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.
The thing about bartenders is that we’re all attention whores and egomaniacs and couldn’t care less about much else than ourselves. Sure, some of us will tell you that the craft of the cocktail is the most rewarding thing about being a bartender. Others will tell you that putting on a show and giving people an exciting experience is the best part about working behind a bar.
This is a steaming load of horse shit. The real reason we do what we do is because there’s nothing quite like having someone, four gin-and-tonics deep, sitting at your bar and telling you that you do your job better than anyone else in the whole world.
I mention all of this because I’ve received a lot of love this week by being featured in two – count ‘em, two! – interviews. The first was printed by my hometown paper, and the most recent was conducted by the lovely Natalie over at The Liquid Muse.
TLM: Describe your fantasy life…
JM: I’m the Professor from Gilligan’s Island… Oh wait, what?
Natalie was very kind in her write-up of me, and she’s got a really fantastic website, so check us both out!
So when are you going to start a blog on your site? I know we’d all like to read some of your Vegas stories, they’ve got to be much more exciting than the goings-on in Eugene, Oregon…
As soon as I become a wizard of words such as yourself. Not my forte, but I’m getting there, very slowly. Not to mention the fact that a lot of my stories are so visual. Words just cannot describe them. Be sure to check out myspace, I’ve posted some new pics. You’re in a couple of them.
Something we obviously have in common is the whole whore thing… attention whore I mean, of course. Well, we have that – and booze. No wonder you’re my NBF!
;-)
[...] Jeffrey Morgenthaler has been in the spotlight lately, doing several interviews, in addition to frequent updates on his blog. He has apparently been doing a little soul-searching, because he recently got honest with his readers about the real reason he tends bar. And honestly, it’s the real reason MOST of us tend bar. Here’s an excerpt: The thing about bartenders is that we’re all attention whores and egomaniacs and couldn’t care less about much else than ourselves. Sure, some of us will tell you that the craft of the cocktail is the most rewarding thing about being a bartender. Others will tell you that putting on a show and giving people an exciting experience is the best part about working behind a bar. [...]
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 [...]
23 Apr 2007 at 1:32 PM 1. Sean Bigley
Hey Jeff.
That was a great interview! I loved all your answers to the questions. You’re starting to get awful famous, my friend.
Cheers to you!
Sean
23 Apr 2007 at 2:26 PM 2. Jeffrey
Thanks, Sean!
So when are you going to start a blog on your site? I know we’d all like to read some of your Vegas stories, they’ve got to be much more exciting than the goings-on in Eugene, Oregon…
23 Apr 2007 at 5:12 PM 3. Sean Bigley
As soon as I become a wizard of words such as yourself. Not my forte, but I’m getting there, very slowly. Not to mention the fact that a lot of my stories are so visual. Words just cannot describe them. Be sure to check out myspace, I’ve posted some new pics. You’re in a couple of them.
Cheers!
23 Apr 2007 at 5:25 PM 4. Natalie
Something we obviously have in common is the whole whore thing… attention whore I mean, of course. Well, we have that – and booze. No wonder you’re my NBF!
;-)
24 Apr 2007 at 2:04 PM 5. The Real Reason we tend bar | Joe Bartender
[...] Jeffrey Morgenthaler has been in the spotlight lately, doing several interviews, in addition to frequent updates on his blog. He has apparently been doing a little soul-searching, because he recently got honest with his readers about the real reason he tends bar. And honestly, it’s the real reason MOST of us tend bar. Here’s an excerpt: The thing about bartenders is that we’re all attention whores and egomaniacs and couldn’t care less about much else than ourselves. Sure, some of us will tell you that the craft of the cocktail is the most rewarding thing about being a bartender. Others will tell you that putting on a show and giving people an exciting experience is the best part about working behind a bar. [...]
25 Apr 2007 at 9:29 AM 6. Darcy
That’s hits the mark. My wife even calls me a “media whore” whenever I get a call or email from a reporter/writer.
25 Apr 2007 at 10:08 AM 7. Jeffrey
That little off-hand comment really struck a nerve with all four of my readers. I guess it’s unanimous, we’re all a bunch of attention-whores!
28 Apr 2007 at 4:42 AM 8. Sean Bigley
Me? An attention whore? No way!
Oh, wait a minute, I think that’s how we met, Jeff. LOL!
Cheers!
Sean