Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I’m packing my backs, loading up the camera with virtual film, charging the phone and (possibly) the laptop for New York city tonight after work. I’ll be there witnessing the first Master’s Competition put on by Martin Miller’s Gin, and pitting some of the best bartenders in the United States against some of the United Kingdom’s finest. Aw, hell, I’ll just start copying and pasting the press release, that’s what a real blogger is supposed to do, right?

Unlike other competitions which reward bartenders on their ability to perform for a mere snapshot of their careers, the Martin Miller’s Gin Masters Competition is rewarding the industry stalwarts who have spent a decade or more behind the stick and continue to tend bar or support the industry as an ambassador, trainer, supplier, or just a very good and consistent drinker! As a brand, we believe in timeless quality in everything we do, and so the Martin Miller’s Gin Masters Competition upholds our tradition of eschewing fads and short lived trends.

So let’s see who’s coming…

From the United Kingdom:

Jake Burger – “Johnny Cash meets rugby league” Jake is one of the most respected bartenders in the UK and has held court in Leeds for well over a decade. His bar, Jake’s, has won multiple awards for its incredible cocktails and peerless spirit selection. As well as being a shrewd operator and top bartender, his, is always the warmest welcome. Beware you might not get out alive!

I can personally attest to this…

Ben Reed – Ben opened and tended bar in some of London’s most infamous nightspots including Mezzo and the Met bar before forming IPbartenders with Tai Altman and Angus Winchester. As well as training thousands of bartenders over the past 7 years, Ben also has a range of bestselling cocktail books and starred in the BBC’s ‘Shakermaker’ TV show.

Jason Scott – Jason comes from Edinburgh, Scotland where he is the head Superhero at Bramble Bar & Lounge where he was recently named “Top Mixologist” by the Drambuie Chef’s Association. In addition (we have been told), Jason has spider like abilities including superhuman strength and the ability to cling to most surfaces (including bars). Jason is also extremely agile and has amazing reflexes - we are also told he also has a, “spider sense,” that warns him of impending danger (and bad cocktails).

Sean Muldoon – For 15 years Sean has overseen the bar at Belfast’s beautiful Merchant hotel, home of the $750 original Wray & Nephew 17 y.o Mai Tai. Without doubt, it is one of the slickest and most well run bars in the UK; Sean’s encyclopedic cocktail list is both ambitious and brilliant.

Giles Looker – Giles has been bartending in London for the past 13 years working alongside the likes of Dick Bradsell, Dale DeGroff and Sasha Petraske. Six years ago, Giles established a company alongside Michael Butt by the name of Soul Shakers Ltd. Since that time, Giles has set up numerous award winning bars including, Trailer Happiness, Mahiki, The Player, Lace Market Hotel, Quo Vadis, Whiskey Mist, Kukui , 30/7 (Moscow), Myhotel, Coco club (Switzerland) and Cantaloupe group. In addition, Giles has worked with Virgin Atlantic Airlines in developing the world’s first onboard mixology service, designing service systems and signature cocktails for the airline’s Lounges and Upper class bar service.

And from the United States:

Daniel Shoemaker – Daniel is a 14-year bartending veteran from San Francisco who now owns the Teardrop Lounge in Portland, Oregon. Daniel’s passion for mixology showcases what Teardrop is all about - creating innovative cocktails with local spirits which draws almost as much attention in foodie circles as the city’s top chefs.

Vincenzo Marianella – Vincenzo is often referred to as the “Cocktailian Deity of Los Angeles”. Vincenzo has been named Best Bar Chef in 2006 by Starchefs.com and LA’s Best Bartender in 2006 by Anthony Dias Blue of The Tasting Panel Magazine. Vincenzo is currently behind the stick at Gordon Ramsey’s recently opened London in Los Angeles.

Giuseppe Gonzalez – Giuseppe is currently the head bartender of Clover Club in Brooklyn, the newest venture from Julie Reiner of New York’s Flatiron Lounge. Giuseppe’s approach is simple – he brings awesome drinks, trains awesome bartenders and make sure everyone leaves that bar with an amazing feeling. Giuseppe is a second generation bartender, who has lived in Europe and the Caribbean before coming to New York City. Giuseppe provides a cocktail menu that educates the guest while still making it easy for them to order off menu.

Thad Vogler – Thad has been bartending for almost 20 years and has worked in the spirits industry in Paris, Ireland, Tokyo, Guatemala, Cuba, Belize and of course San Francisco. Thad has helped design, open and then manage the bars at the Slanted Door in the Ferry Building, Coco 500, the Presidio Social Club, and the Lounge at the newly remodeled Jardinière. Quite recently, Thad helped to design the bar at Camino restaurant in Oakland.

