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.
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.
The luck of some people. I suppose congratulations are in order, but wow!
“I’ve been waiting on him for about three years,” Kienow said. “We’d just talk across the bar he’s a really nice guy. I hope he comes back in so I can tell him thank you, because the other day I was kind of dumbfounded.”
Fun bar blog Make Money Bartending has this post giving advice to people looking to get started in the bar biz. And I quote:
It’s much easier to get a job as a busser than it is as a bartender, this is obvious. A busser’s job is an entry level position where a bartender’s job is generally not.
Something to remember is, there are a lot of bars out there that only hire bussers, while recruiting all bartenders within.
With that said, if you’re wanting to bartend it’s not a bad idea to look at those kinds of places for work. Getting a job as busser, with the intention and ambition to work your way up to bartending is an excellent strategy.
I’ve gotten tons and tons of feedback from bartenders all over the globe about my Eight Things You Should Never Say to Your Bartender post a while back. It seems that everyone’s got their own list of things they don’t want to hear while working, so here are a few:
“Do you know who I am?” - Tara Tainton
“Sitting at the bar and asking, ‘What’s that, what’s that?’ about each drink you make is the thing I hate the most!” - Sara, Austin, Texas
“When are you done? - I hate this question, why do you care? Are you trying to make me feel bad for working?” - Ernesto, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“Can I get a free birthday drink?” Kyle, Brooklyn, New York
“I hate it when people assume that they’re getting whatever it is that they’re drinking for free once the clock turns over to their birthday. Who decided that you get a bunch of free shit on your 37th birthday? - Alex, Seattle, Washington
“SMILE!” - Ben, Breckenridge, Colorado
“People who tell me, ‘You should smile more!’ when I’m really busy are going to hell. And I don’t care how saintly of a life they’ve lived!” - Jen, Kissimmee, Florida
“I hate it when men ask me ,”Do you have a boyfriend?” when I’m working. Would you ask a girl working at the supermarket that question?” - Jen, Redondo Beach, California
“Can I ask you a personal question?, and then follow it up with something way too personal, about my body, my sexual preference, or my relationship status or something.” - Kari, St. Louis, Illinois
“Can I read your palm? I had this guy ask me this last night, what a fucking tool!” - Jessie, San Francisco, California
Two of my favorite local food bloggers, Brownie Points Blog (when are we getting together to play with the liquid nitrogen tank, Jocelyn?) and Accidental Scientist are in the Eugene Weekly today. I highly recommend reading both their blogs for fun insights into home cooking, local restaurant reviews, and even a scathing comment or two about my neighborhood pub’s french fries.
Read the full article here. Congratulations, you two, you really are the creme de la creme of Eugene blogging!
Sophie Soong of KVAL here in Eugene interviewed me last night for a short piece on tipping here in Eugene. You can read the brilliant soundbite I gave here.
Thanks, Sophie!
You can listen to the interview my boss Katie and I did last Friday here.
Hi all! I’m being interviewed tonight on KOPT radio in Eugene for a segment on food and wine pairings. I’ll be on between 5PM and 5:30PM, so tune in and listen up!
That’s 1600 AM for my local readers. I’ll look for an audio stream to link to…
Night night!
This is Part Two. Click here for Part One.
1. Bartenders who point out a customer’s previous drunken antics.
2. Bartenders who mention a customer’s previous companions.
3. Bartenders who give away the house’s liquor.
4. Bartenders who listen in on customers’ conversations, gossip about other customers, gripe about the boss, the pay, or other aspects of the business.
5. Bartenders who don’t look presentable behind the bar.
6. Bartenders with “misplaced funny bones”.
7. Bartenders who short-change the customers.
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 […]
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