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.
In this segment, we’ll learn how to make the Brazilian classic, the caipirinha (kai-peer-EEN-ya)
1. Announce to your friends that you will be making them a kah-pree-ANN-nahkah-pree-EE-nah kah-pree-EE-nah.
Note: the caipirinha is made with a special type of Brazilian liqueur called cachaça (kuh-CHA-ka, or however it’s pronounced). Like rum, cachaça also comes in different colors.
2. Introduce your friends to the cachaça bottle, then return to its original location. It will not be needed again during the construction of this cocktail.
3. Take your rock glass.
4. Add an undisclosed number of pieces of lime and some simple syrup.
5. Mash limes with a miniature baseball bat.
6. Add ice and top with one ounce of “cachaça”, which is suspiciously identical to the simple syrup bottle.
7. Top with either soda water or sweet-and-sour mix.
8. Enjoy!
Comments
48 Responses to “How to Make a Caipirinha – The American Bartending School Way”
I love the way sweet and sour mix is the default garnish for these guys. No drink is complete without it… even a drink that has lime and sugar as two of its three ingredients.
How are they and this guy simply not embarrassed by this?
I like the “I like it, tasty” – on the flip side if you actually tasted what you just made…
06 Mar 2009 at 3:54 pm 10. Tokyo Tea
Ha! That guy is a bigger tool than his muddler! Hey Jeffrey, he kinda reminds me of that neurotic geezer that does the furniture commercials with the off-centered toupe here in Eugene. You know, “Come SEE me!”. Always classic!
I just got home with a bottle of that Boca Loca stuff and was going to piss it away on your cocktail. But I picked up a bunch of limes and this looks way easier.
Oh, crap. No sweet and sour mix. Maybe I can use 7Up.
07 Mar 2009 at 12:19 am 12. Gonçalo
… America still is the land of opportunities.
… ka-cha-ka-dot-com.
07 Mar 2009 at 8:47 am 13. Karama Billick
Thanks Jeff, this is what we’re going to be left
with if all the good guys keep moving north. Wow, I didn’t know I could learn to do what you do in a week or two! You keep saying that you’ve worked on your skills for years and are still learning… You just didn’t have this guy for an instructor…LOL.
07 Mar 2009 at 8:47 am 14. Karama Billick
Thanks Jeff, this is what we’re going to be left
with if all the good guys keep moving north. Wow, I didn’t know I could learn to do what you do in a week or two! You keep saying that you’ve worked on your skills for years and are still learning… You just didn’t have this guy for an instructor…LOL.
Man…. if I ever need to feel better about myself and the drinks I butcher, I can always rely on my pals at the American Bartending School to perk me right back up again!
Wicked awesome, Jeffrey. I’m gonna make one right now!
07 Mar 2009 at 12:03 pm 17. Maverick (San Diego Mike)
I’ve thinking of looking for a new career. I was just sitting around with my RIO, Goose, and we thought rather than call the Truck Driving School on the matchbook we’d call American Bartending School instead. We can be a fully qualified bartender in 1 or 2 weeks. Thanks for the tip Jeffrey!
~ Mav
P.S. Though, I think the ABS twist would be to pick your nose for 10 seconds and wipe it on the end of the bat before expertly mashing the green things.
Well, after doing 11 jugs of Caipirinha yesterday (in this case Caipiroska), i just discovered that the American Bartending School must be thinking of a diferent cocktail, since the only thing the Caipirinha and this cocktail have in coumon is the use of limes (I don’t count the Cachaça, since he really didn’t used it).
And by the way, from someone that has portuguese as a first language, he didn’t pronounce it right.
Perhaps we should produce a video of equal quality and panache. I bet we could butcher a Sazerac cocktail with class!
08 Mar 2009 at 10:03 pm 30. Cocktail Curmedgeon
OK, sure, this guy’s a total joke. But. for heaven’s sake man, you’re pushing olive juice in a bottle. Get a grip!
09 Mar 2009 at 1:27 pm 31. Smach
I can’t BELIEVE I’ve been making it wrong all these years! Oh, the shame! I knew I’d never get away with no proper training. Finally, the truth is told.
09 Mar 2009 at 3:04 pm 32. Garretto
I’d say he just doesn’t care, had he not brought that bottle of cachaca all the way back from Brazil! Sure. He kind of looks like a carni —-maybe he was working the Ferris wheel at Carnival. Why does he piss me off so? I’ve had many a disappointing “happy hour” due to lazy, pride less bar-hacks; or maybe they had paid for his tutelage? I hold he and his ilk responsible!
Thre recipe is wrong.
You must Shake the caipirinha.
