Jeffrey Morgenthaler


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How to Make Sangrita

sangrita.jpg

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.

Years ago I was taught that sangrita is a blend of tomato and orange juices, with the addition of something spicy (hot sauce, typically) for a little kick. But further research has convinced me that this American sangrita recipe, while still enjoyable and certainly prevalent, is not altogether authentic.

Real sangrita from the Lake Chapala region of Jalisco is made with Seville orange and pomegranate juices, with powdered chiles added for heat. Taking into account that even the most cocktailian bartender (professional or otherwise) doesn’t typically stock sour oranges or pomegranate juice behind the bar, I’ve worked up a recipe that should approximate the flavor of this spicy little sour orange and pomegranate chaser while still providing an authentic experience.

1 oz orange juice (freshly-squeezed)
¾ oz - 1 oz lime juice (depending on the sweetness of your oranges)
½ oz real pomegranate grenadine
3 dashes hot sauce or ¼ tsp chile powder

Mix ingredients, chill, and serve.

This is far from the final word on sangrita. I’ll still continue to enjoy the tomato varieties (1,2,3), but I think you’ll find a brightness and depth of flavor from this version that plays better with a wider variety of mezcals and tequilas than its heavier gringo cousin.

What’s your experience with sangrita? Chime in with your stories and recipes in the comments section.

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About Me

My name is Jeff Morgenthaler and I'm the head bartender at Bel Ami in Eugene, Oregon.

A photo of me behind the bar.

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.

Ask Your Bartender: Old Age

Monday, March 10th, 2008
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Hey Bartender

I have a question for you, do spirits (rums, bourbons, whiskies, gin, etc.) improve with age in glass bottles? Is it possible for the spirit’s taste to change over time after being bottled? Or, is it the case that after being taken from the wooden barrels that, that is it, the spirit won’t then change in its taste or won’t improve.

Kind Regards,

Brendan

Hey Brendan

You hit the nail on the head at the end there. Sprits do not age once they’ve been bottled. Sorry to break it to you, but that 12-year old Scotch you’ve been saving for twenty years is not now effectively 32 years old. It shouldn’t really taste any different than it did on the day it was packaged.

10 Comments

Ask Your Bartender: Drinking While Pregnant, It’s Cool, Right?

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
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Hey Bartender

My girlfriend and I are currently trying to get pregnant. My question for you is, is it okay for her to drink in the first trimester? I have heard that this is the safe period when you can have a drink (not too much of course!) and wanted to get your take on it.

Thanks!

HD


Hey Bartender

I’m expecting a child in the next few weeks. My doctor told me that it would be fine to have a glass of red wine on occasion. I’d like to know if there are any other lower-alcohol drinks you’d recommend for someone who is expecting. Many thanks!

Steph

Hey HD and Steph

There are more myths out there surrounding alcohol and pregnancy than you’ll find regarding alcohol and just about anything else. But the truth of the matter is this: Drinking any alcohol at all during pregnancy is really, really dangerous.

Click here to continue reading »

24 Comments

Ask Your Bartender: Sour Mix in Two Parts

Thursday, May 17th, 2007
Permalink

Sour mix is a gateway drug. It can lead you down a very dark path, or it can open up a new world of fresh flavors or ingredients. As proof of this, I submit to you two examples:

One scenario involves the novice bartender using prepackaged mix as a medium for all sorts of vile concoctions. Let’s face it: bland, weak, artificially-flavored sour mix is the vodka of non-alocholic mixers. Add some raspberry to it, it tastes pretty much like raspberry. Add some whiskey and it’s, uh, flavored whiskey. I guess.

But this other path is one that I’ve been asked a lot about lately, and is the subject of this article: how do you make and properly apply fresh sour mix to cocktails?

