Inspired by a visit to see Tony Conigliaro at the unnamed bar at 69 Colebrooke Row in London last fall, where Manhattans are aged in glass vessels to sublime and subtle effect, the barrel aged cocktails I’ve been serving at Clyde Common this year are a decidedly American curiosity.
The rub of aging cocktails in a glass bottle is that the whole premise is built upon subtlety, as we know that spirits aged in glass or steel do so at an unremarkable pace. Being from the United States, where – as everyone is aware – bigger equals better, I pondered the following question: what if you could prepare a large batch of a single, spirit-driven cocktail and age it in a used oak barrel?
A hundred some-odd dollars in liquor later, I was nervously pouring a gallon of pre-batched rye Manhattans into a small, used oak cask whose previous contents were a gallon Madeira wine. I plugged the barrel and sat back in anxious anticipation; if the experiment was a success I’d have a delicious cocktail to share at the bar – if it was a failure then I’d be pouring the restaurant’s money down the floor drain.
Over the next several weeks I popped open the barrel to test my little concoction until I stumbled upon the magic mark at five-to-six weeks. And there it was, lying beautifully on the the finish: a soft blend of oak, wine, caramel and char. That first batch sold out in a matter of days and I was left with a compelling need to push the process even further.
Now, three gallons of Negroni might not be practical for the home enthusiast, but the average bar or restaurant should be able to afford that sort of quantity quite easily. For those of you trying this at home, try searching the internet for one-gallon charred oak casks (stay away from the fancy lacquered kind meant for display in dens and 1980s wine bars) and be sure to let us know what you find in the comments section below.
We procured a small number of used whiskey casks from the Tuthilltown distillery and proceeded to fill them with a large batch of Negronis; and that’s when the magic of barrel aged cocktails grabbed our attention. After six weeks in the bourbon barrel, our Negroni emerged a rare beauty. The sweet vermouth so slightly oxidized, the color paler and rosier than the original, the mid-palate softly mingled with whiskey, the finish long and lingering with oak tannins. We knew we were on to something unique and immediately made plans to take the cask aging program to the next level.
Negronis are now prepared in five-gallon batches and poured into multiple bourbon barrels. Robert Hess’ ubiquitous Trident cocktail is currently resting inside single-malt barrels. The El Presidente (à laMatt Robold), Deshlers, Remember the Maines, they’re all receiving the oaked treatment in a little storage room in the basement of the restaurant that I refer to as my “office”.
Once the cocktail is aged long enough for my taste, I then drain the bottle, straining out any charred bits of wood, and bottle the contents for use by my bartenders. To order, the cocktail is then measured out and poured over ice in a mixing glass, stirred, strained into a cocktail glass, and then garnished with the appropriate garnish. It’s quick and simple, as all of the real work has already been done by the barrel.
Anyway, on to the recipes. As simple as it seems to do, I figured not everyone is going to want to do the math to get started on some of these recipes, so here are a few I’ve figured out:
Negroni
Makes Three Gallons
128 oz (approximately five 750ml bottles) dry gin
128 oz sweet vermouth
128 oz Campari
Stir ingredients together (without ice) and pour into a three-gallon oak barrel. Let rest for five to seven weeks and pour into glass bottles until ready to serve.
Manhattan
Makes Three Gallons
256 oz (approximately ten 750ml bottles) rye whiskey
128 oz (approximately five 750ml bottles) sweet vermouth
7 oz Angostura bitters
Stir ingredients together (without ice) and pour into a three-gallon oak barrel (I prefer a barrel that has previously stored sherry, Madeira, or port wine). Let rest for five to seven weeks and pour into glass bottles until ready to serve.
Trident
Makes Three Gallons
128 oz (approximately five 750ml bottles) aquavit
128 oz dry sherry
128 oz Cynar
7 oz peach bitters
Stir ingredients together (without ice) and pour into a three-gallon oak barrel (I prefer a used single malt barrel). Let rest for five to seven weeks and pour into glass bottles until ready to serve.
Feel free to leave any questions in the comments section below.
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.
I finally released a new cocktail menu that I’ve been working on since just before I left for Las Vegas. It’s not completely finished yet, but I really wanted to get something new out there, and it’s pretty close.
I’ve spent weeks testing and refining these drinks, and I think it’s my best menu yet. Stop in sometime and try one out, or make one at home. I promise I’ll have every one of these recipes up here soon.
Very nice beverage menu!
I think you found an ideal balance between this pompous beverage explanation and the minimalistic bullet point listing of ingredients- well done!
I’ve created last year more a bible of a menu – but my understanding changes now slightly and I prefer now more a more a smaller selection of mixed drinks, which is changing more often… may be supported by the complete list!