You can use simple syrup but in brasil they used sugar.
And nobody in Brasil put Soda wather in a caipirinha.
The cachaça in the video is Ypioca but you can find a lot of brands.
One of my favourites is
Sagatiba http://www.sagatiba.com/
10 Mar 2009 at 4:34 am 34. Scooter
Hmmm…there’s no way that guy’s Brazilian.
10 Mar 2009 at 12:12 pm 35. Mark
I think it’s sad. This guy obviously doesn’t have a friend in the world. If he did, don’t you think that at some point one of his friends would say, “Hey, dude, seriously, stop.” I mean let him do three or four (that’s just funny) but really, eventually, won’t you tell your pal that he’s got a four foot toilet paper trail stuck to his shoe? If he does have friends they’re just plain mean, funny, but mean.
Oh, and it is me or was he holding the muddler upside down?
In full disclosure, I went to ABS here in Tampa and I thought it was pretty well done – it all depends on the instructors. Most the recipes we were taught were reasonable. They do push the sour mix – as my instructor put it, fresh fruit is better but chances are that where ever you end up working will cheap out and use sour mix (points for honesty).
Overall, anyone who thinks that they are going to take a one – two week course and end up being a fully trained bartender probably also buys a lot of stuff off late night infomercials.
10 Mar 2009 at 1:32 pm 36. Hillary
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I died cracking up watching this video and your text alone in my house. OMG I have to share this with someone that will find it equally as funny (if I can find anyone).
HAHAHAH
Thanks for the GREAT laugh!!!!!
11 Mar 2009 at 9:44 am 37. Joe Niedbala
Wadda ya want from the guy? In the Manhattan video he describes sweet vermouth as wine with added herbs and Bionicles…
11 Mar 2009 at 4:11 pm 38. ND
Note: don’t let that baseball bat roll off the bar! Also, it’s traditional to muddle with the round part—the flat part is just the right size and shape for your thumb.
Never trust a bartender with two bottles of Malibu…
Apparently, the same guy posts these vids, and his name is Jack Tiano
Learn how to expertly prepare the most popular mixed drink cocktail recipes from American Bartenders Schools
Name: Jack
I am a fun guy who is interesting and interested in other people and things. I enjoy new experiences and I am never bored.
I have traveled many parts of the world and always found local drink customs and bars to be very interesting. I like teaching others and sharing information.
I also noticed he turned off comments on this video, recently.
28 Mar 2009 at 5:30 am 44. Tony
This video is just beautiful!
Turning off comments is just mean! That was the best part of this video!
It´s incredible the wait he perfected the art of not getting a single part of it right.
Oops, sorry! He did add some “pieces lime” to it! OH! And the ice!
I also like his math: Quick dash = half Oz. – I guess this isn´t even a big deal after all for.
03 Apr 2009 at 1:41 am 45. Dano
Jeffrey,
You looked a bit tired in the video. (Poor lighting maybe?)
Anyway, I added the drink to my menu but now I’m going through like sixty baseball bats a week. Someone should figure out a way to re-use those things! (Hey, just another million dollar idea from the Idea Machine…)
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 [...]
06 Mar 2009 at 2:38 pm 1. Jacob
I love the way sweet and sour mix is the default garnish for these guys. No drink is complete without it… even a drink that has lime and sugar as two of its three ingredients.
06 Mar 2009 at 2:39 pm 2. rowley
Brought back from where? Brassiere?
Priceless.
06 Mar 2009 at 2:46 pm 3. Matt
I can’t watch this guy without thinking of this: http://tinyurl.com/43jcm8
06 Mar 2009 at 2:49 pm 4. Paul Abercrombie
Ka-ChaKa? Wasn’t he the simian sidekick on TV’s Land of The Lost?
06 Mar 2009 at 2:52 pm 5. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Matt – Mmmm, that’s terrific bass!
Paul – Yes. Yes, it was.
06 Mar 2009 at 2:56 pm 6. Thomas Le Ngo
Priceless.
06 Mar 2009 at 3:21 pm 7. Josh
He should have had a kapreena before the video to calm the shakes.
06 Mar 2009 at 3:27 pm 8. John Claude
That was without a doubt the exact same bottle.
06 Mar 2009 at 3:52 pm 9. Chris Bailey
How are they and this guy simply not embarrassed by this?
I like the “I like it, tasty” – on the flip side if you actually tasted what you just made…
06 Mar 2009 at 3:54 pm 10. Tokyo Tea
Ha! That guy is a bigger tool than his muddler! Hey Jeffrey, he kinda reminds me of that neurotic geezer that does the furniture commercials with the off-centered toupe here in Eugene. You know, “Come SEE me!”. Always classic!