Click here to continue reading »

26 Comments

Ask Your Bartender: Advice for a High School Senior

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
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Hey Bartender,

I’m a senior in high school here in Eugene, and I read about you in the Register Guard today. I’ve been thinking about becoming a bartender for a while, and the article, along with your blog, pretty much sealed the deal. I was wondering if you would tell me how you got into it, what I should expect (the good and the bad of the job), and anything else you think is important. I really appreciate any advice you could give me, thanks for your time.

K

Hey K

Get yourself some really comfortable shoes.

Just kidding. Sort of. I think that if you go back and check out some of my older posts you’ll get a pretty good idea of what I think are the positive and the negative aspects of being a career bartender, so check out the archives. But enough about me, let’s talk about you.

Click here to continue reading »

12 Comments

Ask Your Bartender: What’s Crackin’?

Monday, April 2nd, 2007
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Hey Bartender,

Ever since I started making my own drinks at home I’ve been eyeing all my bartenders like a hawk. I’ve noticed a lot of them use the crack-open-the-boston-shaker straining technique.

What are your thoughts on this? I’m not a huge fan of it because it allows bits of ice to get into the drink and that’s just not very appetizing or pretty ;)

Dan

Hey Dan

I tried to find a video of this for those who don’t understand what we’re talking about here, but I can’t seem to find one. If any of you have your Cocktail DVD handy, Tom Cruise pulls this move when he makes the Turquoise Blue for Gina Gershon. Anyway.

I don’t really have much of an opinion on this. I’ve asked a lot of other bartenders what they thought, and they were also fairly ambivalent. Personally, I’m so used to using a strainer that this particular flair move just slows me down. I agree with your concern that it allows bits of ice to land in what should be a non-chunky drink, but I’d be interested in hearing what others have to say.

So what do you think, internet friends? Strainer or crack?

44 Comments

Ask Your Bartender: Free Drinks!

Wednesday, February 7th, 2007
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Hey Bartender

I was hoping you could settle a debate that has begun in my office. The men say that most women drink for free (men buy their drinks) and expect to drink free. The women (myself included) believe this is an old wives tale as we have not the experience of walking into a bar and having random men pick up our tabs. Not that it has never happened but it is an exception not the rule. In your experience as a bartender are we women just going to the wrong places or is this free drink experience really the exception? I know it is silly question but it really is an intense debate!

Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Amy

Hey Amy

When I was in college, I knew a group of girls that would make a game out of leaving the house at night with no money. They would see how drunk they could get for free, schmoozing horny old men into buying them as many drinks as they could drink before moving on to the next bar. Although they had a lot of fun, I could never shake the feeling that this was a really dangerous game they were playing: although they have no right, some men think they’re owed a thing or two after buying a vodka and tonic for a lady.

I’ve tended bar in all sorts of places, from college partyhouses and over-the-tracks dive bars to upscale restaurants and lounges. I can honestly tell you that you’re not missing out on anything. Sure, there’s the occasional woman who doesn’t pay for a thing (I fail to see how this is vastly different from prostitution), but it’s not the rule, it’s an exception.

10 Comments

Ask Your Bartender: Cocktail Books

Saturday, January 13th, 2007
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Hey Bartender

As you stated in your recent post, we can’t possibly be expected to know the full gamut of odd-named and (sometimes) purely awful drinks that tend to get ordered every once and a while. I was wondering, is there one comprehensive (preferably small and inconspicuous-looking) cocktail book that covers a large percentage of these drinks? I just want to know what you would recommend if I wanted to have one book behind the bar for these situations (I know you recommend Harrington’s book, but I simply can’t afford to drop $100 - I’m in the struggling college student bartending camp at the moment). Any advice?

Thanks,
Scott

Hey Scott

The reality is that you only need to know how to make a few key drinks really well in order to be a successful bartender. Everything else is bullshit and you can look it up in the book. Look, I’ve got a secret: I don’t know how to make a Purple Hooter.

