & Bill Varnell, founders of Whiskey, Bourbon, and Scotch Enthusiasts, (WBSE).

Also joining us is author of Beginner's Guide to Whiskey, Sam Green.

You can find WBSE on Facebook or their website.

 

Friend of the podcast Walter Easterbrook joins us to talk about how he's still hustling during quarantine.  He also share some great resources from his recent Beyond the Bar series.

Keynote + Industry Panel Password: 0p.x58w4 

Virtual Happy Hour Password: 3f%=%*?6 

Content Creation Password: 6c*.!J67 

Obtaining a brand Job Password: 4S^6#N78 

 

Thanks to the Beyond the Bar sponsors who are supporting the community:

Winebow

Sazerac

Los Vecinos mezcal

San Matias

Neft Vodka

Pitu

Hazel Alvardo handles the interviewing duties on this episode. She talks to Kurt Maitland who is Deputy Editor of the Whiskey Reviewer website and the curator of the Manhattan Whiskey Club. He just wrote a book called Drink - The Ultimate Cocktail Book.

With all of us Bartenders stuck at home and out of work during quarantine, this might be just the time to start a podcast of your own!

Here's a little jump start for you!

Listen to the Bartender Journey Podcast # 251 with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts,  Android or Stitcher Radio.

This time on the podcast we talk with Bacardi Legacy Global Finalist Moe Isaza. Bacardi Legacy is one of top 2 or 3 most prestigious cocktail competitions in the world.

Also, coming up is Bar Convent Brooklyn. This is an industry conference and is the first time it is being held in The U.S. It is an offspring of Bar Convent Berlin. We speak with Paula November who tells us all about it.

We also want to let you know about an amazing educational opportunity. Bar Methods is run by friends Chris Bidmead and Suzanne Freedman - they do an amazing job.  Its held at the Park South Hotel in Manhattan this year the dates are August 26-29, 2018.   Applications are now open. You can register at barmethods.com

Book of the Week:

Bay Area Cocktails: A History of Culture, Community and Craft by Shanna Farrell. It’s an interesting read about the rebirth of Cocktail Culture. Obviously it focuses the San Francisco area, but it talks about the recent history of the craft cocktail movement

This week on the show we speak with Andrew Watson who is originally from Australia, but now lives and bartends in Sweden. He is competing in the Bacardi Legacy competition.  

Andrew’s Bacardi Legacy Cocktail is called Cubist. Recipe:

45 ml Bacardi Silver | 20 ml dry vermouth | 2.5 ml (or a barspoon) Pastis | 25 ml Prosecco | 20 ml Honey water (1:1) | 25 ml Lemon juice

Follow Andrew’s Bacardi Legacy journey:

• On Instagram
• On YouTube

Our sponsor this week is CAKE POS & Management system from Sysco.

To get started with CAKE, check out trycake.com/bartender.

Bartender Journey listeners get $750 off the activation fee. That's a 75% discount. And with that discount, you get a user-friendly Point of Sale solution that includes cloud reporting and world-class 24/7 support.

We are live from the Bar Convent Brooklyn conference!  Adventures and a talk with our freind Vance Henderson from Monkey Shoulder!

Bar Convent Brooklyn Part 2!

We chat with Bartender Craig Schidelo about Bartending, Competitions and how to advance your career.

We’ll also talk to Sorab Silawri from Filibuster Distillery. Filibuster put on a nice Holiday gathering at Club Macanudo, with some nice cigars and great Filibuster whiskey.

Book of the Week:

Bourbon Curious by Fred Minnick

This book gets into serious detail about Bourbon, with an exploration of many brands broken down into categories: Grain-Forward, Nutmeg-Forward, Carmel-Forward, Cinnamon-Forward, and Select Limited Edition and Special Releases.

Very helpful is the chapter “How to Taste Bourbon”. This chapter gives great practical information about improving your tasting skills and even gives some homework! There are worksheets, for example, what are your top ten memories and what are the aromas associated with them? There is also a long list of flavors that you can expect to smell and taste in Bourbon – everything from Allspice to White Pepper.

 

Cocktail of the Week:

New Yorker

This is from the Speakeasy book from the Employees Only Bar, but Bar Manager Robert Krueger found it in an book from the 1930’s called Booth’s Cocktail Book.

1 ¾ oz high proof Rye, such as Wild Turkey 101

1 oz Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

¾ oz Simple Syrup

Place above ingredients in a Collins glass with ice and give a brief shake, (“short shake”).

Top with 3 oz Club Soda and then float ¾ oz of dry Red Wine on top.  (Try using an iSi Soda Siphon for the Club Soda)

This is a variation on the New York Sour with the addition of Club Soda. A nice drink and very festive looking.

Toast of the Week:

From the book Toasts

Here’s to the present – and to hell with the past.

A health to the future and joy to the last!

It was an eventful Monday this week. Our USBG NY chapter meeting was held in Brooklyn at The Counting Room. It was sponsored by Highland Park scotch.   They welcomed us with some delicious Highland Park Old Fashions and tasted us on the Highland Park 12, and their Magnus, Valkyrie expressions. It was a Viking theme for the afternoon. Jordon Zimmerman from the brand took great care of us and it was another amazing USBG meeting.

It’s the Bartender Journey Podcast #232. Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.

Alan Katz was also at the meeting. His NY Distilling Company is just a few blocks away from The Counting Room, and he invited me to visit, as I had not been to his place before. He may have gotten more than he bargained for because I dragged about 10 friends along with me! Of course he was a very gracious host and we had a nice time checking out the distillery and the great attached bar.

Along for the ride was our great friend Craig Shiedlo who in turn had a friend in tow that he met at a cocktail competition. Enrico Gonzato who is a Bartender at Dandelyan in London. Dandelyan, of course has won many awards, including “World’s Best Cocktail Bar” at the Spirited Awards during Tales of the Cocktail in 2017. Dandelyan was founded by our friend Ryan Chetiyawardana, who we spoke with at the Dead Rabbit on episode 150.

Book of the Week: Ryan Chetiyawardana’s Good Things To Drink, with Mr. Lyan & Friends. This is a beautiful book filled with tons of innovative recipes and gorgeous photography.

Cocktail of the Week:

Perfect Manhattan. It’s the beginning of November and that sounds like just the thing. The Perfect Manhattan splits the vermouth 50/50 sweet and dry. It makes it a little lighter and brighter.

2 oz Rye Whiskey.

½ Dry Vermouth

½ Sweet Vermouth

Dash of Orange Bitters.

Lemon Twist

Unrelated Podcast Suggestion of the Week: Brought to you by Sudio Bluetooth Headphones, making great sounding and great looking headphones in Sweden. Go to sudiosweden.com and use the discount code “bart enderjourney” for 15% off your Sudio wireless headphones and to show your support for the Bartender Journey Podcast. The Unrelated Podcast Suggestion of the Week :

Star Talk with Neil DeGrass Tyson.

Dr. Tyson is an Astrophysicist. He has a wonderful approachable and entertaining way of getting really fascinating information across. He always has a professional comedian as a co host on the show, and you laugh while you learn. Give it a try! Its called Star Talk.

Toast of the Week:

May your blessings outnumber

The shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble avoid you

Wherever you go

This week on the show we talk to Natalie from Beautiful Booze. She travels the world taking amazing photos of her boozy adventures.   She talks to us from Italy.

We’ll talk about cocktail photography and also hear about how she travels full time.

Listen to the Bartender Journey Podcast # 251 with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts,  Android or Stitcher Radio.

Check out Beautiful Booze on all social media and the web site: BeautifulBooze.com

Cocktail of the Week:

I was inspired by a post on Natalie’s Beautiful Booze web site. She did a Burnt Citrus Margarita.

I had a bag of Mandarin Oranges so I thought I’d grill a couple of those and juice them. I just cut them in half and sprinkled a little turbinado sugar and grilled them on the BBQ for a few minutes. I also made some Mandarin Orange round slices for garnish and grilled them as well.

Grilled Mandarin Margarita:

• 2 oz Reposado Tequila
• 1/2 oz Grand Marnier
• 1 oz Grilled Mandarin Orange Juice
• 1 oz of freshly squeezed lime juice.
• 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
• 2 Dashes Orange Bitters
• Black Lava Sea Salt for rimming glasses
• Grilled Mandarin Orange Round for garnish Rim outside of glasses with Sea Salt, leaving a portion of the glass unrimmed. Shake all liquid ingredients with ice. Add fresh ice to rimmed glasses. Strain drink into prepared glasses. Garnish with Orange Round.

Book of the Week:

Drinking Distilled – A User’s Manual by Jeffrey Morgenthaler.

Mr. Morgenthaler’s new book Drinking Distilled – A User’s Manual is, as it says in the title it’s a USER’S Manual. It’s mostly about how to drink like a grown up. There are sections on what to drink when, and for what occasions, how to act in a bar, (should you use your phone at a bar, is it ok send someone a drink at a bar?)

You may have heard me recommend his first book The Bar Book. It is the first book I recommend when someone asks me for a “learn how to Bartender book”. Not just recipes – it’s a manual of how to Bartend.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler was our guest on Bartender Journey on podcast #113

If this show has helped you out, entertained you, informed you, please consider supporting Bartender Journey with a small monthly pledge to our Patreon Campaign.  For the price of a Frappuccino each month you can show your support for this show and help keep it going.

Please follow Bartender Journey on Instagram @BartenderJourney.

Toast of the Week:

To the thirst yet to come.

On Bartender Journey Podcast episode #250 we are honored to welcome back former co-host of the show: Vano!

This week on the podcast we talk to Burlesque Dancer and Bartender Rosie. We caught up with Rosie a while back at Holiday Cocktail Lounge one night when she was behind the bar. Her stage name is Rosie 151.

It's the Bartender Journey Podcast Number 229!  Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.

First, let’s talk a bit about garnishes.

Cutting that fruit - It’s something we do everyday behind the bar, but nobody really talks about it!  I say - take some pride in that task!  You need a sharp knife to cut good looking garnishes.  I carry all my bar tools with me in a bag and I have 2 really sharp small paring knives in there. It makes cutting the fruit a pleasure. These knives are very inexpensive and a worthwhile investment.

The pith - the white parts of the fruit - are bitter and can impart a odd flavor after it sits in a drink for awhile.  Try to remove as much as possible.

Of course when cutting the lemons and oranges you want to remove as many seeds as possible.  What’s worse than getting a lemon seed in your mouth when you are sitting at a bar, trying to make conversation?

It takes a little longer, but what you end up with is some nice fresh looking fruit.

How about twists?  I love to do my twists a la minute’ or “to order”.  I use my y-peeler and get a nice long thick piece of zest with no pith and express those oils over my drink.  

A well done garnish gives a visual cue to your guest that this we put some attention and care into making that drink.   

Herbs are tough to keep fresh.  I’ve come up with this method for my mint, which does keep it pretty good looking for a while, but what I really want is a little garden just outside where I can cut mint right out of the ground more or less as I need it!  

ASAP after the mint is delivered, I cut off the very bottom of the stem like you would if you had flowers you were going to put in a vase, so that it will drink up as much water as possible.  Then place that bunch of mint in ice water, stem side down. Let it sit there around 20 minutes or so, but less time seems to be ok too.  The cold water “shocks” the herbs, “setting” the color.  Then drain the mint, but not bone dry. I’ll make small bundles that will fit nicely and fold the bottom of a paper towel over the cut stems then gently roll it all up so that the everything is covered. I’ll take my small bundles of wrapped herbs and put them in a resalable gallon plastic bag. Every day or two I’ll change the paper towels, to keep it from getting mushy.

As for cherries and olives - well luxardo cherries are just awesome and impressive in your drink. The luxardo cherries are expensive, that’s for sure, so if you are using them, don’t forget to factor that into the price of your cocktail. 

In Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s great  The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique he says that he likes to remove the cherries from their liquid and store them in brandy.

As for olives, he removes them from the brine, which of course is saved for making Dirty Martninis and he store the olives in Dry Vermouth.

Book of the Week: The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique by Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Cocktail of the Week Brown Derby This is a delicious cocktail.  I first had one at the Flatiron Lounge many years ago, it was a real ah-ha moment for me.  It was absolutely delicious … I had never had one before.  It just made me realize that a drink made with just 3 ingredients, if they are perfectly balanced and high quality ingredients to begin with is really what a perfect cocktail should be.  I add a small amount of lemon juice to the classic recipe, which “brightens it up” a bit.

• 1 3/4 oz Bourbon
• 1 oz Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Juice
• ¼ oz Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
• ½ oz Honey Syrup (1:1 honey dissolved in hot water)
• Shake.  Grapefruit twist.

Unrelated Podcast Suggestion of the Week Brought to you by Sudio Headphones, makers of high quality Bluetooth headphones. Use the coupon code “BartenderJourney” for 15% off and to show your support for this show.

• Our Unrelated Podcast Suggestion of the Week is Jordan, Jessie, Go. They are trained in improv comedy and really know how to make funny out of nothing...which is a skill that is very helpful behind the bar.  So give those guys listen on your new Sudio Bluetooth headphones.

Hazel interviews Assistant Master Distiller at Jack Daniels, Chris Fletcher.

Check out the new book by host of this podcast Brian Weber:  Cocktails Made Simple!

We speak with Owner Stewart King and General Manager Jack Keane of Circle Hospitality Group in Cincinnati.

On this week’s Podcast, our good friend Hazel Alvarado who works with me on the show, journeys to New Haven, CT to check out their cocktail culture and chats with Dan Rek, Beverage Director for Fork Hospitality and Tim Cabral,one of the owners of New Haven’s oldest Tavern - The Ordinary.

• Take a listen to the Bartender Journey Podcast No. 227 with the audio player on this page, or on Apple Podcasts/ Google Play Music/ Stitcher Radio
• But first there’s plenty of other stuff to talk about.

I told you last week that I heard from the fine people at Johnnie Walker.  They are releasing just 39,000 bottles of Johnnie Walker Black The Director’s Cut in conjunction with the release of the film Blade Runner 2049, starring Harrison FordThe film is directed by  Denis Villeneuve who collaborated with Master Blender Jim Beveridge to create this wonderful variation on Johnnie Walker Black.  It’s absolutely delicious.  Smokey like the original, but a little richer, rounder and even a bit fruitier.  Its 49% ABV as opposed to the 40% of the original.  Johnnie Walker Black is a great scotch...a classic, and I really enjoy this riff on it.

It comes in a really interesting futuristic bottle.

The original Blade Runner Movie was based on the book by Philip K. Dick called:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? So we’ll use that amusing name for our Cocktail of the Week!

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

• 1 ½ oz Johnnie Walker Black Label The Director’s Cut, (or substitute Johnnie Walker Black Label)
• ½ oz Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur
• ½ oz Grilled Pineapple Juice (Juice from slices of Pineapple that have been grilled on each side for 3 mintues.)
• ½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
• ½ oz Honey Syrup (1:1)
• 1 Dash Fee Brothers Molasses Bitters (or substitute Angostura Aromatic Bitters).
• Freshly Ground Nutmeg

Shake all ingredients except Nutmeg with ice.  Double strain into an Old Fashioned glass with one large ice cube.  Grate a small amount of Nutmeg on top.  Garnish with a wedge of grilled Pineapple, preferably skewered on a Hip-Stirrer Metal Robot Swizzle Cocktail Stirrer.

 

Industry news from Bar Institute:

“This unrelenting hurricane season has already caused unspeakable damage from Texas to the Caribbean. And, as our dear friends in Puerto Rico prepare for another very serious storm in Hurricane Maria, we have made the choice to postpone Bar Institute San Juan in the interest of everyone's safety and out of respect for the limited resources (including power, water and food) that are now available on the island. 

The new dates are 1/29-1/31 2018”.