06 Mar 2009 at 5:54 pm 11. Jeff Frane
I just got home with a bottle of that Boca Loca stuff and was going to piss it away on your cocktail. But I picked up a bunch of limes and this looks way easier.
Oh, crap. No sweet and sour mix. Maybe I can use 7Up.
07 Mar 2009 at 12:19 am 12. Gonçalo
… America still is the land of opportunities.
… ka-cha-ka-dot-com.
07 Mar 2009 at 8:47 am 13. Karama Billick
Thanks Jeff, this is what we’re going to be left
with if all the good guys keep moving north. Wow, I didn’t know I could learn to do what you do in a week or two! You keep saying that you’ve worked on your skills for years and are still learning… You just didn’t have this guy for an instructor…LOL.
07 Mar 2009 at 8:47 am 14. Karama Billick
Thanks Jeff, this is what we’re going to be left
with if all the good guys keep moving north. Wow, I didn’t know I could learn to do what you do in a week or two! You keep saying that you’ve worked on your skills for years and are still learning… You just didn’t have this guy for an instructor…LOL.
07 Mar 2009 at 9:48 am 15. Ross
Man…. if I ever need to feel better about myself and the drinks I butcher, I can always rely on my pals at the American Bartending School to perk me right back up again!
Thanks for this, Jeffrey!
07 Mar 2009 at 11:07 am 16. Daniel
Wicked awesome, Jeffrey. I’m gonna make one right now!
07 Mar 2009 at 12:03 pm 17. Maverick (San Diego Mike)
I’ve thinking of looking for a new career. I was just sitting around with my RIO, Goose, and we thought rather than call the Truck Driving School on the matchbook we’d call American Bartending School instead. We can be a fully qualified bartender in 1 or 2 weeks. Thanks for the tip Jeffrey!
~ Mav
P.S. Though, I think the ABS twist would be to pick your nose for 10 seconds and wipe it on the end of the bat before expertly mashing the green things.
07 Mar 2009 at 12:31 pm 18. Marcel
Man that guy is an idiot! You should watch the other ones! They are priceless!
you guys should watch this one too : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ywtTiA_h9Y It’s a classic here in holland! I just love the handles of the bottles! :P
07 Mar 2009 at 1:27 pm 19. Jay Hepburn
This man is my hero, and I so want one of these t-shirts.
07 Mar 2009 at 4:13 pm 20. Phil
That was just painful.
07 Mar 2009 at 4:18 pm 21. Wesly Moore
Ka-Chaka Khan? Ka-Chaka Khan! I feel for you.
07 Mar 2009 at 4:19 pm 22. Chuck
At least there were no boogers in this one.
07 Mar 2009 at 9:58 pm 23. chuck
I have just spent the last hour watching a bunch of these clips. Its like watching a bad horror movie, you want to turn it off but just cant.
08 Mar 2009 at 8:14 am 24. Boavida
Well, after doing 11 jugs of Caipirinha yesterday (in this case Caipiroska), i just discovered that the American Bartending School must be thinking of a diferent cocktail, since the only thing the Caipirinha and this cocktail have in coumon is the use of limes (I don’t count the Cachaça, since he really didn’t used it).
And by the way, from someone that has portuguese as a first language, he didn’t pronounce it right.
08 Mar 2009 at 8:39 am 25. Tiare
Hah! that detail with the simple syrup bottle is one i didn`t notice before! maybe there`s no need for any Ka-ChaKa in a cah-preena?
08 Mar 2009 at 10:46 am 26. Ross
The more I think about it, the more misunderstood I think this man is. I mean, c’mon: k’preena and k’chaka. It’s obvious:
This man is a Klingon.
(Klingon’s are notoriously lousy bartenders.)
08 Mar 2009 at 1:02 pm 27. marcel
Whahaha!
Don’t tell him it’s a bad cocktail! Klingons will murder you for that!
08 Mar 2009 at 3:17 pm 28. Chuck
Just put a tribble on the bar — then we’ll know for sure if he’s a Klingon.
08 Mar 2009 at 6:44 pm 29. Rick
Jeff,
Perhaps we should produce a video of equal quality and panache. I bet we could butcher a Sazerac cocktail with class!
08 Mar 2009 at 10:03 pm 30. Cocktail Curmedgeon
OK, sure, this guy’s a total joke. But. for heaven’s sake man, you’re pushing olive juice in a bottle. Get a grip!
09 Mar 2009 at 1:27 pm 31. Smach
I can’t BELIEVE I’ve been making it wrong all these years! Oh, the shame! I knew I’d never get away with no proper training. Finally, the truth is told.
