Latest Drink Recipe
I’ve you’ve never made - or enjoyed - a mint julep before, be sure to check out this post, with lots of information from myself, and videos from the real experts.
In the bottom of a 10-12 oz glass (or a silver julep cup, if you’ve got one on hand) gently muddle together:
12 mint leaves
¼-½ oz simple syrup
Add to this mixture:
2 oz bourbon
Stir to combine ingredients, and fill glass with finely crushed ice. Garnish with the prettiest mint sprig you have, and serve.
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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.
14 Feb 2008 at 6:32 am 1. lilu
gross. you think they would at least edit that out.
14 Feb 2008 at 9:51 am 2. Alex
That is so awesome! I’m quite surprised to find that limes are no longer used. I’ll be sure to let my friends know so they can get them out of their bars and get some sweet and sour on the guns. Don’t want anybody looking like they’re behind the times.
14 Feb 2008 at 10:07 am 3. Scortch
Absolutely revolting in so many ways. Just about as vulgar as it gets. I’ve seen some of these sorts of videos elsewhere and always marveled at the lack of skills in so many of them but this is too, too much. And that this guys actually “trains” “bartenders”…
Y’know, there’s a recent post on drinkboston.com concerning bartenders and the respect they deserve and often do not get. It’s guys like the one in the video and the “Hey, pal, I went ta skool for this!” lunkheads their programs expectorate that probably have more to do with the low regard given so many men behind the stick.
Just sad.
14 Feb 2008 at 10:29 am 4. jimmy
I always forget to get the “secret ingredient” out of my nose and make sure it’s in the drink. I could learn a lot at the American Bartending School. That is the worst drink I have ever seen.
I think you should reformulate the Richmond Gimlet, remove the mint and the real juice. And don’t forget the “secret ingredient!”
14 Feb 2008 at 10:35 am 5. Blair, aka Trader Tiki
Wow
can they not at least edit the nose wiping?
The shaking method was… well, I put it in a not so nice way amongst private company, I’ll just say.
14 Feb 2008 at 10:43 am 6. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
“Will the drink taste better with fresh juice? Ennnnnnhhh, yeah, but……”
14 Feb 2008 at 11:02 am 7. Eugenia
Oh. My. God. I thought you were kidding about the nose. Top off with a spritz of snot. Might make it taste better, actually.
14 Feb 2008 at 11:27 am 8. Ben
There’s nothing so refreshing as a flourescent yellow daiquiri…
14 Feb 2008 at 11:36 am 9. Dane
Wacthing this really encouraged me to enroll in American Bartending School; luckily, they have 5 locations, so I should be able to find one nearby. Per their website:
1) “Bartending is easy” (thank God)
2) “Student learn about the liquors they work with” (Hence, the “School” part of their name)
3) And, “Over 50% of our graduates don’t drink” (No shit? After watching me make your drink like this, are you SURE you don’t want to try it???)
14 Feb 2008 at 12:29 pm 10. Marshall
I just died a little bit inside . . .
14 Feb 2008 at 1:35 pm 11. Marleigh
I like that skipping the sweet & sour and using fresh lime juice means that you’d have to “figure out” the proportion of sugar to juice.
Since there aren’t any books out there with a recipe.
Or, you know, the internet.
14 Feb 2008 at 1:51 pm 12. Smach
God, I’m thirsty.
14 Feb 2008 at 2:16 pm 13. Jessica H.
I get the feeling this talented bartender wanted to pick, but he was being professional so he just rubbed, with some incidental contact.
Remember when Jerry was wrongfully accused of picking?
George Costanza: Was there any nostril penetration?
Jerry Seinfeld: There may have been some incidental contact.
14 Feb 2008 at 4:26 pm 14. Dood (Matt R.)
I believe this is precisely the way Hemmingway liked his daiquiris.
