If there’s one thing I hate about living in the Pacific Northwest, it’s the stretch of time from late October until late June, when the sun makes only the most occasional of appearances. I typically pack on an extra 10-15 pounds during those rainy months, party due to over-consumption of wintertime drinks like dark beer, egg nog, hot-buttered-anything and wassail. I wanted a drink for the winter that I could add to my cocktail menu that was more like the light, café-style cocktails I typically gravitate to during the summer.
Jerry Thomas prescribed a drink called “sangaree” that, to the best of our knowledge was a colonial adaptation of the Spanish “sangria”. The recipe, which calls for anywhere from 1½ to 4 ounces of port, Madeira, gin or brandy dolled up with sugar and dusted with nutmeg in a glass sounded less than exciting to me, but the challenge of updating this old chestnut sounded like a fun January task.
We began with ruby and tawny ports but found both way too sweet. White port got us much closer to our target, but it wasn’t until a healthy dose of dry vermouth was applied that we knew we were on to something. To provide additional depth and hint at the drink’s colonial origins we sweetened with a maple-nutmeg syrup and finished the whole thing off with a teaspoon of allspice liqueur and orange oil.
The Dry Vermouth Sangaree
3 oz dry vermouth
½ oz maple-nutmeg syrup*
1 tsp St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1 large strip orange peel
Shake everything – yes, even the orange peel – with ice until well-chilled and strain into a cold cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh strip of orange peel.
*To make maple-nutmeg syrup, combine 8 ounces each of Grade B maple syrup and water, and 1 tbsp freshly-grated nutmeg. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Let cool, strain out solids, bottle and chill.
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.
My friend Paul Clarke just published a fantastic article about bartenders making their own liqueurs in the latest Imbibe magazine, and El Vaquero has the honor of representing falernum.
With all due respect to Paul, I’ve taken his recipe and made a few modifications that I’d like to present here. I think that soaking the cloves in the rum for a few days prior to adding the lime zest and ginger adds a wonderful depth.
I copied most of this over from Paul, many apologies!
8 ounces white rum
40 whole cloves
Soak together for 48 hours. Add:
Zest of 9 limes
1.5 oz julienned fresh ginger
Combine these ingredients in a jar and seal, letting the mixture soak for 24 hours. Then, strain through moistened cheesecloth, squeezing the solids to extract the last, flavorful bits of liquid.
Add:
.25 tsp almond extract
14 oz 2:1 simple syrup
4.5 oz fresh, strained lime juice
This liqueur has been a great addition to the bar, in everything from Corn and Oils to Queen’s Park Swizzles. But I’ve been enjoying playing with beer cocktails lately, so I came up with this:
St. Michael’s Punch
I think the Japanese beer is a fantastic component to this drink.
1 oz falernum
1 oz lemon juice
2 oz sparkling mineral water
4 oz Kirin Ichiban lager
Combine ingredients and pour over ice. Garnish with a thick slice of lemon peel studded with clove.
Also in the latest issue is Kevin Ludwig’s wonderful review of channel knives. At Vaquero we use the Messermeister, but I’ve had some memorable times with the Victoronix.
Update: I forgot to mention that Camper English also has a nice piece.
Update: About liquor tastings in this issue as well.
Wait — you changed my recipe? YOU BASTARD! I’LL SUE!!!
Eh, but I’m too lazy.
Actually, as the good Dr. Cocktail pointed out about a year ago, falernum can fall into two camps: those that are a bit more in the spicy, clovey direction, such as Velvet Falernum, and that seem to be a more typical Barbados version; and the more citrusy types that were used in tiki drinks in the US, originally from Sazerac-Stansfield, now discontinued but an adaptation of this type is available commercially from Fee Brothers.
When making my falernum, I assessed my needs — considering that at the time I was rummaging through Jeff Berry’s recipes, I decided to pursue making a version of the second, more citrusy style that would be useful in tiki drinks. Hence, the large amount of lime juice in my falernum, and the limited amount of cloves.
