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.
It’s a bit late at this point, but has anybody designed any flyers advertising repeal day? I’d totally be willing to print some off and leave them at all my favorite bars to help get the word out.
Frane – Yeah, funny, there must be two bartender/bloggers in Oregon with the same name…
Eugenia – The sad irony is that I’ve been so busy as of late that I haven’t had time to plan any major celebrations in my own damn town. You will all have to carry the torch for me and be sure to get lots of photos ;)
Jeffrey, great work in continuing to get support and garner attention for Repeal Day. I was hoping to make it to D.C. for the festivities. Alas, it was not in the cards. I look forward to seeing what you’ll write up from the events.
Instead, since I’m not heading out to D.C., we’ll be celebrating tonight at the Mixoloseum Bar (bar.mixoloseum.com) and dedicating our weekly Thursday Drink Night to Repeal Day and creating and testing classic-style cocktails. We’d love to have anyone that can make it join the festivities starting at 7pm EST and going, at least, until Dec. 5th hits across the US.
Jeff, Happy Repeal Day. This has really taken off this year and you deserve huge credit. I know of several Repeal Day parties and specials in LA.
But let’s face it, repeal was only partial. I want to buy booze from the distiller, on Ebay and from European websites. Let’s complete repeal, get rid of the three tier system and let 100 whiskies bloom.
I’ve been digging thru the newspaper archives for articles from the original day. I just reposted my favorite headline (the New York Times warning that “orgies are frowned upon”), but there are many more clips I hope to post thruout the day.
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 [...]
02 Dec 2008 at 11:05 am 1. jfs
It’s a bit late at this point, but has anybody designed any flyers advertising repeal day? I’d totally be willing to print some off and leave them at all my favorite bars to help get the word out.
02 Dec 2008 at 12:42 pm 2. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
jfs – I don’t know of any posters out there, so by all means, please do spread the word!
02 Dec 2008 at 4:23 pm 3. Jeff Frane
That Wall Street Journal column mentions some guy who has a name just like yours!
Referenced in the WSJ? My god, they’ll never get your head through the door at Bel Ami.
02 Dec 2008 at 7:50 pm 4. Eugenia
What’s doing in *your* city, Mr. M? I know we’ll be missing one person, but is there a celebration planned in your absence?
03 Dec 2008 at 2:07 am 5. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Frane – Yeah, funny, there must be two bartender/bloggers in Oregon with the same name…
Eugenia – The sad irony is that I’ve been so busy as of late that I haven’t had time to plan any major celebrations in my own damn town. You will all have to carry the torch for me and be sure to get lots of photos ;)
03 Dec 2008 at 4:31 am 6. Heath Hutto
Jeff,
You are even more famous than I thought! A mention in The New York Times for your tonic water:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/dining/03bars.html?pagewanted=2 !
And to think that I saw the precursors to such a thing in jars of blueberry-infused spirits at Bamboo so many years ago.
03 Dec 2008 at 11:52 am 7. jfs
Jeffrey,
Whipped this up real quick. Nothing special but already gave out a few last night. People love the idea once they know about it. :)
http://uploads.evilavatarcomics.com/Slack3r78/repealday.pdf
04 Dec 2008 at 8:25 am 8. Gabriel
Jeffrey, great work in continuing to get support and garner attention for Repeal Day. I was hoping to make it to D.C. for the festivities. Alas, it was not in the cards. I look forward to seeing what you’ll write up from the events.
Instead, since I’m not heading out to D.C., we’ll be celebrating tonight at the Mixoloseum Bar (bar.mixoloseum.com) and dedicating our weekly Thursday Drink Night to Repeal Day and creating and testing classic-style cocktails. We’d love to have anyone that can make it join the festivities starting at 7pm EST and going, at least, until Dec. 5th hits across the US.
04 Dec 2008 at 11:38 pm 9. sku
Jeff, Happy Repeal Day. This has really taken off this year and you deserve huge credit. I know of several Repeal Day parties and specials in LA.
But let’s face it, repeal was only partial. I want to buy booze from the distiller, on Ebay and from European websites. Let’s complete repeal, get rid of the three tier system and let 100 whiskies bloom.
05 Dec 2008 at 5:25 am 10. Lis Riba
I’ve been digging thru the newspaper archives for articles from the original day. I just reposted my favorite headline (the New York Times warning that “orgies are frowned upon”), but there are many more clips I hope to post thruout the day.