Jamie Boudreau – Jamie hails from the beautiful Pacific Northwest and more specifically the Emerald City, Seattle, WA, where he is the lead bartender at Vessel, an upscale Seattle bar. Jamie’s cocktails have been published in publications from the New York Times and Playboy to Difford’s Guide to Cocktails and The Wall Street Journal. In 2007, Jamie was named Seattle Magazine’s Bartender of the Year. Jamie’s big mark on the industry came at the Giffard West Cup, where he was part of the first team of three North Americans to be invited to this 50+ year old event held in France.

Erik Adkins - Erik is bar consultant to Flora restaurant in Oakland and the beverage manager at the Slanted Door restaurant on the pier in San Francisco. Erik’s cocktail technique highlights the use of the freshest herbs and spices from the kitchen at the Slanted Door which has established Erik as a bay area standout behind the bar.

Sam Ross – Recently nominated for global “Bartender of the Year” at the 2008 for Tales of the Cocktail, Sam is now behind the bar at the famed Milk & Honey. Sam’s cocktail journey began when he helped his mother and sister open a cocktail bar in Melbourne, Australia called Ginger in 2001. Ginger was very successful in Australia and was/is considered one of the front-runners for cocktail culture in Australia. Upon arrival in New York City, Sam teamed with Sasha Petraske and was part of the opening bar teams at both Little Branch and East Side Company Bar.

And of course, the judges:

Dave Wondrich - Dave Wondrich is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on cocktails and their history. The New York Times has labeled him “A living iPod of drink lore and recipes”. Dave also helped to found the Beverage Alcohol Resource, America’s first serious training program in spirits and mixology. In 2003, his first book, Esquire Drinks: An Opinionated and Irreverent Guide to Drinking (Hearst Books, 2002), was awarded a Silver Ladle at Australia’s biennial Jacob’s Creek World Food Media Awards. In 2005, Wondrich published his second cocktail book, Killer Cocktails: An Intoxicating Guide to Sophisticated Drinking (HarperCollins), which Glamour named the “Year’s Best Drinks Guide.” His most recent book, Imbibe!, about the life and drinks of “Professor” Jerry Thomas, was published by Perigee books in November 2007, and was an instant success among cocktail aficionados and mixologists across the country.

Gary Regan – Gary Regan writes The Cocktailian, a bi-weekly column, for The San Francisco Chronicle. In the past he has written regular columns in The Malt Advocate, Nation’s Restaurant News, Cheers Magazine, and The Wine Enthusiast, concentrating on cocktails, bartenders, and the cocktailian craft. His work is also published in magazines in the U.K., Australia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Gray is also the author of many books, including “The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender’s Craft.” Together with his wife Mardee, Gary hosts www.ardentspirits.com, publish a free e-mail newsletter, Ardent Spirits, and maintain a Worldwide Bartender Database that serves to put spirits companies in touch with their most important ambassadors: The men and women who hold forth from behind slabs of mahogany all over the globe.

LeNell Smothers - LeNell Smothers owns LeNell’s Ltd, a wine and spirit boutique in Red Hook that specializes in American whiskey, cocktail education, bitters, and small family wineries from around the globe. Her background includes work in many aspects of the beverage industry such as bartending, managing a restaurant, retail liquor sales, and even wholesale wine sales. LeNell’s Ltd has been recognized by numerous publications including GQ Magazine as one of the “Best 50 Stores in America”, and also by New York Magazine as “Best Liquor Store” in New York City.

Paul Clarke – Paul Clarke is a Seattle-based writer specializing in spirits and cocktails. He is a contributing editor to Imbibe magazine; the spirits and cocktails columnist for the online food journal Serious Eats; and contributes articles on spirits and cocktails to the San Francisco Chronicle. Since May 2005, Paul has documented his exploration of fine spirits and mixology on The Cocktail Chronicles (www.cocktailchronicles.com), one of the first exclusively cocktail-related blogs on the Internet. Over the past three years he has written in-depth essays covering nearly 200 drinks, along with details of his exploration and home-brew of classic and sometimes obscure cocktail ingredients. Clarke is also the founder and moderator of Mixology Monday, a monthly online cocktail party that has attracted scores of participants from around the globe.

