If there’s one thing I hate about living in the Pacific Northwest, it’s the stretch of time from late October until late June, when the sun makes only the most occasional of appearances. I typically pack on an extra 10-15 pounds during those rainy months, party due to over-consumption of wintertime drinks like dark beer, egg nog, hot-buttered-anything and wassail. I wanted a drink for the winter that I could add to my cocktail menu that was more like the light, café-style cocktails I typically gravitate to during the summer.
Jerry Thomas prescribed a drink called “sangaree” that, to the best of our knowledge was a colonial adaptation of the Spanish “sangria”. The recipe, which calls for anywhere from 1½ to 4 ounces of port, Madeira, gin or brandy dolled up with sugar and dusted with nutmeg in a glass sounded less than exciting to me, but the challenge of updating this old chestnut sounded like a fun January task.
We began with ruby and tawny ports but found both way too sweet. White port got us much closer to our target, but it wasn’t until a healthy dose of dry vermouth was applied that we knew we were on to something. To provide additional depth and hint at the drink’s colonial origins we sweetened with a maple-nutmeg syrup and finished the whole thing off with a teaspoon of allspice liqueur and orange oil.
The Dry Vermouth Sangaree
3 oz dry vermouth
½ oz maple-nutmeg syrup*
1 tsp St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1 large strip orange peel
Shake everything – yes, even the orange peel – with ice until well-chilled and strain into a cold cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh strip of orange peel.
*To make maple-nutmeg syrup, combine 8 ounces each of Grade B maple syrup and water, and 1 tbsp freshly-grated nutmeg. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Let cool, strain out solids, bottle and chill.
My problem with homemade tonic water has always been a flavor profile that was too esoteric for the general audience. This recipe takes some of the positive qualities people have come to understand from commercial tonic water and updated them with fresh ingredients.
One question I'm often asked is "Do you have any drink-related book recommendations?" Well, funny you should ask, I've compiled a list of the ten books every professional bartender or home mixologist should own. I keep every one of these close at hand and have read most of them several times. I suggest you do the same.
The problem with living in Oregon is the absence of little wooden shacks by the sea that sell cases of fresh ginger beer stacked on back porches. But with some readily-available ingredients, a recipe I've been revising for several years - and a few free minutes - I can easily transport myself to a little fishing boat on the ocean as I sip a Dark and Stormy made with fresh, house-made ginger beer.
It's always mojito season somewhere, so this advice is timely in your area about half the year. Wether you're making them or simply enjoying them, this advice will help you look like a pro in no time at all.
The flavors of the Richmond Gimlet are imbued with sunshine. Fresh mint mingling with the herbaceousness of gin and the tartness of lime have made this drink a Eugene classic for many years now.
You'll get a lot of snarky advice on this site about how to make a proper drink, but if you ever need to know what not to do, this is the video for you.
Not to be confused with the Spanish wine-and-fruit-based alcoholic beverage sangria, sangrita (meaning "little blood") is a traditional accompaniment to a tequila served completo; a non-alcoholic sipper that cleanses the palate between fiery doses of agave.
The world of booze can be mystifying to people that don't work in bars or around alcohol all the time. I hear a lot of assumptions about the industry I'm in that are - much like 90% of what you hear in bars - completely false. Here are a few you've probably heard yourself.
The debate rages on: Should we try to look cool and crack open the Boston shaker or be tidy professionals and use the Hawthorne strainer the way God intended? Be sure to leave your two cents in the comments section.
The traditional garnish for a Pisco Sour is a couple of drops of bitters in the foam, but I've never been particularly impressed with the way these few paltry drops of bitters sat in their little egg-white mattress and didn't play along with the rest of the drink. I envisioned a Pisco Sour with a uniformly-distributed bitters-scorched foam: slightly crisp as the fire burnt the sugars, and slightly warm as the foam insulated the rest of the frosty cocktail from the heat. A pisco creme brulée in a glass!
I get so many visitors looking for tips on how to write a bartending resume that I thought I should finally post a tutorial on how to write your own. Click the headline to read more.
I always love showing up to a party with a gallon jug of pre-mixed margaritas, so I've decided to share my recipe. This margarita recipe is the perfect blend of strong, sweet, and sour. But be warned: this recipe packs a serious punch.
There isn't much I can say about this video that hasn't been said already. If you've read anything I've written about cocktails, you'll understand why this video symbolizes everything wrong with the state of bartending in America today. Watch and learn, but be warned: this one isn't for the feint of heart.
About Me
My name is Jeff Morgenthaler and I'm the head bartender at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon.
I've been tending bar since 1996 and writing about it since 2004. Mixing drinks has become something of a passion for me in recent years, and I strive to elevate the experience of having a drink from something mundane to something more culinary.
