Jeffrey Morgenthaler


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Latest Drink Recipe

Mint Julep

I’ve you’ve never made - or enjoyed - a mint julep before, be sure to check out this post, with lots of information from myself, and videos from the real experts.

mintjulep.jpg

In the bottom of a 10-12 oz glass (or a silver julep cup, if you’ve got one on hand) gently muddle together:

12 mint leaves
¼-½ oz simple syrup

Add to this mixture:

2 oz bourbon

Stir to combine ingredients, and fill glass with finely crushed ice. Garnish with the prettiest mint sprig you have, and serve.

More Recipes »

Most Popular Articles

The Richmond Gimlet »

The Richmond Gimlet

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.

How Not to Make a Mint Julep »

How Not to Make a Mint Julep

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.

Ten Myths You've Probably Heard in Bars »

Dave and Jeff

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.

Crack or Strain? »

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.

How to Make an Angostura-Scorched Pisco Sour »

Angostura-Scorched Pisco Sour

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!

How to Write a Bartending Resume »

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.

A Gallon of Margaritas by the Gallon »

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.

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 11 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.

My Cocktail Recipes

Mint Julep

Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Permalink

I’ve you’ve never made - or enjoyed - a mint julep before, be sure to check out this post, with lots of information from myself, and videos from the real experts.

mintjulep.jpg

In the bottom of a 10-12 oz glass (or a silver julep cup, if you’ve got one on hand) gently muddle together:

12 mint leaves
¼-½ oz simple syrup

Add to this mixture:

2 oz bourbon

Stir to combine ingredients, and fill glass with finely crushed ice. Garnish with the prettiest mint sprig you have, and serve.

1 Comment

Dark and Stormy

Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Permalink

darkandstormy.jpg

An authentic Dark and Stormy made with Gosling’s rum and homemade ginger beer is the ideal prelude to summer, when the spring months are arriving like lions and one’s mind turns to thoughts of lambs.

The national drink of Bermuda, a true Dark and Stormy is never made with Jamaican ginger brew or weak ginger ale. Only the real stuff made in small batches will do, so try this recipe at home or seek out a case of Barritt’s or Blenheim if you can.

In a collins glass filled with ice, add:

2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum
5 oz ginger beer

Garnish with lime and serve immediately.

12 Comments

Sazerac

Thursday, March 27th, 2008
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I like to use Buffalo Trace’s Sazerac 6-Year rye in my Sazeracs. The nose is sweet and fruity, but the palate is nice and dry with a lot of spice - a perfect choice for the Sazerac experience.

Fill an Old-Fashioned glass with ice and water, and set aside to chill. Once cold, drain ice water and rinse with Herbsaint.

In a 16-oz mixing glass, combine:

1 sugar cube
-or-
¼ oz simple syrup

4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters

Small splash water

Muddle together until sugar cube is dissolved (skip this step if using simple syrup, obviously)

Add:

2 oz rye

Fill mixing glass with ice and stir contents until well-chilled. Strain into Herbsaint-rinsed Old Fashioned glass. Twist lemon peel over drink to express oils, and discard peel.

Serve!

9 Comments

Scottish Breakfast

Thursday, January 10th, 2008
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A couple of months ago, my friend Kevin from The Scotch Blog sent me a bottle of Pig’s Nose scotch in the mail.

As an aside, I highly recommend making friends with people who do things like, say, run the world’s biggest blog on scotch whiskey. Really.

Anyway, Pig’s Nose is a fun, easy-to-drink, everyday whiskey with some relaxed caramel notes, a little orange thrown in there, and - oddly enough - figs and raisins. Oranges, figs, and raisins? That sure does remind me of one of my favorite dessert wines, Pedro Ximenez… Sounds like it’s time for a cocktail!

2 oz scotch
¾ oz Pedro Ximenez
1 dash orange bitters
1 large strip orange zest

On the inside of a double rocks glass, rub the outside of the orange zest until the oils have coated the interior of the glass. Fill glass with ice.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add scotch, Pedro Ximenez and orange bitters. Stir until well chilled. Strain contents into ice-filled glass, garnish with orange zest, and serve.

12 Comments

Egg Nog

Monday, November 19th, 2007
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Note: This was originally posted on November 23, 2006, but since Thanksgiving is this week, I’m reposting it as I think it’s a very worthwhile recipe for the holidays.

eggnog.jpg

I love egg nog, but I can’t stand the overly-thick goop they sell at the grocery store. Even when you cut it with alcohol, it’s still so overly-pasteurized and full of preservatives that I can barely slug it down.

So I did a lot of research, and tried a bunch of recipes and methods, from cooking the eggs into sort of a custard (how many bars have a stove top and sieve?) to separating the eggs, beating them independently, and folding them together (way too much work!)

This is the recipe I devised. It can be made in just about any home or bar, since the ingredients are fairly simple. It can be done entirely in the blender, so there are no whisks or egg beaters or rubber spatulas needed. It yields two servings, so you can easily multiply it to serve more. It doesn’t use a ton of heavy cream, so it’s fairly light. In other words, it’s practically perfect.