Dominik, I’d love to see your menu sometime, you should drop me an email through the contact for if you have it on a computer! I have a big collection of cocktail menus from around the world and am always interested in seeing more.
As for the drink descriptions, I prefer the minimal yet informative method. I get tired reading huge descriptions, “Cosmopolitan – Grey Goose vodka, triple sec, a squeeze of lime juice and a dash of cranberry, shaken and served up in a chilled martini glass with a wedge of lime” seems more like a recipe than a listing on a menu.
And, yes, I copied that verbatim from one of the menus in my collection. Yikes.
Take the Richmond Gimlet, for example. My customers know that a gimlet is a lime-based cocktail, so I tell them that it’s a) made with gin, Tanqueray 10 to be specific, and b) different because it has mint. End of story!
This weekend will be the big test. We’re about to see if everyone likes the drinks and, more importantly, if the two of us can knock them all out in a timely fashion. Wish us luck!
Nice menu. I’m working on a new one right now too. I’m going to send it to you for some back-and-forth. When it’s done, I’ll post it at the cocktail hour.
Looks good, I’m going to print it out and have a good look at it today.
Wow, thanks, everyone! I still feel like I’m a couple drinks shy of where I want to be, but when we’re not cranking them out by the hundreds, we’re searching for the right new flavors. I’ll post my findings if and when I get my act together.
01 Apr 2007 at 1:09 am 9. A.
The menu looks lovely, and the drink selection looks wonderful (given my limited experience therein). And as an almost absolute teetotaller (what’m I doing here then, I know), thank you for having so many options for people who don’t want to have alcohol. Pomegrante juice is very yay.
Oops! And here I pride myself on catching stuff like that, thanks for actually paying attention.
I’m reprinting the menus tomorrow, when I add another drink to the list: the Tomato Daiquiri.
You heard me.
08 Jun 2007 at 4:41 pm 13. Summer Murphy
Just a note –
I think the menu looks wonderful! But I’d add a caveat that many people on this side of the Pond make this same mistake:
You list Whisky and Whiskey; Irish, American, and Scotch. That’s rather redundant.
The DRINK is scotch whiskey, the nationality is SCOTS, or so my Grandda Ross always insisted. But then, he also insisted that anyone who drank ice with their whiskey was a Sassenach (English)so and so.
jeffrey, i like your menu. a good mix of classics, classics re-interpreted and house-made inventions.
curious why you didn’t list the ingredients on the pisco sour. using the traditional method, i’d assume you use egg whites… knowing egg whites turn people off for fear of salmonella poisoning, i’m sure you left out the ingredients for that reason. is that correct?
also, what makes the Brisa a Brisa and not a Greyhound…?
You’re exactly right! I wanted people to open themselves up to something new, and I was afraid of alienating people with egg whites. We of course use them in the drink, wouldn’t be a traditional Pisco Sour without them!
The Brisa is equal parts vodka, orange liqueur (we use Patron Citronge) and grapefruit juice – up.
I’ll have to check in the next time I’m in Seattle, an old dear friend of mine tends bar at the Virginia Inn. If you’re ever there, tell Freddy that Morgenthaler sent you.
Thanks, Shawn! I fixed your URL, there, looks like you forgot a ‘w’.
04 Dec 2007 at 9:16 am 19. ND
Yep, the correct spellings certainly aren’t redundant (even in the US!). Scotch is always spelled “Whisky”, and Irish is always spelled “Whiskey”. Not sure about the others, but there you go.
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 [...]
30 Mar 2007 at 5:34 am 1. Dominik MJ
Very nice beverage menu!
I think you found an ideal balance between this pompous beverage explanation and the minimalistic bullet point listing of ingredients- well done!
I’ve created last year more a bible of a menu – but my understanding changes now slightly and I prefer now more a more a smaller selection of mixed drinks, which is changing more often… may be supported by the complete list!
Cheers!
DMJ
30 Mar 2007 at 7:24 am 2. Jeffrey
Dominik, I’d love to see your menu sometime, you should drop me an email through the contact for if you have it on a computer! I have a big collection of cocktail menus from around the world and am always interested in seeing more.
As for the drink descriptions, I prefer the minimal yet informative method. I get tired reading huge descriptions, “Cosmopolitan – Grey Goose vodka, triple sec, a squeeze of lime juice and a dash of cranberry, shaken and served up in a chilled martini glass with a wedge of lime” seems more like a recipe than a listing on a menu.
And, yes, I copied that verbatim from one of the menus in my collection. Yikes.