The writing I do here is intended as a work in progress. My recipes are like my opinions: they are constantly being revised and refined as I work them through my mind and my fingers. Comments and participation are encouraged, so please don't feel the need to tread lightly here.
As a novice bartender I find that martini etiquette can be quite confusing, perhaps because the traditional martini and the present-day fad are different. I understand not shaking clear martinis, and I also do not add vermouth to vodka. I suppose I would like to hear your take on what to shake, and how to interpret customers. Also, do you shake Manhattans or stir them? From your article I was not sure of your take on them…
Thanks,
Hillary
Hey Hillary
The rule is that clear drinks should never be shaken – the thinking here is that since a clear drink is made from such delicate ingredients (traditionally aromatic liquors such as gins, fortified wines such as vermouths, aromatic bitters, etc.), the additional water that comes from shaking a drink would be an unwelcome component. And that definitely goes for the Manhattan as well.
I’m sure you know that using a chilled glass is going to keep the drink colder for longer (there’s nothing quite like pouring a cold drink in a warm glass), but the choice of container you use to mix the drink is just as important. Make sure to use a metal cocktail shaker rather than a glass, as metal is a better conductor of heat than glass is, and therefore draws heats from its surface and chills your drink better. Silver will get a drink colder than stainless steel will, and glass just acts as an insulator. The bummer is that silver shakers are difficult to come by these days.
All this said, I usually break this rule when it comes to the Negroni. Our glassware at the bar is huge, and personally I think the flavors are strong enough to take a little watering down. So I shake the Negroni, and any drink containing fruit juice.
As an aside, please note that it’s not possible to “bruise” gin. This is just a bullshit myth perpetuated by Martini “connoisseurs” who want to impress you with their “knowledge” and “sophistication”. It’s a meaningless term, trust me. However, they’re right about not shaking a martini – they just don’t get why.
As far as proportions are concerned, I personally love the flavor of vermouth. I know that’s not really a popular sentiment these days, but I’ve found that most martini drinkers have confused a hatred of vermouth for sophistication. Vermouth is a wonderful thing (sweet vermouth: oh-my-god), especially when we’re talking about high-quality vermouths. I tend to make my Martinis with less vermouth than I do my Manhattans: 4-to-1 gin to vermouth for a Martini, and 3-to-1 vermouth to bourbon/rye for a Manhattan.
It is impossible to guess a customer’s preference for gin versus vodka, vermouth versus none, bitters versus none, etc., so I recommend asking what your customer wants in their cocktail to ensure you give them the exact drink they’re looking for.
Even if it is a shaken vodka “martini” with no vermouth.
Comments
12 Responses to “Ask Your Bartender: Martini Advice”
06 Dec 2006 at 2:41 pm 1. Mad Jack
Nice site.
The term ‘bruise the gin’ came about as a sort of joke. Amatuer bartenders will shake the living daylights out of everything in sight, and rather than launch into a long explanation involving liquor, water, ice and ice fragments, the client would simply state that ‘you’ll bruise the gin’.
This worked pretty well until Hollywood came along with James Bond and specified ’shaken, not stirred’. I object with the old standard about bruises and gin.
You’re quite right about the vermouth. Few people know that good vermouth has a nice flavor to it. The trouble is that the MD 20-20 that passes for vermouth in most bars does nothing to compliment the rocket fuel that passes for gin. Order top shelf or nothing, I say.
25 Jan 2007 at 1:13 pm 2. RC Hardin
I’ve read in a couple of places that “bruising” the gin refers to the fact that shaking a martini introduces air bubbles into the cocktail, leaving it temporarily cloudy. While I don’t know if that’s the true origin of the term, I find it interesting that many who naysay the term take it so literally. I’ve read so many comments along the lines of “you can’t bruise gin — it’s liquid, not fruit” and so forth. It is so obviously a metaphorical expression that any attempt to take it literally carries an air of reactionary dismissiveness.
24 Mar 2007 at 6:27 pm 3. Charles P
Here here! I simply love a good martini (that would be gin) and a good martini is not complete without a portion of quality vermouth (4 to 1 is my preference also).
23 Jun 2007 at 12:49 pm 4. Chip and Andy
But when do you add the sour apple?
OK, bad joke. But many discussions with my work buddies eventually drift to the martini (I work for goverment, we drink a lot). While I prefer my martini at about 5 to 1 with a top-shelf gin, every single one of my work buddies insists that the Martini Fad has been around since the end of prohibition and that the Sour-Apple martini has been around since forever.
Maybe we can get an Act of Congress or a Presidential Decree reclaiming the Martini as a specific recipe and not as a catagory of other drinks and glasses.