2 large eggs
3 oz granulated sugar
.25 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
2 oz whiskey or brandy
2 oz spiced rum (I prefer Sailor Jerry’s)
8 oz whole milk
2 oz cream

Beat eggs in blender for two minutes on medium speed. Slowly add sugar and blend for one additional minute. With blender still running, add nutmeg, whiskey or brandy, rum, milk and cream. Chill and serve in wine glasses, grating additional nutmeg on top just before serving.

19 Comments

Wassail

Monday, November 5th, 2007
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I cobbled this recipe together from a number of sources many years ago, and have spent every Thanksgiving making it for friends. It’s always a popular winter warmer, and everyone spends the post-prandial hours sipping large mugs of wassail on the deck.

1 cup water
2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
6 cloves
1/2 teaspoon mace
6 allspice berries
Cinnamon stick
2 pounds sugar
4 × 750 ml bottles sherry
12 eggs, separated
375 ml brandy
6 apples, cored and baked

In a covered 12-quart stockpot, bring water to a boil. Add nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves, mace and cinnamon. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add sugar and sherry and heat until the sugar dissolves completely.

Beat the egg yolks and whites separately; fold together. Put egg mixture in a large bowl, and slowly add the heated mixture to the eggs, 1/4 cup at a time at first, stirring each addition to slowly heat the eggs. Once the brew has been thoroughly mixed, add the brandy and the baked apples.

I keep my Wassail in a large crock pot on low heat to prevent the eggs from curdling. If you don’t have a crock pot, keep it on the stove on low, but be very careful: even on low heat this mixture will get hot - quickly.

4 Comments

A Pitcher of Bloody Mary Mix

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
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Bloody Mary Mix

It’s football time here in the university town I call home, so on Saturday mornings my kitchen often becomes the epicenter of pre-game madness. I like to put out a bottle of vodka, a pitcher of my Bloody Mary mix, and a tray of fun garnishes for the fans and let people put together their own drinks.

Now, I understand the benefits of juicing your own tomatoes for the ultimate do-it-yourself Bloody Mary. However, I’ve got to point out that in the middle of winter here in the Pacific Northwest, canned tomato juice tastes a hell of a lot better than the mealy specimens my local grocery store is peddling for $3.99 a pound. So here’s a beefed-up Bloody Mary mix you can make any time, with ingredients you can find just about anywhere.

1 46-oz can tomato juice
1 garlic clove, minced
½ small avocado
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1½ oz lemon juice
1½ tbsp steak sauce
2 tsp cracked pepper
1½ tsp celery salt
1½ tsp hot sauce
1 tsp horseradish

Purée garlic, avocado, and eight ounces of the tomato juice in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add to remaining ingredients in a large pitcher and stir until combined.

As an aside, I’ve found that this recipe works best when it’s allowed to sit overnight to let the flavors combine. So if you have the time, try to make it the night before.

To make a Bloody Mary, fill a 16-ounce glass to the rim with ice and add two ounces (¼ cup) of your favorite vodka. Salting the rim of the glass is optional, but I like to pre-salt a few glasses and set them out. Top with Bloody Mary mix and garnish as you like. Here are some suggestions for your garnish tray:

Celery stalks
Stuffed olives
French cornichons
Pickled white asparagus
Lemon and lime wedges
Pearl onions
Pickled green beans
Cherry tomatoes
Pickled garlic cloves
Pickled pepperoncini peppers
Cooked, peeled shrimp

And for a wonderful treatise on making a single Bloody Mary the right way, check out this video my peeps over at the Small Screen Network have put together.

17 Comments

Margarita with Cadillac Foam and Sea Salt

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
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I never really venture too far outside of my comfort zone when it comes to cocktails. Sure, I’ve tried some strange combinations before, but when all is said and done I usually tend to stick to the classics.

Until this evening.

Maybe it was all the late-summer sun I got at the pool this afternoon before work. Maybe it was crawling around inside the keg cooler looking for a leak in the beer gas line.

Or maybe it was the f*cking iSi whipper that I’ve had sitting next to the cash register for several weeks now, staring at me and asking (not literally, at least I hope not) when I was going to actually try something new.

Well, I went out on a limb and tried something I’d wanted to do for a while: a deconstructed cocktail.

Being a Latin-American restaurant, we tend to make a lot of margaritas. Like, a lot of margaritas, so naturally I wanted to start there. I grabbed my iSi whipper, filled it with the ingredients I thought would make for a decent Cadillac foam, and set it to chill while I put together our basic margarita:

2 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
1 oz lime juice
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup

Shake ingredients together over cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Then I grabbed my whipper, which I had already filled with…

2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 oz Grand Marnier
4 oz orange juice, finely strained
4 dashes peach bitters

…and double-charged with CO2.

I then laid down a nice, thick foam on top of the margarita I had just made. You can see how well they stay separated.

cadillac.jpg

Running back to the kitchen, I grabbed some black Hawaiian sea salt for contrast and grated it into the foam.

Voila! The sweetness of the foam is wonderfully complemented by a tart, bracing blast of tequila and lime with each sip. And the presentation ain’t half bad, either, if I do say so myself.

Hey, you know what? That was really easy! I’m going to try to venture outside of my comfort zone more often.

13 Comments

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I own a small library of books on the subject of bartending. Some of these books are geared toward the professional bartender, while others are written for the home mixologist. But regardless of the intended audience, almost every book I own heartily recommends that we use paring knives for cutting fruits and garnishes. […]

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