 

Oct 23-25 – Portland, OR

Nov 13-16 – New York, NY

Jan 29-31 – San Juan, PR

 

We have posted last week on BartenderJourney.net about NY area industry events for hurricane relief. Look for the link under the show notes on the site for this episode.  If you are doing something too and would like to let us know about what your bar is doing to help, let us know on the contact page.

 

I think as a Bartender (or even an enthusiast who throws a lot of cocktail parties), being a great conversationalist is a great skill to have.  You need to have lots of stuff to talk about – knowing a little about a lot can help your conversation skills.    Podcasts are a great way to learn stuff – and you listen to podcasts!  I know that for a fact because you can hear me talking right now!

So I thought we’d try out a new segment called Unrealted Podcast Suggestion of the Week.

 

We’ll do a podcast suggestion that has nothing to do with Bartending, cocktails or spirits.

And since you listen to podcasts and most likely do a lot of that listening on headphones, our Unrealted Podcast Suggestion of the Week is brought to you by a great headphone company called Sudio.  They make great quality wireless Bluetooth headphones, which btw, if you are still using headphones that you physically have to plug into your phone you are nuts!  

 

These Sudio headphones sound great!  It’s a shame that over the last couple of decades we’ve been increasingly sacrificing sound quality for convenience. Sudio also has a wireless earbud style model.  And if you use my coupon code BARTENDERJOURNEY you can get 15% off any model.  Go to sudiosweden.com and make sure you use coupon code BARTENDERJOURNEY for 15% off and to show your support for Bartender Journey!

 

So our Unrealted Podcast Suggestion of the Week is Showcase from Radiotopia, a new podcast from Radiotopia featuring original series from emerging and leading radio producers around the world. The current series, Ways of Hearing, is a six-part series about listening in the digital age from acclaimed musician Damon Krukowski. It’s a really interesting and podcast about the transition from analog to digital. It’s a fascinating discussion and expertly produced and I hope you’ll enjoy it.  It’s a limited run series and all 6 episodes.  If you have a suggestion for Unrealted Podcast Suggestion of the Week I’d really love to hear it!  Send me an email at brian@bartenderjourney.net with “podcast suggestion” in the subject line.

 

Oh hey!  I was a guest on another podcast.  As you may know, I bartend at a Private Club.  I was recently featured on the podcast called Private Club Radio.  If you are interested in hearing me on another podcast, or if you happen to work in a Private Club, check out Private Club Radio.  We’ll have a link to my episode in the show notes on bartenderjourney.net.

 

If you are a Bar or Restaurant owner, this week on our resource page, we have a link to a couple articles about insurance.  Not the “sexiest” of topics, but definitely an important and necessary one. Learn about General Liability Insurance, Business Property Insurance and Workers Comp from Embroker Insurance.

 

We’ve also included the Northeast contact information for additional questions.

And here’s some legalese: The article posted is not an endorsement and is for information only; rules may vary by jurisdiction.

 

Oh boy, here we go again with TOTC drama.  If you remember, back in March 2017 there was a huge uproar in the Cocktail community about a picture Ann Tuennerman, founder of TOTC posted.  She repeated an insensitive remark made by her husband Paul Tuennerman, and in the photo, Ann was wearing blackface.  It’s an old Marti Gras tradition and I won’t get into the details, but I covered all this very thoroughly back in episode #203.  I’ll have a link with the show notes or search back in the feed for the episode called Diversity Awareness (& Some Turmoil) in the Cocktail World       

 

Shortly after all this happened, Paul stepped down from his position at TOTC. Tales formed a Diversity Council. Which according to their web site:  “This Council composed of professionals from across the industry and outside of the industry, will work towards implementing progressive initiatives and monitoring their progress over time. This process will be completely transparent, and each initiative will be documented and made viewable to the public”.   Paul didn’t attend Tales this year as far as I could tell and the 15th TOTC was awesome as always.  It was feeling like the healing was beginning.

 

Then last week, 9/22/17 the website Neat Pour broke the story that Paul would be returning to the organization.  Ann announced this to the Diversity Council in an email.  The Council was not consulted at all and in fact Diversity Council Co-chair Colin Asare-appiah publicly resigned his post immediately.   There was uproar and lots of posts on FB.  People were pissed off again.

 

Our friend Jackie Summers, member of USBG NY and proprietor of Sorel Artisinal Liqueur sits on the Diversity Council.   He posted a very detailed note late friday night/ saturday morning that begins “Time for some facts.  Hopefully this will add some clarity”.  I won’d read the entire post but it is clear that Paul’s reinstatement, just 7 months after the original incident was very disturbing to the Diversity Council as well as the community as a whole.   Later in Jackie’s post he says “While I consider whether or not to continue my own future involvement, my concern is that this sequence of actions may prove more divisive than the incident itself.”

 

 As I said, all this happened on Friday.

 

One day later, on Saturday evening  9/23/17 the following email

 

Tales of the Cocktail Co-Founders Step Down

 

“Co-Founders, Ann and Paul Tuennerman, will be transitioning away from their roles in producing the world’s renowned cocktail event, Tales of the Cocktail, effective immediately.

 

Melissa Young, who has served as Director of Operations for the past nine years will assume the reigns of the operating company behind the event, MOJO911, LLC, as President.”

 

The press release goes on with a quote from Ann:

 

"We have devoted our professional careers to the hospitality industry even before the formation of Tales of the Cocktail and the New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society).  Our goal has always been to create something lasting that can benefit the industry and the people of New Orleans well beyond our years. This allows that to continue," said Ann R. Tuennerman.)

 

There is another quote from Paul, but no mention of the controversy or the timing of this decision.

 

“It has been an honor to spend the last fifteen years working within the industry to create something extraordinary. I am fortunate in that I have had the opportunity to work alongside some amazing bartenders, spirit producers, authors, and educators, from around the globe. While Ann and I have mixed emotions, we are excited about the next chapter in our lives, and look forward to watching the event continue to evolve and flourish,” said Paul G. Tuennerman.

So congrats and best of luck to Melissa Young.  She’s a super nice and smart lady and it will be very interesting to see what the future brings for TOTC as the baton is passed to the next generation!

 

Toast of the Week:

May we get what we want,

May we get what we need,

But may we never get what we deserve.

 

Bartender Journey Podcast #284

 

Today we talk about cocktail photography with professional food and beverage photographer Anthony Nader.  His company is called 52 chefs. He is a lot of fun.  

I was lucky enough to be invited to his seminar recently that was specifically about taking great photos of cocktails with your phone.  It was sponsored by Tequila Avión - thank you very much for that Ms. Veronica Chaparro. It was at the roof top bar at the Park South Hotel, which is an awesome place, if you ever get a chance to go.  Bar Methods was going on while we were there, and I got a chance to say hello to friend Chris Bitmeed who runs Bar Methods which is a once a year, 3 day educational event.  I did it about 3 years ago, and I encourage you to look into that for next year - its an amazing educational opportunity. 

Anthony gave a great demonstration about how to take great photos, and then we paired up into teams of two - I pared with Hazel, and we had a photo and video competition.  There were lots of props and drinks. We had to submit one photo and one slo mo video. In the end my photo won the contest! It was a picture of a Tequila Avión Nigroni.  

We are excited to announce that the special project is our new book, Cocktails Made Simple: Easy and Delicious Recipes for the Home Bartender!  It’s coming out on October 15, 2019!

I think you'll find our book serves as a great guide to making drinks, with an explanation of tools and techniques, in addition to classic cocktail recipes.  

If you're a Home Bartender looking to entertain family and friends, you'll learn how to build a functional home bar with essential tools and cost-effective tips in order to craft cocktails in your own home.

It was a great experience writing this with co-author and our West Coast Bartender Journey associate, Amin Benny and a quick thanks to Hazel Alvarado for Back of House duties on this project.

The book is available NOW for pre-order on Amazon.  Click here to sign up for our email newsletter to keep informed about the book.  And please follow Bartender Journey on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Its @BartenderJourney on IG and FB, and on twitter I’m @BarKeepTips.

Cocktail Photography Tips:

• Be sure to Clean the camera lens.  It gets dirty. You can clean it with a soft cotton t-shirt or any soft cloth.

• Zoom in a little.

• Setting the exposure and locking in the focus. Click on the subject before taking the picture - the subject will be locked into both focus and exposure  Also, next to the yellow box surrounding your subject, there is a tiny icon of the sun. If you slide that up and down, you can change the exposure.  

• Display abundance - use props...use your imagination.  

• Get close -  I had always composed my cocktail photos very neatly, displaying the entire glass and garnish - usually shooting from slightly above the glass so that the surface is visible.  I would center the cocktail. Try getting in very close. Art can be a little messy!

• Focus on garnish - or on the little droplets on the outside of the glass or whatever - something specific in the drink - not the drink as a whole.

• Bounce light. A white paper menu is one way to do that.

• Use a friend’s phone with a white screen - I’d heard at other seminars, or maybe read somewhere, to us the flashlight from a friend’s phone for light when you are in a dark bar or something, but that light is harsh.  A white screen is softer - you can just go to google.com for instance. And of course on iPhone you can go to Settings / Display & Brightness to control the brightness of the screen if you need more light.

• Pay attention to other photos - what do you like?  When you see a picture that you like, think about what you like about it.  Some ideas for looking at great cocktail photos on IG, are Anthony’s stuff at @52Chefs and our friend Natalie @BeautifulBooze.  I would also encourage you to follow the #cocktails

• Speaking of IG when you are editing your photo in the IG app before posting - don’t use the pre fab filters - edit the settings individually.

  • When you first get to edit mode in the IG app, above you photo there is a little icon of the sun that is white on the left and black on the right.  This is the lux setting. I did not know about this! Its awesome. I don’t know enough about photography to explain what lux is, but its related to exposure.  Do this first.

  • Then Anthony recommends adjusting the settings in this order:

    • Contrast

    • Warmth

    • Sharpness

• Turn each setting all the way up to see what it does, then scale back from there.

 

I hope you learned something from the show today.  I’d love to see your cocktail photos, hopefully using some of the stuff you learned from listening.  Post your picture to IG and tag me @BartenderJourney.

 

I wanted to share one more thing with you - I just read an outstanding article on bourbonr.com.  Its called “What’s Malt, and Why is it Needed”.  It’s a really worth a read.  It not only does a great job of explaining the process of producing alcohol , but also some of the differences between scotch and bourbon and also the definition of a Single Malt.  I’ll have that link on bartenderjourney.net. We’ll have to try get the author of that article Mr. Henrik Brandt on the show sometime.

We are very excited to announce the release of Cocktails Made Simple written by Brian Weber and Amin Benny.  We wrote it to be easy to follow, clear and concise, and most of all useful and practical.   On this episode of the podcast Brian and Benny discuss the book.

We talk with the President of the Distilled Spirits Council Chris Swonger about the Council's efforts during the COVID19 crisis.

I recently attended a huge wine show at the Javitz Center in Manhattan called VinExpo.

There were 1000’s of wines to try, plus a few sprits – I had some wonderful whiskey from France called Half Moon.

There were also classes and seminars. I attended a seminar sponsored by the Riedel company who makes beautiful glassware – mostly wine glasses.

In fact we use Riedel wine glasses at the Private Club where I work. The purpose of this seminar was to show that the glass has a substantial influence on your experience drinking the wine. Of course these glasses look beautiful, so that’s a great start. They feel great when you pick them up and are perfectly balanced…we all know to hold a wine glass by the stem yes? In fact it was said in the seminar “if a glass has a stem, use it!” This is of course so that you do not warm up your wine or whatever beverage with your body heat.

I caught up with Anne Koziara, who gave the seminar, on the exhibition floor after … we’ll talk to her in just a moment.

Our sponsor this week is CAKE POS from Sysco.

CAKE is the Point of Sale system that lets bar & restaurant owners focus on the guest experience. Stop worrying about tracking every sale  - CAKE does that for you.

CAKE is the Point of Sale system that lets bar & restaurant owners focus on the guest experience. Stop worrying about tracking every sale  - CAKE does that for you. You can automatically save information and review it later, from anywhere. That means maybe as the manager or owner can maybe actually take days off, which can be pretty rare in the restaurant business.

No matter where you are, you can check in on daily reports and know they’ll be up to date.

To get started with CAKE, check out trycake.com/bartender. For our Bartender Journey listeners, you can get $750 off the activation fee. That's a 75% discount. Go to trycake.com/bartender and request a demo!

Please feel free to get in touch for any reason. You can email me directly at brian@bartenderjourney.net. If you have an interesting story to tell, please get in touch. I’m looking to line up guests for the next few weeks.

Don’t forget about our sponsor CAKE POS.

Find our special link for our Bartender Journey listeners at trycake.com/bartender. You can get $750 off the activation fee. That's a 75% discount. Go to trycake.com/bartender and request a demo! Or just go take a look. It’s a big help if you just go to that URL so that our sponsors to see the Bartender Journey listeners are at least clicking through to check it out. trycake.com/bartender.

Toast:

May we always part with great regret and meet again with pleasure.

After my shift the other night, I went to a dive bar that I had never been to before. I asked for a Tanqueray and Tonic. It came in a pint glass and was very strong. For a 16 oz drink to taste very strong... well there must have been a lot of booze in there.

We talk about that on the podcast this week.

Please let us know what you think about this on the Batender Journey Facebook Page!

We here we are in the thick of the Corona-tastrophe.  It is having far reaching implications and consequences for the Hospitality industry.

We have an interview with Andrew Rigie, Executive Director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance.  He’s also Chair of New York City’s Office of Nightlife Advisory Board.

THIS EPISODE AND RELATED WEBSITE MATERIAL IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND NOT INTENDED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING MEDICAL or LEGAL ADVICE BY THE BARTENDER JOURNEY PODCAST TEAM.

PLEASE READ OUR FULL DISCLAIMER HERE,

 

The interview with Mr. Rigie  was recorded prior to the March 15th announcement of Mayor Di Blasio's executive order limiting restaurants, bars, and cafes to food take out and delivery; nightclubs, movie theaters, small theater houses, and concert venues must close effective Tuesday, March 17th. 

The NYC executive order was then superseded by NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive order the following day - March 16, 2020 - that all bars and restaurants in the entire state must go to take out & delivery only.  Interestingly though here in NY State, where to-go alcoholic drinks were a definite no-no for establishments like bars and restaurants with an on-premise license, it seems that it will now be allowed during the Corona-tastrophe.  So here in NY anyway we can sell to-go alcoholic beverages.   

The NYC Hospitality Alliance Group continues to remain a resource for our industry here in NYC - you can visit their site: the thenycalliance.org for the latest updates.

Don't let those darn Fruit Flies take over you bar!  Give them an inch and they will take a mile!  There is a lot you can do to prevent them from flourishing.  Here's some things you can do:

• No standing water, anywhere!
• All drains including floor - sanitizer
• Plug beer taps
• Clean and plug beer drip tray
• Rinse and store empty beer bottles
• Cover liquor bottles
• Wipe down bottles
• Clean soda gun
• Bar mats must be clean
• Keep garnishes covered and cold.  Wash fruit before cutting.
• Don’t be surprised if fruit flies feed on the residue remaining on damp mops, moist cleaning rags and sponges, or near buckets of wastewater.
• Bottom of trash cans?
• Last resort - traps

We chat with GEM & BOLT Mezcal founders Adrin Adrina and Elliott Coon during Tales of the Cocktail 2018. Plus we talk to Calvin Peña and Doug Brickle at the CORE pop-up at Mase GEM&BOLT is the only mezcal on the market to bottle the mythical powers of damiana, a traditional herb that thrives in the same regions as agave. The innovative, herbaceous spirit utilizes fair-trade and sustainable agave that’s converted into mezcal by fourth-generation master distillers in Oaxaca, Mexico. A strong team of women make up the team behind the spirit: Partner Jody Levy (co-founder WTRMLN WTR), President/CEO Lisa Derman (former Stoli COO), and at the helm are its founder’s alchemist-artist duo Adrin Adrina and Elliott Coon. CORE grants support to children of food and beverage service navigating life-altering circumstances. In times of extreme strain brought on by family death, injury or diagnosed medical condition, loss of home, or other sudden or extreme circumstances, food and beverage families can become overwhelmed financially and emotionally. CORE is the nationally recognized community of support for all food and beverage service families in need by ensuring they feel cared for and valued.

