This recipe is part two of my New Orleans Mixology Monday post. For the complete story behind this drink, please click here.
¾ oz Wild Turkey rye
¾ oz Clear Creek apple brandy
¾ oz Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
¼ oz Strega
2 dashes cinnamon tincture*
1 large strip orange peel
Stir ingredients over cracked ice. Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass and garnish with orange peel.
*To make cinnamon tincture, soak 4 ounces whole cinnamon sticks in 16 oz grain alcohol for three weeks. Strain solids and bottle.
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.
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.
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 Bel Ami in Eugene, Oregon.
I'm 36, I've been tending bar for 12 years and writing about it for 5. 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 have been given the honor of hosting next month’s Mixology Monday here, and since it is in such close company with December 5th, which is Repeal Day, I’ve decided to try to combine the two and have a little fun with it.
So, for this round of MxMo, you’re going to need to write about a pre-Prohibition-era cocktail, tell a Repeal Day story, create an original drink inspired by Prohibition, etc.
So crack open your new copies of David Wondrich’s Imbibe!, plan a Repeal Day event, or reach deep into your inspiration well and come up with something to wow the world with. We’ll all meet back here on Monday for the round-up.
Update - the folks at Dewar’s scotch sent along this video to help get the juices flowing:
Note: This was originally posted on November 23, 2006, but since Thanksgiving is this week, I’m reposting it as I think it’s a very worthwhile recipe for the holidays.
I love egg nog, but I can’t stand the overly-thick goop they sell at the grocery store. Even when you cut it with alcohol, it’s still so overly-pasteurized and full of preservatives that I can barely slug it down.
So I did a lot of research, and tried a bunch of recipes and methods, from cooking the eggs into sort of a custard (how many bars have a stove top and sieve?) to separating the eggs, beating them independently, and folding them together (way too much work!)
This is the recipe I devised. It can be made in just about any home or bar, since the ingredients are fairly simple. It can be done entirely in the blender, so there are no whisks or egg beaters or rubber spatulas needed. It yields two servings, so you can easily multiply it to serve more. It doesn’t use a ton of heavy cream, so it’s fairly light. In other words, it’s practically perfect.
2 large eggs
3 oz granulated sugar
.25 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
2 oz whiskey or brandy
2 oz spiced rum (I prefer Sailor Jerry’s)
8 oz whole milk
2 oz cream
Beat eggs in blender for two minutes on medium speed. Slowly add sugar and blend for one additional minute. With blender still running, add nutmeg, whiskey or brandy, rum, milk and cream. Chill and serve in wine glasses, grating additional nutmeg on top just before serving.
I love Thanksgiving so much. It gives me the opportunity to enjoy four of my favorite activities:
Going to the grocery store.
Cooking.
Making drinks.
Having dinner with friends.
(No, really, going to the grocery store is one of my favorite things in the world.)
I first read about Wassail - the ancient wintertime blend of sherry (or ale, or wine) with eggs and fruit - many years ago and have been making an adaptation of the recipes I found every Thanksgiving ever since.
Anyway, Stephen Beaumont interviewed me for Nation’s Restaurant News magazine a few weeks ago, and this morning I was honored to see my name up there alongside such heroes of mine as Dale DeGroff, Tony Abou-Ganim and Natalie Bovis-Nelsen.
You’ll probably need to register (for free) in order to read the article, but it’s worth it as it contains some great quotes about autumn cocktails from Dale, Tony and Natalie.
I cobbled this recipe together from a number of sources many years ago, and have spent every Thanksgiving making it for friends. It’s always a popular winter warmer, and everyone spends the post-prandial hours sipping large mugs of wassail on the deck.
1 cup water
2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
6 cloves
1/2 teaspoon mace
6 allspice berries
Cinnamon stick
2 pounds sugar
4 × 750 ml bottles sherry
12 eggs, separated
375 ml brandy
6 apples, cored and baked
In a covered 12-quart stockpot, bring water to a boil. Add nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves, mace and cinnamon. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add sugar and sherry and heat until the sugar dissolves completely.
Beat the egg yolks and whites separately; fold together. Put egg mixture in a large bowl, and slowly add the heated mixture to the eggs, 1/4 cup at a time at first, stirring each addition to slowly heat the eggs. Once the brew has been thoroughly mixed, add the brandy and the baked apples.
I keep my Wassail in a large crock pot on low heat to prevent the eggs from curdling. If you don’t have a crock pot, keep it on the stove on low, but be very careful: even on low heat this mixture will get hot - quickly.
Since August, Cameron Bogue of MotoTails.com has been on a year-long motorcycle quest from Vancouver, B.C. to the southern tip of Argentina. He and three friends have been stopping at microdistilleries, sampling the wares, and creating new cocktails inspired by the local ingredients.
I’ve been following their progress closely and I’ve been talking him up to everyone I know, until this weekend when the following email from Cameron left me speechless:
It has come to my attention, during many incidents over the course of several years, that your wonderful product is determined to kill me. I am not referring to the ubiquitous hangover that so many of my clients have endured as a result of partaking in your fine product, but rather something more sinister.
Yours truly has been voted Second Best Bartender by the good people of Eugene. I bow graciously to my longtime friend Ty Connor, who came in first, and apparently invented the Vodka Rickey (Ty, I knew you were quite a bit older than I, but wow!)
Also coming in second place was this very website! I also bow graciously to my good friend Ken, who writes the wonderful Mr. Random’s Blog of Randomness, which - oddly enough - is not a blog about cocktails, but rather music (I guess there are people out there who like that kind of stuff, who knew?)
The Richmond Gimlet tied for third place in the Best House Drink category as well. I haven’t had the pleasure of trying the other winners, but those who know me are aware of the fact that I need to get out more.
A heart-felt thank you to everyone in Eugene who voted for me, my little website, and my silly drink.
Things are really starting to ramp up for the 75th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition on December 5th! Today I received a package from the folks at Old Forester bourbon, who are showing their support of my favorite day by releasing a limited edition Repeal Day bottling of their whiskey.
From the press release:
“Repeal […]
