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 can’t believe I forgot this one. It should be right up there in the top ten bar myths, ever. Read on.
11. You have the right to a free drink on your birthday.
I wish I knew how this one got started. It seems really bizarre to me, and it’s something that some people are very passionate about. I’ve had people curse at me, throw things, and storm out of my bar in a rage when I told them I wasn’t going to buy them a ten-dollar drink for their birthday.
It’s especially shocking when it’s someone I’ve never seen before. Sure, if a hardcore regular confesses that it’s their birthday I’ll probably buy them a little something. Hell, I even have a small expense account provided to me by my bosses for just that purpose. But when a complete stranger walks in to my bar and demands a free shot, they’re probably going to go thirsty.
Much like trying to stay and drink for free after the bar closes, I wonder why people aren’t doing this in other businesses. Can you imagine walking into the grocery store, filling up a cart and taking it to the checkout aisle?
“It’s my birthday! Do I get these groceries for free?”
Oh my GAWD, Jeff. Yes. Very much yes. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’m either making a drink or dropping it off at the table only to be told “it’s my birthday.” I always defer to the tried and true “state law doesn’t allow us to give alcohol away for free,” but even then it’s a rather annoying experince.
I can’t even begin to describe how annoying that is. Last night I had a customer pouting the whole damn night because I didn’t give him a free Electric Iced Tea. Electric Iced Tea, for gods sakes.
what if you WORK at said bar as a hostess, have your only birthday party in 20 years there (a 13 top on a slow sunday afternoon), clean the bar once a week AND your kid works there? Doesnt that kind of trump the “no freebies” birthday drink/desert rule? Just wondering, because this happend to me yesterday. My family was appalled, I was, however, not suprised at all.
just want to know what the world at large thinks.
I would be terribly surprised if you didn’t get a drink on such an occasion, my dear delightful hostess. However, I have always had my suspicions about the establishment you call home…
suspicions such as what? Its a mom n pop operation run by uneducated rednecks. great food, nice atmosphere (usually) and a very bizarr management style, one I’ve never encountered in all my years in the service industry.
Who goes to a bar on their birthday without a group of friends (and, often enough, strangers), who are more than willing to buy you a drink?
The only upside to having a bartender do the buying is that they would be less likely to force you to shoot 151 or some other wretchedness, unlike a drunken friend.
17 Feb 2007 at 3:01 pm 7. cocktails and dreams
for me it’s not the giving of the free drink, but the asking for the free drink. it’s just bad bad bad etiquite. i don’t mind giving you one if i choose to, but if you ask for it the answer is always no.
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 […]
10 Jan 2007 at 7:37 am 1. Waitress
Oh my GAWD, Jeff. Yes. Very much yes. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’m either making a drink or dropping it off at the table only to be told “it’s my birthday.” I always defer to the tried and true “state law doesn’t allow us to give alcohol away for free,” but even then it’s a rather annoying experince.
Love your writing. love it.
18 Jan 2007 at 2:37 pm 2. nomikkh
I can’t even begin to describe how annoying that is. Last night I had a customer pouting the whole damn night because I didn’t give him a free Electric Iced Tea. Electric Iced Tea, for gods sakes.
22 Jan 2007 at 10:40 am 3. The Cleaning Lady
what if you WORK at said bar as a hostess, have your only birthday party in 20 years there (a 13 top on a slow sunday afternoon), clean the bar once a week AND your kid works there? Doesnt that kind of trump the “no freebies” birthday drink/desert rule? Just wondering, because this happend to me yesterday. My family was appalled, I was, however, not suprised at all.
just want to know what the world at large thinks.
22 Jan 2007 at 3:10 pm 4. Jeffrey
I would be terribly surprised if you didn’t get a drink on such an occasion, my dear delightful hostess. However, I have always had my suspicions about the establishment you call home…
Amendment to the rule: see above.
23 Jan 2007 at 8:16 am 5. The Cleaning Lady
suspicions such as what? Its a mom n pop operation run by uneducated rednecks. great food, nice atmosphere (usually) and a very bizarr management style, one I’ve never encountered in all my years in the service industry.
23 Jan 2007 at 4:44 pm 6. Marleigh
Who goes to a bar on their birthday without a group of friends (and, often enough, strangers), who are more than willing to buy you a drink?
The only upside to having a bartender do the buying is that they would be less likely to force you to shoot 151 or some other wretchedness, unlike a drunken friend.
17 Feb 2007 at 3:01 pm 7. cocktails and dreams
for me it’s not the giving of the free drink, but the asking for the free drink. it’s just bad bad bad etiquite. i don’t mind giving you one if i choose to, but if you ask for it the answer is always no.