Sasha Petraske – In 2000 Sasha Petraske made his mark by opening the now legendary Milk & Honey in Manhattan’s lower east side. He helped to revive the lost art of classic 19th century style mixology. Since then, Sasha has opened Little Branch in the west village, further solidifying his place amongst the cocktail millieu. Milk & Honey and Little Branch are recognized internationally for being on the cutting edge of the cocktail industry. Sasha has been written about in major publications around the world for his contributions to cocktail culture. New York Magazine named him one of the most influential New Yorkers of 2006.

Ann Rogers – Ann is the founder of Tales of the Cocktail, an annual spirits and culinary event celebrating the history of the cocktail in New Orleans. She has planned, implemented and promoted the event since its inception in 2003. Now in its sixth year, Tales of the Cocktail, through Ann’s leadership, has attracted countless culinary and cocktail celebrities as presenters and hosts of the event and several top liquor brands and national magazines as sponsors for Tales of the Cocktail. Tales of the Cocktail is now considered by many to be the premier cocktail event in America.

I’ll try to blog while I’m there, but just in case I don’t get to post until after the trip, be sure to follow every play-by-play of the smackdown on my Twitter feed.

See you in New York!

It is with a heavy heart and much sadness that I must say goodbye to Germany tomorrow morning, and I wanted to thank everyone I met here for all of the kindness, grace and generosity I encountered while here.

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I grew up in California in the 1970s and 1980s. I never really understood water when I was growing up. Water was in the ocean, but you couldn’t drink it because it was too salty. There was water in the garden hose, but that was for hooking up to a sprinkler and playing in. My mother would take water from the tap, but then mix it with instant lemonade powder, or Kool-Aid or something like that. Water wasn’t really something you drank on its own.

It wasn’t until the bottled water craze hit in the late 1980s that I ever considered drinking water - plain water. Because, when you opened up that kitchen faucet in California, you got a nice cold glass of liquid that you couldn’t see through. Liquid that wasn’t colorless, and very possibly might have had little bits of toilet paper floating in it. It didn’t look like something you’d want to put in your mouth.

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If you’re going to be taken halfway across the world to learn about the clarity of Icelandic water, you’re probably going to be shown some of the stuff in its natural state. So at 8 this morning, after a night of dinner and a few Brennevins at one of the many bars near the hotel, Superjeeps picked up this slow-moving pack of fools and whisked us off to the Icelandic wilderness.

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Mostly a photo update today, as I think the pictures speak for themselves and I didn’t bother taking notes at the spa or while eating dinner. Call me crazy.

The car arrived early this morning to pick us up and take us to Heathrow Airport for Iceland. After an unfortunate hour spent on the runway, we were soon up in the air and enjoying a scrumptious lunch of cold chicken and raspberry yogurt.

Landing in Iceland can be a little rough, considering the main export here is weather. But all bumps and bruises aside, the scenery was immediately pretty breathtaking and we were quickly whisked away from the airport to the Blue Lagoon.

Blue Lagoon is a gigantic outdoor spa, with hot water provided by the output of the local geothermal power plant. The waters are rich in minerals and reportedly quite therapeutic to the skin. And a nice hot soak was a pretty ideal way to rinse off a day’s worth of air travel.

Fairly immediately after arriving at the hotel, it was time for an incredible dinner at Sjávarkjallarinn, or Seafood Cellar. This very well might have been one of the best meals I’ve had in my life. Incredible food and brilliant chat.

Today was a very different day than yesterday. Very different.

Yesterday was all about a glamourous cocktail competition, an exquisite dinner in a private salon, and an exclusive tour of some of London’s most luxurious bars. Today was about a wretched hangover, six hours spent in a cramped Peugeot with three other people, driving in the pouring rain, miserable traffic, discovering the hard way that I’m allergic to airborne botanicals in a cold Birmingham distillery storage room, being fed cheese and pickle relish sandwiches from a gas station (twice) and being subjected to some very, very bad singing.

It was also my favorite day of the trip and I’d never give back a single second of it.

Our 8 AM distillery tour time was delayed in typical London fashion by several hours due to the various hangovers, traffic issues, communication problems and breakfast woes that seem to often accompany scheduled events in this city. However, things eventually made their way back on track and I found myself in the seat of that cramped little Peugeot with three of the ladies from Martin Miller’s gin on our way to the distillery in Birmingham.

London doesn’t like to see you leave, however, and makes it as hard as possible to get out of the city. So at a snail’s pace we wove our way through the towns and highways west of London. I was pleased to see that there really is a Slough (from The Office) and that it looks about as lovely as I imagined.

