Ardent Spirits e-letter
Volume 9, Issue 10, July 12, 2007
by Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan
© 2006 Reganomics, Inc.
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In This Issue:
- Bar Crawl: Rise Up and Join the Party
- The Cocktailian: The Reluctant Tabby Cat
- Ardent Spirits for Professionals Only: Gary is
as Mad as Hell . . . or is he just a little concerned about something?
- Hot Links to Gary's Rum article in Wine
Enthusiast and to numerous episodes of The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess
- Potent Quotables from Cross: Let Us Prey, by
Ken Bruen
- Bar Code: We have just the tonic for
you
- Ardent Events Calendar
- On the House with Jack Robertiello
Bar Crawl
Rise Up and Join the Party
and what a
party it was . . .
In mid-June, after spending two glorious nights in the South
of France on the Isle de Bendor with
the likes of
Dave Wondrich, LeNell Smothers,
Robert Hess,
Dre Masso,
Jamie Terrell,
Angus Winchester,
Salvatore Calabrese,
Nick Strangeway,
Michael Waterhouse,
Jared Brown,
Anistatia Miller,
Sasha Petraske,
Jim Meehan, Dale Degroff, and various and sundry other assorted misfits, I traveled to
London for a bit of a party. Stoli Russian Vodka is in the middle of a
re-launch of sorts. One of those nudges that wakes you up to the fact that
they were, after all, the first major Russian vodka on the scene, and there's a
reason they're still around. Darned good stuff, is Stoli.
Memorable Moments on Bendor
Jared Makes Kissy Face with Angus
Wondrich: "Wot? My round? Waddya mean it's my round . . .?"
In London we were whisked away to a former BBC recording
studio that Stoli had snagged for the evening, and it's a good job that the
place is going to be torn down soon, cos that gave Stoli the rights to pretty
much do what the heck they wanted with it. They transformed the joint into
a sort of underground Soviet nightclub, complete with naughty looking hostesses
to greet the guests.
Ve Vant to Make Shoor You are Satisfied Viz Our Service
Tonight
And, indeed, we were pleased. We were very pleased.
Very Very pleased. These guys pulled out all the stops that night, and
made this boy one very happy guy. We were served some great drinks by
a huge group of very special servers
Make mine a Double, please . . .
And we were entertained by
The Stoli Red Choir
and
The Leningrad Cowboys
Who came together as one from time to time
Oh, yes, Peter Dorelli, former head bartender at
The Savoy, in London, was there,
too. What a treat to be served by
Peter Dorelli.
One of the all-time greats.
Cheers, Peter.
And I did meet a couple of interesting bartender chappies
from Wales . . .
Iechyd da, my friends, Iechyd da
After the Stoli party a few of us made our way to the
Lonsdale where Charles Vexenat,
Theme Magazine's U.K. Bartender of the Year, 2007, made us some incredible
quaffs. (Ask him for a reverse Brooklyn if you see him.)
Stir that baby, Charles.
Thanks thanks thanks to the guys at Stoli for such an
incredible trip, and thanks also to the beautiful team at the
Worldwide Cocktail Club, and
all the other people involved in this fantastic event. I had an blast.
The Cocktailian
image courtesy of the good folks at
quanya
The Reluctant Tabby Cat
6/15/06
I'm not being modest when I tell you that creativity isn't my strong suit behind
the bar. I like to think that I can fix a pretty mean Manhattan, and my
margaritas might make some toes curl, but I'm pretty pedestrian when challenged
to construct a new drink from scratch. My usual form in this situation is to
take a classic formula, remove one ingredient, replace it with something similar
and call it new. It's known as pimping the classics . . .
Ardent Spirits for Professionals Only
Gary is as Mad as Hell . . . or is he just a little concerned
about something? Wanna find out?
Click here
Hot Links
Gary’s
article on Rum is in the June issue of
Wine Enthusiast. It Features
Ed Hamilton from the
Ministry of Rum,
John Hulihan,
Director of Beverage and Service at
Lark Creek Steak, and a
whole host of rums.
Rum article here
We dropped the ball on keeping you up to speed on Robert Hess' video series on
the Small Screen Network. Sorry. These episodes should keep you
entertained for a while:
An original creation by Jamie Boudreau of Vessel -
Seattle, the Vessel 75 utilizes a maple syrup foam to add sweetness and
mouth feel. It is a beautiful cocktail with a nod to the classic Old
Fashioned.
The sidecar is a classic cocktail which most
bartenders know, but seems to be rarely ordered. Part of this is because it
is poorly made, and more often than not made with sour mix instead of fresh
ingredients. Properly made this drink should be made with cognac (or
brandy), Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice. There are however a variety of
ways these ingredients can be combined, the secret is how to do so in a way
that presents a perfect balance.
In this very special episode, Robert sits down at
Zig Zag Cafe - Seattle with Sean Harrison, Master Distiller at Plymouth Gin.