I’ve made a few of them, but we don’t really get too many requests for Purple Hooters where I work. So, every time someone orders a Purple Hooter, I’ve got to break open something we refer to as the Big Book of Dumb Drinks and remind myself what goes in a Purple Hooter. This usually happens about once every three months.

blackbook.jpgThe book we use is called The Bartender’s Black Book by Stephen Cunningham Kitteredge, but we just refer to it as “The Big Book of Dumb Drinks” since it catalogues every silly, sexually-named, nightclub-oriented, childish, dumb drink you’ll ever get an order for.

It’s wonderful. Really. It’s spiral-bound, so it lays flat. It’s small, so it doesn’t take up much space behind the bar. And it’s actually got a bunch of other useful information.

You can purchase the book here.

4 Comments

Ask Your Bartender: Relationship Advice

Friday, December 29th, 2006
Permalink

Hey Bartender

I have a question about this twisted industry you (we) are in. Right now I’m serving and bartending at an independent bar/restaurant and will work until about 1 or 2am every shift. It’s throwing the rest of my life out of wack.

How’s your social life been? I’m wondering what it’s going to be like for me in the long term, now that I anticipate serving or bartending for the next five years. Do you have enough time to hang out with friends? Can you keep a relationship going, working those kinds of hours?

I’m worried that things might not pick up.

Warren

Hey Warren

That’s a heavy question. To be honest with you, it’s not easy. My choice of careers has been responsible for the demise of several wonderful long-term relationships, and I chalk it up to one sad fact: I was never home.

Most people work from 8 to 5. I, like you, work from 4 in the afternoon until 1 or 2 in the morning. Since I tend to date women that are like most other people, with normal jobs and normal hours, that limits the time I can potentially spend with the one I love to lunches and Sundays. It’s not enough.

Sitting alone at home every Friday and Saturday night while your boyfriend/girlfriend is at work is a sad and lonely existence. Add to that the perception that we’re basically at a huge party every night, and you can see how the distance can kill a relationship.

As for friendships, it’s kind of the same thing.  Your friends are going to get tired of only being able to see you when you’re at work, and who can blame them?  Hanging out at the same bar night after night kinda sucks.

So what can you do? Well, here’s some advice:

  1. Try dating someone in the industry. They work the same hours you do.  If you’re lucky enough to find someone with the same schedule, you’ve made it.  Just do yourself a favor and don’t fish off the company pier. You’ll most likely just end up hooking a shark and they will bite you.
  2. Go to bed.  Really.  You don’t need to stay up every night until 5 or 6. Years ago I learned the joy of having a day.  I come home after work, get in bed, read for a bit, and sleep until 8.  I get outside, I surround myself with people who are also awake, and try to have a great day before I head in to a dark bar for eight hours.
  3. Save your money.  I take a walk to the bank every morning and deposit my tips into the ATM.  It’s so easy to spend fifty bucks at a bar after work, especially when you walked with $150, but remember: that $50 could be your phone bill.  Grab a six-pack and go home.  You’ll thank yourself in less than a week’s time.
  4. Do things that people with regular jobs do.  Go to the gym, take a walk, go jogging, call your friends, see a movie in a an actual theater (it’s cheaper during the day, too), read a book, join a club, or have lunch in a nice restaurant once a week.  You’re going to end up meeting people, it’s a side-effect.
  5. Join a social networking site.  I know they’re stupid, but I get a kick from keeping in touch with my friends on MySpace.  Once a week or so, I’ll get a message from someone who I haven’t talked to in a long time, and it brightens my day.

Warren, the most important thing you can remember is this: either you get on top of this business, or it gets on top of you.  I’ve seen a lot of people fade away from working all night and partying until the wee hours of the morning.  They do too many drugs, they drink every night, and they spend all of their hard-earned money after work.  It’s sad, but it can be avoided really easily.  Remember, it’s only a job, but it comes with some odd hours.  Keep your head about you and you’ll be just fine.
Good luck.

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