09 Mar 2009 at 3:04 pm 32. Garretto
I’d say he just doesn’t care, had he not brought that bottle of cachaca all the way back from Brazil! Sure. He kind of looks like a carni —-maybe he was working the Ferris wheel at Carnival. Why does he piss me off so? I’ve had many a disappointing “happy hour” due to lazy, pride less bar-hacks; or maybe they had paid for his tutelage? I hold he and his ilk responsible!
09 Mar 2009 at 5:28 pm 33. Cuco
Thre recipe is wrong.
You must Shake the caipirinha.
You can use simple syrup but in brasil they used sugar.
And nobody in Brasil put Soda wather in a caipirinha.
The cachaça in the video is Ypioca but you can find a lot of brands.
One of my favourites is
Sagatiba
http://www.sagatiba.com/
10 Mar 2009 at 4:34 am 34. Scooter
Hmmm…there’s no way that guy’s Brazilian.
10 Mar 2009 at 12:12 pm 35. Mark
I think it’s sad. This guy obviously doesn’t have a friend in the world. If he did, don’t you think that at some point one of his friends would say, “Hey, dude, seriously, stop.” I mean let him do three or four (that’s just funny) but really, eventually, won’t you tell your pal that he’s got a four foot toilet paper trail stuck to his shoe? If he does have friends they’re just plain mean, funny, but mean.
Oh, and it is me or was he holding the muddler upside down?
In full disclosure, I went to ABS here in Tampa and I thought it was pretty well done – it all depends on the instructors. Most the recipes we were taught were reasonable. They do push the sour mix – as my instructor put it, fresh fruit is better but chances are that where ever you end up working will cheap out and use sour mix (points for honesty).
Overall, anyone who thinks that they are going to take a one – two week course and end up being a fully trained bartender probably also buys a lot of stuff off late night infomercials.
10 Mar 2009 at 1:32 pm 36. Hillary
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I died cracking up watching this video and your text alone in my house. OMG I have to share this with someone that will find it equally as funny (if I can find anyone).
HAHAHAH
Thanks for the GREAT laugh!!!!!
11 Mar 2009 at 9:44 am 37. Joe Niedbala
Wadda ya want from the guy? In the Manhattan video he describes sweet vermouth as wine with added herbs and Bionicles…
11 Mar 2009 at 4:11 pm 38. ND
Note: don’t let that baseball bat roll off the bar! Also, it’s traditional to muddle with the round part—the flat part is just the right size and shape for your thumb.
Never trust a bartender with two bottles of Malibu…
12 Mar 2009 at 10:29 am 39. Steve Pennack
This is gold.
13 Mar 2009 at 4:04 pm 40. Blair Frodelius
Jeffrey,
Be honest, you own stock in BarSchool.com. That has to be the reason you keep promoting their videos on your site!
Cheers!
Blair
14 Mar 2009 at 5:58 am 41. cocktail affairs
I am surprised he does´nt add the ice with his hands…
21 Mar 2009 at 4:02 pm 42. bware
I prefer a little sweeter KaPreenA
2 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 Lime
Muddle then add
Ice
2 oz Simple Syrup
Shake
Top with Club Soda.
You get a real buzz after 6 or 7 of these.
23 Mar 2009 at 10:36 pm 43. Jeremy
Apparently, the same guy posts these vids, and his name is Jack Tiano
I also noticed he turned off comments on this video, recently.
28 Mar 2009 at 5:30 am 44. Tony
This video is just beautiful!
Turning off comments is just mean! That was the best part of this video!
It´s incredible the wait he perfected the art of not getting a single part of it right.
Oops, sorry! He did add some “pieces lime” to it! OH! And the ice!
I also like his math: Quick dash = half Oz. – I guess this isn´t even a big deal after all for.
03 Apr 2009 at 1:41 am 45. Dano
Jeffrey,
You looked a bit tired in the video. (Poor lighting maybe?)
Anyway, I added the drink to my menu but now I’m going through like sixty baseball bats a week. Someone should figure out a way to re-use those things! (Hey, just another million dollar idea from the Idea Machine…)
23 Apr 2009 at 8:10 pm 46. Cielo Gold
This guy’s video gives all bartending schools out there a bad name. Man, I just cringe every time I heard him say cachaça.
04 May 2009 at 4:58 pm 47. kristen
I couldn’t finish watching it!
I can’t tell if I want to feel bad for the guy.. or the Caipirinha.. oh the humility!
22 Jul 2009 at 7:50 pm 48. hmm?
Hey now didn’t he say no one uses fresh limes anymore in his previous videos?