Alcademics.com

Fine Cocktails in Fine Cooking Magazine

I have a story in the new March/April issue of Fine Cooking magazine. It's about the variety of ways to sweeten cocktails with raw sugars, maple syrup, agave, honey, etc.

Pick up a copy to find a Mamie Taylor variation with evaporated organic cane sugar by Thad Vogler of Bar Agricole in San Francisco, an agave-sweetened refresher from Ted Kilgore of Taste by Niche in St. Louis, and a honey champagne bittered mojito variation from yours truly.  

I hope to blog some more information on various types of raw sugars I learned about while researching the story, as it might be useful. I was on the phone to sugar scientists conducting interviews for a couple hours and it turns out it's pretty hard to describe exact differences in any meaningful way. But I'll try when I get the chance.

In the meantime, run screaming to your local newsstand to pick up the new copy of Fine Cooking!

Molecular Mixology and Gastronomy at Absolut Sensory Analysis Workshop

(Solid Bloody Mary with vodka-fused pear cherry tomato, micro celery, dried roasted tomato and lemon rind, and other ingredients.)

What a treat! On Sunday, May 7, a group of bartenders and a lucky journalist or two were treated to a full-day sensory analysis workshop at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, sponsored by Absolut vodka. 

(Tasting mat for multiple vodka tasting flights.)

Vodka is one of the most difficult spirits to taste and differentiate, so the early portion of the evening was focused on honing tasting and taste description skills. I will be writing about that for a magazine, so I can't go into it here. 

(An abstract Hurricane cocktail served in a passion fruit.)

At the end of the day we were treated to a meal by Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago. Achatz is America's leading chef in molecular gastronomy. We had solid cocktails and hanging food, and it was truly wonderful. 

(Miscellaneous wacky food items served on a plate with a plate of floral soup beneath it for aroma.)

Generally speaking most molecular cocktails (in particular) fall flat, as the people producing them seem to spend all their time making the liquids into cool solid shapes and not enough time making them taste good. But this meal, along with one I had at Tippling Club in Singapore, was enough to change my mind. The flavors were bold and bright and (sometimes literally) bursting in your mouth.

(Dried apple with fruity sauce served on a hanger.)

 

(Dessert of sauces, frozen chocolate, and menthol chips was splattered across the surface of the table. )

I think most people left the event with brains abuzz from the information and the meal. I can't believe how many notes I took, though during dinner I stopped to just enjoy it. Nice job Absolut. 

More pictures are on my Flickr Page here.

The San Francisco Hailstorm Cocktail

We had a sudden and wild hailstorm in San Francisco Today. We all know that special occasions call for special cocktails, so I made one and served it in a glass full of hail.

San Francisco Hailstorm

3 ounces bourbon (Old Crow Reserve)

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth (Martini & Rossi)

1/2 ounce Trader Tiki's Don's Mix syrup

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into a glass filled with hail.

Now Trending: White Whiskey

Hey, have you heard about the white whiskey? Probably!

SF Chronicle: White whiskey drips into the mainstream

Washington Post: Of microdistillers and moonshine

New York Times: White Dog’s Day

Foodista Blog: Knocking Back Moonshine with Max Watman

Here are some brands of white whiskey:

• Corsair Artisan Wry Moon
• Death's Door White Whiskey
• Hudson Valley New York Corn Whiskey
• Wasmund's Single Malt Spirits

I think there are more brands. What am I missing?

Good Booze, Bad Booze: The Wine Diet

One day science says drinking will make you live forever. The next day science says it will kill you tomorrow. Good Booze, Bad Booze is an Alcademics category where I put all these stories together.

3/07/10: Forget salad, WINE 'makes women slimmer' [link]

From the Daily Mail: "Women who enjoy a glass or two of wine a day put on less weight than those who stick to mineral water or soft drinks, research shows, with red wine particularly forgiving."

