Libation Lab

Best of the Biz

Quinn — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:10:01 +0000

Saturday night, I was lucky enough (or so I was told) to attend the Spirited Awards at Tales of the Cocktail. I’ll say first off that it was dull, and the food (which had to be donated, despite the outrageous ticket price?) was meager and also dull. The drinks were good and the event featured a Mad Men theme, which would have been cool a year ago. They did actually bring in Bryan Batt, the actor who plays Salvatore Romano in AMC’s Mad Men. He spoke for about 90-seconds and was never seen again.

We also saw the “Best Brand Ambassador” out for dinner with the show’s emcee, Billy Harris, the next night at Domenica, which in any other realm might be cause for scandal, but let’s face it, this guy doesn’t have much pull, or a shot in hell with the stunning Charlotte Voisey.

Thanks to the fine folks at DonQ Rum, who invited me to their table. Next year, I think this is 3 hours I will spend by the pool, but congrats to all the winners.

World’s Best Drink Selection – Bar Lebensstern in Cafe Einstein, Berlin
Best American Cocktail Bar – Death & Co., New York City
World’s Best Cocktail Bar – The Cocktail Bar at The Merchant Hotel, Belfast
World’s Best New Cocktail Bar – Mayahuel, New York City
World’s Best Hotel Bar – The Connaught Bar, The Connaught Hotel, London
American Bartender of the Year – Murray Stenson
International Bartender of the Year – Agostino Perrone
Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book – Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh
Best Cocktail Writing – CLASS magazine
Best New Product – Celery Bitters, The Bitter Truth
World’s Best Cocktail Menu – Death & Co, New York City
Best Bar Mentor – Dale DeGroff
Best American Brand Ambassador – Charlotte Voisey, William Grant & Sons Portfolio
Best International Brand Ambassador – John Gakuru, Sagatiba
Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award – Brian Rea

Nocino

Quinn — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:41:47 +0000

Nocino is a liqueur from Northern Italy made with green walnuts. TSB and I managed to get our hands on a box of these rare, under-ripe beauties and first made a batch of nocino. Green walnuts are available mid-June, and are over-ripe by mid-July. When right, the innards are still soft enough to cut through, and jelly in some parts where eventually a nut and shell would form.

Nocino

We split this recipe between 2 half-gallon mason jars.

30 green walnuts, soaked overnight and quartered
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
1 vanilla bean
zest of one lemon
2 orange slices
2 1/2 c maple syrup
1 liter of vodka
500 ml dry vermouth
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp szechuan peppercorns

—

Combine all ingredients in jars and let sit for at least a year, shaking every once in a while. Apparently this stuff may not be fully primed for 3 years.

Cocktail Spectrum

Quinn — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:30:14 +0000

I have been pondering why cocktail lists are always laid out in the same two ways: split into one page of classic cocktails and another of innovative drinks, or else divided by type of spirit, so there is a column each of rum drinks, vodka drinks, gin drinks and so on.

I’ve been toying with concepts of spectrum and sequence as I reconnoiter traditional lists, thinking about how to alter a drinker’s perspective by making the time spent imbibing more complex and experiential. At the Bax vs. Clift seminar at Tales of the Cocktail last week, they shared the cocktail list for The Tippling Club in Singapore wherein one of the pages lists the cocktails on a flavor spectrum, similar (and probably superior) to what I was considering.

My next ideas are to create a Venn diagram of flavors to show which flavors overlap in different drinks, and a sequential tasting menu of drinks based on the Kaiseki Ryori. Stay tuned.

Tales 2010

Quinn — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:11:35 +0000

It’s time again for Tales of the Cocktail, the world’s biggest bartender convention. It’s going to be absurdly hot and humid, the parties are going to be outrageous, and I will get to learn a lot about booze.

If you are going for the first time, here are my tips:

1. You won’t pay for many drinks while you are here, so tip well when you can.

2. Make friends with the PR girls. They like to pick up the tab for dinner.

3. Grab a spare cardboard box when you get the chance (you will end up with at least 300 airline sized bottles and a few larger, 15 branded muddlers, 7 new t-shirts, and you will probably score more and better swag than that. I travel there carry-on only, and pack up a box to check on the way home. They have packing tape at the airline desk, so don’t bother buying a roll).