Take the Richmond Gimlet, for example. My customers know that a gimlet is a lime-based cocktail, so I tell them that it’s a) made with gin, Tanqueray 10 to be specific, and b) different because it has mint. End of story!
This weekend will be the big test. We’re about to see if everyone likes the drinks and, more importantly, if the two of us can knock them all out in a timely fashion. Wish us luck!
30 Mar 2007 at 8:26 am 3. Dan
The Nacional sounds quite tasty.
Nice menu!
30 Mar 2007 at 8:32 am 4. Jimmy
Hi Jeff,
Nice menu. I’m working on a new one right now too. I’m going to send it to you for some back-and-forth. When it’s done, I’ll post it at the cocktail hour.
Looks good, I’m going to print it out and have a good look at it today.
Cheers,
30 Mar 2007 at 12:19 pm 5. Phil
Brilliant.
31 Mar 2007 at 12:17 am 6. kevin ludwig
really nice list. i like the inclusion of the origins. gets people thinking. Great site, by the way.
31 Mar 2007 at 9:33 am 7. Darcy
Very nice. I like the limited “classics” with the twists.
Darcy
31 Mar 2007 at 12:48 pm 8. Jeffrey
Wow, thanks, everyone! I still feel like I’m a couple drinks shy of where I want to be, but when we’re not cranking them out by the hundreds, we’re searching for the right new flavors. I’ll post my findings if and when I get my act together.
01 Apr 2007 at 1:09 am 9. A.
The menu looks lovely, and the drink selection looks wonderful (given my limited experience therein). And as an almost absolute teetotaller (what’m I doing here then, I know), thank you for having so many options for people who don’t want to have alcohol. Pomegrante juice is very yay.
02 Apr 2007 at 11:05 am 10. your little sister
I’m so glad to see Coors Light made the cut.
08 Apr 2007 at 8:04 am 11. Redthought
Excellent options, I’d have a hard time deciding.
I’m glad to see the whisk(e)y spit up like that. Nice.
I small editing note: you don’t use dollar signs throughout, except with the beer list. Intentional?
I can’t help it, sorry if it’s out of line to edit the menu…
08 Apr 2007 at 7:34 pm 12. Jeffrey
Oops! And here I pride myself on catching stuff like that, thanks for actually paying attention.
I’m reprinting the menus tomorrow, when I add another drink to the list: the Tomato Daiquiri.
You heard me.
08 Jun 2007 at 4:41 pm 13. Summer Murphy
Just a note –
I think the menu looks wonderful! But I’d add a caveat that many people on this side of the Pond make this same mistake:
You list Whisky and Whiskey; Irish, American, and Scotch. That’s rather redundant.
The DRINK is scotch whiskey, the nationality is SCOTS, or so my Grandda Ross always insisted. But then, he also insisted that anyone who drank ice with their whiskey was a Sassenach (English)so and so.
Slainte!
10 Jun 2007 at 10:20 am 14. Jeffrey
Thanks, Summer! But I don’t understand why it’s redundant, I have Irish Whiskey, American Whiskey, and Scotch Whisky, is that not right?
13 Jun 2007 at 10:08 am 15. keith waldbauer
jeffrey, i like your menu. a good mix of classics, classics re-interpreted and house-made inventions.
curious why you didn’t list the ingredients on the pisco sour. using the traditional method, i’d assume you use egg whites… knowing egg whites turn people off for fear of salmonella poisoning, i’m sure you left out the ingredients for that reason. is that correct?
also, what makes the Brisa a Brisa and not a Greyhound…?
gonna have to make a trip to Eugene soon
cheers
keith
13 Jun 2007 at 12:41 pm 16. Jeffrey
Keith
You’re exactly right! I wanted people to open themselves up to something new, and I was afraid of alienating people with egg whites. We of course use them in the drink, wouldn’t be a traditional Pisco Sour without them!
The Brisa is equal parts vodka, orange liqueur (we use Patron Citronge) and grapefruit juice – up.
I’ll have to check in the next time I’m in Seattle, an old dear friend of mine tends bar at the Virginia Inn. If you’re ever there, tell Freddy that Morgenthaler sent you.
16 Jul 2007 at 4:46 pm 17. Last Barman Poet
I like it alot Jeff, Good Work.
17 Jul 2007 at 12:51 am 18. Jeffrey
Thanks, Shawn! I fixed your URL, there, looks like you forgot a ‘w’.
04 Dec 2007 at 9:16 am 19. ND
Yep, the correct spellings certainly aren’t redundant (even in the US!). Scotch is always spelled “Whisky”, and Irish is always spelled “Whiskey”. Not sure about the others, but there you go.