On this week's episode, Brian chats with Keli Rivers of Sipsmith Gin in honor of National Gin & Tonic Day, which is April 9, 2019.

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  St Patty’s on a Saturday! Double trouble.  If you are working, please keep your guests in line and encourage good choices! 

Consider taking the T.I.P.S. course.  It’s about responsible serving.  There are live classes around the country, but you can do it online at tipsalcohol.com  Its only $40.

Let’s talk Irish Whiskey!  The first thing to know about Irish Whisky is that it is spelled with the “e”, as is generally done for American whiskeys.  One way to remember which have the “e” and which don’t is:

• Countries that have E's in their names (UnitEd StatEs and IrEland) tend to spell it whiskEy (plural whiskeys)
• Countries without E's in their names (Canada, Scotland, and Japan) spell it whisky (plural whiskies)

We talk Irish Whiskey this week with Teeling Irish Whiskey.

Cocktail of the Week:

Irish Coffee

• 1 ½ oz Irish Whiskey
• 4 oz Strong Black Coffee
• Lightly Whipped Heavy Cream
• Grated Nutmeg

Our Sponsor this week is Shaker and Spoon Cocktail Club.  They’ll send you a box each month with everything you need to make 4 portions of 3 different craft cocktails, (except the booze), you just need to buy one bottle...with everything in the box, you can make the 3 different drinks.  The box for March was called “Kiss Me I’m Whiskey!” for St. Patrick’s day. Hazel did a cocktail party with that box with some non-bartender friends and did it as a FB Live event. You can still see those videos on the Bartender Journey FB page.  

 

Use the coupon code “bartenderjourney” at Shaker and Spoon Cocktail Club for $20 off!

 

Book of the Week:

The Whiskeys of Ireland

 

Toast of the Week:

May the leprechauns be near you,

to spread luck along the way,

And may all the Irish angels smile upon you

On St. Patrick’s Day

Happy New Year. I hope its full of great things for you.

I’m starting 2019with an epic trip. I Bartend at a private club and we are closed after New Years Eve for almost 6 weeks.

So I am taking my time off and going to Europe for over a month!

I am bringing my audio gear and hope to push out some podcasts from the road. I will be visiting some distilleries, and lots of bars and restaurants, so the plan is to have you follow along on the trip a bit.

The shows might not always be completely Bartending focused, but should be interesting.

I leave today, Jan 3, 2019 for Edinburgh Scotland. Then I go to Paris for 4 nights, I’ll take a train to a small town called Chambery, then ski in the French Alps for a few days. I’ll go to Geneva Switzerland, then on to Florence and Rome and last stop Ireland.

Follow me on IG at BartenderJourney for some pictures and hopefully you are subscribed to the podcast so you get the shows as they come out.

We are talking about Hospitality today, our book of the week is Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business.

• Cocktail of the Week: Singapore Sling This is one of those drinks that everybody has heard of, but doesn’t get ordered very often and a lot of people have no idea what’s in it. I borrow this recipe from Tristan Stevenson’s Book The Curious Bartender: The artistry and alchemy of creating the perfect cocktail 1 ¼ oz London Dry Gin 2 oz Cherry Heeing Liqueur Barspoon of Benedictine ½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice 2 dashes Aromatic Bitters Club Soda to top Build in a Highball glass (or sling glass). Stir with ice. Top with Club Soda. Lemon garnish.

We talk with Eric Kozlik from the Modern Bar Cart Podcast and Embitterment Bitters.

Eric’s podcast is interesting and well researched. We discuss bitters and the effect that hobbyist Bartenders are having on the cocktail industry as a whole.

It's the Bartender Journey Podcast #244!  Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.

Hazel is doing a FB live cocktail party using the Shaker and Spoon Cocktail Club’s “Kiss Me, I’m Whiskey” box.  So I hope you’ll tune in for the fun and check out the live event on our FB page. It’s Sunday March 11, 2018 at 5pm Eastern, please join in and make yourself a drink and help support the show! The bigger the numbers, the better when we go pitch this to potential sponsors! More details on our Facebook page.

Cocktail of the Week:

Snow Globe Mandarin Margarita

• 2 oz Patron Silver
• ¾ oz Grand Marnier
• ¾ oz Lime Juice
• ½ oz Mandarin Orange Juice
• ½ - ¾ oz Simple Syrup
• 4 drops Orange Bitters
• 8 drops Sea Salt Saline Solution

Shake and serve up.

 

Last year I was honored to be chosen to take a trip to visit the Patron Hacienda.  That’s a trip that USBG members can apply for. You can hear all about that trip on show #202, (web site link), or look back in the podcast feed for the show titled Hacienda Patrón - Tequila from Farm to Glass (Apple podcast link).  I hope you’ll check that show out if you haven’t already.  There’s lots of great info in that show about how tequila is produced.

Eric Kozlik sent over a coupon code for our listeners - if you’d like to order some of the Embitterment Bitters use the code BARTENDERJOURNEY (all one word, not case sensitive), for 15% off your order.  That’s at modernbarcart.com

If you’d like to support this show, please check out our Patreon campaign.  All the info is at bartenderjourney.net/Patreon

Toast of the Week:

You are bound by nothing.

We talk to Sother Teague about his new book I'm Just Here for the Drinks.

Sother Teague's first book is informative, entertaining and filled with cocktail recipes. We catch up with him at his book release party at Boilermaker Bar at 1st Avenue and 1st Street.

Brian also attended a seminar presented by Marie Brizard and at Employees Only NY and competed in a cocktail competition.

Cocktail of the Week: Martini The Classic Martini is made with 1 part dry vermouth and 2 parts Gin.  It is stirred, not shaken.  The classic garnish is olives.  Superstition says it should be an ODD number of olives - an even number is bad luck.  James Bond orders a "Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred", because that is the exception to the rule.  If he just ordered a "Martini" it would be made with Gin and stirred, because that is the classic recipe. Try a great variation on a Martini - 1 part Dry Vermouth, 2 parts Gin a dash of Orange Bitters.  Garnish with an Orange Twist.

Be sure to use fresh vermouth.  Vermouth is aromitized wine and it goes bad after awhile.  Keep it in the cooler.  The VacuVin wine stopper system will help keep it fresh for longer.

Micah LaMon is our guest this week.

This time on the show we talk with Mr. Philip Duff. He’s been on the show several times. I caught up with Philip after a great seminar he moderated about Irish Whiskey, sponsored by Knoppoge Castle Irish Whiskey -  a great Single Malt Irish Whiskey.

Irish Whiskey has such a tumultuous history.

There was the great rise and fall of Irish Whiskey and right now another great rise, or resurgence.

We’ll get into some of it with Philip during the interview.

CAKE is the Point of Sale system that lets bar & restaurant owners focus on the guest experience. Stop worrying about tracking every sale  - CAKE does that for you. You can automatically save information and review it later, from anywhere. That means maybe as the manager or owner can maybe actually take days off, which can be pretty rare in the restaurant business.

No matter where you are, you can check in on daily reports and know they’ll be up to date.

To get started with CAKE, check out trycake.com/bartender. For our podcast listeners, you can get $750 off the activation fee. That's a 75% discount. And with that discount, you get a user-friendly Point of Sale solution that includes cloud reporting and world-class 24/7 support.

We’ll talk with Chet Holstein who makes Kuma Turmeric Liqueur in Washington State. We’ll talk about his unusual and delicious product.

Plus the humble Gin and Tonic - how can we change things up a little?

It’s the Bartender Journey Podcast No. 236!  ​Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.

Tonic began as a medicine many years ago.

According to Wikipedia:

"Quinine was added to a drink to protect against malaria. It was originally intended for consumption in tropical areas of South Asia and Africa, where the disease is endemic.

"Quinine powder was so bitter that British officials stationed in early 19th Century India and other tropical posts began mixing the powder with soda and sugar, and a basic tonic water was created. The first commercial tonic water was produced in 1858.[1] The mixed drink gin and tonic also originated in British colonial India, when the British population would mix their medicinal quinine tonic with gin."

Many bars are making there own Tonic syrups, which are then mixed with seltzer to make Tonic water.  Brands like El Guapo Bitters also sell great bottled Tonic syrup.

There are many possiblities for a G&T.  I love a healthy dash of fresh lime juice in my G&T.  You can add some of Chet's Kuma Turmeric Liqueur, or some El Guapo Rose Cordial, (which is up for a 2018 Good Food Award btw).

Another option is to serve your G&T with fresh herbs & fruit in a big wine glass, the way they often do in Spain.

Book of the Week:

Ed McMahon's Barside Companion

Upcoming Episode - Classic Daiquiri.  Your chance to be involved!

We are planning a future episdoe dedicated the Classic Daiquiri. We’d love for you to be involved! Record your favorite Daiquiri recipe or story with a voice recorder on your phone and email to brian@bartenderjounrey.net

If we have any subscribers that represent a Rum brand and would like to send some samples along for us to play with, please get in touch! You can use the same email address brian@bartenderjounrey.net

So get your input for the Daiquiri show to me by 12/20/17 and we’ll aim to release that episode as the first Bartender Journey episode of 2018.

Toast of the Week:

Here’s to our guest! Friends of our Friend’s is double our friend. Here to them!

 

Today on the show we talk with Dan Newcomb who is an expert on Liquor Licenses. Its tricky out there trying to navigate the liquor license process. Dan will share some insights with us on this complex issue.

Dan's company is Liquor License Advisor.

One of the distilleries I visited while in Ireland was Pearse Lyons distillery. Dr. Pearse Lyons had deep family roots in Dublin. There was an old church that had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned for many years. In fact Dr. Lyons’ grandfather is buried there. Dr. Lyons purchased the property and his wife restored it into a beautiful distillery. Unfortunately Dr. Lyons’ passed away in 2018, but the distillery is lives on.  We have some pictures on bartenderjourney.net

If you are anywhere near San Antonio TX BarSmarts Advanced is coming to San Antonio, TX on April 2nd, 2019.  It’s a full day of education with the masters of the bar industry like Dale DeGroff, David Wondrich, Paul Pacul, Steve Olson, Doug Frost, and Andy Seymour.

You need to do the online component called BarSmarts first in order to qualify. The online segment is absolutely worth doing, even if you are not planning to do BarSmarts Advanced. The online course is only $29! BarSmarts Advanced is just $75.

We speak with Raymond Edwards, Chief Mixologist for House of Angostura during Bar Convent Brooklyn.

It’s the Bartender Journey Podcast #235. Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.

• Bar Institute was in NY last week. Lush Life is the organization that puts this on and they do an amazing job. They also produce Camp Runamuck and Cane Camp. Bar Institute is classes, parties, tastings, and networking.
• The speakers at the Bar Institute classes are all amazing and all volunteer - great people that want to help raise the industry.
• One amazing class taught by Jackie Summers, Alexandra Farrington and Joanna Carpenter was An Intersectional Guide to Dismantling Systemic Racism and Sexism in Hospitality #YouToo
• This week on the show we talk with Josh Davis who works with Lush Life in addition to being Bar Manager at The Bureau Bar in Chicago.
• Book of the Week comes to us from Hazel Alvarado. The Thinking Girl's Guide to Drinking: (Cocktails without Regrets)
• We are looking for sponsors for the Bartender Journey Podcast. If you know of anyone who might be a good fit, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me directly at brian@bartenderjourney.net.

Cocktail of the Week The Vieux Carré is a wonderful cocktail that was invented at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans around 1938. 1 oz Cognac 1 oz Rye Whiskey 1 oz Sweet Vermouth ¼ teaspoon (Bar Spoon)

2 dashes Peychaud's bitters 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Its not traditional, but I add a bar spoon of Grand Marnier. It adds just a little extra complexity to the drink. Stir that up and serve it over ice in an Old Fashioned glass. Lemon twist. Even though this drink was originated in a hot place (New Orleans) its actually a great autumn cocktail. Ok let’s talk to Josh Davis and friends on the floor of the Brooklyn Expo Center. Always a pleasure hanging out with Josh. Josh is talking about starting his own podcast…how’s that coming Buddy?! Toast of the Week: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life."  

Listen in to the Toast to Tales, hear about the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s grant recipients for 2019 and hear about the Grey Goose Great Bar Race. Also, we talk to Jonathan Pogash about his edition of Mr. Boston’s Official Bartender’s Guide.

Meehan’s Bartender Manual by Jim Meehan is, true to its name, a Manual.

It details how to layout a bar from start to finish. The section called “The Physical Bar” is extremely specific, starting with the location for your establishment – considering everything from the population density to income levels and more. Then the theme of the bar, or even, “do you really want one of those”. Then moving on to building the interior, the book gives detailed measurements of the ideal distance from the back edge of the bar to the front of the back bar, where the ice bins, coolers POS and more should be placed.

The book gives specific case studies and detailed technical drawings of famous bars such as the NoMad and Dead Rabbit.

There are pages about the sequence of building one round of 11 particularly complicated cocktails. I’ve been thinking about that section constantly at work, trying to maximize my workflow.

Information about icing, stirring, shaking, tasting and much more.

Then there are also 100 great cocktail recipes.

Honestly, this is a must-have book. There are many important details on designing a bar, service plus spirit & cocktail knowledge.

Dave Pickerell was a huge force in American whiskey over that last several decades.

Unfortunately Dave passed away at age 62 on November 1 of this year, 2018 in San Francisco. He was there attending WhiskeyFest.

He was a big proponent of Rye Whiskey and played a huge roll in the resurgence of American Rye Whiskey.

Rest in Peace Mr. Dave Pickerell. You’ll be sorely missed.

Rye Week

It is officially New York Rye Week as declared by the Governor and State Legislature of New York. In honor of this, there are many events happening in NY, especially New York City including two special industry events from Allen Katz at the New York Distilling Company. (As you may recall, we interviewed Allen on Episode No.225.)

 

The Bartender Journey team was fortunate enough to attend The Renaissance of Rye, the trade day kickoff event on Thursday, October 19th. This event not only featured one-of-a-kind discussion and tasting with agriculture experts in the field of grain science who specialize in so-called, 'Small Grains'.

 

In addition to the Rye panel, a batch of their own Horton Rye seven years in the making from an initial planting of 10 seeds was fermented and distilled. Additionally, every guest that attended was given the opportunity to sign the barrel, post it on social media and then return to claim a bottle of the whiskey from the barrel in 4-5 years. Friday, October 20th will be the trade tasting event from 2-4 pm featuring 20 great rye whiskies from North America.

 

On Saturday, October 21st is the Wild Rye Rumpus event that will feature the world premiere of Empire Rye, a new category of rye whiskey, a project began a few years ago as an homage to New York State’s pre-Prohibition rye whiskey-making heritage. To be considered an Empire Rye, the whiskey requires New York state grain and a minimum age statement of two years as mentioned in this week's New York Times article. The nine New York founding distilleries that will be releasing expressions at the event are

Black Button Distilling (Albany), Coppersea Distilling (New Paltz), Finger Lakes Distilling (Seneca Lake), Kings County Distilling (Brooklyn), New York Distilling (Brooklyn) , Tuthilltown Distilling (Gardiner), Van Brunt Stillhouse (Brooklyn) and Yankee Distillers (Saratoga County).

 

 

Author's Table Event featuring Jim Meehan in Brooklyn - Thursday, October 26th

The Author's Table is a monthly literary series featuring authors with a passion for spirits and food that share through writing. Jim will be discussing his new book, Meehan's Bartender Manual. $5 fee includes admission, $7 all night cocktails and happy hour specials. It’ll be held at The Shanty 79 Richardson St, Brooklyn. Proceeds will benefit the Brooklyn Public Library.