14 Feb 2008 at 10:17 pm 15. Lance J. Mayhew
OMG, I’m dying right now. I actually think that technically, he didn’t make a daiquiri, but a rum sour since it was commercial s&s and no sugar. Maybe the choice of a stemmed glass made the difference though. You should check and see if ABS has a rum sour class online. Of course, I’m not a bartending school grad so I’m not positive. And who knew rum came in different colors?
15 Feb 2008 at 6:51 am 16. Mixology
This video is already a classic!
We keep watching it again and again since it came up somewhere! Thanks for finally listing up the ingredients, Jeffrey!
Maybe you should add, that one has to let the drink water down in the shaker for a couple of minutes (after “shaking”) before you strain it into the glass.
And the shaking: that must be a new variant of the “Tiger Hard Shake” from Japan.
15 Feb 2008 at 6:53 am 17. Mixology
“7. Talk about difference between fresh lime juice and sour mix while drink melts in shaker.”
Sorry, obviously didn´t see this, while laughing…
15 Feb 2008 at 11:26 am 18. Jeremy
Those who can, do
Those who can’t do, teach.
I wonder how much of that one ounce of rum made it into the chilled stemmed cocktail glass?
15 Feb 2008 at 1:30 pm 19. Dominik MJ
Ridiculous that this guy teaches bartenders! Not only that he doesn’t have a bit of job related knowledge (which exceeds the point of artificial sweet and sour and cost reduction), he even obviously hasn’t got an idea of hygiene.
I mean, where the hell is the problem to wash the hands after “touching” his nose?
This is guy is a disgrace for every single bartender!
16 Feb 2008 at 10:28 am 20. Dan
This still isn’t as bad as the “Woodford Reserve Mint Julep”
16 Feb 2008 at 12:02 pm 21. dshenaut
I like the perfect measure that comes from using a jigger. It makes all the difference in balancing the complex artificial flavors.
16 Feb 2008 at 10:18 pm 22. Alan Akwai
I’m laughing, alone, on the couch.
17 Feb 2008 at 11:16 am 23. Bruce Tomlinson
The first time I saw one of this guys videos it angered me. What an embaressement to Bartenders everywhere. Now I’m of the mindset that if I need a good laugh, I just watch one of his {What Not To Do Videos}.
The sad part is the unsuspecting sucker that thinks is the correct way to be a Bartender.
Bruce Tomlinson
18 Feb 2008 at 1:21 am 24. Slap
Good Lord.
And I thought it was bad when he slaughtered the pronunciation of the word “botanicals” when describing sweet vermouth in the their video on the Manhattan.
Breathtakingly awful.
18 Feb 2008 at 8:27 am 25. ND
This drink should be christened “the Green Goblin” in this guy’s honour… I’m curious, though: what do bartenders do with the extra bits of cocktails left behind in the shaker? Drink them? Chuck them into some kind of “fishbowl”? (I suppose most folks would say that they measure carefully enough not to have issues like this, but I’m sure that wouldn’t always work?).
18 Feb 2008 at 10:40 am 26. Darryl
Hah, I remember seeing this on YouTube and practically bursting a vessel in the comments section. This guy is completely clueless (and a mite defensive and self-righteous about it, if his posts on the Webtender.com forums are any indication). Thanks for featuring it.
18 Feb 2008 at 11:59 am 27. Ginger
Priceless! Can I get rum in blue?
And what will I do with all of my limes and simple syrup now?
18 Feb 2008 at 5:04 pm 28. Chip and Andy
OMG! Is he serious?
Ehhhhhhh, I guess fresh lime would be OK.
I am so glad I do all my mixing on my home bar and dont have to deal with the idiots this guys ‘teaches’….
18 Feb 2008 at 6:49 pm 29. Rick
This is so hilarious that I feel there is a market for making videos of such badly produced drinks. It would be so horribly easy.
Everyone’s comments are quite a joy as well.
21 Feb 2008 at 10:00 am 30. ms.sc
are you sure this isn’t a joke? It just seems like such a joke. I am so glad I didn’t go to bartending school. I bet my patrons are too since I never learned the rub nose and eye vigorously while making drink method.