Slough might have been the site of the auto plaza where Martin Miller’s treated me to my first meal of the day: a cold sandwich, cut on the diagonal and encased in one of those triangular plastic sandwich containers we have back in the States. However, unlike the gas station sandwiches back home, the English varieties only come in flavors such as egg salad with smoked fish, chicken with boiled potato, bacon with butter, and aged cheese with pickle chutney. Being the brave soul that I am, yet fearing anything containing convenience store meat, I opted for the cheese and pickles.

And let me tell you, oh-my-god, I have a new favorite sandwich. I am not kidding. Cheese and pickle sandwiches from the BP in Slough are really, really good.

Back on the road, and fortified by our bizarre sandwich selections, we braved another hour of English-style directions (”follow the garden wall until you see the pub with the fox on the door, then turn into Butterbank road”), nonsensical roundabouts and near-misses, until we happened upon the distillery, which was set apart from its other Industrial Revolution-era brick neighbors by a small sign in block letters that read “Alcohols”.

This is the home of Alcohols, LTD, and is where Martin Miller’s gin is made,

We were greeted by Peter McKay, and Master Distiller Rob Dorset and given a brief introduction to the company. Alcohols, Ltd. is owned by W.H. Palmer, a family-owned firm that is 203 years old. This particular site has been part of the family since the 1970s, but the buildings themselves are the remains of what used to be a brewery in the 1700s. It was sometime during the Seventies that a still was discovered on site, and the English being the English, they started making gin here.

Over the years, more stills were added and additional contract accounts were added (Peter wouldn’t tell me the names of any other gins that are produced there, such information is held pretty close to the vest). Martin Miller’s Gin has been produced here for nearly ten years.

Each still is given a female name, and each is cared for with a great amount of love and respectful attention. The still that makes Martin Miller’s Gin is named Angela, she’s 105 years old and has a 3,000 liter capacity. Angela’s neck is handcrafted from a single thick sheet of copper, and Rob went on at great length to me about his refusal to use metal polish on any of the stills or brass fittings around the distillery, as he worries it would disrupt the integrity of these special, antique stills.

Each of these old stills has their own particular quirks and needs, and Rob seems to have formed a very personal attachment with each and every one over the course of his 27 years making gin. Rob is a dying breed in England: a master distiller that does everything by hand and nose, never aided by a computer but always by an assistant who will one day become a master craftsman like him. Together they inspect the arrivals of neutral spirits by climbing atop the tanker truck and smelling its insides. They run their hands, eyes and noses through the bags of botanicals that arrive, and weigh them on a big analog scale before they’re loaded to soak in the still over the course of 24 hours before being distilled (Miller’s is not made with the Carterhead process, and they’re very adamant about it).

Everything is so accessible, and analog, and personal here. We were able to reach into the bags, smell and taste the botanicals, taste the neutral spirits made from genetically unmodified wheat, and feel the thickness of the still walls with our hands. It’s a hands-on process, and not a product cranked out by a giant machine. It’s a really beautiful thing to be surrounded by.

As I mentioned before, the site was originally a brewery back in the days of the Industrial Revolution. Breweries were special back then, because they were very location-specific: you had to have access to clean, fresh running water. So as you’d expect, this site is sitting on top of an underground river, one we were allowed to inspect only by first crawling down a very cramped, rickety ladder into something resembling a cold, damp cave with a little creek running through it. This water helps provide steam power to fuel the distillery, but due to its high concentration of metals and minerals isn’t the water they use to cut the gin. No, we’ll have to wait for the second part of that story, which takes place on a glacier in Iceland later this weekend.

At any rate, the day was growing long and we’d taken up more than plenty of Rob’s time with our curious questions and open-mouthed fascination, so London was calling us home. And so, with another three hours of traffic jams and torrential downpours, a second round of cheese and pickle sandwiches and a very strange bag of potato chips that resembled fried calamari, we finally made it home to London and collapsed. A terrible, beautiful, exhausting and energizing day.

I’m on my way to Iceland as I write this, so stay tuned for more in the story of how Martin Miller’s gin is made. And thanks for reading.

“You’re in for a real treat tonight.” That came from Liam Davies late in the afternoon as we snuck out back for a nip before the festivities began. In retrospect, I’m not sure if he was referring to the very formal dinner upstairs at Miller’s Academy, expertly prepared by Fifteen alum Harry Cummins, or if it was to be the tour of London’s upper echelon of bars until the wee hours.

Either way, he hit the nail right on the head.