 

Industry Kickball Tournament

The Bartender Journey team is participating in the annual Industry Kickball Tourney sponsored by William Grant & Sons. Our host will be New York's own, Jen Marshall of Momentum, the brand agency for William Grant and former Beverage Director of Butter & Scotch. This all day field trip to MCU Park (Home of the Coney Island Cyclones) will include the bus ride, kickball, corn hole, cocktails and food. Monies raised goes towards disaster relief. 

Bartender Journey wants YOU to come with us so we are hosting an Instagram cocktail contest to kick off the holidays. Rules are as follows: 

1. Follow the Bartender Journey on Instagram.
2. Create a holiday (e.g. Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, etc.) cocktail featuring a William Grant & Sons brand.  
3. Take a beauty pic and post on YOUR Instagram account with #bartenderjourneycocktail by Monday, October 30th, midnight EST. 
4. We will reach out to you directly by November 1st to let you know that you've won and get your details to send you your ticket.
5. Your cocktail will be featured as the Cocktail of the Week.

 

Further details will be available on the Bartender Journey site!

 

A few days left to enter the USBG Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition!

 

We speak with friend of the podcast & founder and president of the Orange County, CA chapter of the United States Bartender's Guild Amin Benny.

247

• Today on the show we talk Ilias Mastroganis, who makes Mastroganis Ouzo and Grappa out in Washington State.

 

• Book of the Week:

Road Soda Recipes and Techniques for Making Great Drinks Anywhere by our friend Kara Newman. This is a fun little book about making drinks in Planes, Trains and Hotel Rooms, or wherever you might be.

• Every year TOTC runs a competition to determine the official drink of the year for Tales. There is a cash price. They award the prize at the yearly Toast to Tales which is the official kick off of the event. This year the theme is the French 75. Enter here.
• Our sponsor this week is Shaker and Spoon cocktail club. They’ll send you a box of great ingredients every month – enough to make 4 portions each of 3 great craft cocktails. You just need to pick up one bottle of whatever spirit is called for that month. These are all original recipes sourced from awesome bartenders all around the US like our friend Cocktail Guru Jonathan Pogash, Souther Teige, Pam Wiz and lots more.

The next box is the Rum Wild box. Order by March 31 and you can get in on this. If you use the coupon code “Bartender” you’ll save $20! If you don’t get your order in on time, don’t worry, shaker and spoon will be doing another box next month! It’s a great way to open your cocktail making horizons.

Each box comes with all the syrups, bitters, garnishes, mixers, citrus you need to make some delicious craft cocktails. Plus you get recipe cards for each drink. The boxes are put together by Mike and Anna in Brooklyn and shipped out to you monthly. You can always skip a box if you prefer.   Go over to shakerandspoon.com – there are lots of great how-to videos to check out there and I hope you’ll sign up for Shaker and Spoon cocktail club and save $20 and show your support for this show by using the coupon code “Bartender”!

 

I went to a couple interesting events this week put on by our friend Walter Easterbrook and sponsored by Woodford Reserve. It was called Beyond the Bar. There was a life coach - Tom Summers, a really smart business woman named Natalie Freihon and Lynnette Marrero.

Walter is going to continue this series with small sessions of 10-12 bartenders where they will have interaction with the top professionals

- Finance

-Personal branding

- PR media  -Wellness and more

If you are in the NY area and want to get in on this, let me know and I’ll get you hooked up. Shoot me an email at brian@bartenderjourney.net

 

Besides being the Woodford Reserve brand ambassador, Walter has a company called the Bowery Collective. One of the Bowery Collecitve’s biggest event of the year is Arte Agave. But in the meantime, put this date on your calendar if you are or can be in the NY Area Friday June 16. It’s a very cool event held at the beautiful Bowery Hotel in Manhattan. Its a “Unique celebration of fine agave spirits and Arts and Entertainment, inspired by the richness of Latino Culture”.

• Cocktail of the Week:

El Diablo

1½ oz. reposado tequila ½ oz. crème de cassis ½ oz. fresh lime juice 2–3 oz. ginger beer

If this show has helped you out, entertained you, informed you, please consider supporting Bartender Journey with a small monthly pledge to our Patreon Campaign.

Please follow Bartender Journey on Instagram @BartenderJourney

Toast of the Week:

Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Weep and the world laughs at you.

This week on the show we talk with Mr. Philip Duff, who is among other things, director of education for Tales of the Cocktail.

Well we continue to talk about TOTC, as it became official last week, (Mid February 2018), that Gary Solomon Jr,Neal Bodenheimer of Cure and Cane & Table have taken over leadership of Tales.

We spoke to Gary Soloman and Neal Bodenheimer about all this on show #241, just 2 episodes ago. 

First, l want to thank some great people that chose to help support this podcast. As I mentioned on the previous episode, my family suffered a devastating loss recently. Things are pretty complicated right now…I have a special needs son, and all of a sudden there is one less parent to take care of him, so I wont be returning to my Bartending gig for awhile. I kicked off a Patreon campaign to help support this show. I want to thank Zeke from Chicago, Ryan, PM - Pooch. Also, our friend David Eden-Sangwell from the Bartender HQ podcast, Dylan, Hazel and the Gnarly Gnome from the Cincy Brewcast, a podcast about the Cincinnati craft beer scene.  And I also want to thank Dean and Leonardo for helping out.

If you’d like to support this podcast, go to bartenderjourney.net/patreon, where you can hear the previous episode, with more details and find a link to the Patreon campaign.

 

Cocktail of the Week:

St-Germain brand ambassador Marlo Gamora turned me on to this drink. Its an upside down martini with a splash of St-Germain.

• 2 oz of a good quality Dry Vermouth (fresh)
• 1 oz Gin
• ¼ St-Germain Eldeflower Liqueur
• Lemon Twist

Delicious and low ABV.

Book of the Week:

How to Drink French Fluently: A Guide to Joie de Vivre with St-Germain Cocktails

Tales on Tour will be in Edinburgh Scotland April 7-10, 2018. Tickets are on sale now.

 Toast of the Week:

I wish you all the joy you can wish.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello. First, Thank You for listening to the Bartender Journey Podcast and joining me every week as I chat with industry experts about bartending culture and spirits. You may have noticed that there hasn't been a podcast episode for a few weeks or blog posts. Life happens and instead of posting about it here, I decided to have some real talk with you, my listeners, on the podcast episode. Please listen there and join us next week as we resume our regular schedule featuring an interview with Industry Expert, Philip Duff. Also, it would mean a lot if you could take a moment to visit our Patreon Page and an consider supporting Bartender Journey.

We speak with Chris Swonger, the President and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. and Responsibility.org

Also what's the best way to cut citrus garnishes at the bar? 

I co-authored a book!  Cocktails Made Simple is available on Amazon.

We talk with Alberto Vollmer CEO of Santa Teresa 1796 Rum, made in Venezuela.

Also a chat with Attaboy alum Zachary Pease at his new bar in Manhattan called My Friend Duke.

At our USBG meeting this month we talk with Brooke Toscano, who is passionate about spreading the word about paper straws. Brooke is also an Angel’s Envy Whiskey Guardian.

Brooke shares a great discount code with us for 50% off an order of $150 or more of paper straws from the Aardvark Straws Company. Use the discount code ANGELSENVY50 at checkout.

We also speak to our friend Willie Mack who we met at Bar Methods. Willie is a Bartender at the Barclays Center.

It’s the Bartender Journey Podcast #234. Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.

Security Plans  for your Bar.  

 

The tragic mass shooting in Las Vegas this week have people realing.  It was just an awful, disgusting act, but you don’t need me to tell you that.  We send our best wishes to those affected,directly and indirectly.  I would imagine among other repercussions that this will affect tourism  in Las Vegas for some time, and will hurt our brother and sister Bartenders and other Hospitality workers in the pocketbook.

 

This is not the place to discuss the event itself. One issue that we have never talked about on this show is security.   I am certainly no expert on this subject, but it needs to be discussed.

 

Bars, restaurants, music venues etc are so called “soft targets”.  They are vulnerable, large numbers of people gather there.  We saw this in the Paris attacks, in Orlando now Las Vegas.

 

Ideally every business should write a disaster plan.  There are security consultants that can help with this, or you can write something up yourself, and I’m going to give you a free tool that almost automates the process.

 

One easy and practically free thing every bar should have, but many don’t is a LOG.  Everyday at the end of a shift the manager or bartender or both should write in a log book.  Even if nothing unusual happened, write that!  This is really important for legal reasons, for example - if you have to cut somebody off, or there is a fight or whatever.  There needs to be documentation.  Some places will even include things like the weather or seemingly unrelated details, but they can become important in the future.   The reason to do old school hand written logs in a physical notebook, as opposed to Google Docs or some other computerized solution is that these notes thoreticly can’t be altered after the fact.  The book needs to have pages that are not easily removed, so it needs to have bound pages - a spiral notebook is no good.

Next we can talk about exits. In the Las Vegas attack many many of the injuries were attributed to people getting trampled or hurt while trying to climb walls and other things like that.

I was watching a lot of CNN, in the hours and days after the Las Vegas attack.  One expert pointed out that human nature dictates people will always try to get out the same way they came in.  As I’m sure you know, the Las Vegas shooting occurred at an outdoor venue.  There were 4 gates used for entering, but 3 other large exits on the opposite side.  As in an airplane always locate the exit nearest you, keeping in mind it may be behind you - or maybe the opposite way from where you came in.  I heard one security expert say, “when I enter a place I’m already trying to figure how to get out”.  In fact the advice from a US Government document that I’ll talk more about later, suggests finding the closest 2 exits.

Keeping this in mind, if there were ever an incident where you work and you had to evacuate your guests, you may need to direct them to exits they are not aware of, including possibly through the back of the house.

Here in the U.S. we have the Federal Government agency OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and according to their officail web site “Almost every business is required to have an emergency action plan (EAP).” 

Luckily on their web site you can Create Your Own Emergency Action Plan (EAP).  This is the free tool I mentioned a minute ago, and of course we will have a link on BaretenderJourney.net

This is their description of an EAP:

“An emergency action plan (EAP) is usually a written document required by particular OSHA standards. For smaller organizations, the plan does not need to be written and may be communicated orally if there are 10 or fewer employees.  The purpose of an EAP is to facilitate and organize employer and employee actions during workplace emergencies. The elements of the plan must include, but are not limited to:

• Means of reporting fires and other emergencies
• Evacuation procedures and emergency escape route assignments
• Procedures to be followed by employees who remain to operate critical plant operations before they evacuate
• Procedures to account for all employees after an emergency evacuation has been completed
• Rescue and medical duties for those employees who are to perform them
• Names or job titles of persons who can be contacted for further information or explanation of duties under the plan”

It goes on to say that most small and medium-sized entities will get their basic plans from this system in 10 to 15 minutes.  There is no charge for this.  So that’s a great resource and of course we’ll have links in the show notes.

This is just the tip of the iceberg with this stuff.

I referenced a Federal Government document a few minutes ago.  Its from the Department of Homeland Security and its called “Active Shooter - How to Respond”.  The conventional wisdom in this situation is Run, Hide, Fight.  This document details that.  Also if you go to youtube and search for Run, Hide, Fight you’ll find a video that is definitely worth watching.

Back to the document - it says “Remember that customers and clients are likely to follow the lead of employees and managers during an active shooter situation”.

I’ll read through some of this, and of course link to it on BartenderJourney.net

Evacuate So this is Run part.

If there is an accessible escape path, attempt to evacuate the premises. Be sure to:

• Have an escape route and plan in mind
• Evacuate regardless of whether others agree to follow
• Leave your belongings behind
• Help others escape, if possible
• Prevent individuals from entering an area where the active shooter may be
• Keep your hands visible
• Follow the instructions of any police officers
• Do not attempt to move wounded people
• Call 911 when you are safe

 

Hide Out:

If evacuation is not possible, find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely

to find you.

Your hiding place should:

• Be out of the active shooter’s view
• Provide protection if shots are fired in your direction (i.e., an office with a closed

and locked door)

• Not trap you or restrict your options for movement

To prevent an active shooter from entering your hiding place:

• Lock the door
• Blockade the door with heavy furniture

If the active shooter is nearby:

• Lock the door
• Silence your cell phone, and I’ll add consider turning off vibration too.  It takes a few steps and might be difficult to remember in a stressful situation.  In iOS 9 and above you can go to Settings/General/Accessibility/Vibration/Off.  You probably don’t want to shut the phone off completely because  you’ll want the option of communication, plus sometimes the phone makes a bunch of noise as it turns off...so just something to keep in mind.  Back to the list of “If the shooter is nearby”
• Turn off any source of noise (i.e., radios, televisions)
• Hide behind large items (i.e., cabinets, desk)
• Remain quiet
• Try to Remain calm
• Dial 911, if possible, to alert police to the active shooter’s location
• If you cannot speak, leave the line open and allow the dispatcher to listen.  

I’ll add that as I record this in October 2017 the ability of 911 operators to pinpoint the caller’s exact location seems to have vastly improved over the last 3 or 4 years.  In an article I read on a website called govtech.com the operator is get the location of the cell towers within seconds of a call coming in.  A 911 dispatch trainer named Matt Langley is quoted as saying “If a phone is Phase 2 compliant -- most newer phones are -- the phones have better capabilities in sending cell towers GPS coordinates”.  “Then, dispatchers communicate with that tower, which communicates with the phone”.  “The caller's location if found from the cell tower is shown on an online map in front of the dispatcher. Not all states or counties have that capability”

Back to the Homeland Security Document.  Last resort - Fight.

Take action against the active shooter

As a last resort, and only when your life is in imminent danger, attempt to

disrupt and/or incapacitate the active shooter by:

• Acting as aggressively as possible against him/her
• Throwing items and improvising weapons
• Yelling
• Committing to your action

Disclaimer:  Remember this is not me telling you to do this, its the US Federal Gov’t’s Department of Homeland Security.

 

When Law Enforsement Arrives

There is more on the document - I won’t read it all, but basicly raise your hands - these guys just got here, they don’t know what’s going on - we don’t want to put them in a situation where they have to make a split second decision resulting in a mistake.  Of course follow their commands.  Understand weird stuff could happen, like they could potentially throw you to the ground or something for your own safety.  Don’t get in their way by yelling or screaming at them for help, just quickly exit the same way they came in.

There are more recommendations for Preparing for and Managing an Active Shooter Situation.  I’ll let you read through them all, but the one that stuck out to me is to “activate the emergency notification system when an emergency situation occurs”.  Now in a small bar its going to be pretty obvious to all that something is going on, but imagine a Hotel or even large restaurant with multiple floors and a noisy kitchen in the back.  Something to think about.

Alright, last week I started a segment called “Unrelated Podcast Suggestion of the Week”.  Well we are changing it already.  This week its a related podcast and more than a suggestion I’m going to call this homework for you.  The podcast is Nightclub Security.  It looks like they only produced 21 episodes with the last one posted in 2014, but its a great show from the guys at Nightclub Security Consultants, who I met at the Nightclub & Bar Show a few years back.  In particular, I’d like to you listen to episodes 4 and 5  called 6 Important Tips to Manage a Major Violent Incident in Your Venue and Ep. 005 – How to Document a Major Incident in Your Venue respectively.

As the name implies, they do Security Consultancy as well as bouncer training both in California and online.  You can find them at nightclubsecurity.com

Our “Related Podcast Homework of the week” is brought to you by Sudio wireless bluetooth headphones.  Use the coupon code “BartenderJourney” for 15% off these great headphones at sudiosweden.com or use the link in the show notes.  These headphones sound great, look really sharp and are well made.  I’ve been wearing the over ear model constantly in bluetooth mode when listening to music and podcasts.  They come with an aux cord so you can plug them in if you want to, which if you think about it is a great feature, because if you are on a long trip and you exhaust the batteries you can plug them in and they will work until you get a chance to charge them again!  They have wireless in ear or earbud models too.  Check them out and remember to use coupon code “BartenderJourney” for 15% off and to show your support of this show.

