“Here, see if you can make me something with this”, the liquor rep taunted as he dropped a bottle of aquavit on the bar. If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I don’t really work that well under pressure. I try, but it literally takes me weeks to come up with a new drink that I’m happy with. Maybe I’m slow, maybe I’m a perfectionist, doesn’t matter: I hate it when I have to work under pressure.
So I was especially vexed when this particular wiseass handed me a bottle of aquavit. For those of you who don’t know, is a traditional Scandinavian liquor flavored with caraway and - typically - other herbs such as fennel and anise. It’s delicious, but it’s unique and isn’t known for its superb mixability.
However, I knew the liquor boob was insinuating that I might not be able to rise to the challenge, so I whipped this up (after about three false starts). A small handful of visitors to the bar at Clyde Common have suggested that it might be one of the best drinks I’ve come up with so far, but I’ll let you be the judge of that. I just think it tastes delicious.
1 oz aquavit
1 oz applejack
¾ oz sweet vermouth
¼ oz yellow Chartreuse
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with a large twist of lemon peel and serve.
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'm 37, 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.
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.
Granted, our family holiday concotion is glög (infinitely harder to stomach than wassail), but that much sugar is kind of scary.
Did you come across recipes that use orange or lemon in your research? I’ve only had wassail once, homemade by a friend, and her family recipe used citrus.
The sugar sounds like an awful lot until you dump almost a gallon of liquor and a carton of eggs in there. It’s not that sweet at all, I promise.
I’ve seen a bunch of recipes that use dried orange peel, but being young and lazy I opted for the easy way out. Perhaps this year I’ll have to try it, as I’ve almost always got a batch of orange peel drying out in the oven for orange bitters for the bar.
I made the recipe from the old Joy of Cooking over the weekend, which is pretty similar to yours. I quartered the recipe and used a mid-range madeira (Miles Medium Dry Rainwater Madeira ~$15). Delicious, but it needs to be consumed quickly. It separated in about an hour. Still tastes good, but not as light and foamy, and in the words of one attendee, “looks like baby vomit.”
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05 Nov 2007 at 3:43 pm 1. Marleigh
Two pounds of sugar?!? My pancreas…
Granted, our family holiday concotion is glög (infinitely harder to stomach than wassail), but that much sugar is kind of scary.
Did you come across recipes that use orange or lemon in your research? I’ve only had wassail once, homemade by a friend, and her family recipe used citrus.
05 Nov 2007 at 3:47 pm 2. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
The sugar sounds like an awful lot until you dump almost a gallon of liquor and a carton of eggs in there. It’s not that sweet at all, I promise.
I’ve seen a bunch of recipes that use dried orange peel, but being young and lazy I opted for the easy way out. Perhaps this year I’ll have to try it, as I’ve almost always got a batch of orange peel drying out in the oven for orange bitters for the bar.
05 Nov 2007 at 6:50 pm 3. Sarah
What kind of sherry?
06 Nov 2007 at 3:26 pm 4. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Sarah
I use an inexpensive California dry sherry that they carry at my grocery store. I believe it’s Paul Masson.
18 Dec 2008 at 1:28 pm 5. rhesuspieces00
I made the recipe from the old Joy of Cooking over the weekend, which is pretty similar to yours. I quartered the recipe and used a mid-range madeira (Miles Medium Dry Rainwater Madeira ~$15). Delicious, but it needs to be consumed quickly. It separated in about an hour. Still tastes good, but not as light and foamy, and in the words of one attendee, “looks like baby vomit.”