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.
Some of you are here to find out how to make my pinot gris reduction for the East of Eden, and as the directions will tell you, you’ll need to reduce the wine by half. But how can you tell when a liquid is reduced by half without pouring it into a measuring cup every five minutes? Here’s what I do:
Before you apply heat to your liquid, dip the end of a wooden spoon into the pot and let it sit there for a few seconds. You know, so that it soaks into the wood a little bit.
Then, using your fingernail or a table knife, make a mark where the liquid level was on the wooden spoon.
Make another mark halfway between your nail mark and the end of the spoon. Now you have a gauge that will tell you when you’re done. When the liquid in the pot is the same height as your halfway mark, you’ve reduced that liquid by half.
A couple of notes:
This is only mildly accurate with straight-sided, flat-bottomed saucepots. Anything with curved or beveled edges won’t quite have the same effect.
This technique works equally well for recipes that call for a liquid to be reduced by two-thirds, or a fourth, or what-have-you. Fingernail your spoon accordingly.
Eugenia, I’m with you. I don’t need a rubber band mingling with my stuff.
26 May 2008 at 3:05 pm 9. Tokyo Tea
Why not use a ruler so you don’t have to put a bunch of marks on your spoon. I imagine after five or six reductions your spoon marks might be confusing
That really is so simply brilliant. I’ve always been one to just estimate at the levels, hoping that I’d reduced enough or not too much. Heaven only knows why I never though to just measure…
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 […]
22 May 2008 at 6:58 pm 1. Aimee Scarlett
Jeff, this is my favorite post so far. Simple, and a brilliant solution to a real practical problem! Much appreciated.
22 May 2008 at 7:41 pm 2. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Thanks, Aimee!
22 May 2008 at 7:46 pm 3. Drago
I prefer the Alton Brown method wherein you use a rubber band to mark the 100% point and then gauge it from there.
Though it employs a similar ethos.
22 May 2008 at 8:36 pm 4. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Indeed, a rubber band would work quite well. Damn you, Alton Brown!
23 May 2008 at 5:46 am 5. Kevin Langmack
Stupidly brilliant.
23 May 2008 at 2:42 pm 6. Eugenia
Eh, I know where my rubber bands have been, and I don’t want ‘em in my sauce. I prefer your method. Go Jeffrey!
23 May 2008 at 8:35 pm 7. Ouroboros
wicked cunning!
25 May 2008 at 3:15 am 8. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Eugenia, I’m with you. I don’t need a rubber band mingling with my stuff.
26 May 2008 at 3:05 pm 9. Tokyo Tea
Why not use a ruler so you don’t have to put a bunch of marks on your spoon. I imagine after five or six reductions your spoon marks might be confusing
27 May 2008 at 10:18 am 10. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
That’s a brilliant idea, TT. I’m going to take your suggestion!
29 Jun 2008 at 11:59 am 11. Sweet Bird
That really is so simply brilliant. I’ve always been one to just estimate at the levels, hoping that I’d reduced enough or not too much. Heaven only knows why I never though to just measure…
And Tokyo Tea, that’s a great idea!