Don’t forget to do your homework - I’ll be grading it!  Listen to the Nightclub Security Podcast Ep 4&5. 

We didn’t do a Cocktail of the Week, because after watching the news this week, I think I’ll just have a whiskey..neat.

Here’s our toast:

Here’s a health to everyone,

Peace on earth, and heaven won.

Today on the show we talk to Michael DelRosso.

Owner/Creative Director of Union Square Advertising which does Advertising, marketing, printing and social media strictly for the hospitality industry.

He has some great insights for us about Social Media for Bars and Restaurants.  You’ll definitely want to hear what he has to say.

 

We have TWO original cocktails for you this time, which were so generously given to us by fellow USBG (United Bartender’s Guild NYC members).

For the two orginal cocktail recipes, plus lots more info see the show notes for this episode here. (http://www.bartenderjourney.net/podcast/marketing)

    Book of the Week: Social Media: Marketing Strategies for Rapid Growth Using: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube

This book teaches you the strategies of using the social media to improve the income of your business, with clear concepts.  It covers the major Social Networks and can help you if you are trying to do social media for your business yourself.

If this show has helped you out, entertained you, informed you, please consider supporting Bartender Journey with a small monthly pledge to our Patreon Campaign.

Please follow Bartender Journey on Instagram @BartenderJourney

The Speedrack Northeast semi-finals took place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens NY on January 7, 2018. This is the 7th season of this great event.

Speed Rack, was founded in 2011 by Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero.

This from speed-rack.com:

“The service industry can sometime be thought of as a man’s world.

"Mix and Marrero have been able to shine a spotlight on female mixologists thriving behind bars around the country; and while they are at it, raise money for breast cancer research, education, and prevention.

“The idea was to create a cocktail competition for the ladies -one that celebrated women, was created by women and supported women; in and out of the spirits industry. In their first year, Speed Rack met over 200 bartenders across the country and raised over $69,000.”

That was the first year. This is now the 7th season of Speedrack!

The competition is held in cities all over the country with the final held this year on May 8, 2018 in Chicago.

We really encourage you to attend, volunteer or even enter the competition.

It is such a fun time. Its like a rock concert for Bartenders!

The brand sponsors have tables set up all around the venue offering cocktails and samples of their products.

For Dry January, our friend Mimi Bernham made a delicious N/A punch with Perfect Puree ingredients. Perfect Puree makes great pureed products, mostly fruit, which are awesome in cocktails. The Carmelized Pineapple is one of my favorites! Perfect Puree is really good about shipping samples btw. This is for foodservice professionals only, but they will ship some frozen samples to your bar or restaurant if you go to their website.

Cocktail of the Week:

January Punch 

Courtesy of Mimi Bernham

• 40 oz water 
• 7 Rosehip Tea bags (Onno Behrends Brand) 
• 24 oz The Perfect Puree Prickly Pear 
• 18 oz Ginger Beer 1
• 6 oz seltzer 
• 12 oz pure Acai Juice 
• 5 oz lemon juice 
• 3 oz grapefruit juice 
• 3 tablespoons Sorghum Syrup

• Method: Allow tea bags to steep for 40 minutes.  Squeeze tea bags, and discard. 
• Combine lemon juice and sorghum syrup and shake well to thoroughly blend. 
• Add all ingredients, except for the Ginger beer & seltzer, to a punch bowl and stir to blend. 
• Add seltzer and ginger beer, and gently stir as to keep some bubbles. 
• Add ice to chill the punch; 
• Make an ice ring with rosemary, lemon wheels and fresh cranberries. The aromatics from the ice ring further enhance the punch. 

Makes approximately 3.5 liters of punch

Mimi was our guest on Bartender Journey #161

To attend speedrack its only $25 (or $30 at the door), 100% of which goes to 9 different Breast Cancer charities. According to the speedrack website, approximately $100k is now donated each year.

You can also go as a volunteer.

The format of the competition is this:

In each city 8 ladies are chosen to compete in the semi-final.

It’s a round robin format, so in the first round the ladies are on stage 2 at a time in 4 heats. There are 4 that move on, and again they compete 2 at a time until there are 2 left for the final.

There are 4 judges who call out what drink they would like.

Both competitors are making all 4 drinks per round. Like it says in the title Speedrack, its all about speed. The ladies are timed.

In one round Becca Pesce was up against Samantha Casuga.

Both ladies Bartend at Dead Rabbit. Becca is our good friend from USBG NY. Becca also works for Angel’s Envy as a Whiskey Guardian, as they call their Brand Ambassadors.

The 2 bars are on the big stage and the contestants build their round of drinks as quickly as possible. And these are not simple drinks! There are drinks like the Lion’s Tail, the Cooper Union and the El Diablo. At least it’s a finite list – the competitors are given a list ahead of time of possible cocktails they may be asked to make.

And taste counts too! The judges can add penalty time based on taste, presentation, technique etc.

Becca won her first round, but unfortunately Becca her next round to Haley Traub.

Haley moved on to the final round.

As I record this in mid January 2018 there are 4 dates still to come, plus the final in Chicago. The 4 remaining semi-finals are in New Orleans, Phoenix, Washington D.C. and Boston.

Book of the Week:

Julie Reiner was one of the judges. She wrote:

The Craft Cocktail Party: Delicious Drinks for Every Occasion

I spoke to Julie way back in 2015 at Tales of the Cocktail.

In the final round Celeste “Lucky” Dittanmo of Whistle & Tins in Maplewood NJ was up against Haley Traub of Dutch Kills in Queens. Haley was victorious and moves on to the finals in Chicago.

I hope you’ll attend, volunteer or compete. All the info is on speed-rack.com and there are lots of videos on facebook – just search for speedrack (one word - no space).

I hope you checked out the previous episode of Bartender Journey. Podcast #239 is all about the Classic Daiquiri. I spent a lot of time on that episode and I think it came out pretty good, if I do say so myself! So please go back and listen to that one if you haven’t already.

Toast:

Here’s to God’s first thought, “Man”!

Here’s to God’s second thought, “Woman”!

Second thoughts are always best,

So here’s to Woman!

On this week's Episode No. 277, Brian chats with Chad Arnholt and Claire Sprouse of ​Tin Roof Drink Community about green practices for sustainability in the cocktail industry in honor of Earth Day, April 22nd. In 2016, Chad and Claire's efforts were recognized at Tales of the Cocktail with the first Sustainable Spirit Sward and hosted the first Sustainability Summit at Tales in 2017.

For past outtakes on sustainability in the cocktail industry on the Bartender Journey Podcast,, listen to  Bartender Journey Episode No. 166  featuring a sample from a Sustainability Seminar from Tales 2015 with Mr. Lyan  (Ryan Chetiyawardana), who opened the first cocktail bar in 2013 to use nor perishables (i.e. no fruit, no ice), White Lyan in London and Bartender Journey Episode No. 219, You are Throwing Away Money!.

241

• As you probably know, Tales of the Cocktail is one of, if not the, biggest and most important cocktail conferences in the world. Tales is going through a transition. After much controversy, which we wont rehash, but reported on extensively first in episode #203, Tales is in the process of being reorganized as the Tunermans are selling their shares.
• Listen to Bartender Journey Podcast No. 241 by clicking on the player on this page or subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.
• This week we will talk to the two gentlemen that are in the process of purchasing those shares and will take over management, Gary Soloman and Neal Bodenheimer. We’ll hear about their plans for Tales.
• And next week we’ll continue the conversation about what is being called “Tales 2.0” with Mr. Philip Duff. I hope you are subscribed so that you get the new episodes as soon as they become available, downloaded directly to your phone. For free!

 

Cocktail of the Week:

Sazerac – The official cocktail of New Orleans as proclaimed by the Louisiana House of Representatives in a 62-33 vote in 2008.

• We’ll use David Wondrich’s recipe from his great Esquire Drinks
• 2 ½ oz Rye Whiskey.
• 3 drops Peychaud’s Bitters
• Dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
• Cube of Sugar
• Absinthe rinse

Method:

• Muddle the sugar cube with a few drops of water and the bitters. Add the whiskey. Stir well with ice.
• Put a little Absinthe in an Old Fashioned glass. Roll it around and discard (or drink!) Strain Cocktail into the glass. This drink is unusual in that it’s served in an Old Fashioned glass without ice.
• Express the oils from a lemon twist over the drink and drop twist into the glass.

 

• This is of course a variation on an Old Fashioned.
• We spoke extensively about the Sazerac cocktail with Elizabeth Pearce, Drinks Historian and author of The French Quarter Drinking Companion way back in episode #132
• First I’ll remind you, I am Brian Weber. Please follow me on IG at Bartender Journey. Also visit our web site at bartenderjourney.net. You can find the show notes and lots of other recourses there. Please consider visiting our Tip Cup page and help support this show. If this show has helped you out at all, entertained you or just kept you company, please go to bartenderjourney.net/tipcup and leave a little something to help support this show.
• We are going to have to figure out how to pay for the trip down to Tales this year…you know I did some work for them for 3 years, recording seminars and producing another podcast for the Tales 365 members, but our arrangement has come to an end. I always get great content for the show at Tales – last year I think we got 4 show’s worth of great material.

 

Listen in to "Toast to Tales", the official kickoff to Tales of the Cocktail.

Plus we speak with friend and Bartender Kyle McElfresh.

Tales of the Cocktail 2018 was a great sucess!

Here's a quick run down of what went on.  More from #TOTC18 on future episodes.

Cheers y'all!

• Today on the podcast it’s a very special interview with Whiskey writer and all around good guy Lew Bryson! Lew wrote the great book Tasting Whiskey and is the managing editor and columnist for Whisky Advocate.
• Take a listen to the Bartender Journey Podcast No. 226 with the audio player on this page, or on Apple Podcasts/ Google Play Music/ Stitcher Radio for a slice of the Tales experience!
• Book of the Week:  Tasting Whiskey: An Insider's Guide to the Unique Pleasures of the World's Finest Spirits by Lew Bryson

Listen to the Bartender Journey Podcast # 253 with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts,  Android or Stitcher Radio.

This week on the show we talk with Walter Easterbrook who runs the Bowery Collective and is NY Brand Ambassador for Woodford Reserve. This show is also generously sponsored by The Bowery Collective. The Bowery Collective's yearly Arte Agave festival is coming up on June 29, 2018 at the Bowery Hotel in Manhattan. Arte Agave is a unique celebración of fine agave spirits + arts + entertainment inspired by the richness of Latino culture. Click for tickets.

Walter has been also running the Beyond the Bar series which helps Bartenders to advance their careers and move on to other opportunities if they wish.  If you'd like to get involved with future Beyond the Bar events, contact the Bowery Collective. Every year at Tales of the Cocktail there is a big awards ceremony called the Spirited Awards.  This year they have added a new category for Best Video, Broadcast or Podcast.  Please help out by nominating Bartender Journey for this category.  Everything you need to know about how to do this is on this page. Cocktail of the Week: Brown Derby This drink is named for a Hat Shaped restaurant that was once in Los Angeles called the Brown Derby. The classic recipe is: 2 oz Bourbon, I’ll use Woodford Reserve today. 1 oz Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Juice 1/2 oz Honey Syrup – 1:1 ratio Honey dissolved in hot water – its best to measure by weight, not volume. Shake with ice.  Strain into a chilled coup glass. Brian’s altered recipe: 2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon ¾ oz Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Juice ¼ oz Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice 1/2 oz Honey Syrup ¼ oz of an olo sacrum syrup made with the rinds of the Grapefruit, (recipe below) Take the rinds of the Grapefruit before you squeeze it – peel it with a y-peeler or vegetable peeler.  Put in a zip lock bag and add some white sugar.  Mix.  Seal the bag, removing as much of the air as you can.  Let that sit for at least an hour at room temperature.  Add a little warm water to dissolve the sugar mixture and strain it.

Book of the Week: Bourbon Curious by Fred Minnick.  The sub title is “A simple tasting guild for the savvy drinker”. We want to thank the Bowery Collective again for sponsoring the show.  If you are in the New York area, definitely check out their events, like Arte Agave on Friday, June 29th 2018 at the Bowery Hotel.  Go to bowerycollective.com/ and click on the Events tab to see all the events. As it says on the on the Bowery Collective’s web site “we create meaningful experiences.  If need help organizing a cool event, get in touch with Walter.  There is a contact button on bowerycollective.com/ Toast: Make everyday a Masterpiece.

The Daiquiri.  A drink everyone has heard of, but likely the many people think of as a pink slushy containing copious amounts of inexpensive nondescript alcohol.

What the Bartending community sometimes refers to as a “Classic Daiquiri” is a very different drink than the slushy artificially colored and flavored thing many people think of as a Daiquiri.  While a frozen Daiquiri can be delicious, a “Classic Daiquiri” is  simply 3 ingredients, shaken until very cold and served without ice in a chilled cocktail glass. It is arguably one of the most important drinks for any Bartender to master. 

This wonderful cocktail, (I start to crave one as I write this at 10am), is a delicate balance of Rum, freshly squeezed lime juice and simple syrup.

Just as the simple omelet is considered a gage of a Cook’s talent, a Bartender’s Daiquiri is a clue into a Bartender’s skill, methodology and education.

What makes this drink so important?  For one, the Bartender must perfectly balance the three ingredients.  Too much lime juice, or not enough sugar and the drink will be too tart and make your face pucker.  Too much sugar and the result will be obvious.  Not enough Rum and the drink will be “flabby”.  As it is shaken, a fourth ingredient is added - water.  Diluting the drink with the perfect amount of water from the melting ice is a technique that takes skill, precision, instinct and experience.

There is another reason that this cocktail is so important for the Bartender to understand and be able to prepare properly.  This drink is a basic “sour” style drink, like a whiskey sour.  Just as the culinary world has 5 “mother sauces”, we have categories of cocktails. The sour is the basis for countless drinks. 

For more details and cocktail recipes please visit bartenderjourney.net/daiquiri

The Martini

“Martini, shake or stir”. Here’s my take on that.

James Bond ordered his Martini’s Shaken not Stirred because that is the EXCEPTION to the rule. If he had ordered just a “Martini”, it would have been stirred because that is the classic recipe.

If the guest requests it there is nothing wrong with shaking this drink, but you will never see a decent cocktail book that suggests you to shake a Martini.

The general rule is, if it has only spirits in it, you stir. If it has any type of juice in it, it is shaken.

When stirring a drink you are trying to chill it and also add water to it, or “dilute” it as we say. Try taking some gin and vermouth, put it in a bottle and put it in the freezer. Don’t stir (or shake) it with ice. That’s not a Martini. It will be too strong and it will not taste very good.

When stirring a drink with ice we are looking for a silky texture, which is desirable in a Martini or Manhattan style cocktail. When shaking a drink, like say a Margarita, you are looking to make a bright drink with some air bubbles introduced.

How long do you stir? I was at an event recently and in the swag bag was a bar spoon with a thermometer on the top. It was in Celsius so I was looking to get to about 0 degrees or a little colder. What I discovered was that I wasn’t stirring long enough.

You noticed I said “0 degrees or a little colder”. Interestingly enough, through some science that I may never understand, you can actually make the drink a little colder than the ice!

Dave Arnold, the upmost authority on the science of drink making, talks about that in his great book Liquid Intelligence. Tristan Stevenson also mentions it in his book The Curious Bartender. He and I talked about it when I interviewed him back in episode #122.

