While I was on an unsupervised trip to the liquor store, I came across an interesting find. First, when it comes to the liquor store, I have a need to try everything, so my wife usually watches over me. But she went away this weekend, so that meant a shopping spree! Well, just a trip to the LCBO and selecting something new. Of course she reads this blog, so consider this my confession. Anyway, it looks like Gibson’s is releasing a couple of new whisky products that are based on different barrels. The first, and the one I picked up, is whisky aged in new oak barrels and the second one is aged in used scotch / bourbon barrels. The reason I selected the “new oak” was to see if it had a bourbon characteristic. The complete name is “Gibson’s Finest Rare Reserve New Oak Canadian Whisky”, which if not the longest whisky name is at least the most buzz word compliant.  

The spirit called “arrack” is a difficult spirit to locate in some regions, but for a cocktail enthusiast it is a very important ingredient to acquire. In the early days of cocktails it was a popular ingredient and was used frequently by the likes of Jerry Thomas and other cocktail pioneers. It is also important in that Arrack should not be confused with the middle eastern spirit called “Arak”, which is an anise flavoured distillate, more similar to ouzo. Genuine arrack is made from palm sap and is closer in flavour to rum. Arrack is actually considered a type of rum by some people. The other thing that makes Arrack important is that it is used to make Swedish Punch, which is made from arrack, sugar and citrus fruit, and is used in a lot of classic cocktails.

A few weeks ago I tried red wine (Yellow Tail Shiraz) as an after shift drink and it failed to impress. This week I’m trying some white wine (Reif Estate Riesling) because I have a bottle of it. While I was picking up some items at the LCBO I decided to grab a bottle of wine. I had heard some good things about Reif, which is located in the Niagara region of Ontario. I decided on Riesling because it is a good grape when grown in colder regions, and who’s colder than Canada. The price was modest and affordable so it was an easy pick. So does white wine fair better than red wine after a night of bartending?

In the world of beer there is a huge selection of beers that can meet most drinkers taste. You have the light beers like Bud Lite and Coors Light, which are fairly tasteless“training” beers. Then you move into the beers that have a little more flavour like ales (Labatt 50 & Molson Export), lagers (Blue & Canadian) and modern pale ales (Kieths). Next are your darker beers like porters. Then you hit the big time with stout. It’s jet black and bitter with a smooth mouth feel and thick creamy head. Well, most people associate stout with Guinness, but there are many more stout styled beers on the market. One of my preferred stouts is McAuslan St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout from Montreal.

In the previous article on bartender tools I looked at the equipment that you will use frequently. In this article I'll be looking at items that if you didn't have, you would survive, but having them will make you life easier and your guests experience more pleasant. If you take bartending as a profession, then giving your customers the best experience possible is the goal. In return, your tips will increase and hopefully those customers will return, and regular customers are the best.

Behind the bar you need a lot of equipment, sometimes more than you think, especially if you want to be perceived as a professional. Most bars will have the basic equipment, such as shakers and bottle openers, but depending on where you work, they may not provide all the things that make your job easier. Aside from the most common items there is a whole list of other tools and things that are useful behind the bar. Now this list is what you as a bartender should bring to work, not the things that should be naturally supplied by the restaurant / bar. The key reason for all of this stuff is that it will make your life easier and it will help increase your income, believe it or not. A lot of the stuff in this list is there to help your guests have a better experience, and in return they will generally reward you with a better gratuities.

The distilled spirit of orange blossoms is one of those rare ingredients in cocktails, that should probably get more attention. There are a few cocktails that use orange flower water, the most common being the Ramos Gin Fizz, but other than that there aren’t a lot of really popular cocktails that utilize this ingredient. This is unless of course you include cocktails that use genuine Orgeat, because a true Orgeat has orange flower water added. Then you can add some more popular cocktails to the list, including the Mai Tai and a whole bunch of Tiki drinks. One of the reasons this ingredient isn’t used more is because people don’t know a lot about it, so let’s fill in the gaps.

