“Here, see if you can make me something with this”, the liquor rep taunted as he dropped a bottle of aquavit on the bar. If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I don’t really work that well under pressure. I try, but it literally takes me weeks to come up with a new drink that I’m happy with. Maybe I’m slow, maybe I’m a perfectionist, doesn’t matter: I hate it when I have to work under pressure.
So I was especially vexed when this particular wiseass handed me a bottle of aquavit. For those of you who don’t know, is a traditional Scandinavian liquor flavored with caraway and - typically - other herbs such as fennel and anise. It’s delicious, but it’s unique and isn’t known for its superb mixability.
However, I knew the liquor boob was insinuating that I might not be able to rise to the challenge, so I whipped this up (after about three false starts). A small handful of visitors to the bar at Clyde Common have suggested that it might be one of the best drinks I’ve come up with so far, but I’ll let you be the judge of that. I just think it tastes delicious.
1 oz aquavit
1 oz applejack
¾ oz sweet vermouth
¼ oz yellow Chartreuse
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with a large twist of lemon peel and serve.
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'm 37, 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.
While working on a host of new drinks for the El Vaquero drink menu, I found several references to a Nacional Daiquiri, created at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba using apricot brandy.
Never able to leave well enough alone, I fooled around with proportions and flavors until I came up with this twist on the hotel’s famous daiquiri. It’s been a huge hit this spring.
1.5 oz Bacardi Superior rum
.75 oz apricot brandy
1 oz fresh lime juice
.75 oz simple syrup
2 generous dashes Fee Brothers Peach Bitters
Shake ingredients well over cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.
As I was measuring all of the ingredients for this cocktail, I just knew it was going to be good. The apricot and peach aromas really invite you into the drink. I was worried it was going to be too sweet (it was a little sweet), but the lime does such a great job of balancing things out.
Thanks, Rick. Whenever I make this drink at work I have to enjoy the aroma coming from the mixing glass. I wish I could soak my upper lip in peach bitters sometimes.
There’s nothing quite so nice as the feeling you get when you see a recipe you want to try and realize that you have every ingredient sitting at home, waiting for you.
“They had another free daiquiri each, frozen so stiffly that it had to be drunk in tiny drops…”
Graham Greene’s novel Our Man in Havana is required daiquiri reading. It is mentioned throughout the book. The Havana Club and the Wonder bar are where they drink it and the morning is the favoured time. (”Wormold drank his daiquiri too fast and left the Havana Club with his eyes aching”). And then there is The Nacional, where they serve poisoned food, where you drink deadly whiskies and where the barmen try to kill you with lethal daiquiris.
Wow, thanks, Chris, I’m going to have to pick that up!
03 Sep 2008 at 10:34 pm 10. Lois Sanborn
This is just an excellent drink. I chucked my former Hotel Nacional recipe which was pretty boring for this one. Much, much better. Great job, Jeffrey. Thanks.
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05 Jun 2007 at 4:28 pm 1. Rick
Jeffrey,
As I was measuring all of the ingredients for this cocktail, I just knew it was going to be good. The apricot and peach aromas really invite you into the drink. I was worried it was going to be too sweet (it was a little sweet), but the lime does such a great job of balancing things out.
And any use of peach bitters gets me interested.
Well done.
06 Jun 2007 at 1:15 am 2. Jeffrey
Thanks, Rick. Whenever I make this drink at work I have to enjoy the aroma coming from the mixing glass. I wish I could soak my upper lip in peach bitters sometimes.
Makes me happy.
06 Jun 2007 at 2:50 pm 3. Marleigh
There’s nothing quite so nice as the feeling you get when you see a recipe you want to try and realize that you have every ingredient sitting at home, waiting for you.
Definitely going to try this tonight.
06 Jun 2007 at 8:14 pm 4. Marleigh
Addendum: damn. Now I see why it’s such a big seller. Excellent!
(There’s a little write up and a photo over at the blog.)
07 Jun 2007 at 7:52 am 5. Dan
You and your bitters ;)
07 Jun 2007 at 8:21 am 6. Jeffrey
Thanks, Marleigh! Can you believe I’m going through a case of peach bitters every month now?
07 Jun 2007 at 4:24 pm 7. Marleigh
A case?! Geez, the people at Fee Brothers must luuuuurve you.
20 Jun 2007 at 6:18 pm 8. Japanesewhisky
“They had another free daiquiri each, frozen so stiffly that it had to be drunk in tiny drops…”
Graham Greene’s novel Our Man in Havana is required daiquiri reading. It is mentioned throughout the book. The Havana Club and the Wonder bar are where they drink it and the morning is the favoured time. (”Wormold drank his daiquiri too fast and left the Havana Club with his eyes aching”). And then there is The Nacional, where they serve poisoned food, where you drink deadly whiskies and where the barmen try to kill you with lethal daiquiris.
21 Jun 2007 at 8:58 am 9. Jeffrey
Wow, thanks, Chris, I’m going to have to pick that up!
03 Sep 2008 at 10:34 pm 10. Lois Sanborn
This is just an excellent drink. I chucked my former Hotel Nacional recipe which was pretty boring for this one. Much, much better. Great job, Jeffrey. Thanks.
05 Sep 2008 at 9:34 am 11. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
I’m glad you tried the drink, Lois, and am ever more delighted that you enjoyed it. Cheers!