Dave Arnold’s Liquid Intelligence will be our book of the week. This book is highly recommended and a great resource. Dave is famous for using scientific equipment like rotovaps and centrifuges. I went a long time without reading this book, because I though “I’ll never have a centrifuge”, but he took what he learned using this equipment and uses it to teach interesting techniques and stuff you might not have though of otherwise.

In the book he also talks a lot about the effects of stirring and shaking. Interestingly enough, when stirring or shaking a drink, eventually equilibrium is reached and it wont cool anymore or dilute anymore. It will of course eventually start to warm up and the ice will start to melt, adding more dilution, but it can only get so cold.

This is helpful to know for a couple reasons, one of which is to keep in mind when building a large round of drinks. For instance if a Martini is the order, you might want to add the ingredients to your mixing cup, add the ice, but stir later. Or you can stir and let it sit there with the ice still in the cup while working on the rest of the round, then strain at the last moment. According to Dave Arnolds experiments, there won’t be much difference.

Does the size of the ice matter when shaking or stirring? It seems like the answer is, “not really” although that could be an entire podcast to itself. As a general rule it seems that once proper temperature is reached the dilution will be correct, no matter the size of the ice, although the one exception would be crushed or shaved ice.

The Martini is our cocktail of the week. What’s the best way to make it? The way your guest wants it! Ask a lot of questions when somebody orders one.

The history of the Martini is difficult to trace. David Wondrich, the ultimate cocktail historian will tell you so, and in fact does just that in his great book Imbibe!

In the late 1800’s the drink was usually made with Old Tom Gin, which is sweetened. Sometimes gum syrup was added. The “Dry Martini” appeared around the turn of the century, but it wasn’t dry in the sense that we think of it today. In fact one recipe published around that time period had a 1:1 ratio of Gin to Dry (or “French”) Vermouth.   The Gin was changed to a London Dry style gin or Plymouth Gin which is also not sweet at all.

Back in the day, Orange Bitters were always added, which is a really interesting addition to a Martini. Give it a try! I wouldn’t force it on an unsuspecting guest, but try it yourself, see what you think, and maybe suggest it to an adventurous customer.

Back to the amount of vermouth. I think the average consumer expects very little vermouth in their Martini, although it is becoming popular in Cocktail Bars to have a 1:1 Martini on the menu. It’s a wonderful drink this way, with the orange bitters and a lemon twist, but of course you need to have a quality vermouth that has been taken care of properly and is not too old. Please store your vermouth in the cooler! Write the day you opened it on the back label of the bottle. Ideally you don’t want to keep it more than a month after opening. At 2 months, throw it out! I use Vacuvin wine stoppers in my open Vermouth bottles. This is a very inexpensive item – about $12 – that pumps the air out of open wine bottles to help preserve it. They are perfect for Vermouth and other fortified wines as well.

Next thing to talk about is the glass. Those giant bird bath or “Steakhouse” martini glasses are ridiculous. Believe me I know. I Bartender at a Private Club, we use them. The Members expect nothing less. Those stupid things hold 8 oz if you fill it to the very top, which people seem to expect! That’s not one drink! That’s 4 drinks!

So what kind of glass is good? You often here me talk about a chilled coupe glass, which is ideal for a Martini.   For anyone who might not be familiar – it’s the old fashioned champagne glass that’s like a saucer or bowl with a stem.

Ideally we want the glass chilled in the freezer until the last minute, but if you don’t have a cooler to keep your glasses in, of course you can chill it with ice and water. Before you start making the drink, pack the glass with as much ice as you can fit and fill to the top with water.

For garnish, olives are traditional. If the guest doesn’t specify, its olives. One big or 3 small on a cocktail pic.   Always an odd number, an even number is bad luck. Ha. I don’t know why, but it is. I asked David Wondrich about this one time and he said “it’s a tradition and if you choose to perpetuate it, you should.” I said “I do! I do choose to perpetuate it!”

A lemon twist is my favorite. The best twists are made with a y-peeler. Then hold the twist over the drink and using both hands put it between your thumbs and index fingers and start to sort of fold it in half lengthwise. This expresses the oils from the drink into the glass. Its awesome. Personally, I actually like my Manhattan this way too.

So the Martini – seems like a simple drink on the surface, but there are some things to consider.

Dave Arnold, Don Lee and Greg Boehm, who founded Cocktail Kingdom, are opening a new bar in Manhattan. It should be opening any day now…that should be really interesting. Don Lee is a super smart dude and Dave really knows his stuff. Greg is a very interesting guy too. One innovation that I read about at this new spot is: those in a hurry can buy bottled cocktails from vending machines with a $15 token. I can’t wait to check this place out.

Your can still apply for Bar methods for the August 2018 session. I’m recording this on June 6, 2018 and applications are still open for a few more days. I did this course back in 2016 and trust me, you wont regret it. Its 3 days of education in Manhattan, with happy hours and dinners and parties. You stay in the awesome Park South Hotel and the price is extremely reasonable. Trust me. Apply at barmethods.com

Another great educational opportunity - BarSmarts Advanced is coming to Philadelphia on September 26. This is a full day of education for the likes of Dale DeGroff, David Wondrich, Paul Pacul, the list goes on. For this you need to do the BarSmarts online course first. Check that out at BarSmarts.com

There are a few more sessions of CITC for this year with Gary gaz Regan. Not sure if he has any room left, but that is a wonderful experience. You can find out about that at gazregan.com/cocktailsinthecountry

I’ve done all three of these educational experiences. I get nothing for telling you about them, but I just want you to know about them, because they are all amazing (and affordable).

I missed a few podcasts in the last few weeks. I have a lot on my plate right now family wise, I wont go into the details, but if you are interested you can scroll back in the feed to the show called “Real Talk From Bartender Journey”. It looks like things are starting to get better, so hopefully we’ll be back on track soon.

I am definitely going to Tales of the Cocktail this year – the trip is already booked, so I’ll have lots of great stuff for you from there as well.

Please follow me on IG. @ Bartender Journey

Here’s our toast:

May the chicken never be hatched that will scratch your grave.

 

 

 

 

Bartender Journey Episode #263

The Old Fashioned.

I was at a sitting at a bar the other day and there was a bartender, training a young lady who was obviously brand new to bartending. The younger one asked the one who was doing the training “how long have you been bartending”. She answers “nearly 15 years”.

A ticket comes in for an Old Fashioned. Here’s a learning opportunity for the newbie, right?

She explains how to make it:

• “Get a rocks glass
• Get an orange slice and a luxardo cherry and muddle it in the glass.
• Add ¼ to ½ oz of simple syrup and about the same amount of sweet vermouth.
• Add ice and then fill nearly to the top with whiskey, (usually you should ask what type of whiskey they would like).
• Top with club soda.
• Put 3 or 4 dashes of bitters on top”

There are a lot of problems here. Lets take them one by one.

• The muddled “fruit salad” Old Fashioned was an unfortunate variation on the classic recipe. Some people like them and even expect them that way, which is fine…the best cocktail for someone is the one made exactly the way they like it. But the classic recipe is water, sugar, bitters and whiskey…we’ll talk about where that description comes from in a few minutes. Somewhere along the road it became popular to muddle an orange slice and a red maraschino cherry with sugar and bitters.The muddling in an Old Fashioned is supposed to be to incorporate the granular sugar (or sugar cube) with a little water and the bitters.
• Moving on to the second mistake in my example. THERE IS NO VERMOUTH IN AN OLD FAHIONED!   There is sweet vermouth in a Manhattan…not an Old Fashioned
• Next…she says “top with club soda”. Yes we do want to dilute it a bit. Some books will tell you do this. Personally I add the water by stirring the whole thing in my mixing cup with ice. This chills the drink down and the melting ice adds water or “dilution”. I strain it into a glass with fresh ice.
• Next she said to “put 3-4 drops of bitters on top”. 100% wrong. I don’t like to flat out say somebody is doing something wrong, but no don’t do that.You want to incorporate the bitters into the drink. While there are drinks which call for drops of bitters on top, such as the Pisco Sour…not the Old Fashioned.

This is my recipe, and its written almost exactly like this in Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s The Bar Book, which is more or less the final word for me personally in all matters Bartending.

In mixing cup:

• 2 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters
• 1 dash of Angostura Orange Bitters,
• 2 oz of Bourbon

Stir with ice to chill and dilute.

Strain into an old fashioned glass with one large 2” ice cube. Express oils from an orange twist (use a Y-peeler to make orange twist to order). You could also use a lemon twist, which is delicious also.

Old Fashioneds can of course also be made with Rye whiskey or even rum. I’ve seen Reposado or Anão Tequila Old Fashioneds too.

In Sasha Patraski’s book Regarding Cocktails Sasha’s protégé Sam Ross shares his recipe for an Old Fashioned variation called the Tattletale. Its made with Angostura bitters, honey a blend of a Highlands scotch and a smoky Islay scotch.

So of course, there is no end to variations and methods, but I just feel like its good to know the proper traditional way of making things before going off on tangents.

History wise:

The earliest known printed definition of the “cocktail” appeared in the newspaper the Balance and Columbian Repository in 1806. It was written in response to a reader who asked for a definition of the word. It said a cocktail is “A stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters.”

Quoting from Wikipedia, “The first use of the name ‘Old Fashioned’ for a Bourbon whiskey cocktail was said to have been at the Pendennis Club, a gentlemen's club founded in 1881 in Louisville, Kentucky. The recipe was said to have been invented by a bartender at that club in honor of Colonel James E. Pepper, a prominent bourbon distiller, who brought it to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel bar in New York City.”

Robert Simonson mentioned that it was simply referred to as a “whiskey cocktail” until the late 19th century. Mr. Simonson wrote a great book all about the Old Fashioned called The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World's First Classic Cocktail, with Recipes and Lore. I’ll have a link to that along with the other books I mentioned.

Speaking of prohibition, as I record this today Dec 5, 2018 it is Repeal Day! This is the anniversary of the end of Prohibition in 1933. Its an unofficial Bartender holiday, or at least excuse for a party! I happened to be almost at the end of binge watching Boardwalk Empire, which was a great show on HBO about the prohibition era. Its fictional, but a lot of historical characters are in the show like Lucky Luciano, Al Capone and Elliot Ness. The show is now available on Amazon Prime if you want to check it out.

So mix yourself up and Old Fashioned. I’d love to see your version. If you could post a picture on IG and give it the hash tag

#BartenderOldFashioned

Depending how many we get, I’ll try to mention them all on the next show.

I’ll be posting mine on my IG which is BartenderJourney.

Here’s a toast:

Here’s to everything that is old.

Old friends, old times, old manners and old fashioneds.

Bartender Journey Number 273 This time on the show we talk about the science of flavor with Derek Elefson. Derek shared some great resources with us: Flavor Wheels:   Bourbon https://modernthirst.com/2014/08/06/the-bourbon-tasting-wheel/#prettyPhoto/0/   Malt Whiskies http://malt-review.com/2015/09/10/whisky-flavour-wheels-and-colour-charts/   Gin http://www.ginfoundry.com/gin-news/gin-tasting-wheel/   Wine https://shop.winefolly.com/products/wine-flavors-chart

AROMA-FLAVOR TOOLS FOR SENSORY TRAINING: http://www.aromaster.com/ https://www.cicerone.org/us-en/products/beer-flavor-map https://www.aroma-academy.co.uk/pages/wset https://www.flavoractiv.com/beverage/spirits/   FRUIT CHEMICALS Kennedy Fruit Chemicals!  An easy way to quickly educate people about chemicals in fruit.  I highly encourage you to post this image with the link. https://jameskennedymonash.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/ingredients-of-all-natural-cherries/

Our sponsor this week is CAKE POS. CAKE is the Point of Sale system that lets bar & restaurant owners focus on the guest experience. Stop worrying about tracking every sale  - CAKE does that for you. No matter where you are, you can check in on daily reports and know they’ll be up to date.   To get started with CAKE, check out trycake.com/bartender. For our Bartender Journey listeners, you can get $750 off the activation fee. That's a 75% discount.

Travel Log from Dublin, Ireland.  Interview with Chris Hayes from Teeling Irish Whiskey.

A brief wrap up of my adventures in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Plus a snippet of a bus tour around the city.

What an amazing city. Full of friendly, hospitable people. A town with deep history and fascinating things to see. And lots of great whisky!

Next stop on the Bartender Journey tour - Paris!

Florence, Italy is an amazing, beautiful and historic city.

Florence's Life Beyond Tourism inciative offers some interesting lessons. 

Is it possible to be too ambitious with your cocktail program.  I visited a bar/bistro/restaurant that I thought was trying to do TOO much.

I visited two vinyards in the Chianti Classico region:

• Casa Emma
• Fattoria Montecchio

 

I had some great drinks in Paris!

Favorite bars:

• Prescription Cocktail Club (Cocktail Bar)
• Dirty Dick (Tiki Bar)
• Candelaria (Speakeasy)
• Little Red Door (Speakeasy)
• The Highlander (Scottish Pub)

Tag along on a distillery tour of Tullamore D.E.W.’s state of the art facility. Opened in 2014 it is the first distillery to operate in Tullamore, Ireland since 1954.

Tullamore D.E.W. Whisky Ambassador Kevin Pigott shows us around, shares lots of Irish Whisky knowledge, and even mixes us up some cocktails!

There is a hole in the bartending community – Gary "gaz" Regan passed away on November 15, 2019. He was an inspiration and mentor to a huge portion of the bartender community. His book The Joy of Mixology in 2003 was groundbreaking..

In that book he encouraged Bartenders to measure, to consider the glasswear carefully, to chill the glasswear, when to shake and when to stir. These things weren’t talked about much back then, but help lay the groundwork for where we are now. Then there are more important lessons in the book about BEING a bartender.

He updated The Joy Of Mixology in 2018.

Cheers to you gaz. You are sorely missed.

Today we talk with Adam Seger, Chef Bartender/Corporate Sommelier at iPic Theaters and TUCK Hospitality Group.  Upstairs from the iPic Theater at South Street Seaport is the Tuck Room. Adam invited Hazel and myself in to the secret room behind the sliding bookshelf.  

 

Among other things, Adam and I will talk talk about cocktails on draft.  Also, a little bit about wine knowledge for Bartenders.

 

Book of the Week:

Adam Seger recommends Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course.  You’ll hear him talk about it in the interview, so we’ll make that our book of the week.  

 

Please visit our Patreon page and consider supporting Bartender Journey with a small monthly pledge.

 

I went to an interesting seminar this week.  Dale DeGroff gave the talk called I’ll Take Manhattan.  It was sponsored by Woodford Reserve. Dale used the Woodford Reserve Rye to make a batch of Manhattan’s, but without bitters.  We each had 5 small portions of the Manhattan in front of us, and 5 small cups of 5 different bitters. We went through and smelled each of the bitters and added a couple drops of each to our Manhattan’s.  Then we tasted through them all and talked about what we all smelled and tasted. You’d be amazed how different each of these tasted! The Angostura Aromatic bitters were first, and actually, of the five, they were the least bitter, which interestingly made that Manhattan seem to be the sweetest.  Just as sour balances the sweet in a Daiquiri or Margarita, bitter works in a similar manner.

 

Dale’s point in all this was to show you don’t have to use a lot of ingredients or obscure ingredients; just put the right ingredients in your cocktial.

 

Cocktail of the Week:

Manhattan experiment.  

 

Try this experiment:  Make a batch of Manhattans with no bitters - you can do 2:1 whiskey of your choice, use 2 parts of that Woodford Reserve Rye or other whiskey.  

1 part red vermouth.  

(Or you can do as Dale did for us:  4 parts Rye, 1.5 part Dolin red vermouth and .75 Dolin white vermouth).

 

Stir with ice until very cold.  Then strain it into 4 glasses. Add one type of bitters to the first 2, and a different to the second 2.  Then do 2 different garnishes. Cherry and Orange twists are the most popular. I happen to love my Manhattan with a lemon twist.  Of course expressing the oils from the citrus is key. Using a Y-peeler is the best way to make a twist where you can express the oils really well over the top of the drink.  