22 Feb 2008 at 7:42 am 31. Scottes
I could deal with the sour mix, but why, oh why, did they have to use Bacardi?
22 Feb 2008 at 3:14 pm 32. dim zappas
is not a joke we also discover this videos two months before and i break into a laugh.
oooo my Good and if you see the Lynchburg lemonade you gonna death from laugh.
and there is barlady in some recipes……..
26 Feb 2008 at 1:02 am 33. Michaelg
“Now, earlier in the video, you saw me wipe my nose briefly with my finger. Some of you might have thought that was sort of gross. Well, just to make sure that everyone is disgusted, I’m going to do it again, only longer.
…But don’t worry, that lemon-lime stuff, combined with the alcohol in your drink, will kill any of my germs…
…What am I saying? Just look at me! A bartender. For 20 years, and in some places I have long ago chosen to forget. I have germs even that even that cocktail mix won’t be able to kill…But still folks, take my word for it, this stuff will take care of the everyday common cold. And another great thing about compared to real limes — the shelf life is over twelve years!”
27 Feb 2008 at 12:30 pm 34. arthur
holy mother of satan help me….
i didnt know limes were extinct,i guess the taste of snot will even out the flavour profile of the sour mix.
this video is gold
where do i sign up for the school?hemmingway is digging himself out of his grave to slap the be jesus outta this school.
28 Feb 2008 at 9:23 am 35. rumo
..he sniffed too much cokaine the night before…afraid something left there…
…he is ridicolous…
29 Feb 2008 at 12:48 am 36. Scott
At least the Mint Julip recipe girl was easier on the eyes than this guy..
01 Mar 2008 at 11:07 am 37. Dr.Cocktail
OK, a little perspective, here. This fellow is actually very cutting edge. It’s the new performance art/culinary genre of bartending. The performance: He is depicting the Human Condition, the disillusionment and ennui of urban life in a cocktail school. Feel the drama. Think Martha Graham. The culinary: Gum arabic is hard to get. He mixes his OWN gomme syrup from simple corn syrup - and emulsifies the syrup with his, ah, wipings. He then deftly transmuted this to sour mix by adding the FINEST powdered limes.
Could any of us do better and with such pathos?
I think not.
Hope this helps! –Doc
01 Mar 2008 at 7:58 pm 38. Marleigh
Doc,
You lost me at “wipings.”
Yikes.
Marleigh
02 Mar 2008 at 7:59 am 39. Shelly
Please, oh please, tell me this is a Saturday Night Live skit.
The recipe, sans the boogers, sounds like something I might have tried when I was, oh I don’t know, 21 (many years ago).
High quality bartending school, eh?
02 Mar 2008 at 7:35 pm 40. Bruce Tomlinson
The envelope please.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this years snOtSCAR goes to the American Bartending School because of the special ingredient they put in their daiquiri’s.
03 Mar 2008 at 5:12 am 41. blair frodelius
Instead of sweet & sour mix, I use a blend of flat Mountain Dew (left over from parties) and Sweet-Tarts. I do however, keep a box of tissues handy when filming my instructional videos.
03 Mar 2008 at 5:53 pm 42. Dr.Cocktail
That one wins, hands down.
04 Mar 2008 at 8:28 am 43. Giuseppe
Quite possibly the most awesome video I have ever seen… I am gonna call this guy to do a presentation at Tales this year… He is inspiring!
04 Mar 2008 at 10:02 am 44. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
There are 80, count ‘em - 80 - more videos by this cat on YouTube.
How our friend Jack is qualified to train anyone in anything is beyond me, but listening to him slaughter the word “botanicals” when speaking about vermouth should be a big warning sign:
05 Mar 2008 at 2:20 am 45. Chris
Oh my f***ing god! Watch when he makes the worst old fashioned i’ve ever seen someone make.
That’s is just awesome.
I can’t believe that people like him actually are allowed to “teach” other people.
05 Mar 2008 at 2:11 pm 46. Doug Winship
Perfect Jeffrey, just perfect!
