No, really. I’m serious. In case you think I’m joking, or that you read that wrong, let me go on the record right now:
I make the best Amaretto Sour you’ve ever had in your life. No ifs, ands or buts about it, my Amaretto Sour dominates and crushes all others out there. And now, I’m going to share my secrets with you.
There are two things that impede all other Amaretto Sours from challenging mine. First off, the obvious: they’re too sweet. One does not simply use an everyday sour recipe to make a world-class Amaretto Sour, it must be adjusted for this particular liqueur.
Second, and this is a big one: amaretto isn’t strong enough on its own to stand up to a bunch of other ingredients. It’s weak. It needs help. And for this, I enlist the assistance of an old friend. One that knows amaretto’s strengths and weaknesses. Or, mainly, its weaknesses. One that works with amaretto, to complete it like Jerry Maguire completes Rene Zellwiger’s character, whatever her name was. And that, my friends, is cask-proof bourbon.
Behold, the recipe:
Amaretto Sour
Makes 1 Awesome Drink
1½ oz amaretto (I love the Lazzaroni amaretto, but DiSaronno works well here, too)
¾ oz cask-proof bourbon (I use Booker’s, from the Jim Beam distillery)
1 oz lemon juice
1 tsp. 2:1 simple syrup
½ oz egg white, beaten
Dry shake ingredients to combine, then shake well with cracked ice. Strain over fresh ice in an old fashioned glass. Garnish with lemon peel and brandied cherries, if desired. Serve and grin like an idiot as your friends freak out.
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.
Sometimes living in Eugene, Oregon means that you have a smaller circle of people who share similar interests as yourself. Driving an hour and a half to Portland is always an option, but sometimes you just wish you could play at home.
A select few of us local cocktail enthusiasts gathered today to experiment with obscure seasonal produce, dabble in an enormous library of rare liquors, and eat some wonderful cocktail-hour-inspired bites. It was a reawakening for me in a sense, as I spent the day remembering things that I had forgotten.
For instance, I had forgotten how much I love scallop ceviche. But then our wonderful chef for the day added a grapefruit gelée to the dish and I realized that I’d never tried anything so delicious.
The discussion was spirited (pun totally intended) as we deliberated over bottles and measurements. I really enjoy discussing the merits and differences of bourbon and rye while drinking scotch and holding a bottle of tequila.
We discovered that watermelon juice is much harder to create cocktails with than we could have possibly imagined (Herbsainte and vodka with watermelon juice – what was I thinking??) but we also learned that seaberries are both available to us here and quite versatile to mix cocktails with.
I love endive, smoked salmon, and creme fraiche. I had just neglected to try them all at the same time. Now I like them all three times more. Muthafucka, this palate is clean!
We played with housemade organic blackberry syrup and all smacked our foreheads in shame when we collectively remembered that bourbon loves to be mixed with fruit. We also remembered that ginger beer can take a bourbon and fruit mixture and reinforce the drink’s structure and balance. I’m going to make a point of not forgetting this again.
Pea purée in phyllo cups can make a perfect little nosh. About ten times I was reminded of this.
Ryan reminded us how fun it is to lance a champagne bottle [video, press to play]:
Unfortunately, I remembered that it was getting late and all of this research would have to be continued at another date. Be sure to check out what we found out you can do with seaberries!
Great idea, Brian. I think pisco might have been the one liquor we didn’t actually have on hand that day! I’ll pass it along to the team, though.
06 Sep 2007 at 11:59 AM 4. kathryn
First, non-cocktail related, is the Mary Weiss in the background of the video. Props to that if you filmed it yourself. Second, should you ever find yourself in Portland, the Clyde Common bar downstairs of the new Ace Hotel is up and serving some very tasty cocktails. Crowd favorite was the kick in the pants – wild turkey, cold pressed coffee, splash of nocello shaken. served on the rocks with some condensed milk on top.
I got to see Charlie from Clyde Common in action at the Distillers Festival the prior weekend and have been anxious to get up there and try out the bar!
07 Sep 2007 at 4:03 PM 6. Lance Mayhew
I use Tuaca with Watermelon juice occasionally. I find that Watermelon juice is thin, so most of the usual suspects just don’t work well with it.
Your “researchers” and I were at Clyde Common sampling food and cocktails just this Saturday, in fact. Ask Jenaya about the very peppery cocktail she had. The rest of us were snuffling up Manhattans made with Jim Beam Rye (peppery in a different way).
And you must remind Ryan that his is not a “library” of booze but a “collection.” There are deep, important reasons for this.
10 Jul 2008 at 6:24 AM 8. Connie Hurley
I have been looking for a recipe for Mint Julep made in a coffee can. Would you happen to know??? Thank you
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04 Sep 2007 at 10:06 AM 1. fenke
I love the pyllo ‘cupcakes’- the look and (I can imagine) the great taste!
04 Sep 2007 at 10:15 AM 2. Brian
You might want to try pisco with the watermelon juice – I was pretty happy with a pisco/cava/watermelon/lime cocktail I made for a party last year.
04 Sep 2007 at 10:20 AM 3. Jeffrey
Great idea, Brian. I think pisco might have been the one liquor we didn’t actually have on hand that day! I’ll pass it along to the team, though.
06 Sep 2007 at 11:59 AM 4. kathryn
First, non-cocktail related, is the Mary Weiss in the background of the video. Props to that if you filmed it yourself. Second, should you ever find yourself in Portland, the Clyde Common bar downstairs of the new Ace Hotel is up and serving some very tasty cocktails. Crowd favorite was the kick in the pants – wild turkey, cold pressed coffee, splash of nocello shaken. served on the rocks with some condensed milk on top.
06 Sep 2007 at 12:34 PM 5. Jeffrey
Thank you! I’m glad someone noticed…
I got to see Charlie from Clyde Common in action at the Distillers Festival the prior weekend and have been anxious to get up there and try out the bar!
07 Sep 2007 at 4:03 PM 6. Lance Mayhew
I use Tuaca with Watermelon juice occasionally. I find that Watermelon juice is thin, so most of the usual suspects just don’t work well with it.
10 Sep 2007 at 8:20 AM 7. Jeff Frane
Your “researchers” and I were at Clyde Common sampling food and cocktails just this Saturday, in fact. Ask Jenaya about the very peppery cocktail she had. The rest of us were snuffling up Manhattans made with Jim Beam Rye (peppery in a different way).
And you must remind Ryan that his is not a “library” of booze but a “collection.” There are deep, important reasons for this.
10 Jul 2008 at 6:24 AM 8. Connie Hurley
I have been looking for a recipe for Mint Julep made in a coffee can. Would you happen to know??? Thank you