4. Arrive a couple days early or leave a couple days late. There will not be time during Tales to see the sights.

If you would like to stalk me, here’s my calendar:

Perfect Cocktail Snack: Maple Glazed Nuts

Quinn — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:09:34 +0000

These are obscenely easy to make.

1/4 cup Vermont maple syrup (grade B if you can get it)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of herbes de Provence
1/2 teaspoon sriracha
salt and pepper to taste
6 cups nuts (I used cashews and pecans)

—

Mix together first five ingredients, pour over nuts and toss to coat. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes and stir half way through.

My White Dog Article in Drink Me Magazine

Quinn — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:54:47 +0000

I’ve got a new article in the latest issue of Drink Me Magazine about “white dog” or unaged whiskey. Coincidentally, I picked up a bottle of Buffalo Trace White Dog at BevMo yesterday, which is exciting, because it wasn’t available outside of Kentucky until very recently. The article also includes a recipe for a cocktail called the “Yellow Lab” by Bobby Heugel from Anvil in Houston. Click the image below to download and read a PDF of the article.

My Father’s Favorite Poem

Quinn — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:05:08 +0000

I can’t believe I’ve never mentioned one of the greatest poems by my favorite American poet, Mr. Ogden Nash.
“Reflections on Ice-Breaking” is one of the most brilliant manipulations of the English language ever devised, and also my father’s favorite poem. Happy Father’s Day!

Bourbon Coke Float

Quinn — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 13:06:33 +0000

It’s getting hot out there (but not here; SF always gets colder during summer). The Bourbon Coke Float is a great way to cool off and forget about the heat. Mexican coke is preferred because of its real cane sugar and a lighter, spicier bourbon like Elmer T. Lee or Blanton’s with orange bitters adds a twist reminiscent of root beer.

Bourbon Coke Float

2 ounces Elmer T. Lee bourbon
6 ounces Mexican Coke
Ben and Jerry’s vanilla ice cream
Orange bitters

Pour bourbon into glass, followed by Coke and a scoop of ice cream. Splash Ice cream with a dash of bitters and serve with a bendy straw.

Booze Flash

Quinn — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:57:38 +0000

In their monthly newsletter today, St. George Spirits announced the launch of their new website. Cringing with fear, I clicked over to discover a site that was cleanly designed, thoughtful, and loaded in an instant, which leads me back to a question that has been bothering me for months:

Why must so many alcohol brands have such horrible Flash-based websites?

Welcome to the 21st century! How about some good content that is easy to navigate? What about creating a community for interaction and user created content? How about a site that isn’t so slow that I close the browser window before it ever loads, or that loads at all on my phone, which is how so many of us access the web these days.

Who does the digital marketing strategies for liquor companies, and how have they gotten away with such crap for so long?

Thank you St. George for bucking a bad trend.

Your thoughts? Who are the worst offenders? Who has a great site (Flash or non-Flash)?

Old Old Fashioned

Quinn — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:37:03 +0000

I saw the band Frightened Rabbit last night at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and their latest album just happens to be called “The Winter of Mixed Drinks,” so I can justify referencing the concert here.

One of my favorites of their songs is “Old Old Fashioned,” which brings to mind the distinction between the classic version of the cocktail known as an Old Fashioned, and the bastardized contemporary version that makes me wary to order one in a bar where I don’t know the bartender, for fear that I will get some sickly sweet abomination.

The Old Fashioned is a great drink that has gotten a bad rap, as it began to include muddled fruit to cover the flavor of bad moonshine during the early 20th century, and evolved to become commonly cloying in recent decades.

The Old Old Fashioned

3 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 teaspoon sugar
splash of soda
2 ounces bourbon

Muddle the sugar and bitters in a splash of soda until the sugar is dissolved, forming a syrup. Add the whiskey and ice, and stir. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Click here to view the embedded video.