Previous Good Booze, Bad Booze

2/08/10: Beer May Be Good for Your Bones [link]

1/29/09: Switching to lower-alcohol wine 'prevents cancer'  [link]

12/11/09: Beer for Your Prostate? Pistachios Against Cancer? Studies We Wish Were True  [link]

12/11/09: Three glasses of wine a week 'increases risk of breast cancer' [link]

11/19/09: Resveratrol Exhibits Antiviral Properties in Italian Study [link]

11/19/09: Alcohol 'protects men's hearts'  [link]

11/17/09: Kudzu compound could help alcoholics quit drinking [link]

9/22/09: White wine rots your teeth... and brushing makes it worse [link]

9/22/09: Alcohol as a Lifesaver in Head Injuries   [link]

9/02/09: Moderate Drinking May Help the Brain  [link]

8/31/09: Regular drinkers get more exercise [link]

see plenty more news stories after the jump...

Better Cocktails Creep Into the Castro

My first story written for 7x7 Magazine is now online. 

Castro's Last Stand

Long a bastion of bad drinks and a good time, the city’s biggest party neighborhood is slowly but surely learning how to wield a muddler.

by Camper English

While the Tenderloin, Mission and Haight are reveling in white whiskeys and raw sugars, in the Castro, bartenders are still called bartenders, and the drink of choice is more likely to be an appletini than something made with absinthe. From Martuni’s to Moby Dick, drinks in the gay sector are still mixed with vanilla vodka, Long Island Iced Teas make up the happy-hour specials, and mojitos come in more than one flavor. Popular venues, like Toad Hall and Badlands, skip the cocktail menu altogether.

As of late, however, there have been a few glimmers of change. 

Read the rest on the 7X7 website. 

Booze Writer Switcheroo in San Francisco

 You may have noticed something funky in this month's glossy San Francisco city magazines. Jordan Mackay, long the wine and spirits writer for 7x7 Magazine, has a piece in San Francisco Magazine. 

 And if you picked up 7x7 Magazine you may have noticed a story by me in it, and I've been writing for San Francisco Magazine for five years. 

 Then again, you may not have noticed at all. People were constantly asking about my 7x7 stories and I have little doubt Jordan was often questioned about San Francisco Magazine. 

In other writer switch news, Eater San Francisco writer Paolo Luchessi also made a switch, and was hired by the Chronicle to do food news on the website. Sara Deseran of 7x7 wrote about it here. Taking Paolo's place at Eater (at least temporarily) is Carolyn Alburger, who was doing a combination of PR and writing for a bunch of different local publications, including SFWeekly and Daily Candy. 

Guatemala Miscellany

My post on how rum is aged at Zacapa will have to wait another day- I thought I fully understood it but an item on a slide tripped me up. Time for a fact-check!

In the meantime, here are some other items of interest:

- There is now an Alcademics channel on YouTube. 

- I am new to taking video, so most of them are shaky and boring. You have been warned. 

Highlights:

A demonstration of sugar cane being cut by hand. Note that this is cleaned up and un-burned sugar cane, but the process is otherwise the same. The machetes they use have a sideways blade to allow more of the root of the plant to be cut.

View from the helicopter going to aging facility. You can see cloud-covered mountains, farmland, and other dramatic scenery. Guatemala has rich and fertile mountainous terrain, great for growing coffee and by the ocean, sugarcane for rum. Fun fact: Guatemala is also a major export market for mini vegetables that get sent to Japan. If you're ever in Guatemala I recommend a helicopter tour unless, like me, you find it absolutely terrifying. 

This is the village soccer field where we landed the helicopters. Everybody came out to check us out. 

 At the aging facility they re-char ex-bourbon barrels that are used in part of the rum aging process. This is the machine that does it. Fire!

The straw bands around bottles of Zacapa? They're woven by hand and each one takes 20 minutes to make. Here is a demonstration they did for us. You can (sorta) hear the English translator talking as well as the weavers. 

After the rum tour, we did some fun stuff in Guatemala including hiking up a volcano and playing with lava (fast-forward to :40)!