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.
One of my favorite things about the holidays is getting to spend a lot of time in airports. Since I’m usually stuck safely behind a bar five nights a week, it’s nice for me to get right in there with a swarming throng of people and be corralled through a series of lines for an hour or more.
So, to rinse off whatever anxieties I’ve accumulated during a day’s travel, I like to unwind by doing a little bar research once I arrive at my destination. Being in Los Angeles to visit my sister, and knowing where I’d go if I were Chuck Taggart, I headed downtown to sit at Southern California’s shrine to whiskey: Seven Grand.
When I’m visiting a bar of this caliber, I usually like to start with one of the classics, just to get a feel for the place. So my first cocktail was an expertly-prepared Sazerac, with Rittenhouse rye and Pernod. While I’ve got to say that I usually prefer Herbsainte to the syrupy-sweet Pernod, it became less of an issue with the punch of the 100-proof whiskey. In place of the traditional lemon peel, they used orange peel. Nice touch, dudes.
Next I decided to take a chance and venture onto the house specialty portion of the menu, something I almost never do unless I’m in a reputable establishment such as this (really, you have no idea what sort of abominations have been placed in front of me under the guise of ‘mixology’). So I ordered up an Elder Fitzgerald, which I’m guessing went something like this:
2 oz Old Fitzgerald 12 year-old bourbon
1 oz lemon juice
¾ oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur
½ oz simple syrup
1 egg white
…but I could be wrong. Old Fitzgerald is light and spicy, and a perfect compliment to the elderflower liqueur. The lemon adds the right amount to tartness, and the egg white builds a nice, creamy mouthfeel and a foamy head on the drink.
All good things must come to an end, and after four ounces of whiskey in me and very little sleep on the plane, it was about bedtime for Bonzo. Seven Grand is a little oasis in a desert of low-carb vodka/sodas and Red Bull drinks. I’ll be back, and next time I’m taking you with me, Taggart.
Hey buddy!
I am so sorry to have missed you on the plane. But – I am glad to see that you found Seven Grand. Definitely a place I would have taken you.
All the best to you in the New Year – and we are so getting drunk together at some point in ‘08!
I’m with Jeff: What’s the story on this “very little sleep on the plane” gripe. Dude, where I come from, a 2 1/2 hour jaunt down the coast is a morning commute!
Try flying Toronto-Milan via Frankfurt and immediately upon arrival being placed at the mercy of celebrated Italian beer legend/eccentric/lunatic Lorenzo Dabove. Then, my friend, you can complain about “very little sleep.”
Happy New Year, Jeffrey. May our paths finally cross on ‘08!
Getting “very little sleep on the plane” means, as any bartender reading this thread will tell you, that I worked a 13-hour shift behind the bar, came home at 4 in the morning, and then packed, showered, and drove to the airport.
So, Beaumont, I realize that this is nothing compared to the horror of having to drink a beer after a six-hour flight, but I feel it comes close.
We woulda gone with you in a second! Please do give us a shout next time.
Our most recent visit to Seven Grand was last Friday, where Wes and I and the two friends we brought had a Harvard Cocktail, a Rittenhouse Old Fashioned, a Ramos Gin Fizz, a Pegu Club, a Last Word and a Brock & Co. (house special named for the historic building – Bourbon, ginger-honey syrup, lemon juice, splash of orange juice and a big slice of ginger as garnish … yum!)
Marcos spent quite a while tinkering with the Harvard before serving it too — “Damn thing wouldn’t balance!” The Cognac was Remy Martin, the vermouth was Carpano Antica.
The Harvard was Wes’ surprise starter that evening, as this is the only bar (so far) where we’re willing to ask to be surprised by the bartender’s choice. Whatever it is, it’s always wonderful.
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28 Dec 2007 at 4:35 PM 1. Jeff Frane
Wait. “very little sleep on the plane”. Dude. You live on the west coast. It’s like a 2.5 hour flight from PDX. Sleep?
29 Dec 2007 at 2:20 PM 2. Natalie - The Liquid Muse
Hey buddy!
I am so sorry to have missed you on the plane. But – I am glad to see that you found Seven Grand. Definitely a place I would have taken you.
All the best to you in the New Year – and we are so getting drunk together at some point in ‘08!
:-)
31 Dec 2007 at 6:07 AM 3. Stephen Beaumont
I’m with Jeff: What’s the story on this “very little sleep on the plane” gripe. Dude, where I come from, a 2 1/2 hour jaunt down the coast is a morning commute!
Try flying Toronto-Milan via Frankfurt and immediately upon arrival being placed at the mercy of celebrated Italian beer legend/eccentric/lunatic Lorenzo Dabove. Then, my friend, you can complain about “very little sleep.”
Happy New Year, Jeffrey. May our paths finally cross on ‘08!
31 Dec 2007 at 5:16 PM 4. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Listen.
Getting “very little sleep on the plane” means, as any bartender reading this thread will tell you, that I worked a 13-hour shift behind the bar, came home at 4 in the morning, and then packed, showered, and drove to the airport.
So, Beaumont, I realize that this is nothing compared to the horror of having to drink a beer after a six-hour flight, but I feel it comes close.
;)
Happy New Year, peoples!
31 Dec 2007 at 6:21 PM 5. Jeff Frane
Oh, it’s a bartender thing! Sorry. Y’all work weird hours.
Happy New Year, Jeffrey. I suppose you’re off to deal with all the amateur drunks that fall into the bar tonight.
I also hear you’re going to have to revise some of the content on the blog. Something about a change of venue?
02 Jan 2008 at 1:17 PM 6. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Stay tuned, Jeff, I’ll be making those revisions very soon…
02 Jan 2008 at 5:30 PM 7. juliana
Best make those revisions before I wander back up and harass y’all…
Happy New Year, cutie!
02 Jan 2008 at 10:09 PM 8. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Don’t worry, Juliana, I will. I wouldn’t want to miss another one of your visits, the last time was too fun!
22 Jan 2008 at 2:53 PM 9. Chuck
We woulda gone with you in a second! Please do give us a shout next time.
Our most recent visit to Seven Grand was last Friday, where Wes and I and the two friends we brought had a Harvard Cocktail, a Rittenhouse Old Fashioned, a Ramos Gin Fizz, a Pegu Club, a Last Word and a Brock & Co. (house special named for the historic building – Bourbon, ginger-honey syrup, lemon juice, splash of orange juice and a big slice of ginger as garnish … yum!)
Marcos spent quite a while tinkering with the Harvard before serving it too — “Damn thing wouldn’t balance!” The Cognac was Remy Martin, the vermouth was Carpano Antica.
The Harvard was Wes’ surprise starter that evening, as this is the only bar (so far) where we’re willing to ask to be surprised by the bartender’s choice. Whatever it is, it’s always wonderful.
You can see why we love this bar so much. :-)