Nobody fisks a bartending video like you do. Of course nobody else fisks them at all, that I know of. Still, why should they bother, when you do it so damn well? Remind me not to get on your bad side!
Incidentally, I think this video would make a damn fine hiring aid. Show it to a prospective bartender, and if he or she doesn’t laugh their contemptuous ass off, they don’t make the cut….
05 Mar 2008 at 4:07 pm 47. Japanese whisky
Inspiring
06 Mar 2008 at 12:11 am 48. Robert Heugel
The Rob Roy Video -
“Bonacals”??? Is he trying to say barnacles instead of botanicals??? Yeah, I’ll take my Rob Roy attached to a freakin’ ship, thanks.
06 Mar 2008 at 7:21 am 49. Jeff Cooley
Had way too much time on my hands this morning so I’ve been watching this guy’s videos. My favorite so far is the Orgasm. I really just wanted to hear him have to say the drink name for a laugh, then it just got so much better. Following the link doesn’t take you right to the video (I couldn’t get a direct link) but you just have to scroll down to the orgasm video.
http://www.barschool.com/recipes/O/orgasm.asp
Trust me, it’s worth it. He actually drops the Kahlua, knocking over some glass-ware in the process, and becomes visibly frustrated to the point he has to stop the video (though he doesn’t edit out the accident, I guess he doesn’t have i-movie). After he regains his composure he fails horribly trying to make the already disgusting layered shot and explains that his completely un-layered creation will separate on its own after a minute or so. Now, I hate the whole idea of shooters and I especially hate uber sweet layered shooters (as a rule I generally refuse to make them for people) but if I absolutely had to, and owned a bar school (god forbid), and posted videos of myself making drinks on the internet, I think I would be sure to make a beautiful Orgasm.
06 Mar 2008 at 11:42 am 50. Scott
Check out the recipe for a Brandy Alexander. Did you know you can use half and half or cream, whatever you happen to have on hand.. Also, it has “cream dee coco,” not creme de cacao in it, which comes in both light and dark, which can look like water. And you have to love the techno music in the background for such a classic drink.
06 Mar 2008 at 12:58 pm 51. blair frodelius
These videos are turning into the “Be Kind, Rewind” remakes of mixology.
16 Mar 2008 at 12:28 am 52. Josh M.
At least he knows what Irish Cream is, Jeff…”It’s Irish, it’s creamy, it has an alcoholic, uh, content…”
Priceless!
18 Mar 2008 at 10:28 am 53. Trevor Smith
That’s the most realistic representation of what I think bartending school is like that I’ve ever seen.
Let this be a lesson to all perspective bartenders that are thinking of bartending school or the unfortunate many that have gone and lead off your introduction to a bar manager with “I’m a licensed mixologist”
This video perfectly exemplifies the kind of training you’ll receive. Not to mention, there is more to bartending then drink knowledge.
20 Mar 2008 at 3:06 pm 54. Chuck
That guy’s videos are just too revolting for words.
Now, for good cocktail-making videos, they just posted a handy-dandy compendium of Chris McMillian’s 20 videos on “New Orleans’ Best Cocktails” over at the Times-Picayune.
20 Mar 2008 at 3:08 pm 55. Chuck
Not to mention Robert’s too, of course.
07 Apr 2008 at 4:42 pm 56. heckler
i like totally love you, man.
20 Apr 2008 at 10:08 am 57. Sommelier
Ughhhhhh!!!!!! And this guy is supposed to be so good that he is teaching? Remember, please, that we are professionals! We keep our hands and nails clean & neat (no biting your fingernails!), and away from our noses, faces, ears and hair.
20 Apr 2008 at 6:55 pm 58. Jesse
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NIBTx-Dfh0M
also kinda fun watching him say cum shot.
20 Apr 2008 at 7:04 pm 59. Jesse
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OjGNdhiu4Wo
Omg omg, here is the orgasm one. We couldn’t find it on youtube because he spelled it with an I.