First was an exquisite meal that got off to a proper start with some Westbourne martinis (I hope I’m not ruined for gin after this trip), wine of course, and a salad of roasted beets and the finest ricotta cheese I’ve ever tried. Next up was a Welsh lamb tenderloin and some fantastic conversation with the rest of the Americans, who had only today showed up to join in on the fun.

While the real highlight of the night should have been getting the call that my bag had finally arrived and I’d be allowed to excuse myself pre-dessert to at long last slip into some clean clothes, that historic event was actually overshadowed by what was to come next.

First we enjoyed a delightful London evening stroll through Notting Hill to Trailer Happiness. I’d been wanting to experience the fun, campy vibe and the masterfully-prepared Tiki-inspired cocktails of Trailer H for a long, long time. Bartender Tim Stone didn’t disappoint me with a more-than-perfect rendition of a classic Mai Tai. The only disappointment is that given their posh neighborhood surroundings, Trailer closes at 11 PM.

So we wandered down the road to Jake Burger’s newest venture, the Portobello Star, where we would eventually stumble back upon the UK’s most famous cocktail blogger, Jay Hepburn. Jake was behind the bar, slinging up some classic White Ladies, brilliant blender-less Piña Coladas, and a beautiful classic Daiquiri made with El Dorado 15 year old rum. At this point, things are starting to look up, the crowd is energized, and we’re ready to see what else London can throw at us.

So we high-tailed it to Quo Vadis, SoHo’s latest and most decadent private club. One of my new favorite bartenders, Paul Mant gave us the full tour, whipped up a quick Cava-spiked creation, and demonstrated the coolest little machine I’ve seen in a long time, a non-motorized, non-electrical brass ice-baller that uses gravity to punch out the perfect ice ball in seconds. The crowd stood around and watched, agape.

If you’re going to roll, I highly recommend rolling with the team from Martin Miller’s. One quick phone call later, and we were all set up with a table at Milk and Honey (not always something the average human can do on such short notice, I’ve heard tell) and it was on. Soon Pisco Punches, Old Fashioneds, Brambles and other worldly delights were finding their way to our table as the bartenders took over one side of the booth and argued the delicate intricacies of the craft cocktail movement and the merit of the enthusiasts’ contributions to the bar renaissance.

That’s a lot of heavy drinks and dialogue to digest in one night (I can’t believe I’m leaving for Iceland tomorrow) so it was Bedtime for Bonzo to catch a quick bit of beauty rest before leaving in the morning to take in the distillery, two hours away in Birmingham.

More to come, friends, stay with me!

Sometimes the best laid plans don’t always work out. What we had originally intended was to show up in London and try to - at the very least - make a favorable impression on fifteen of the best bartenders in the UK. By the end of the night, we were hoping not to make fools of ourselves and escape with our reputations intact.

Jon Santer and I came to London with bags packed full of neat tricks. Jon was going to carbonate some Negronis with a homemade apparatus, all gauges and hoses and valves and whatnot. I packed a bottle of homemade lemongrass tonic syrup and a batch of orange bitters I’d been aging in a Madeira cask for four months prior.

But whether it was fate or irony, the airlines didn’t want to cooperate. For obvious reasons, Jon wasn’t going to be allowed to ship a full steel tank of carbon dioxide underneath the plane, and British Airways lost my bags altogether.

So we ended up upstairs in Simon Difford’s kitchen, Jon whipping up a batch of raw ginger syrup for his take on a Gin-Gin Mule, me cooking down albariño for some East of Edens before we headed down to the Cabinet Room to put our already-fatigued skills to the test.

The crowd seemed accepting of our offerings (you’ve got to love the English - even if they didn’t like the drinks, they were damned polite about it) and soon the party was in full swing. I’ll need to come back with a full listing of the London (and yes, Brighton too, Jason) cocktail luminaries in the comments section, but rest assured that we were surrounded by the best in the country.

There were well over two hundred combined years of bartending experience in the room, we figured, as we watched bartender after bartender climb back behind the bar and try to one-up the previous participant.

But here’s the rub, dear reader. Maybe we’re all just a jaded lot. Maybe we’ve all had so many perfectly-balanced margaritas, crystal-clear Manhattans, proper Sidecars and original-recipe Mai Tais that we’re no longer amused with a proper drink. Whatever the reason, I was shocked to discover that the one drink that inspired the most dialogue, the drink that got Ben Reed behind the bar for the first time in years, the drink that was passed around again and again?

The Jägerita. A margarita made with Jägermeister.

Sometimes bartenders just want to have a good time. Cheers.

And thank you for having us, Simon. I had an incredible time and hope we didn’t leave too much of a mess.