One advantage I have in my career – and believe me, I thank my lucky stars every day for my good fortune in this regard – is that I travel a lot. And when I do travel, I get to visit the greatest bars in the world and spend time picking the brains of the world’s greatest bartenders.
The most recent drink to grace our cocktail list is the result of my travels.
Taking inspiration from many sources, my initial interest in bitter, sour and sweet with a distinctly tropical bent was taken directly from the ever-brilliant Giuseppe Gonzalez and his now-famous Trinidad Sour.
While I, and the rest of the world, was taken by the combination of bitter, herbal, sweet flavors, it never really struck me as a an extensible sort of drink style until I came across Andrew Bohrer’s amaro-based Mai Tai variation called the “Elena’s Virtue”. Now here was a drink with legs, and a hint of what was to come in the world of cocktails, in my humble opinion.
But what New York and Seattle do well, San Francisco often does better, and usually with a lot more Fernet Branca, and that’s the conversation I had with Josh Harris while competing in the Domaine de Canton finals in St. Maarten this spring. And after tasting his simple concoction of ginger liqueur, pineapple and Fernet Branca I knew it was time for me to get my feet wet and try my hand at the herbal tropical sour.
The result has been a smash hit at the bar, as it very much follows in the style of our restaurant bar, a reflection of the crafted European style of cooking that emerges from the kitchen on a nightly basis. In other words, earthy, sour, herbal flavors do very, very well where we work.
Put all of this together, throw in a desire to explore the dusty, neglected bottle of Drambuie, and an early morning racking one’s brain to come up with a drink name (the original intent was Brixton Club) and a star was born:
Kingston Club
1½ oz Drambuie
1½ oz pineapple juice
¾ oz lime juice
1 tsp Fernet Branca
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake ingredients with ice and finish with 1 oz soda water. Strain mix over fresh ice into a chilled collins glass and garnish with an orange twist.
A side project, an experiment or just a simple curiosity that turned into a delicious phenomenon that we're still serving to much delight at our bar, barrel aged cocktails explore the gentle manipulation of a drink's flavors over time. This post details the inspiration, the history and the methods behind my barrel aged cocktails.
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.
Turned off by the glop you find in the grocery store, and unable to endure another long egg and cream whipping session, I set out to build an egg nog recipe from the ground up that retained the character of the orginal formula, was easy to make in a few minutes at home or at the bar, and tasted absolutely delicious. See if you agree with the result.
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 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.
All this talk of Chocolate Martinis is giving me diabetes. Sure, you can pour a bunch of sweet, creamy liqueurs into a glass and call it the Fine Art of Mixology, but you’d be missing the whole point. Why not try something that’s going to reward you from start to finish, a drink that packs the Bacchanalian punch of brandy with the delicate flavors of chocolate and cream?
The Brandy Alexander, popular during the first part of the 20th Century, was likely a derivative of the Alexander Cocktail, which uses gin in place of brandy. Both are wonderful concoctions, but the brandy version achieved greater fame in the pantheon of cocktail culture, possibly because of brandy being revered as a rare and sophisticated spirit and gin having a more pedestrian image pre- and during Prohibition.
Okay. On to the drink. It’s so worth it to find whole nutmeg in your grocery store and grate it yourself, rather than using the stale, pre-grated crap you’ll find.
1.5 oz brandy or Cognac
1.5 oz dark (or light, if you prefer) crème de cacao
1.5 oz cream
Shake well over cracked ice and strain into a chilled nine ounce cocktail glass. Grate fresh nutmeg on top of the resulting foam and serve immediately.
Comments
8 Responses to “Brandy Alexander”
09 Jan 2007 at 10:49 AM 1. hilsy
Your recent writings regarding the true definition of a Martini got me to thinking about a variation I like to prepare for myself at home.
I replace the Vermouth with Cointreau. I typically use only enough Vermouth or Cointreau to coat the ice cubes and dump out any excess before adding my gin (preferably Plymouth, though I’ve been enjoying locally made Cricket Club lately).
Is this still a Martini or would you consider it to more strictly be a cocktail?