The world is a funny place, and certain cocktails provide a good example of this. I am speaking of the “worlds most expensive cocktail” trend. So what’s so funny about an expensive cocktail? Well, it’s because people are putting diamonds, ruby’s, pearls and gold into a glass of champagne and calling it “the worlds most expensive cocktail” and inanimate mineral chunks are not a garnish. The idea of placing a diamond in a cocktail made with Louis VIII Cognac and 85 Salon Champagne with a splash of bitters and lychee juice does not make it the worlds most expensive cocktail. Mind you, the spirits are pricy, but the inclusion of a diamond only qualifies it as a choking hazard. So what would be a good expensive cocktail to drink, if you had the disposable income?

For this edition of Mixology Monday, being hosted by Meeta at “What’s For Lunch, Honey?” so I decided to look back at some of Jerry Thomas’ recipes for an exotic cocktail. First, I started looking for something with Arrack in it, because it just happens that I picked up a bottle of this liquor a couple of months back. Arrack is fairly exotic liquor made from the sap of a coconut flower and important from Sri Lanka. Arrack has a fruity amber rum like flavour and is used in a bunch of Jerry Thomas’ recipes. So after a quick browse through “How to Mix Drinks” I came upon Royal Punch which is exotic, tiki like, and has the alcohol content that would make Trade Vic happy. The best part is that is uses calves foot jelly! Now I just need to find a cow.

When creating a new cocktail, balance is always important. A common rookie mistake is to make a cocktail that has the alcohol content way out of proportion. You know, the one that should actually have the flammable symbol on the side of the glass. Five ounces of Everclear (95% ABV), one ounce orange juice! The idea being that; it may not taste good but it will get you “wasted”. Well, we’ve all done that and realized that there are better ways to enjoy the benefits of alcohol. The best way is in a well balanced cocktail.

Lychee fruit in drinks has been around for a while and it still seems to be a good ingredient to use in a cocktail, not the “flash in the pan” most people thought it would be. The Lychee Martini is a little passe, just because it isn’t very complex. Sure, it was interesting because so many North Americans haven’t tried lychee’s (sometimes spelled litchi). I once knew a girl who hated lychee’s because it reminded her of eating an eyeball. Sounds like the makings of a good Halloween cocktail. Anyway, with the lychee martini big bang opening the way for bars to regularly stock lychee juice, or liqueur, it provides another useful ingredient to create some unique cocktails.

Well it’s been roughly one year since I launched “The Art of Drink” and to date I have published 145 posts. When I started this site the first few months were slow, with about 100 page views per day. One year later the site easily hits the 2200+ page views per day with 1000 unique visitors per day. In September 2006 the site pushed out 65,000 pages and each month it grows just a little bit more.

As this website is as much mine, as it is yours, I would like to know what types of topics and posts you would like to see in the next twelve months. For the most part I am fairly random in the way I choose what to write about. Sometimes it is a new product, other times it is an event that happened at the bar, and there is the occasional rant. Now, I do like answering questions and that provides me a great reason to write, so what would you like to see? Just post a comment to this topic with what you’d like to read and I’ll see if I can accommodate it. In exchange for your suggestions, I’ll do a random draw, from the people who comment, and select two who I’ll send a free copy of Mixologist: Journal of the American Cocktail Volume II.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to the site and those lurkers who just read. I look forward to another 150+ posts in the next year.

Recently I received a copy of the second edition of Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail Volume II, which has eleven new articles on cocktail and bar related topics. There are some great articles, by some great writers and bartenders, in this edition. The topics encompass a number of areas including classic cocktails, the profession, some ingredient based articles and a little bit of history. There is something for everyone. In this edition of Mixologist, I contributed an article entitled “The Definitive Guide to Sour Mix”. Other authors, and topics include, Gary Regans writings about the origins of the Cosmopolitan and Dale DeGroff writes a great article on what makes a great bar. The book is a good read and picking up a copy helps the Museum of the American Cocktail. 

 

Recently I received an email question from Bryan, a regular reader of The Art of Drink. In his email he had some questions about the process for making rum and requested some information, if possible. Well, I’m always willing to answer questions, really, just email me. In this case the answer is appropriate for an article so I did a little bit of research and this is the result. This article is the short version of the process for creating distilled spirits. The key point in the distillation of any spirit is to collect the fraction that contains the ethanol and the flavour components, while avoiding the collection of the methanol and other not so tasty molecules.