 

Use the Y-peeler to cut your twist.  Myself and many other bartenders cut twists to order for freshness.  Put it between your thumb and index finger and pinch it slowly to spray the oils into the drink.  If you want a fun party trick - hold a match or lighter and express the oils through the flame. It flares up for a second like a magic trick.  If you do this over your drink it will of course give a different flavor. Dale DeGroff revived that trick in the 1980’s when he was running the bar program at the Rainbow Room.  It was reportedly invented by bartender Pepe Ruiz in Beverly Hills for the Flame of Love cocktail created for Dean Martin.

 

The point of all this is to show how one small change to a cocktail can make a big difference.  I think it also points out just how important every single ingredient is to the final drink.

 

Toast of the Week:

 

Don’t walk in front of me,

I may not follow.

Don’t walk behind me

I may not lead.

Walk beside me

And just be my friend.

 

Joe McCanta, Grey Goose global ambassador joins us on the show.  This interview was recorded at Tales of the Cocktail 2019 -- we get a great understanding of Vodka.

Bartender Journey has a special project in the works!  Please click here to sign up to be the first to know about it!  Yes, I'd like to be in the loop.

 

224

Warren Bobrow, Mezcal: At Suite Silenceo & House of Elyx

• We talk with our friend Warren Bobrow. We caught up with Warren at a pool party on the rooftop of Hotel Montelegone during Tales of the Cocktail 2017.
• Also, we travel to Suite Silenceo and House of Elyx for two amazing Tales of the Cocktail events, and learn more about El Silenceo Mezcal and Absolute Elyx.
• Take a listen to the Bartender Journey Podcast No. 224 with the audio player on this page, or on Apple Podcasts/ Google Play Music/ Stitcher Radio for a slice of the Tales experience!
• A yearly Tales event that is just awesome every year and gets better all the time is the House of Elyx. Elxy is Absolute’s high end expression. We’ll talk with Jonas Tåhlin.
• House of Elyx was also at a new location this year: Latrobe’s on Royal, (Royal Street that is).

At House of Elyx they serve drinks in unbelievable copper vessels. The first drink I was handed was the Silly Rabbit, and it was served in a life sized copper rabbit!

Cocktail of the Week:

Silly Rabbit 

1 ½ oz Absolut Elyx

½ oz Manzanilla sherry

½ oz Fresh pineapple cordial*

½ oz Freshly squeezed pineapple juice

¼ Freshly squeezed lime juice

2 oz Perrier Jouet champagne 

Vessel: Copper Rabbit

Garnish: None

Method: Shake all ingredients except Champagne in a cocktail shaker. Add Champagne. Strain into copper rabbit over cubed ice, cap with crushed ice.

• The team was generous enough to share all the recipes of the cocktails served at House of Elyx this year and we have them for you below. The recipes and lots of professional photos from the event can also be found at BartenderJourney.net/elyx.

Book of the Week: The Craft Cocktail Compendium: Contemporary Interpretations and Inspired Twists on Time-Honored Classics by Warren Bobrow. His original drinks are so, unique, original and fun.   In this book he also explores the classics.

Toast: A glass in the hand is worth two on the shelf.

 

Elyx House at TOTC 2017 cocktail specs

 

The Elyx Martini 

2 ½ oz Absolut Elyx

½ oz Lillet Blanc

Vessel: Cocktail coupe

Garnish: Lemon zest 

Method: Stir all ingredients over cubed ice in a mixing glass, strain into a chilled cocktail coupe and garish

 

Elyx Spritz

1 oz Absolut Elyx

1 oz Lillet Rose

Top Fevertree Elderflower tonic

Vessel: Highball glass

Garnish: Lemon wheel

Method: Build in highball glass over cubed ice, top with Elderflower Tonic, stir gently and garnish

 

Pimp My Mule

1 ½ oz Absolut Elyx

½ oz Fresh Raspberry Cordial*

½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice

Top Ginger Beer

Vessel: Copper mule cup

Garnish: Fresh raspberry and candied ginger

Method: Build over cubed ice in a copper mule cup and top with ginger beer. Cap with crushed ice and garnish

 

Cold Fashioned 

1 ½ oz Absolut Elyx

½ oz Oloroso Sherry

½ oz Cynar

½ oz Demerera syrup

1 oz Cold brew coffee

Vessel: Rocks glass

Garnish: Orange zest 

Method: Stir all ingredients over ice in a mixing glass. Strain over ice in a rocks glass and garnish  

 

Bloc Party 

(Compliments of Leo Robitschek)

1 oz Absolut Elyx

1 oz Cream sherry

1 oz Fino sherry

½ oz Yellow chartreuse

½ oz Red bell pepper juice

½ oz Freshly squeezed lime juice

¼ oz Fresh Vanilla Cordial*

¼ oz Fresh Passionfruit Puree

Vessel: Copper Squirrel

Garnish: None

Method: Shake all ingredients and strain into copper squirrel over cubed ice, cap with crushed ice and garnish

 

Fennel Countdown 

2 oz Absolut Elyx

¼ oz Suze

¾ oz Fresh Fennel Cordial*

2 oz Freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice

½ oz Freshly squeezed lime juice

Vessel: copper coupe

Garnish: grapefruit zest

Method: Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, strain into a chilled cocktail coupe and garnish

 

Tangerine & Olive 

1 oz Absolut Elyx

1 oz Italian bitters 

1 oz Sweet vermouth

½ oz Freshly squeezed tangerine juice

1 oz Tonic water

1 dash Rhubarb bitters

Vessel: Rocks glass

Garnish: Dehydrated orange & green olive

Method: Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass, strain into a rocks glass over ice, top with tonic water and garnish

 

Silly Rabbit 

1 ½ oz Absolut Elyx

½ oz Manzanilla sherry

½ oz Fresh pineapple cordial*

½ oz Freshly squeezed pineapple juice

¼ Freshly squeezed lime juice

2 oz Perrier Jouet champagne 

Vessel: Copper Rabbit

Garnish: None

Method: Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, strain into copper rabbit over cubed ice, cap with crushed ice.

 

Butterfly

2 oz Absolut Elyx

1 oz Lillet blanc

4 oz Jasmine needle tea

1 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 oz Orange blossom & jasmine honey

½ oz Butterfly pea flower extract

Vessel: Rocks glass 

Garnish: No garnish

• Method: Freeze in a slushy machine and serve

This week on the podcast, it’s another edition of Bartender Journey City Spotlight, as Hazel travels to Washington DC.  She chats with Rico Wisner, a bartender from the Adams Morgan neighborhood that has been in the DC cocktail scene for over 20 years. He first started at a country club and then went onto work at a variety of places including Baltimore Inner Harbor, McCormick & Schmick’s, Dave & Buster’s, Graffiato, Ambar and Bonfire. He has been featured in media including Zagat, Washingtonian and the DC Eater and CBS Local and his last competition was this week at the Drambuie Cocktail Competition at Quarter and Glory.Pics from the DC trip will be posted on the Bartender Journey Facebook page. Visit Rico behind the stick at Rosario DC and the pop up Halloween Bar, Pub Dread! Hazel also chats with French Scotty, bartender at Five to One.

Cocktail of the Week "Done Got Wise" 1 1/2 oz Drambuie 1 oz creme de cacao 1/2 oz Monkey Shoulder 1 1/2 oz espresso 1 Dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters National Drambuie Brand Ambassador Vance Henderson makes an appearance on the podcast this week explaining the Drambuie Cocktail Competition.  (We spent an entire episode to speaking with our friend Vance on Bartender Journey Podcast number 207).

Unrelated Podcast Suggestion of the Week: Brought to you by Sudio Bluetooth Headphonesout of Sweden making great sounding and great looking headphones. Go to sudiosweden.com and use the discount code “bartenderjourney” for 15% off your Sudio wireless headphones and to show your support for the Bartender Journey Podcast. The Unrelated Podcast Suggestion of the Week is No Such Thing As A Fish.   In this podcast 4 or so people get together each week with a strange fact and talk about it. The hosts are hysterical and smart and the shows are always very entertaining.  You can take some of these goofy facts and use them to start conversations at your bar.  The hosts are English and it is what I guess you’d call modern English humor. Check it out!

Book of the Week: The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World's First Classic Cocktail, with Recipes and Lore by Robert Simonson Well the Old Fashioned is everywhere these days and this is a comprehensive guide to the whiskey, sugar and bitters classic. There is history plus more than forty cocktail recipes, including variations, regional twists, and contemporary updates from top bartenders around the country.

While Bartenders can not be expected to have Sommelier level wine education, we certainly need to be knowledgeable about what we are serving and how to make recommendations to our guests.

We chat with Monika Elling, author of Wine 123: All you need to know about wine in 90 minutes or less

It’s the Bartender Journey Podcast #233. Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Android or Stitcher Radio.

Over the past 232 episodes of Bartender Journey we’ve only talked about wine once.  Way back in show #105 we spoke with Elizabeth Schneider of the Wine For Normal People podcast.

Wine 123 packs a lot of knowledge into a small package that is very easy to digest.

Of course Monika Elling’s Wine 123: All you need to know about wine in 90 minutes or less is our Book of the Week.  It’s a perfect crash course on wine.

For our cocktail of the week I suppose we could have come up with something obscure, but Sangria makes people so happy.  Searching for a way to make it à La Minute, I found the answer on Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s site.

He uses Red Wine, Grand Marnier, Fresh Orange Juice, Simple Syrup and a dash of Angostura bitters.  Brilliant!  It’s delicious and a real crowd pleaser.  I’ll let you experiment with the proportions for making one glass.  Suffice to say, a little bit of each modifier goes a long way - the drink should be mostly wine in the end.  Mix it all in a big wine glass, and an orange, lemon and lime wedge and then add ice at the end.  This same recipe works with white wine, for a nice White Sangria.

If this show has helped you, entertained you, etc and you’d like to see it continue, please consider leaving a little something in our Tip Cup.  Please help support this show and help keep the audio flowing.

Also, if you work for a brand or other business that would benefit from reaching our community of Bartenders and Enthusiasts, please get it touch to find out about sponsorship opportunities.  Use our contact page.

Toast of the Week:

Here’s to water...water devine-

It dews the grapes that give us wine.

On the Bartender Journey Podcast this week:  5 great resources for Bartenders. ABL:  Always Be Learning!  You'll never know everything, but you can try! Listen to the show with the player here, or subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio.

Its the Bartender Journey Podcast Episode #57.There is nothing worse as a bartender than loosing control of the situation.  On the show this week, Vince and Vano talk about how to keep the upper hand in your bar, while still making sure all your guests have a great time.Vano tells a great story about how he kept control of his bar when two patrons were getting close to a confrontation.

What policies and procedures do the most successful bars have in place?  Learn from the best bar owners in the world about how to manage employees, how to make your bar memorable & distinctive.  Its a full report from Jim Meehan's awesome seminar at the 2014 Tales of the Cocktail conference!

A chat with David Sangwell, a Bartender from England who gives us some insight into Flair Bartending.  David also has worked developing Cocktail Programs in places as exotic as Dubai.  He also produces his own podcast - Bartender HQ. Its an interesting discussion!  Take a listen with the player below or Find us on iTunes or Stitcher Radio.  Also available on the Bartender Journey Web Site. For more great online educational material on Bartending, check out the great A Bar Above course. You can download the TipSee App for free to keep track of your tips!

In colonial America, Taverns were the de facto courtroom, post office, library, news center, town hall, community center and sometimes: church.  Sometimes even jail!  Taverns were the birthplace of the Revolution and Independence.

As the USA matured, bars and Taverns were still essential to our society.  Even prohibition couldn’t get rid of them as the Speakeasy came into existence. 

This week on the Bartender Journey Podcast, we speak with author Christine Sismondo about her book: America Walks Into a Bar - A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops.

We talk about a Rockstar Bartender who pre-dated Professor Jerry Thomas.  Plus, the evolution of “bar etiquette”.  It’s the history of bars from Colonial times all the way up to the modern “cocktail movement”.

Listen with the player below or subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio.  Cheers!

Bartender Journey Web Site

 

When you think of Single Malt Whiskey, you probably think Scotch.  Some great Single Malts are popping up throughout the U.S. including Westland made in the city of Seattle, Washington.  We talk with Master Distiller Matt Hoffman. Listen with the audio player on this page on the Bartender Journey Web Site or Subscribe on iTunes or Android.  You can also listen on Stitcher Radio. Matt Hofmann is co-founder and master distiller at Seattle’s Westland Distillery. Westland has become America’s leading single malt distiller, which won the title “2015 Craft Whiskey of the Year” at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and was named the “2015 Whiskey of the Year” by the American Distilling Institute. Book of the Week: Tasting Whiskey: An Insider's Guide to the Unique Pleasures of the World's Finest Spirits  by Lew Bryson, forward by David Wondrich Cocktail of the Week: Penicillin Cocktail

• 2 oz. blended Scotch whiskey

• ¾ oz. fresh lemon juice

• ¾ oz. honey syrup
• 2-3 quarter-size slices fresh ginger

• ¼ oz. smoky Islay single-malt Scotch whiskey or Westland Peated American Single Malt Directions:  Muddle ginger in mixing glass.  Add honey syrup.  Muddle again briefly.  Add blended Scotch and lemon juice.  Shake with ice.  Double strain into an old fashioned glass with fresh ice.  Float smoky whiskey on top.  Garnish with candied ginger or lemon twist.

Foot Problems for Bartenders and others who stand at work. Spending long periods of time on your feet can cause discomfort or worse! Find quality work shoes at Shoes For Crews and get $10 off your first order by using this link. Other helpful ideas:

• Make sure you have rubber mats on the floor behind the bar.
• Change your socks, and maybe your shoes halfway through your shift.
• Alternating shoes one day to the next may help.  Shoes take up to 48 hours to dry out completely.
• Compression socks
• Remember, shoes don’t last forever.  It might be time to buy new ones!
• Stretch and exercise - especially core muscles.
• Raise up one leg when possible.  The reason for the rail that runs along the front of the bar is to make it more comfortable to stand for long periods of time so that patrons will stay longer.  The same concept may be useful behind the bar.
• Losing weight can help.
• OSHA Document: Stay Safe in the Restaurant

Toast of the Week: May your home always be too small to hold all of your friends.

Aquavit is the native spirit of the Scandinavian countries and is making an impact on the cocktail scene around the world! Its the Bartender Journey Podcast number 187!  Listen with the audio player on this page, on BartenderJourney.net or subscribe on iTunes,  Android or Stitcher Radio. We speak with Martin Miller and Thomas Anderson from Copenhagen, publishers of the Cocktails of Copenhagen Blog. Download Martian and Thomas' Aquavit eBook. Book of the Week: Sasha Petraske’s Regarding Cocktails As you may know, recently Sasha sadly passed away, way too early.  He was a true innovator in the cocktail world.  He opened his bar Milk and Honey on  Eldridge St on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on New Years Eve 1999.  This was very early in the so called cocktail renaissance and he inspired an entire generation of Bartenders. This is Shasha's only book, completed by his wife Georgette after his passing. What's in your Bar Kit?  Let us know about your favorite Bar Tools or something unusual that you bring with you to work everyday and perhaps we will mention it on the show!  Use our Contact Page and let us know what is in your Kit! Brian just bought a new knife for cutting garnishes, which makes prep time much more enjoyable!  Order your own sharp knife here! A very small investment which helps you cut better garnishes! Cocktail of the Week: Erik The Red

• 1 1/4 oz Bourbon
• 3/4 oz Linie Aquavit
• 1 1/4 oz  Honey
• 1 1/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
• 3 raspberries
• ½ tsp good quality raw liquorice powder

Mix the honey with sugar syrup 2:1 to make it pourable. Muddle the raspberries with the liquorice powder. Shake hard and serve on the rocks. Garnish with a liquorice pipe or a lemon peel on a skewer serving as a sail for Erik. Toast of the Week: The skål is a Scandinavian toast, practiced in its most formal version by the Swedes: The proposer of the toast engages the eye of the person being toasted, and "skoal" is said. A slight bow of the head, and a twinkle of the eye—and the aquavit is drained in one gulp.