No, it's not just juniper.
It’s hard for me to understand how the Japanese
cocktail has slid into obscurity. While you might find it listed in some of
the modern cocktail books, you'll be hard pressed to find one that uses the
original recipe from Jerry Thomas’ "Bar Tenders Guide" published in 1887.
Properly made this drink has the sweet almond flavor of the orgeat balanced
against the brandy and the bitters to present a very enticing drink.
In this special episode, the first in a series of
three, Robert sits down with Jamie Boudreau of Vessel, Seattle. Jamie
discusses and demonstrates the principles of Molecular Mixology in this
episode with his creation, The Rosewater Rickey. Be careful! You might feel
some heat!
Vessel - Seattle
Gin can often be a daunting product to many people,
but that’s only because they haven’t really had a chance to have a gin based
cocktail which properly uses this product. You shouldn’t have to swallow a
mouthful of juniper with every gin cocktail you order. The Jasmine should
provide you an opportunity to realize the value of gin.
A pre-prohibition cocktail which highlights the
value of orange bitters. Few bartenders will know this once popular drink,
but is worth rediscovering.
Few drinks have been able to make the tortuous
journey through American Prohibition and into the modern era unscathed by
alterations, shortcuts, gimmicks, and obscurity. The Manhattan, retains a
modicum of popularity, and is even made pretty much the same way it was back
in the late 1800's when it first came onto the scene. Most notably, it is
one of the few cocktails which you can still expect to be made with bitters.
The Bloody Mary represents a drink where everybody
is welcome to test out their creativity just a little to see what sorts of
unique twists they can add to this long-time classic. Start with the basic
recipe and then see where that leads you.
Part of learning about, and understanding cocktails
and mixology, is having the appropriate research material available for not
only information, but inspiration as well. In this episode we'll provide
some suggestions for a few great books you may want to add to your library,
and then close off with a great little cocktail, the Champagne Flamingo.
Without tools, we would simply be animals. So in this
episode we'll do our best to keep all of you well established into the human
race, by showing you many of the tools you need to further your studies in
mixology. And in closing, our intrepid host will show you how best to
utilize one of your tools to make the Caipirinha.
Potent Quotables
We're in the middle of reading
Cross: Let Us Prey by
Ken Bruen. He's one heck of a
wordsmith. The book is a murder mystery in which Jack Taylor, a gritty
Irish private detective plays the lead role. Taylor is a recovering
alcoholic who still refquents pubs, and still buys himself pints of Guinness and
shots of Irish whiskey. His strength lies in not drinking them.
Here's our fave quote from this book:
"I took my drinks and moved over to the snug, a small
cubbyhole designed to give you if not peace the a degree of privacy. The
pint of Guinness was a work of art. Perfectly poured, the head a precise
slice or cream. Seemed almost a shame not to drink a pint like that . . .
a pure gift, with the Jameson weaving its pure magic on your eyes, you can
believe that Iraq is indeed on the other side of the world, that winter isn't
coming, that the Galway light will always hold that beautiful fascination and
that priests are protectors not predators. You won't have the illusion for
very long, but the moment is priceless."
Cross doesn't appear to be available in the U.S.A.
yet, though our U.K. readers can find it
here. Ardent Spirits in America will have to be patient, but meanwhile
you might want to pick up one of his earlier books. Find them
here.
Bar Code
We Have Just the Tonic for You
We confess to not having tasted the whole range of Fever Tree
sodas, but Gary recently made himself a G&T with their Indian Tonic, and he
swears it was the best G&T he ever did taste (yes, of course there was lots of
gin in it . . .), so Fever Tree mixers are now officially highly recommended by
Ardent Spirits.
Fever Tree's press release promises that their mixers contain
no
preservatives, synthetic coloring, chlorinated water, manufactured quinine,
artificial sweeteners, sodium, or high fructose corn syrup, and are instead made
with
pure spring water with natural botanicals and a touch of cane sugar. The
difference is immediately noticeable. Clean, crisp, and no horrid
aftertaste. Click on the pretty picture above for more info.
Worldwide Bartender Database
If you aren't a member yet, you won't know about the gigs we're letting our
members in on, will you?
Join now so you don't miss the next issue
of the Worldwide Bartender Bulletin.
Join the
Worldwide Bartender Database
(And if you promise not to take it too very seriously, you
can go take a look at what our good friend
Robert Plotkin had to say recently about our new database:
Click here.)
Ardent Events Calendar
July 18 - July 22
It's less than one week away. Better get your tickets
booked . . .
September 15
Presents The Spirits of Mexico
Details Here
On the House with Jack Robertiello
Don’t forget to visit our friend, Jack Robertiello’s round up of blogs from cocktail geeks far and wide:
On the House with Jack Robertiello
*Ardent Spirits accepts advertising dollars only from products that are, in the
opinion of the editors, of superior quality.
For details on advertising rates, etc., please contact Gary at gary@ardentspirits.com