Well, Chip and Andy, the Bacardi Rum company won a court case in 1936 that stipulated that only Bacardi Rum could be used in the Bacardi Cocktail, so maybe you’re on to something!
[...] A. Why would someone send me, of all people, a martini mix? B. Who needs a dirty martini mix anyway? It’s just olive juice and gin, right? [...]
06 Aug 2007 at 4:13 pm 7. Beak
For me the term “bruising the gin” has less to do with flavor and more with texture. I want a crystal clear pour into my choicest glass with little to NO shards of ice. If I wanted a slurpee then I’d go to 7-11, but for now I want a chilled dry gin martini. Yum.
I always shake martinis. I don’t believe the “bruising” myth.
What dilutes a martini is adding too little ice to the shaker…
The shaker should be filled to the brim with good quality large cubes…not crappy, watery, melty little shards…
I also prefer a gin martini.
I often confuse bartenders when asking for a “wet” martini…and it usually results in their fucking it up.
Also just as adding an onion turns a “martini” into a “gibson” I think the bartenders of the world should unite and decide that a “dry vodka martini” is just a cold glass of vodka . . . and not a martini at all.
My $0.02.
13 Jan 2008 at 9:29 am 9. Jeanne
Hi, recently while cleanning out a seldom used closet I found 2 gallon sizes bottles of Baileys Irish Cream with the dates April 95 & April 99 UNOPENED. There was also a bottle April 88 that was open–which I poured down the sink, it did smell ok. Also in that box there is a bottle of Kahlua –OPENED–I can’t find a date but it must be from the same era as the Baileys. My question is —are these bottles ok to drink? Hard to believe these went unnoticed for so long–but they were in a box with several unused comforters on top.Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Jeanne
[...] Pegu blogger to argue with this, especially since I don’t drink Gin Martinis? I’ll let Jeffrey Morganthaler take a crack at it. When it comes to Martinis, you can choose for yourself between modern bartender [...]
21 Dec 2008 at 10:17 pm 11. Joe from Dover
My wife saw this on a cooking show and we’ve been at it for three years now: .5l bottles filled with your desired proportion — in the freezer waiting for you next to it’s glass(es). The only problem? Don’t try to enjoy a martini out again, ever. Even the best bartender can’t match what my wife calls “instant” Martinis and Manhattans. And I may be stupid here, but why does stirring leave behind less water than shaking? I always liked the settling bubbles (a la Guinness)in the shaken version. Use different colored bottles for your different gins. Whoever can name their gin gets seconds!
01 Feb 2009 at 1:27 pm 12. dshenaut
There is a noticeable difference in mouth feel when you gently stir spirits to proper chill and dilution. This seems to bind the water to the out side of the spirits and causes a rounded out almost oily texture that washes down smooth. When a drink is shaken (it seems to me) the binding molecules are split apart by the water. I don’t know a simple way to describe this to a customer so I find myself using the term” bruised.” However, I will think twice next time I say it.
I have a few irritations to add:
1)Olive brine is not juice.
2)Bar towels are not “rags”.
3) Saying “I don’t know” is better than BS-ing your way through a shift. Don’t make up a fact like Black Maple Hill is aged in maple barrels or Mezcal gets it smokey profile from some super-charring technique used only in “mexican oak” barrels. If you don’t know find out-please don’t lie.
4) Sell vermouth and try a dash of bitters- guide your customer’s taste to sophistication.
I absolutely hate it when someone sends me a box full of sex toys in the mail. Sure, it might sound like fun to some of you (you know who you are), but receiving a big box of free sex is much more trouble than it’s worth. Believe me. So I get a [...]
06 Dec 2006 at 2:41 pm 1. Mad Jack
Nice site.
The term ‘bruise the gin’ came about as a sort of joke. Amatuer bartenders will shake the living daylights out of everything in sight, and rather than launch into a long explanation involving liquor, water, ice and ice fragments, the client would simply state that ‘you’ll bruise the gin’.
This worked pretty well until Hollywood came along with James Bond and specified ’shaken, not stirred’. I object with the old standard about bruises and gin.
You’re quite right about the vermouth. Few people know that good vermouth has a nice flavor to it. The trouble is that the MD 20-20 that passes for vermouth in most bars does nothing to compliment the rocket fuel that passes for gin. Order top shelf or nothing, I say.
25 Jan 2007 at 1:13 pm 2. RC Hardin
I’ve read in a couple of places that “bruising” the gin refers to the fact that shaking a martini introduces air bubbles into the cocktail, leaving it temporarily cloudy. While I don’t know if that’s the true origin of the term, I find it interesting that many who naysay the term take it so literally. I’ve read so many comments along the lines of “you can’t bruise gin — it’s liquid, not fruit” and so forth. It is so obviously a metaphorical expression that any attempt to take it literally carries an air of reactionary dismissiveness.