We talk about serving your guests who need to eat (& drink) gluten free.  The Books of the Week:  Ray Foley's Bartending For Dummies and Running A Bar For Dummies. Listen with the Player below or subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio.

Authentic Caribbean Rum

Bartender Journey Podcast # 131

·     This week we attend the ACR Authentic Caribbean Rum event in Brooklyn.

·     The ACR is a distiller’s association.  A group of distillers from the Caribbean Islands plus Belize in Central America and Guyana and Suriname in South America got together and decided that they wanted to set up some standards and a have a seal of quality and integrity.  And also they of course they promote their rums and rum education.

·     Jason Cousins was the presenter. I did a little interview with Jason after the event.

·     We are also talk to Washington DC Bartender and listener of Bartender Journey Walter Raubeson.  Walt is also a member of the DC Craft Bartenders Guild

·     BarSmarts Advanced is coming to San Diego on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 and Minneapolis on Wednesday, November 11, 2015. BarSmarts Advanced is a full-day of instruction, education, hands-on mixology, testing and certification that takes place in select cities each year. Hosted by Pernod Ricard USA, and BAR, LLC, these events are a day of challenge, learning, and fun.

·     Book of the week: The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual: Secret Recipes and Barroom Tales from Two Belfast Boys Who Conquered the Cocktail World. It was just released on 10/13/15.  Using the Amazon links on the bartenderjourney.net web site help support the podcast and does not cost you any extra.

·     Please visit our Tip cup page to help support the show and/or leave a review on iTunes. Bartender Journey needs your support!

·      Cocktail of the week is an autumn drink with hard apple cider: Orchard Flowers

 

·      Orchard Flowers

•               3/4 oz. Gin

•               3/4 oz Elderflower Liqueur

•               Splash Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice

•               5 oz. Hard Apple Cider

Preparation:

Shake Gin, Elderflower & Lime Juice.  Add cider.  Strain into Chilled Cocktail Glass.  Garnish with Lime.

 

·     “Take aways” from the ACR rum seminar.

·     Rum is made in many different countries and even in this one particular region – the Caribbean – there is a large spectrum of cultures and even languages.  And as a result, the rums are quite diverse.  There are many things of course that effect the outcome of the final product, but probably the biggest influences are:

o  Whether it was distilled from Sugar Cane Juice or Molasses

o  Distilled in Pot still or Column still

o  Aging / Wood

o  Blending

·     Interestingly where the sugar cane is grown does not seem to have much influence. 

·     In very general terms, Rums made from Sugar Cane Juice will be a little lighter (or delicate?) and Molasses rums will be richer (and to me tastier!) 

·     On future episodes of Bartender Journey - interviews with:

o  Martin, who is a bartender and podcast listener from England

o  Misty who is Brand Ambassador for Del Maguey Mezcal

o  Andy Watts who makes an the amazing Bain’s Whisky in South Africa

·     Toast of the week: To friends: as long as we are able,
To lift our glasses from the table.

"Thinking outside the box."  Perhaps an overused phrase, but is an appropriate term for Summer Jane Bell's Seminar:  Shake Outside of the Box: Avant-Garde Cocktails.  Many great ideas were floated at this seminar.  Take a listen as Brian reads through his notes from this wonderful Tales of the Cocktail seminar.

Take a listen the podcast with the audio player on this page, or on: •Apple Podcasts *Google Play Music *Stitcher Radio  for a slice of the Tales experience!

We also talk to Jeff Quint, founder and owner of of Cedar Ridge Distillery in Iowa, who is making farm to glass spirits.  We caught up with Jeff at Dicky Brennen's Bourbon House in the French Quarter during Tales.  We ate some oysters, sampled some whiskey and chatted about Jeff's Journey from Accountant to Distiller.

The American Distilling Institute named Cedar Ridge “Distillery of the Year", for 2017.

Plus, we catch up with Hazel Alvarado, as she tells us about the many industry events she has attended in NYC this summer, including the grand opening of the new Oscar Wilde-Themed Bar in the No-Mad neighborhood of Manhattan.

Book of the Week: Beach Cocktails: Favorite Surfside Sips and Bar Snacks Summer may be ending in a few weeks, but there's still time to up your "thirst aid" knowledge and add a few summery cocktail recipes to your cocktail library.

Cocktail of the Week: El Presidente

• 1 ½ oz Aged Rum Real McCoy 5 year
• ¾ Dry Vermouth
• ½ oz Orange Curacao
• Bar Spoon Grenadine Stir with ice.  Strain into a chilled coup glass.  Orange twist.

Toast of the Week: (From the book Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces)

• May you have peace in you igloo, oil in your lamp and peace in your heart.

A true Bartender is always learning.  Its September:  Back to School time, and we focus, more than ever on education. It the Bartender Journey Podcast Number 180. Listen with the audio player on this page, on BartenderJourney.net or subscribe on iTunes, Android or Stitcher Radio. On this episode of Bartender Journey we talk with Bar Educators Chris Bidmead and Suzanne Freedman, founders of the educational Bar Methods course. Bar Methods is a new program, focusing on Bartending fundamentals. In keeping with the spirit of spirits education, we are happy to announce that for the month of September only, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society is offering a discounted member rate with code "AMANDA" when you sign up at smwsa.com. Membership includes private access to the site, a subscription to Unfiltered magazine, invitations and discounts to events around the US and access to exclusive Members' Rooms in Leith, Edinburgh and London! Bartender Journey swag giveaway! Send an email to brian@bartenderjourney.net  - with an example of how you used something you learned from the Bartender Journey podcast either behind the stick (for professional bartenders) or at home (for cocktail enthusiasts). Just a short write up please with "WHAT I LEARNED" in the subject line and if you are the winning entry, we will send you a Bourbon t-shirt and accompanying bourbon notebook we got a recent Angel's Envy brand event. Entries must be received by September 28th 2016, midnight Eastern Standard Time.  Full rules of the contest here.  Good luck! Book of the Week: Southern Spirits: Four Hundred Years of Drinking in the American South with Recipes by Robert Moss. When you hear “Southern cocktail”,  does the mint julep come to mind? Mix beyond the mint julep and learn cocktail recipes and their history beyond each one. From Robert Moss,  food and drink writer and culinary historian,  this book offers insight of the Southern drinking culture of liquor,  beer and wine and its influence on the American drinking culture. Cocktail of the Week: Bufala Negra This version of the drink is credited to John Greco of Philip Marie in Manhattan.

• 1 ½ ounces bourbon
• ½ teaspoon Turbinado sugar
• 1 teaspoon good Balsamic Vinegar
• 5 Basil Leaves
• 2 ounces Ginger Beer
• Muddle sugar,  vinegar and 4 basil leaves in a cocktail shaker. Add bourbon and ice and shake to dissolve sugar.  Strain over ice into old-fashioned glass filled with fresh ice.  Top with ginger beer and garnish with basil.

Bartender Journey Podcast # 136

 

·      Guest this week is Andy Watts Master Distiller of Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky from South Africa.

·      Bains is made from 100% corn (or maize as it is called it in South Africa).  It is double matured in first fill Bourbon barrels.

·      In South Africa, Whisky is spelled without the “e”, as it is in Scotland, Canada and many other countries.  American Whiskey is always spelled with the “e”.

·      Cocktail of the Week - Cape Mountain Boulevardier:

o   1 ½ oz Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky

o   1 oz Sweet Vermouth

o   1 oz Campari

o   6 drops Sea Salt Saline Solution: (1 teaspoon Sea Salt - Himalayan Sea Salt preferred) dissolved in 1 oz very hot water)

o   Stir in mixing cup with ice.  Strain into Old Fashioned glass with one large ice cube

o   Express oil from a lemon twist into glass

o   Add twist as garnish

·      A Boulevardier is a Negroni but made with Whiskey (traditionally, Rye Whisky), instead of Gin.  I used the Bain’s Whisky and changed the ratio from the 1:1:1 used in a classic Negroni, and did 1.5 oz Whisky, 1oz sweet vermouth and 1oz Campri.

·      If you are not able to acquire Bain’s Whisky try a high-wheat Bourbon such as Larcany (a great bargain), or W.L. Weller, (more expensive, but still a great bargain for such a high quality Bourbon). The Bains is a very soft, mellow whisky, not spicy like a Bourbon that has a lot of rye (like Bulleit, or Basil Hayden). Even though I personally love high rye Bourbons, these have a much different flavor profile than Bain’s.

·      There are very few Bourbons made with 100% corn. There's a great article about this subject in the New York Times.

·      Book of the week:  Discovering The New York Craft Spirits Boom by Heather Dolland.

You don’t have to be from NY to appreciate this book.  Its all about Craft Distilleries of course and there is a lot of knowledge about how spirits are produced in the book.  Heather traveled all throughout NY interviewing distillers.   

·      Bartender Journey will be traveling to Tampa in December 2015! The Tampa chapter of the US Bartenders Guild has a 4 day Repeal Day party. Repeal Day – December 5 1933 is the day alcohol became legal again in the US after Prohibition…a traditional anniversary for bartenders to celebrate!  But the Tampa Repeal Day Party is not all just about celebration -  there are seminars and educational opportunities too.  If you are interested in attending the event or just finding out more about it, its repealdayparty.com

·      Toast of the Week:

"Remember friends... The glass is neither half empty, nor half full... It just needs to be topped off!"

This week on the Bartender Journey Podcast we have not one, but two guests -- plus two road trips!

It's the Bartender Journey Podcast # 213!  Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on iTunes, Android or Stitcher Radio.

• At Bar Institute in Brooklyn, we spoke to Mr. Josh Davis. He’s a Bartender, and a fine Gentleman from Chicago who also recently started working with Bar Institute.
• We also talk to Mr. James Menite who is a Bartender at the iconic Plaza Hotel. Another fine Gentleman from NYC, who also is the vice president of the local USBG Chapter. We talk to James on a USBG day trip to the Dad’s Hat Rye
• Book of the Week: Cocktails: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks by Klaus St. Rainer. Mr. Rainer is owner and bartender at The Golden Bar in Munich Germany. This is a nice book with lots of great cocktail recipes and some good advice too.
• Cocktail of the Week: Smooth Criminal(Bartender Journey variation) From our Book of the Week
  • 1 Large Chunk Fresh Pineapple - Grilled
  • 1 ¾ oz Rye
  • 2 tsp Orange Curacao
  • 1 tsp Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
  • 1 tsp Simple Syrup
  • 1 Dash Angostura Bitters
• Muddle the Pineapple. Add remaining ingredients. Shake with ice. Double strain into a Highball glass filled with Fresh Ice. Grarnish with a piece of grilled Pineapple and a sprig of mint.
• How do you take care of your mint behind the bar? If you have a good method, please let us know! Post your ideas on the Bartender Journey FB page!
• USBG NY had a great time spending the day with the very small team of great people that produce the delicious Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye. As mentioned, we spoke to John Cooper from Dad’s Hat Rye on Bartender Journey #102
• You can get more information about the USBG at org
• Bartender Journey really wants to get you involved and get to know more about you. PLEASE visit net/survey. You can record the answers to the questions with a voice recorder app on your phone and email the file to brian@bartenderjourney.net. Alternatively, on that same page, there is a link to a google form where you can just enter your answers. We’d really appreciate it!
• Toast of the Week:

The Lord gives us our relatives,

Thank God we can choose our own friends! -From the book: Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces Compiled by Paul Dickson

 

Bar Institute NYC

• We had the very exciting Bar Institute event here in NY this week.
• It's the Bartender Journey Podcast number 189!  Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on iTunes,  Android or Stitcher Radio.
• On Monday before Bar Institute, I attended Diageo World Class Labs. This is an awesome opportunity.
• Diageo World Class is one of the top 2 or 3 cocktail competitions in the world. Competitions like this can literally change your life.
• To enter the competition you have to be a USBG member, in the US anyway. But through World Class you can get a free 30 day USBG membership which allows you to get your application in. If you decide to keep your USBG membership after that, its only $125/year, which is a real bargain, but that’s a subject for another day.
• To enter the World Class competition you have to take at least one World Class Lab class, or you can do it online, but the live events are awesome (and free). They travel to different cities doing the class and I really encourage you to look into it. We had a great class about Taste. It was run by Andy Symore. We had samples of various cocktails to demonstrate the power of different variables like temperature, sweet, sour, bitter and salty.
• It was a blind tasting, so Andy didn’t tell us what we were drinking until after we tasted and talked about it. The first sample was a room temperature Martini and the second was the same exact Martini, but chilled. It was diluted with the same exact amount of water. We also had a Negroni with and without salt added and so on. It really demonstrated the power of altering just one ingredient and the importance of every single thing that goes into your cocktail. You may sometimes hear that your cocktail is only as strong as the weakest link, so its important that every ingredient is high quality.
• Then there was lunch, (free btw) and a second session, which I didn’t stay for because I wanted to get downtown for Bar Institute. Taking just one session is enough to qualify for World Class although you are welcome to stay for both
• So even if you don’t enter the competition, (and why not?) you could still take one of these classes. I think you’ll find it to be a great experience and very educational.
• Next stop was Bar Institute at Pier A, in Manhattan, right next to where the ferry leaves for the Statue of Liberty.
• We spoke with Kevin Vanegas during Bar Institute about Herradura Tequila and about their new cocktail competition.

The Book of the Week:

A Proper Drink: The Untold Story of How a Band of Bartenders Saved the Civilized Drinking World by Robert Simonson.

• Robert takes us through the craft cocktail revival over the past two decades through the personal stories of bars, bartenders,  patrons and visionaries. Filled with modern classic recipes and their origins, A Proper Drink invites you to learn how we got here and where the craft cocktail industry is headed.

 

Cocktail of the Week:

Bourbon Stone Sour A Stone Sour is a Sour with the addition of Orange Juice-Freshly Squeezed preferred!

• 2 oz Bourbon
• 1 oz Orange Juice
• ¾ oz Lemon Juice
• ½ Simple Syrup Shake with ice. Pour into an Old Fashioned glass filled with fresh ice. Garish with a piece of Orange and a Cherry.

 

• There are lots of videos from Bar Institute on the Bartender Journey Facebook page. Thanks to Hazel for this!

 

Toast of the Week:

My friends are the best friends
 Loyal, willing and able. Now let’s get to drinking! All glasses off the table!

On the Bartender Journey Podcast #60, it the continuation of the interview with Bar Owners Brian & Briania. We talk about bar promotions, shooters and lots of other bar management issues, including the tricky issue of bartenders drinking behind the bar. Join us for lot of great bartending talk!

Our live online cocktail party was a lot of fun!  Brian was joined by Stefan Giesbert, Producer of the German Language Cocktailpodcast.  The live event has passed, but listen in to the replay here!

It's the Bartender Journey Podcast Number 195!  Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on iTunes or on Android.

 

Bar Management, Cocktail Menus Bartending and more are discussed on The Bartender Journey Podcast this week!  Brian Vincent Weber talks with his buddy Ozeal! Check out great Whiskey Sampler Packs from our Sponsor Flaviar!  AND Help support the Bartender Journey Podcast!  Click and Purchase today!

Neal Bodenheimer - Bar Owner and Bartender chats with us on the podcast this week.  Co-owner of Cane & Table and Cure, Neil talks about his cocktail menu, the bartender's roll in the bar and developing a bar in an "up and coming" neighborhood.

We look at some education options - one in NYC and one online.

Its a short show this week, but we think you'll learn a little something, or at least learn how to learn!

Cheers!