17 Jun 2008 at 3:19 PM 2. Jay
Wow. I mean, just wow, man. What an amazing drink.
I had a few of these a while ago, and they didn’t quite seem to be my sort of thing. They tasted a bit like Bayleys with brandy. I didn’t really know where I went wrong. I thought I should have used something better than VS Cognac. I was wondering whether twitching the ratios a bit would do any good. Maybe I hadn’t shaken enough.
But then I managed to find whole nutmeg. Jeff’s right, nutmeg is a make-it-or-break-it ingredient in this cocktail. I mean, this is what gods have after dinner. Just amazing.
26 Dec 2008 at 10:24 PM 3. BethAnne
You’re right about the nutmeg — I bought it this year for my egg nog. Heavanly!
26 Dec 2008 at 10:24 PM 4. BethAnne
You’re right about the nutmeg — I bought it this year for my egg nog. Heavenly!
That looks like the kind of sweet drink I could get behind! Much as I might like a spiked milkshake, too many dessert-ish mixed drinks (I wont say “cocktails”) are just… inane. Bunches of sugary liquor sloshed together at random.
This is a drink with class. Thank you, sir. Bravo!
06 May 2009 at 8:40 PM 6. Kateastrophe
Nothing says disaffected, sexually nebulous upper class youth like a Brandy Alexander. I feel an urge to read Brideshead Revisited.
But in all seriousness, the drink is a classic in a way no chocolatini ever will be.
20 May 2009 at 11:50 PM 7. Jim
I am glad I read this if only to discover a wonderful drink. The Brandy Alexander is now part of my home bar menu! Thanks!
15 Oct 2011 at 6:46 PM 8. Vic
Thank you! Brandy Alexanders are my favorite. You inspired me tonight to make one!!!
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09 Jan 2007 at 10:49 AM 1. hilsy
Your recent writings regarding the true definition of a Martini got me to thinking about a variation I like to prepare for myself at home.
I replace the Vermouth with Cointreau. I typically use only enough Vermouth or Cointreau to coat the ice cubes and dump out any excess before adding my gin (preferably Plymouth, though I’ve been enjoying locally made Cricket Club lately).
Is this still a Martini or would you consider it to more strictly be a cocktail?
17 Jun 2008 at 3:19 PM 2. Jay
Wow. I mean, just wow, man. What an amazing drink.
I had a few of these a while ago, and they didn’t quite seem to be my sort of thing. They tasted a bit like Bayleys with brandy. I didn’t really know where I went wrong. I thought I should have used something better than VS Cognac. I was wondering whether twitching the ratios a bit would do any good. Maybe I hadn’t shaken enough.
But then I managed to find whole nutmeg. Jeff’s right, nutmeg is a make-it-or-break-it ingredient in this cocktail. I mean, this is what gods have after dinner. Just amazing.
26 Dec 2008 at 10:24 PM 3. BethAnne
You’re right about the nutmeg — I bought it this year for my egg nog. Heavanly!
26 Dec 2008 at 10:24 PM 4. BethAnne
You’re right about the nutmeg — I bought it this year for my egg nog. Heavenly!
04 Mar 2009 at 6:45 PM 5. Ross
That looks like the kind of sweet drink I could get behind! Much as I might like a spiked milkshake, too many dessert-ish mixed drinks (I wont say “cocktails”) are just… inane. Bunches of sugary liquor sloshed together at random.
This is a drink with class. Thank you, sir. Bravo!
06 May 2009 at 8:40 PM 6. Kateastrophe
Nothing says disaffected, sexually nebulous upper class youth like a Brandy Alexander. I feel an urge to read Brideshead Revisited.
But in all seriousness, the drink is a classic in a way no chocolatini ever will be.
20 May 2009 at 11:50 PM 7. Jim
I am glad I read this if only to discover a wonderful drink. The Brandy Alexander is now part of my home bar menu! Thanks!
15 Oct 2011 at 6:46 PM 8. Vic
Thank you! Brandy Alexanders are my favorite. You inspired me tonight to make one!!!