24 Mar 2007 at 6:27 pm 3. Charles P
Here here! I simply love a good martini (that would be gin) and a good martini is not complete without a portion of quality vermouth (4 to 1 is my preference also).
23 Jun 2007 at 12:49 pm 4. Chip and Andy
But when do you add the sour apple?
OK, bad joke. But many discussions with my work buddies eventually drift to the martini (I work for goverment, we drink a lot). While I prefer my martini at about 5 to 1 with a top-shelf gin, every single one of my work buddies insists that the Martini Fad has been around since the end of prohibition and that the Sour-Apple martini has been around since forever.
Maybe we can get an Act of Congress or a Presidential Decree reclaiming the Martini as a specific recipe and not as a catagory of other drinks and glasses.
23 Jun 2007 at 12:58 pm 5. Jeffrey
Well, Chip and Andy, the Bacardi Rum company won a court case in 1936 that stipulated that only Bacardi Rum could be used in the Bacardi Cocktail, so maybe you’re on to something!
13 Jul 2007 at 4:15 pm 6. Jeffrey Morgenthaler » Dirty, Dirty Sue
[...] A. Why would someone send me, of all people, a martini mix? B. Who needs a dirty martini mix anyway? It’s just olive juice and gin, right? [...]
06 Aug 2007 at 4:13 pm 7. Beak
For me the term “bruising the gin” has less to do with flavor and more with texture. I want a crystal clear pour into my choicest glass with little to NO shards of ice. If I wanted a slurpee then I’d go to 7-11, but for now I want a chilled dry gin martini. Yum.
17 Nov 2007 at 5:38 pm 8. Kevin Erskine
I always shake martinis. I don’t believe the “bruising” myth.
What dilutes a martini is adding too little ice to the shaker…
The shaker should be filled to the brim with good quality large cubes…not crappy, watery, melty little shards…
I also prefer a gin martini.
I often confuse bartenders when asking for a “wet” martini…and it usually results in their fucking it up.
Also just as adding an onion turns a “martini” into a “gibson” I think the bartenders of the world should unite and decide that a “dry vodka martini” is just a cold glass of vodka . . . and not a martini at all.
My $0.02.
13 Jan 2008 at 9:29 am 9. Jeanne
Hi, recently while cleanning out a seldom used closet I found 2 gallon sizes bottles of Baileys Irish Cream with the dates April 95 & April 99 UNOPENED. There was also a bottle April 88 that was open–which I poured down the sink, it did smell ok. Also in that box there is a bottle of Kahlua –OPENED–I can’t find a date but it must be from the same era as the Baileys. My question is —are these bottles ok to drink? Hard to believe these went unnoticed for so long–but they were in a box with several unused comforters on top.Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Jeanne
16 Feb 2008 at 9:07 am 10. The Pegu Blog
[...] Pegu blogger to argue with this, especially since I don’t drink Gin Martinis? I’ll let Jeffrey Morganthaler take a crack at it. When it comes to Martinis, you can choose for yourself between modern bartender [...]
21 Dec 2008 at 10:17 pm 11. Joe from Dover
My wife saw this on a cooking show and we’ve been at it for three years now: .5l bottles filled with your desired proportion — in the freezer waiting for you next to it’s glass(es). The only problem? Don’t try to enjoy a martini out again, ever. Even the best bartender can’t match what my wife calls “instant” Martinis and Manhattans. And I may be stupid here, but why does stirring leave behind less water than shaking? I always liked the settling bubbles (a la Guinness)in the shaken version. Use different colored bottles for your different gins. Whoever can name their gin gets seconds!
01 Feb 2009 at 1:27 pm 12. dshenaut
There is a noticeable difference in mouth feel when you gently stir spirits to proper chill and dilution. This seems to bind the water to the out side of the spirits and causes a rounded out almost oily texture that washes down smooth. When a drink is shaken (it seems to me) the binding molecules are split apart by the water. I don’t know a simple way to describe this to a customer so I find myself using the term” bruised.” However, I will think twice next time I say it.
I have a few irritations to add:
1)Olive brine is not juice.
2)Bar towels are not “rags”.
3) Saying “I don’t know” is better than BS-ing your way through a shift. Don’t make up a fact like Black Maple Hill is aged in maple barrels or Mezcal gets it smokey profile from some super-charring technique used only in “mexican oak” barrels. If you don’t know find out-please don’t lie.
4) Sell vermouth and try a dash of bitters- guide your customer’s taste to sophistication.