Upping the cloves, as you do, is a great idea — I might also suggest you decrease the lime as an experiment, to see how that affects your spice / sour profile. You can also do as Jamie Boudreau does, and after you strain your solids from the rum, simmer them in water and strain again, then use that “tea” to make your simple syrup. (Jamie also uses no lime juice in his falernum — just the infused liquids and sugar.) I tried it and thought it took the falernum too much away from the lighter, fruitier version I was pursuing, but it was still pretty damn good. If you’re looking to use it in a more varied type of drinks, this might be a good route.
(If you look at the recipe in Imbibe, you might also notice it’s different from the one on my website, in that I’ve added toasted slivered almonds to the mix, for a little more authentic almond flavor.)
I’ll seek legal counsel immediately, but wait, it’s midnight. Never mind!
Thanks for the insight, to be honest, the only falernums (falerni?) I’ve tried are the John D. Taylor’s and your recipe, and after reading your comment I now understand the difference between the two camps.
I love the idea of reheating the juice to make a simple syrup instead of the added water. It’s exactly what I’ve been doing to make tonic water a la Kevin Ludwig, and it works much better.
Next up on my list, homemade creme de cassis! Not a rare ingredient, but how many brands are really that available to me in Oregon?
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 [...]
My friend Paul Clarke just published a fantastic article about bartenders making their own liqueurs in the latest Imbibe magazine, and El Vaquero has the honor of representing falernum.
04 Jul 2007 at 12:25 pm 1. Natalie (aka: The Liquid Muse)
Great recipes! And, that St. Michael’s Punch is really original. I can’t wait to try it out!
04 Jul 2007 at 9:35 pm 2. Paul
Wait — you changed my recipe? YOU BASTARD! I’LL SUE!!!
Eh, but I’m too lazy.
Actually, as the good Dr. Cocktail pointed out about a year ago, falernum can fall into two camps: those that are a bit more in the spicy, clovey direction, such as Velvet Falernum, and that seem to be a more typical Barbados version; and the more citrusy types that were used in tiki drinks in the US, originally from Sazerac-Stansfield, now discontinued but an adaptation of this type is available commercially from Fee Brothers.
When making my falernum, I assessed my needs — considering that at the time I was rummaging through Jeff Berry’s recipes, I decided to pursue making a version of the second, more citrusy style that would be useful in tiki drinks. Hence, the large amount of lime juice in my falernum, and the limited amount of cloves.
Upping the cloves, as you do, is a great idea — I might also suggest you decrease the lime as an experiment, to see how that affects your spice / sour profile. You can also do as Jamie Boudreau does, and after you strain your solids from the rum, simmer them in water and strain again, then use that “tea” to make your simple syrup. (Jamie also uses no lime juice in his falernum — just the infused liquids and sugar.) I tried it and thought it took the falernum too much away from the lighter, fruitier version I was pursuing, but it was still pretty damn good. If you’re looking to use it in a more varied type of drinks, this might be a good route.
(If you look at the recipe in Imbibe, you might also notice it’s different from the one on my website, in that I’ve added toasted slivered almonds to the mix, for a little more authentic almond flavor.)
04 Jul 2007 at 11:36 pm 3. siobhan
yum. I love that you put beer and falernum together.
05 Jul 2007 at 12:01 am 4. Jeffrey
Buh-leer-num?
05 Jul 2007 at 12:21 am 5. Jeffrey
Paul
I’ll seek legal counsel immediately, but wait, it’s midnight. Never mind!
Thanks for the insight, to be honest, the only falernums (falerni?) I’ve tried are the John D. Taylor’s and your recipe, and after reading your comment I now understand the difference between the two camps.
I love the idea of reheating the juice to make a simple syrup instead of the added water. It’s exactly what I’ve been doing to make tonic water a la Kevin Ludwig, and it works much better.
Next up on my list, homemade creme de cassis! Not a rare ingredient, but how many brands are really that available to me in Oregon?
Cheers!